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Inside Amazon: My Story
The memoir “Inside Amazon” examines Gisela Hausmann’s experiences as a small publisher, a top reviewer, an indie author, and a warehouse associate. “Inside Amazon: My Story” is compelling because it is personal.
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Who is this book for? - Every indie author, seller, warehouse professional and customer who wants to know what’s going on behind Amazon’s “wall of talking points.”
Whereas, usually, Amazon’s story is told in superlatives, Gisela’s memoir offers a ground-level look at Amazon’s publishing platform and the operations at a distribution center.
The Austrian-born self-publisher’s journey begins in 1997 when she decides to publish her first book in the United States. Conscious of the fact that the traditional book publishing and book selling industry were never easy to work with, she believes that a new Internet bookstore – Amazon.com – will help her to distribute her book nationwide.
It turns out to be the right decision. Amazon exceeds Hausmann’s expectations by offering amazing marketing tools previously reserved for authors whose books made the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today, free of charge.
Not surprisingly, Hausmann becomes a fan of Jeff Bezos and Amazon.
But, struck by a personal tragedy, Hausmann must put her publisher’s ambitions on hold. She starts working in the transportation industry, where she does well.
A few years later, she is back at Amazon, as the author of award-winning books and a well-ranked top reviewer.
When Amazon’s publishing platform experiences “issues” – fake reviews, plagiarism, "book-stuffing"- scams, and more – Hausmann holds on to her belief that Amazon is a highly efficient organization. She assumes that the company focuses on their big and expensive products instead of relatively cheap ebooks.
Irritated with President Trump’s economic policies and worried about the potential of a recession, Hausmann is happy to find out that Amazon opened a distribution center in her hometown and starts working there.
However, to her utter surprise, she cannot find any applications of Jeff Bezos’ famous leadership principles or his “Day 1”-philosophy. At times, working at the warehouse feels like working for a brand-new start-up.
Things get worse during the Christmas Peak Season.
By the time the Covid-crisis hits, Hausmann knows that the “issues” she sees are systemic but can no longer leave her job. A different kind of recession than the one she worried about has arrived.
Gisela Hausmann ends up working for Amazon Logistics for 468 days.
This is her 23-year story.
*
Who is this book for? - Every indie author, seller, warehouse professional and customer who wants to know what’s going on behind Amazon’s “wall of talking points.”
Whereas, usually, Amazon’s story is told in superlatives, Gisela’s memoir offers a ground-level look at Amazon’s publishing platform and the operations at a distribution center.
The Austrian-born self-publisher’s journey begins in 1997 when she decides to publish her first book in the United States. Conscious of the fact that the traditional book publishing and book selling industry were never easy to work with, she believes that a new Internet bookstore – Amazon.com – will help her to distribute her book nationwide.
It turns out to be the right decision. Amazon exceeds Hausmann’s expectations by offering amazing marketing tools previously reserved for authors whose books made the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today, free of charge.
Not surprisingly, Hausmann becomes a fan of Jeff Bezos and Amazon.
But, struck by a personal tragedy, Hausmann must put her publisher’s ambitions on hold. She starts working in the transportation industry, where she does well.
A few years later, she is back at Amazon, as the author of award-winning books and a well-ranked top reviewer.
When Amazon’s publishing platform experiences “issues” – fake reviews, plagiarism, "book-stuffing"- scams, and more – Hausmann holds on to her belief that Amazon is a highly efficient organization. She assumes that the company focuses on their big and expensive products instead of relatively cheap ebooks.
Irritated with President Trump’s economic policies and worried about the potential of a recession, Hausmann is happy to find out that Amazon opened a distribution center in her hometown and starts working there.
However, to her utter surprise, she cannot find any applications of Jeff Bezos’ famous leadership principles or his “Day 1”-philosophy. At times, working at the warehouse feels like working for a brand-new start-up.
Things get worse during the Christmas Peak Season.
By the time the Covid-crisis hits, Hausmann knows that the “issues” she sees are systemic but can no longer leave her job. A different kind of recession than the one she worried about has arrived.
Gisela Hausmann ends up working for Amazon Logistics for 468 days.
This is her 23-year story.
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Published May 1, 2021
1 person is currently reading
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About the author
Gisela Hausmann
42 books368 followersGisela Hausmann is a 29 yr. self-publishing industry veteran, an email evangelist and a top reviewer.
Her work has been featured in regional, national, and international publications including Success magazine (print) and Entrepreneur, on Bloomberg, The Innovation Show - a show for Square Pegs in Round Holes, "The Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling"-podcast, and Austria's Der Standard and Das Wirtschaftsblatt. Gisela is a graduate of the University of Vienna, Austria.
