The Pros and Cons of Amazon.com

Many people ask about the advantages and dis-advantages of having their books listed on Amazon.com. Here are some considerations on the subject:


• Millions of people visit Amazon.com each month.

• Most of these people will not know about your book, unless YOU tell them.

• Authors and publishers make less money for books sold through Amazon.com.

• How much less? Amazon takes 55% of the selling price of books that most small publishers and self-published authors place on Amazon.com.

• Every book listed on Amazon.com has to "battle for ranking" in their respective area of interest. What does this mean? It means that the books that show up as featured books and are listed first must PAY to be listed prominently. Either the author pays (in the form of dramatically lowered royalties) or the publisher pays (in the form of dramatically lowered profit margins). These payments further reduce the amount of earnings that an author or publisher receives when selling through Amazon.

• We-Publish.com has listed authors’ books on Amazon.com for 3 years and found the following to be true…

       o Less than 10% of books sold by We-Publish authors have been sold from Amazon.com

• Because of this, We-Publish has decided to stop listing books on Amazon.com and INCREASE 30% royalties paid to authors.

• If an author wishes to have their book listed on Amazon.com they can do so, on their own, by going to:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/partners/direct/advantage-for-books.html/104-3537059-8777561


• This change in listing policy is effective Wednesday, June 09, 2004