Love Amazon

by Contributing Editor, Caroline Howard-Johnson Poet, Author of Fiction and Nonfiction

It’s not something we usually think about when we take our first writing class or write our first novel, but the day will probably come when your first published book will need to be issued as a second edition.

Or you’ll at least learn to love Amazon enough to know how to partner with that super-hero of book sales—that veritable selling machine—to sell your book and to help you grow your writing career forever after.

You do know that they sell 50% of all paper books worldwide, don’t you?

To use them effectively, you’ll need to know how to get around some of their obstruse rules right now, no matter where your writing process is in this moment.

You need to learn how to position your book in its powerful search engine using categories, how to get and manage the reviews your book will accrue on Amazon.

Right now, one of the most important features they offer (and don’t offer!) are on my mind because I just published the winningest book in my #HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books, The Frugal Editor and am once again learning in this “relaunch” what they do to help, what they have changed since I last published, and what they won’t do.

When I was publishing the second edition of the flagship book in my HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter. (It is now in its third edition published by Modern History Press, too. When I published it the first and second time I was…and sometimes still am…proudly an indie publisher!), I learned that Amazon will not let authors or publishers delete earlier paper editions of books from their buy pages.

It is part of their business model to keep out-of-print books available for a variety of reasons; old editions sold through a third parties (like secondhand bookstores) is an additional income stream for them and is an inclusive way for frugal readers to access books.

That was when I was told from even trustworthy professionals that I could forget the idea of saving my precious readers from buying a hopelessly outdated first edition and that writers can’t even access someone at Amazon to talk to.

That’s untrue.

It takes some poking around on a feature just for authors formerly called AuthorConnect, now called AuthorCentral.com.

Though I didn’t get what I wanted every time I used it, this persistent soul (me!) did get some help for my new second edition.

This is the story I posted on Facebook:

“I just had the nicest telephone conversation with Amazon’s Author Central, today. I had tried to get the old edition of my The Frugal Book Promoter removed from Amazon via e-mail, but I figured talking to a real person couldn’t hurt.

So the conversation goes like this: ME: “I understand I can’t have the first edition of my multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter removed from Amazon even though it’s outdated—by about a decade—but I heard through the rumor mill that you don’t do that.”

DANA THE WONDERFUL (At Amazon!): “You know what I can do for you?”

ME: “Ahhh. A guessing game.”

DANA THE WONDERFUL: “Yes, our policy has changed. But now I can put a widget on your first edition’s buy page that encourages anyone who lands there to go to your new edition.”

ME: “Really? I didn’t have to ask? Then some chitchat including thankyous as she works. Then some magic words! “Too bad we can’t just hide the old edition and get all 128 of the old reviews transferred to the multi award-winning second edition!”

DANA THE WONDERFUL: “Oh, we can get the reviews moved for you!” Typing noises. “It may take 72 hours for that to happen, but it’s done.” (Were “multi award-winning” the magic words?)”

ME: “Really?”

DANA THE WONDERFUL: “Really.”

ME: “And the Widget?”

DANA THE WONDERFUL: “Both. Done. All you have to do is wait a bit.”

ME: “Happy Dance. Huge Thankyous.”

I have to suppose that many of you have found access to a real Amazon voice and figured out what is available in this moment.

I would encourage her (and you!) not to get so excited you forget to ask, “Is there anything else I need to know?”

Hint: They will no longer move your reviews from an earlier edition to your new one.

Soooo disappointing!

But you can contact reviewers from those pages and ask them to copy and paste them—perhaps with an additional comment about the new edition—to your new edition page!

It isn’t easy, but you will find it more productive than starting to get your reviews from scratch.

I got four for the new edition of the The Frugal Editor in just a few days with more promised.

That’s a huge percentage more than you’re likely to get by requesting them from your following at Goodreads.com.

About Caroline Howard-Johnson

Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program.

All her books for writers are multi award winners including both the first and second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and her multi award-winning The Frugal Editor won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award.

Please help celebrate the release of the 3rd edition of the Winningest Book in Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s “HowToDoItFrugally” Series of books, “The Frugal Editor”!

NOW IN RELEASE ON AMAZON from MODERN HISTORY PRESS

ADVANCE PRAISE
“…The Frugal Editor is part reference guide, part do-it-yourself editing manual, part masterclass on the writing and publishing industry…and all with Carolyn’s signature humor and encouraging energy! She is a master at simplifying overwhelming tasks into relevant, can-do information…” -Dallas Woodburn, best-selling author and book coach

Cover by Doug West
Headshot by Uriah Carr