A unique mixture of wild risk-taker and careful planner, she globe-trotted almost 100,000 kilometers on three continents, including to the locations of her favorite books: Doctor Zhivago’s Russia, Heinrich Harrer’s Tibet, and Genghis Khan’s Mongolia.
Her motto:
"Don't wait. The time will never be just right."-Napoleon Hill
For more information about the author please visit her website at www.GiselaHausmann.com
Her work has been featured in regional, national, and international publications including Success magazine (print) and Entrepreneur, on Bloomberg, The Innovation Show - a show for Square Pegs in Round Holes, "The Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling"-podcast, and Austria's Der Standard and Das Wirtschaftsblatt. Gisela is a graduate of the University of Vienna, Austria.
A unique mixture of wild risk-taker and careful planner, she globe-trotted almost 100,000 kilometers on three continents, including to the locations of her favorite books: Doctor Zhivago’s Russia, Heinrich Harrer’s Tibet, and Genghis Khan’s Mongolia.
Her motto:
"Don't wait. The time will never be just right."-Napoleon Hill
For more information about the author please visit her website at www.GiselaHausmann.com
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 6, 2022
I have mixed feelings about this book. Both good and somewhat bad.
On the good side, I admire the author for her resilience. And for her easy readable writing style. She is obviously an intelligent, thoughtful, and dedicated person.
On the downside. She comes across as a bit of a downer. You know, that one employee who always thinks they are smarter than everyone else, the one who is always complaining about the work yet cannot fathom why they do not get promoted.
It's been well established that Amazon warehouses are the modern day equivalents of the old fashioned sweatshops. You go in, you work like a dog, and you go home. Not something one would want to make a career out of. Perhaps an entry-level job, or a second job to make some extra cash. No one wants to spend 30 or more years standing on their feet sorting packages!
While I admire the author for trying to suggest improvements, it's the manner she went about it that was the problem. I know that in my career supervising many people, I would dread it when that one know-it-all employee would be constantly complaining to me. Or about me.
I just don't know. On the one hand, I understand her points. The workplace could, and should, be improved. Always. On the other hand, it was just her manner that soured me on her. In the end, I think she found herself in a position that she was overqualified for, and it irked her that she could not get promoted up the ladder. Perhaps she could use some training in inter-personal skills.
All in all, it was an informative read. A good look behind the curtain at the behemoth that has become Amazon.
On the good side, I admire the author for her resilience. And for her easy readable writing style. She is obviously an intelligent, thoughtful, and dedicated person.
On the downside. She comes across as a bit of a downer. You know, that one employee who always thinks they are smarter than everyone else, the one who is always complaining about the work yet cannot fathom why they do not get promoted.
It's been well established that Amazon warehouses are the modern day equivalents of the old fashioned sweatshops. You go in, you work like a dog, and you go home. Not something one would want to make a career out of. Perhaps an entry-level job, or a second job to make some extra cash. No one wants to spend 30 or more years standing on their feet sorting packages!
While I admire the author for trying to suggest improvements, it's the manner she went about it that was the problem. I know that in my career supervising many people, I would dread it when that one know-it-all employee would be constantly complaining to me. Or about me.
I just don't know. On the one hand, I understand her points. The workplace could, and should, be improved. Always. On the other hand, it was just her manner that soured me on her. In the end, I think she found herself in a position that she was overqualified for, and it irked her that she could not get promoted up the ladder. Perhaps she could use some training in inter-personal skills.
All in all, it was an informative read. A good look behind the curtain at the behemoth that has become Amazon.
May 13, 2021
“Inside Amazon: My Story” by Gisela Hausmann is a thought-provoking, eye-opening memoir by a woman who admired Amazon during her many years of experience with the company. That seems to have changed with the unbelievable things the company is doing, which are described in this book. The author went from a woman who appreciated the company for the ground breaking platform for self-publishing, to a woman who was fed up with the mismanagement of the safety of workers in the name of profit. I could not believe how she was overlooked several times for promotions even though she often offered suggestions for improvement to help the company. The author offers several reasons for why the company has a very high turnover rate for employees. The book really opened my eyes to a company that could do so much more for employees but fails to do so continuously. Also, examples are given for why customers do not actually come first. This can be seen during a search for products on the website. Sponsored products are shown first and often do not even pertain to the desired product. This also is concerning for authors who publish on the platform. Sponsored products will take precedence over authors' hard work of promoting their author brands. Examples of this can be found within the book as well as the resources provided at the back of the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who orders or who has ordered from the company, as well as all authors who use the platform for publishing. Anyone who is concerned about the environment will also find this book eye-opening. The book really makes one think about supporting a company that appears to only care about profit. Disclosure: I received a copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.
