| Buy buttons on amazon.com | |
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+10Tory Lynn LC Abe F. March dkchristi Phil Whitley Betty Fasig alj Dick Stodghill dmondeo Shelagh 14 posters |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:50 am | |
| My buy button is back on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/141377136X/ |
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dmondeo Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1485 Registration date : 2009-02-15 Age : 69 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:29 am | |
| Shelagh if you click on your link and look at the new and used you'll see someone is selling your book for $999.00 How the hell am I expected to pay that???? Someone has faith in you!! |
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Dick Stodghill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3795 Registration date : 2008-05-04 Age : 98 Location : Akron, Ohio
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 12:19 pm | |
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alj Five Star Member
Number of posts : 9633 Registration date : 2008-12-05 Age : 80 Location : San Antonio
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:18 pm | |
| My button is back, too, and the price has been reduced.
Shelagh, if someone buys your book for $999, will you get the royalties?
Ann |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:36 pm | |
| No, I would probably hear a knock on the door and find a very angry person standing on my doorstep, book in hand, demanding a refund! |
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Betty Fasig Five Star Member
Number of posts : 4334 Registration date : 2008-06-12 Age : 81 Location : Duette, Florida
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:39 pm | |
| My button is back, too. The price has been lowered from 24.95 to 19.95 and my rating has gone from 1 million 2 to 800 thousand. Maybe someone bought a copy! To top all that off, I see on my website guestbook that my lovely grand-daughter has finally read Wooffer and posted a note and a request that I read at her (my great-grand's) school. Life is Good! Love, Betty |
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Phil Whitley Four Star Member
Number of posts : 907 Registration date : 2008-04-01 Age : 81 Location : Riverdale, GA
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:11 pm | |
| My buy button is back too! Now to the PA message board to see if it's being discussed. Wonder who gave in? |
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dkchristi Five Star Member
Number of posts : 8594 Registration date : 2008-12-29 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:28 pm | |
| Well, my buy button is not back! Please put in a good word to PA for me. |
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Phil Whitley Four Star Member
Number of posts : 907 Registration date : 2008-04-01 Age : 81 Location : Riverdale, GA
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:46 pm | |
| I couldn't fina anywhere on the PA message board where this is being discussed. I had all but quit marketing Keechie and was getting ready to update my website for promoting Granny Boo. I finally gave up trying to keep up with the PA changes and special offers - like the hardcovers, then no hardcovers and the ever-changing pricing. By the time I could make the changes on the website, they would remove the offer. Frustrating!
On the BUY HERE portion under Amazon I posted this:
BOYCOTT! Amazon has removed the "Buy Now" button on all POD books in an attempt to force all POD publishers to turn over the printing of our books to them. Until they end these strongarm tactics, I am NOT buying or selling anything through them. Barnes & Noble still offers free shipping on orders of $25.00 or more.
Now I don't know whether to remove this or wait to see if it's a glitch...
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Phil Whitley Four Star Member
Number of posts : 907 Registration date : 2008-04-01 Age : 81 Location : Riverdale, GA
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 6:52 pm | |
| You know, we may have Angela Hoy of BookLocker to thank for this.
From Publishers Weekly 8/27/09
Court Denies Amazon's Motion to Dismiss BookLocker Antitrust Lawsuit
Could it be??? |
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Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:05 pm | |
| I've noticed that next to the "Buy New" price there is a "New and Used" reduced price. I'm guessing the the "used" books, if they exist, are returns. On the other hand it is possible that it is simply a marketing gimmic: keep the price high and make the reader feel he/she is getting a bargain. When books are already overpriced, the reduction is still not a deal. Since PA promotes books to its authors and offers up to 66% discount, they could certainly make a drastic reduction in the retail price. It would be an added incentive for the authors to promote their books via Amazon, B&N and others - direct to the consumer. Of course that might make too much sense. |
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LC Five Star Member
Number of posts : 5044 Registration date : 2009-03-28
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:06 am | |
| - dmondeo wrote:
- Shelagh if you click on your link and look at the new and used you'll see someone is selling your book for $999.00
How the hell am I expected to pay that???? Someone has faith in you!! You'll notice the seller has 194,802 reviews. This is a used book warehouse and a computer program is setting the price. It's a GI/GO thing. POD books confuse the program and it prices them as "rare." You'd think those sellers would figure this out already, since so many of their used book prices are weird like this. |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:30 am | |
| LOL! Rare? LC, my book is almost an endangered species!
Marie,
Amazon can, and do, charge anything they like. Forever Friends sells on amazon.co.uk at £9.99 and at $9.99 on amazon.com! I sent numerous emails to Amazon but the responses are from the "front line" and they have no authority. They just send out the closest standard reply to each query.
Buttons back on Amazon suggest that they were losing a substantial number of sales (40,000 authors on PA alone!).
Last edited by Shelagh on Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:42 am; edited 1 time in total |
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LC Five Star Member
Number of posts : 5044 Registration date : 2009-03-28
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:58 am | |
| - Shelagh wrote:
- Amazon can, and do, charge anything they like. Forever Friends sells on amazon.co.uk at £9.99 and at $9.99 on amazon.com! I sent numerous emails to Amazon but the responses are from the "front line" and they have no authority.
My guess is that computer programs set Amazon's prices, too. They're just better than the resellers' programs. I say this because the prices on Amazon books keep changing. I've noticed this with my books, and with books I've had on my wish list for a long time. They go up and down weekly, sometimes by just a penny. I suspect the programs are searching for a "sweet spot" that maximizes sales, and that they make seasonal adjustments, too (e.g., Christmas, semester starts, etc.). |
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dkchristi Five Star Member
Number of posts : 8594 Registration date : 2008-12-29 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:10 am | |
| When the buy button was dropped, my sales stopped. Every place I listed my books I used the Amazon.com buy box; I even had it in my signature. The ranking dropped immediately because any books sold through third party sellers are likely returns or persons who have read the books and sell them back through third parties. They do not figure in the ranking. I used all the Amazon tools to draw readers to Amazon.com to make purchases. Some people look at the ranking numbers as a gauge to whether the book is popular enough for them to consider buying it - especially at the P.A. price - which is true over time. In spite of everything, I had snappy sales at Amazon for two years (bought some groceries with the checks anyway). Then, boom, no button; no sales. Doesn't take an analyst to see the connection. Then B&N made a corporate decision to not have book signings by ANY POD author; and that cut into their sales. I still have no buy button. My question is whether PA is furnishing them with the five-book warehousing for those with the buttons back; whether Amazon has let go of the demand that Booksurge print them; or exactly why the buttons are back on many but not on mine...... PA wants to sell their books to their authors directly. That's where their profits lie with the least overhead. Book sellers require discounts, returns and bookkeeping; and though PA claims to sell many books to book sellers; a look at their real profit will likely show it is the authors not the book sellers that make up their best profit sales. I agree that the PA fluctuating prices is hard to keep up with; and at least Amazon at whatever price was consistent; B&N also (but they didn't discount the books except for club members). |
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LC Five Star Member
Number of posts : 5044 Registration date : 2009-03-28
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 10:47 am | |
| - dkchristi wrote:
- The ranking dropped immediately because any books sold through third party sellers are likely returns or persons who have read the books and sell them back through third parties. They do not figure in the ranking.
Actually, third-party sales do figure in the rankings. The fifth edition of my non-fic book is out of print, but does a brisk business in 3rd-party sales on Amazon, with copies selling for as little as $2. It often has a higher ranking than the current (6th) edition! It is interesting to me how people will buy an outdated version just because it's cheap. Not that the current one is expensive at $13.50. And you have to pay the reseller's $4 shipping fee. But I guess saving $7.60 is worth it to some. I agree with you that some people look at rankings as an indication of if the book's worth buying. They also look at reviews and how many Also Boughts there are. |
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alj Five Star Member
Number of posts : 9633 Registration date : 2008-12-05 Age : 80 Location : San Antonio
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 10:55 am | |
| I think online sales of PA books account for a greater percentage of sales than many realize. Whether it was Amazon or PA who made the decision to put them back, it's my guess somebody realized how much was being lost by the change.
Time will tell, I suppose, whether the sales will return. I noticed that my book has been priced just a bit lower than the B&N membership sale price. When the Amazon sales dropped off after the button was removed, the B&N sales rose, at least for a while. Then, after the price of the book went up, sales dropped off there, too.
I recently bought 5 of my books on the Twitter deal, because it came up at the same time as a request from a museum bookstore that has kept them stocked for three years now. In the discussion I had with the curator, she admitted that she would not be able to sell them at the higher price. But using the Twitter offer, even with shipping charges, I will be selling to the museum at the same price as before, but making a higher profit, at least this time around. I would still rather work out a way for the museum to get a good price ordering directly from PA.
Ann |
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Dick Stodghill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3795 Registration date : 2008-05-04 Age : 98 Location : Akron, Ohio
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 11:27 am | |
| Don't feel neglected, DK. Mine isn't back either. |
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dkchristi Five Star Member
Number of posts : 8594 Registration date : 2008-12-29 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:52 pm | |
| Well, Dick, I'm glad to see I'm in the same boat with class!!! |
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Tory Lynn Three Star Member
Number of posts : 149 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Age : 60 Location : Auburn Washington
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:49 pm | |
| Mine is not back either DK and Dick. Can I join you guys in your boat? |
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Dick Stodghill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3795 Registration date : 2008-05-04 Age : 98 Location : Akron, Ohio
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sun Sep 13, 2009 5:39 am | |
| Always room for one more, Tory. |
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Tory Lynn Three Star Member
Number of posts : 149 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Age : 60 Location : Auburn Washington
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:27 am | |
| Thanks, Dick! |
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dkchristi Five Star Member
Number of posts : 8594 Registration date : 2008-12-29 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:52 am | |
| Dick's already rich and famous; how about you, Tory? I think the best revenge is always success - then who needs the "buy" button, right? By the way, Tory, are you promoting The World Outside the Window? It's not showing up in Google searches anymore since we all quit talking about it. I finally finished my second novel, a novella actually, The Ghost Orchid. While it has some romance, the theme is more of a quest for roots through an unfolding mystery watched over by the ghost orchid. It is a combination of mystery and mystique to answer the question: Is love eternal? The cover is quite feminine; yet, the mystery appeals to both men and women. The men can put a brown bag over that sensuous Neev on the cover. Are you writing? |
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dmondeo Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1485 Registration date : 2009-02-15 Age : 69 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:53 am | |
| So that's where all the missing buttons from my shirts have gone! |
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Tory Lynn Three Star Member
Number of posts : 149 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Age : 60 Location : Auburn Washington
| Subject: Re: Buy buttons on amazon.com Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:24 am | |
| DK, I promote every chance I get. I love being apart of the group and I let everyone I come across know it. I carry the book with me and show anyone who has an interest. I've even brought it to restaurants when we eat. It generates conversation.
Vickie |
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