Monday, June 3, 2013

Amazon horrors, part 2

We're actively seeking input from our readers: Do you prefer to purchase books from Amazon and to read e-books on the Amazon Kindle?  Or do you use other booksellers or e-reading devices?  We continue to endure unimaginable frustration with Amazon, and are considering other options to make sure our customers can get the best access to our publications and the best customer service. 

Although purchasing a Kindle download is an easy enough affair, it's not always easy for us to get the books on to Amazon for you to purchase. Case in point: we spent all weekend trying to get Gerald Kersh's Fowlers End available to our UK customers.  Amazon refused to publish it and requested evidence that we had the rights to do so.  So I asked Michael Moorcock, Kersh's executor, who probably has better things to do with his time, if he would be kind enough to write to Amazon and let them know we do in fact have the rights to publish the book.  Here is just part of the Kafkaesque exchange that followed.


From: Michael Moorcock
To: title-submission@amazon.com 
Cc: Valancourt Books 
Sent: Saturday, June 1, 2013 7:30 AM
Subject: (no subject)

Ref. Anna K,
    This is to confirm that I manage the estate of Gerald Kersh and have granted world English language rights in print and e-editions for Fowlers End to Valancourt Books. This is the authorised edition with an introduction by myself.
Yours,
Michael Moorcock



Fearing the worst and just to be safe, I sent my own email, including Michael Moorcock's in the body of mine:


From: Valancourt Books
To: title-submission@amazon.com

Please see the email below confirming we have worldwide rights to distribute this title.  Please make it available worldwide.  This email was also sent directly to Amazon yesterday by the literary executor.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Michael Moorcock
To: title-submission@amazon.com
Sent: Saturday, June 1, 2013 7:30 AM
Subject: (no subject)



Ref. Anna K,
    This is to confirm that I manage the estate of Gerald Kersh and have granted world English language rights in print and e-editions for Fowlers End to Valancourt Books.
This is the authorised edition with an introduction by myself.
Yours,
Michael Moorcock



Finally, I got this "response" from a robot which has apparently been designated as "Julia L.":



From: Kindle Direct Publishing <title-submission@amazon.com>
To: Valancourt Books
Sent: Sunday, June 2, 2013 2:30 PM
Subject: Your Amazon KDP Inquiry

Hello,

We are writing to you regarding the following book(s):

Fowlers End (ID 3645176)

Please provide any documentation or other evidence that proves you have retained rights for the book(s) listed above.

Alternatively, you may have the rights holders contact us directly with confirmation that you have retained rights.

Please send any correspondence regarding these book(s) to title-submission@amazon.com with the information requested. Failure to respond to this email may prevent your book(s) from being available in the Kindle store.

Best Regards,

Julia L.
Amazon.com



Aghast (and if my email seems rude, please keep in mind, we go through a similar exchange on every title we publish with these idiots), I wrote back:



From: Valancourt Books
To: title-submission@amazon.com
Sent: Sunday, June 2, 2013 4:53 PM

Are you kidding?  The information was IN THE EMAIL.  It's below.  Please read it -- I made it really big and bold so you can't possibly miss it.  I've sent it repeatedly.  I don't know what else I can do.

[My earlier email, and Mike's, followed.]



The robot responded as follows (and note the cruel irony of the tagline after her signature):



From: title-submission@amazon.com
To: Valancourt Books
Sent: Sunday, June 2, 2013 5:18 PM

Hello,

We’ve made your book available in territories where it appears to be in the public domain based on the information you’ve provided. Your book may not appear in searches in territories where it is not offered for sale.

I'm sorry, but we can't offer any additional insight or action on this matter.

Best Regards,

Julia L.
Amazon.com
Your feedback is helping us build Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company.



Again, I wrote back, in increasing frustration:


From: Valancourt Books
To: title-submission@amazon.com
Sent: Sunday, June 2, 2013 5:21 PM

Is there a supervisor there?  What more can you possibly want than an email from the estate's representative stating that we have permission to publish?  Please put me through to a supervisor or tell me how to contact one.


Of course, I got no response to this (I've made the request repeatedly on other books and have never gotten a response); nor did the separate email I sent to Amazon Customer Service through a different link on their site get a response.  Instead, I just got this:



From: title-submission@amazon.com
To: Valancourt Books
Sent: Monday, June 3, 2013 1:28 PM


Hello,

We are writing to you regarding the following book:

Fowlers End (ID 3645176)

Please provide us with a copy of any legal documentation that verifies you have retained rights for the book listed above.

Please send any correspondence regarding these book to title-submission@amazon.com with the information requested. 

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit: kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/contact-us

Best Regards,

Nic W.
Amazon.com
Your feedback is helping us build Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company.


For now, Amazon is apparently the only game in town, so they seem to think they can treat customers and publishers as terribly as they like without repercussions.  But if this type of thing continues, publishers, vendors, and customers will take their business elsewhere.  We're beginning to look into the possibility of doing so.  We would appreciate any feedback from our readers -- does anyone shop on Barnes & Noble's website or order our titles through other sources?  Would you like to see our e-books available on Nook, Kobo, iTunes, or the Sony Store?  Please let us know.

13 comments:

  1. Unfortuantley I normally only buy phyiscally books from Amazon these days, but man. That interchange is insane. Is there no phone contact you can try to talk to a real person and not email robots?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know.... you can find customer service numbers on Google, but I haven't found one for the publishing side yet, only for issues with orders and such. It is so unbelievably frustrating, though, to be ignored and to have to talk to robots.

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  3. That's horrendous! I tend to shop on Amazon just because I purchase Amazon prime for the free shipping. However, Barnes and Noble has free shipping for orders of $25 or more, and I would happily make my Valancourt purchases there!

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  4. In the UK it's easiest to get the books from Amazon UK (although I don't do downloads/kindle). The online alternative is Waterstones which has a tendency to cancel my Valancourt book orders claiming they are 'Unavailable' even though they are readily available to order on Amazon (VERY hit and miss service!). As Waterstones operates the major bookstore chain here, I don't fancy my chances of being able to order them conveniently elsewhere...

    Sorry about your nightmare, though. What a pain!

    Chris.

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  5. Very sorry to hear about the ongoing difficulties.

    I second the point made by Chris above; in the UK, the simplest way to purchase physical copies of titles published by Valancourt Books is Amazon UK. I also haven't tried to purchase kindle or e-books here.

    Hope all can be resolved - the robotic replies from Amazon are simply shocking!

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  6. Thank you for the comments! We are especially interested to hear about the situation in the UK. We'll plan to stick with Amazon for now, but may explore additional outlets for the e-books, to ensure that everyone has access to those. Though, of course, we love tangible, real books first and foremost!

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  7. I have only bought a couple of books from the Kindle Store. I have more on my wish list as I have a rule for any titles from Valancourt Books: any book of 150 pages or less, should be purchased in electronic format, if available. So far I have not had problems, although I do not like having to use the Kindle app (I am an iBooks fan) - I dislike that there are "locations" instead of page numbers. Living in Canada, Amazon is the easiest and cheapest place for me to buy both physical and electronic copies of Valancourt's publications.

    My personal choice for an ebook provider would be iTunes (again, iBooks fan). Kobo or The Sony Store would be okay also. I am against Nook only because I live in Canada and it appears international downloads are not available.

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  8. I would recommend selling your books in epub format from other retailers (B&N, Kobo, etc.). Amazon may have the largest part of the market but they don't have it all and I suspect their market share will decrease over time. As I understand it, once you've formatted the book for mobi files it doesn't take that much more work to convert it to an epub of similar quality.

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  9. As another comment proposed on your previous post, would it be possible for you to sell ebooks through your own website? The majority of gothic novels I've read have been PDFs from Eighteenth Century Collections Online.

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  10. Yes, as a UK resident, I also must - until the options broaden - hold you ransom to Amazon, since, of course, with Amazon UK I don't need to add those hefty shipping charges. (And, yes, I also prefer the physical books). But, Christ, I certainly sympathise with your position.

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  11. Such ineptitude -- it's appalling! Puts me off purchasing books from them, though sometimes it's the best option.

    However, I usually order books, including yours, through Dymocks, as I prefer to support the remaining (largest) bookseller in Adelaide -- there are so few remaining! The service there is great and browsing is a joy.

    Hope this impasse is resolved soon!

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  12. I'm italian, for me is absolutely cheaper to purchase books in e-format..i currently use kindle, but for me would be indifferent to download your publications in other formats such epub or pdf..just to prove to amazon the power of us readers.

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  13. There is in the UK an excellent alternative to Amazon in Foyles. Their online prices for Valancourt books (sadly only 6 are listed as far as I can see) are the same as Amazon's, and delivery for items over £10 is free. Their standards of customer service are far higher than Amazon's, and being a bookshop as well as an online retailer they have a vested interest in the continuation of real books.

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