April 23, 2022
This is certainly informative enough re the topic(s) of some aspects of publishing a book, & working conditions inside an amazon warehouse. The author is quite detail oriented, & yet has made this a readable format, even though filled with a lot of numbers & statistics. I guess I'm not any surprised at anything I read. The book isn't really 'bragging' about amazon, nor is it 'trashing' amazon.......it's just telling 'this is what it is'..... it offers a window of sorts, inside the amazon machine. Reading this didn't change my opinion of amazon.
I received a complimentary e-copy of the book from Educ-Easy Books via NetGalley, in return for reading it & posting my own fair/honest review.
I received a complimentary e-copy of the book from Educ-Easy Books via NetGalley, in return for reading it & posting my own fair/honest review.
June 6, 2021
Few people can match the breadth and depth of experience of Gisela Hausmann in the area of book publishing as well as dealing with Amazon. She has extensive business and managerial experience outside of Amazon and her experience with Amazon began before the year 2000, when Amazon was still a fledgling company where many people questioned its survivability. The capstone of her experience with Amazon was her working in an Amazon warehouse. It was here that she was exposed to many of the ways that Amazon actually functions at the worker bee level.
My experience with Amazon also dates back to before the year 2000. At the time, I was the book reviews editor for “Journal of Recreational” and my first interaction with Amazon was when an author asked me to post my review on the Amazon site. I was hooked and at one point was briefly ranked number 48 in their top reviewer list before it became popular. I have also sold books on their site since the early 2000’s. For these reasons, I also have a lot of experience in dealing with Amazon.
Therefore, there were some things mentioned in this book that I already knew. For example, as a follower of employment issues, I knew that Amazon treats their warehouse workers as automatons. Their work can be described by the phrase, “Grab next object, move it from here to there, repeat as quickly as possible.” Amazon does not offer their workers even the smallest of perks if they do not have to.
Yet, I was surprised at how much I learned from reading this book. Hausmann is an excellent expository writer, and she gives enough of her history, so the reader understands her perspective when she walks into her job at Amazon. I have had both positive and negative experiences with Amazon and now I understand many of the reasons for that.
In the final analysis, there is one thing that Amazon is an expert at, avoiding a federal tax bill and getting massive state and local subsidies. Hausmann provides some explanations as to the mechanisms employed by the Amazon executives to achieve this goal. Especially striking is how Amazon hired more workers during the pandemic so that they could achieve tax savings. The executives at Amazon even manipulated this into their advantage.
Whatever you think of Amazon now, that will change when you read this book.
My experience with Amazon also dates back to before the year 2000. At the time, I was the book reviews editor for “Journal of Recreational” and my first interaction with Amazon was when an author asked me to post my review on the Amazon site. I was hooked and at one point was briefly ranked number 48 in their top reviewer list before it became popular. I have also sold books on their site since the early 2000’s. For these reasons, I also have a lot of experience in dealing with Amazon.
Therefore, there were some things mentioned in this book that I already knew. For example, as a follower of employment issues, I knew that Amazon treats their warehouse workers as automatons. Their work can be described by the phrase, “Grab next object, move it from here to there, repeat as quickly as possible.” Amazon does not offer their workers even the smallest of perks if they do not have to.
Yet, I was surprised at how much I learned from reading this book. Hausmann is an excellent expository writer, and she gives enough of her history, so the reader understands her perspective when she walks into her job at Amazon. I have had both positive and negative experiences with Amazon and now I understand many of the reasons for that.
In the final analysis, there is one thing that Amazon is an expert at, avoiding a federal tax bill and getting massive state and local subsidies. Hausmann provides some explanations as to the mechanisms employed by the Amazon executives to achieve this goal. Especially striking is how Amazon hired more workers during the pandemic so that they could achieve tax savings. The executives at Amazon even manipulated this into their advantage.
Whatever you think of Amazon now, that will change when you read this book.
June 7, 2021
Another insightful book by Gisela Haussmann.
Amazon is a giant, no doubt about it. I am disheartened to learn how they treat their employees.
As an indie author, I’m always trying to figure out their algorithms. Admittedly, some of this book seemed repetitive, but that’s probably because some of the technical jargon is beyond my grasp. I though this book would be more about the consumer side, but instead of being let down, I was engrossed with the inner workings of Amazon.
My takeaways: Amazon has a chance of being one of the most desired places in which to work, but there’s no incentive because all of us sheep use them because they’re the path of least resistance. (Case in point. I’m guilty of ordering those heavy cat litters. Walmart or Amazon, whoever has the cheapest price. I thought I was being smart by ordering the kind that comes in 4-6 individually wrapped bags. Delivery person brings to me, I open and carry one or two at a time to save MY back. I never stopped to think a person was at a warehouse chugging that bundle, and doing it at breakneck speed to keep their job.)
