Jon Lymon's Blog - Posts Tagged "amazon"
When a reader wants their money back
A paper cut to that flap of skin between thumb and forefinger. An errant hair plucked from your nostril. A blunt stake driven through your heart. None is as painful as checking your KDP reports and finding someone who bought your book has asked for a refund.
The first time it happened to me was for a book that was free. Yes, someone had downloaded a non-fiction book. by me, for free, and disliked it so much, they demanded a refund of all the money they hadn’t spent on it. That is dislike, writ large.
The second refund happened just last week, hours after the purchase, it seems.
Why, why, why? are the thoughts that run through your mind. They hated it and hate me. They think I can’t write or my plotting’s crap, my characters cardboard and they’re going to tell everyone they know not to touch my stuff.
After this vicious paranoia came a spell where I tried to reassure myself. They only had the book a few hours, maybe they downloaded it by mistake, they were looking for a similar title and got it all wrong. Fair enough, no problem.
Then the paranoia returned. They read the first chapter and laughingly threw the book aside. (Bit difficult, when it’s digital, but that sort of thing) They disliked it so much, they couldn’t get their money back quickly enough.
That attack eventually died down, and now I’ve come to accept that I’ll never know who downloaded it and why they asked for a refund. It’s just part of the process. But I’ll be waiting for that paranoia to return when the next refund gets processed…
How do you handle your book getting refunded?
The first time it happened to me was for a book that was free. Yes, someone had downloaded a non-fiction book. by me, for free, and disliked it so much, they demanded a refund of all the money they hadn’t spent on it. That is dislike, writ large.
The second refund happened just last week, hours after the purchase, it seems.
Why, why, why? are the thoughts that run through your mind. They hated it and hate me. They think I can’t write or my plotting’s crap, my characters cardboard and they’re going to tell everyone they know not to touch my stuff.
After this vicious paranoia came a spell where I tried to reassure myself. They only had the book a few hours, maybe they downloaded it by mistake, they were looking for a similar title and got it all wrong. Fair enough, no problem.
Then the paranoia returned. They read the first chapter and laughingly threw the book aside. (Bit difficult, when it’s digital, but that sort of thing) They disliked it so much, they couldn’t get their money back quickly enough.
That attack eventually died down, and now I’ve come to accept that I’ll never know who downloaded it and why they asked for a refund. It’s just part of the process. But I’ll be waiting for that paranoia to return when the next refund gets processed…
How do you handle your book getting refunded?
Is CreateSpace finished?
So Amazon KDP is now providing the same service as CreateSpace. Print on demand for your digital books. Does that mean CreateSpace is finished? Kaput? Finito?
The upside - the price. CreateSpace's printing costs were so exorbitant, your beloved paperback had to retail at silly dollars per copy for you to make any kind of royalty.
Hence sales were slow to the point of non-existent.
The might of Amazon means they can print your slaved-over words on request for a fraction of the price, so a paperback of your work now needn't cost north of a newly released hardback, signed, with a gold foil finish dust jacket.
The downside? Of course there is one. If you let Amazon paperback your words, you have to remove them from CreateSpace. Forever.
For. Ever.
And unlike CreateSpace, Amazon won't be making your paperbacks available to rivals like Barnes & Noble. Oh no. This is a move towards monopolisation. And I, for one, am backing it.
In my experience, CreateSpace wasn't a viable revenue stream. Sure, I sold a few copies. But the price was a barrier. At least on Amazon, my paperbacks can be sold for a reasonable price.
So I've shifted over my novels. And I have to say the whole procedure was embarrassingly easy, especially for books already on CreateSpace.
The jury's still out as to whether or not I've made a good move. But with paperbacks making a vinyl style comeback, here's hoping more self-pubbed authors can jump a bit of that bandwagon.
The upside - the price. CreateSpace's printing costs were so exorbitant, your beloved paperback had to retail at silly dollars per copy for you to make any kind of royalty.
Hence sales were slow to the point of non-existent.
The might of Amazon means they can print your slaved-over words on request for a fraction of the price, so a paperback of your work now needn't cost north of a newly released hardback, signed, with a gold foil finish dust jacket.
The downside? Of course there is one. If you let Amazon paperback your words, you have to remove them from CreateSpace. Forever.
For. Ever.
And unlike CreateSpace, Amazon won't be making your paperbacks available to rivals like Barnes & Noble. Oh no. This is a move towards monopolisation. And I, for one, am backing it.
In my experience, CreateSpace wasn't a viable revenue stream. Sure, I sold a few copies. But the price was a barrier. At least on Amazon, my paperbacks can be sold for a reasonable price.
So I've shifted over my novels. And I have to say the whole procedure was embarrassingly easy, especially for books already on CreateSpace.
The jury's still out as to whether or not I've made a good move. But with paperbacks making a vinyl style comeback, here's hoping more self-pubbed authors can jump a bit of that bandwagon.
