Search Terms & Sub Categories on Amazon, The Conclusion
Or, I Wish I Had Known Then What I Know Now...
So, to correct one error from my previous post, one of Amazon's reps from Author Central had told me, yes, you can make whatever changes you want to your book listing on Amazon, even though it was "published" through Bookbaby and that turned out to be incorrect. The matter was sent over to Kindle Publishing Direct, the final arbiter of such things and they said, no, since Bookbaby posted the novel for you, they must be the ones to request any changes.
Okay. Back to the drawing board...
I will not bore you with all the pesky little details. Suffice it to say, I knocked heads with Bookbaby again on the phone, going round and round about everything I alluded to in my previous post and finally arrived to this moment of reckoning. I offered to send over the e-mail I wanted Bookbaby to send to Kindle Direct, requesting KDP to change the search terms for my book listing, and as well as to add a new subcategory, which KDP had assured me I was allowed. And Bookbaby's response? That's not within the scope of our template.
Wow.
As noted at the start of my previous post, there is much be desired about Bookbaby's services, but that response was so not techy, Silicon Valley start up thinking. That is the kind of response I expect to hear when dealing with AT&T. All they had to do was patch and paste my note into their own e-mail, so KDP saw it was coming from Bookbaby and they refused. And, mind you, the amount of time we spent arguing about it over the phone, they could have gone through the exercise of forwarding the e-mail a hundred times and come out way ahead.
Okay, adios Bookbaby. For now, I am leaving them in charge of my accounts with Nook and I-book, and the eight other obscure e-book retailers, but once I have South on Pacific Coast Highway back up and running on Amazon via my own account, you can bet I'll look into taking the reins with all the e-book outlets. Bookbaby basically works as a formatting service, and now that I understand the formatting requirements, who needs them? Had they cooperated with my most reasonable request, we would never have come to this. For $199.00, the service they provide is certainly worth it, but to act like some bloated corporate leviathan, unable to step outside their own "template" ???? Jesus, what a pathetic situation. I should add this one word of caution. Bookbaby has only one method of contact, so any complaint you have with their reps? It goes straight to the people who are giving you headaches. Hard to get some satisfaction under those circumstances.
So, there is always a silver lining, and in this case, brother, am I so thankful for this uninvited headache. To whit, having completed my final edits of South on Pacific Coast Highway back in July, and having turned over the manuscript to Bookbaby to be formatted, I had one of those middle of the night revelations, realizing I had forgotten to resolve one of the major plot elements in the novel, and when you're talking a crime novel, this is a really, really big deal. Mind you, I was caught between Bookbaby's pipeline time frames and my own preset deadlines. Bookbaby had quoted me ten days to complete their end of the bargain. I had a press release and interviews with the local press scheduled on a particular date. If I pulled the manuscript back out of Bookbaby's pipeline, I risked missing my deadlines. However, as noted, not resolving this plot element was a really, really big deal and would have haunted me, so I bit the bullet and went to work. Pursuant to a discussion with the folks at Bookbaby, I was told that if I delivered the manuscript back to them the following day, we could still meet our agreed upon deadline.
Thus began a 24 hour marathon editing job, by which time, I had started to see little green men out of the corners of my eyes. Again, had I known then what I know now, I would have been in full control of the process and not up against Bookbaby's artificial time frame. Instead, with my back to the wall, I delivered the manuscript back to them, not having thoroughly checked my own work, which I did two days ago, once I had made the decision to retake control of the project. And, oh, the horror. And gratitude. And embarrassment. And gratitude. Had I not been placed in the aforementioned head butting contest with Bookbaby, I might never have looked at this manuscript again, or realized, in the course of my hasty editing job, I had left behind innumerable typos. My god, and to think of the thousands of people who have purchased this book and what they must think of my sloppy professionalism...
Apologies to all, whether they can hear me or not.
So, I am now nearly finished with a thorough review of the manuscript and the updated version should be live on Amazon within the week. All's well that ends well. I could have done without these headaches but here's hoping that those who come after me will benefit from the error of my ways...
So, to correct one error from my previous post, one of Amazon's reps from Author Central had told me, yes, you can make whatever changes you want to your book listing on Amazon, even though it was "published" through Bookbaby and that turned out to be incorrect. The matter was sent over to Kindle Publishing Direct, the final arbiter of such things and they said, no, since Bookbaby posted the novel for you, they must be the ones to request any changes.
Okay. Back to the drawing board...
I will not bore you with all the pesky little details. Suffice it to say, I knocked heads with Bookbaby again on the phone, going round and round about everything I alluded to in my previous post and finally arrived to this moment of reckoning. I offered to send over the e-mail I wanted Bookbaby to send to Kindle Direct, requesting KDP to change the search terms for my book listing, and as well as to add a new subcategory, which KDP had assured me I was allowed. And Bookbaby's response? That's not within the scope of our template.
Wow.
As noted at the start of my previous post, there is much be desired about Bookbaby's services, but that response was so not techy, Silicon Valley start up thinking. That is the kind of response I expect to hear when dealing with AT&T. All they had to do was patch and paste my note into their own e-mail, so KDP saw it was coming from Bookbaby and they refused. And, mind you, the amount of time we spent arguing about it over the phone, they could have gone through the exercise of forwarding the e-mail a hundred times and come out way ahead.
Okay, adios Bookbaby. For now, I am leaving them in charge of my accounts with Nook and I-book, and the eight other obscure e-book retailers, but once I have South on Pacific Coast Highway back up and running on Amazon via my own account, you can bet I'll look into taking the reins with all the e-book outlets. Bookbaby basically works as a formatting service, and now that I understand the formatting requirements, who needs them? Had they cooperated with my most reasonable request, we would never have come to this. For $199.00, the service they provide is certainly worth it, but to act like some bloated corporate leviathan, unable to step outside their own "template" ???? Jesus, what a pathetic situation. I should add this one word of caution. Bookbaby has only one method of contact, so any complaint you have with their reps? It goes straight to the people who are giving you headaches. Hard to get some satisfaction under those circumstances.
So, there is always a silver lining, and in this case, brother, am I so thankful for this uninvited headache. To whit, having completed my final edits of South on Pacific Coast Highway back in July, and having turned over the manuscript to Bookbaby to be formatted, I had one of those middle of the night revelations, realizing I had forgotten to resolve one of the major plot elements in the novel, and when you're talking a crime novel, this is a really, really big deal. Mind you, I was caught between Bookbaby's pipeline time frames and my own preset deadlines. Bookbaby had quoted me ten days to complete their end of the bargain. I had a press release and interviews with the local press scheduled on a particular date. If I pulled the manuscript back out of Bookbaby's pipeline, I risked missing my deadlines. However, as noted, not resolving this plot element was a really, really big deal and would have haunted me, so I bit the bullet and went to work. Pursuant to a discussion with the folks at Bookbaby, I was told that if I delivered the manuscript back to them the following day, we could still meet our agreed upon deadline.
Thus began a 24 hour marathon editing job, by which time, I had started to see little green men out of the corners of my eyes. Again, had I known then what I know now, I would have been in full control of the process and not up against Bookbaby's artificial time frame. Instead, with my back to the wall, I delivered the manuscript back to them, not having thoroughly checked my own work, which I did two days ago, once I had made the decision to retake control of the project. And, oh, the horror. And gratitude. And embarrassment. And gratitude. Had I not been placed in the aforementioned head butting contest with Bookbaby, I might never have looked at this manuscript again, or realized, in the course of my hasty editing job, I had left behind innumerable typos. My god, and to think of the thousands of people who have purchased this book and what they must think of my sloppy professionalism...
Apologies to all, whether they can hear me or not.
So, I am now nearly finished with a thorough review of the manuscript and the updated version should be live on Amazon within the week. All's well that ends well. I could have done without these headaches but here's hoping that those who come after me will benefit from the error of my ways...
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