The other takeaway is I’m glad author Hausmann has such a good friend and great listener from Vienna. Good advice is hard to come by, but Hausmann passes it on to readers as she sees it, and there are always golden nuggets.
Amazon is a giant, no doubt about it. I am disheartened to learn how they treat their employees.
As an indie author, I’m always trying to figure out their algorithms. Admittedly, some of this book seemed repetitive, but that’s probably because some of the technical jargon is beyond my grasp. I though this book would be more about the consumer side, but instead of being let down, I was engrossed with the inner workings of Amazon.
My takeaways: Amazon has a chance of being one of the most desired places in which to work, but there’s no incentive because all of us sheep use them because they’re the path of least resistance. (Case in point. I’m guilty of ordering those heavy cat litters. Walmart or Amazon, whoever has the cheapest price. I thought I was being smart by ordering the kind that comes in 4-6 individually wrapped bags. Delivery person brings to me, I open and carry one or two at a time to save MY back. I never stopped to think a person was at a warehouse chugging that bundle, and doing it at breakneck speed to keep their job.)
The other takeaway is I’m glad author Hausmann has such a good friend and great listener from Vienna. Good advice is hard to come by, but Hausmann passes it on to readers as she sees it, and there are always golden nuggets.
December 17, 2021
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book wasn't quite what I expected.
While I absolutely respect Hausmann's experience, I was also surprised by this book. As someone who lives in the Pacific Northwest and has had their fair share of Amazon experiences this book felt like sucking up to Jeff Bezos.
I enjoyed reading about Hausmann's experience as a fledgling author trying to get her book noticed when the internet was still new. The book takes a sharp turn when Hausmann starts working in the warehouse. To me the book comes off as Hausmann believes she was so smart and such a great employee and the best worker and just couldn't understand why she wasn't getting promoted despite all her knowledge. This assumption makes less sense when you look at it from the perspective of it's not that decision makers don't know what's going on in the warehouses, but they just don't care. Hausmann applauds Amazon at times and shockingly says that the conditions that people work in are fine, despite the recent deaths of several Amazon warehouse employees and terrible experiences we know are real. Hausmann goes so far to even not that she doesn't see the reason to go to the bathroom during her shift, which is a very pro-Amazon take that doesn't account for the reality that workers are humans that should be able to go to the bathroom. It's an especially confusing take because Hausmann also notes that she didn't want to do overtime when asked because of the conditions of said overtime. Also a very petty peeve is she refers to the bookstore in Portland as Powell instead of Powell's which jumped out at me as an odd mistake for someone who spent so much time talking about the importance of branding and professionalism and doing everything the best you can.
I recognize I'm probably not the demographic for this book and it wasn't for me.
This book wasn't quite what I expected.
While I absolutely respect Hausmann's experience, I was also surprised by this book. As someone who lives in the Pacific Northwest and has had their fair share of Amazon experiences this book felt like sucking up to Jeff Bezos.
I enjoyed reading about Hausmann's experience as a fledgling author trying to get her book noticed when the internet was still new. The book takes a sharp turn when Hausmann starts working in the warehouse. To me the book comes off as Hausmann believes she was so smart and such a great employee and the best worker and just couldn't understand why she wasn't getting promoted despite all her knowledge. This assumption makes less sense when you look at it from the perspective of it's not that decision makers don't know what's going on in the warehouses, but they just don't care. Hausmann applauds Amazon at times and shockingly says that the conditions that people work in are fine, despite the recent deaths of several Amazon warehouse employees and terrible experiences we know are real. Hausmann goes so far to even not that she doesn't see the reason to go to the bathroom during her shift, which is a very pro-Amazon take that doesn't account for the reality that workers are humans that should be able to go to the bathroom. It's an especially confusing take because Hausmann also notes that she didn't want to do overtime when asked because of the conditions of said overtime. Also a very petty peeve is she refers to the bookstore in Portland as Powell instead of Powell's which jumped out at me as an odd mistake for someone who spent so much time talking about the importance of branding and professionalism and doing everything the best you can.
I recognize I'm probably not the demographic for this book and it wasn't for me.
January 19, 2022
Almost finished. Review and rating to come soon but wanted to be sure it was included in my Reading Challenge total. :-)
July 6, 2021
I can appreciate Hausmann’s frustration. Some parts of this book were interesting, but I couldn’t quite picture the logistics procedures she was describing. Not a great read but it’s good to get the truth out. Most large corporations have no clue what happens on the front lines and Amazon is no exception. I’ve been disheartened to hear through the years how badly Amazon treats its employees. Hausmann also says they don’t care about efficiency and they’re cheap. Amazon can afford to pay their employees well and provide benefits. They should set an example by being one of the best employers. They should also have better training and be more efficient. I hope they work on improving as a company.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews