Please visit my publisher's site at http://www.downwarden.com/BlackBedSheet for complete and accurate information concerning all my titles including reviews.
****Update 7-6-2012 As I previously stated, it was clear Author Central "read" my concerns and responded because I noticed that, all of a sudden, the most recently published books showed up when one sorted on publications as opposed to those books not showing up at all with only out of print editions being viewable. I couldn't wait to read the delightful response Amazon must have for me. Well here it is:
Hello Sue,
I've looked at the Sue Dent Author Page and you are indeed right in saying that the Author Page isn't showing the correct Black Bed Sheet Books edition for both the books. I'm sorry about this.
I've corrected the problem, and the Black Bed Sheet Books edition shall show up on the Author Page in 2-3 business days. We appreciate your patience in this matter. I'll monitor these changes to ensure they appear on time and will contact you if there's any delay.
If you'd like to update the cover images for the older editions with the Black Bed Sheet Books cover image, please let us know here https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us
Aw, they called me Sue and said I was right! Imagine that! I know more about my books than they do. Go figure! So they fixed ONE of the issues and have yet to address the other issues. They've made it possible for a customer to sort on popular. This is a bit of a ridiculous premise to begin with as everything under the sun is sorted EXCEPT popular books for that author. Also you may sort from high to low pricing of an "authors" book or low to high which again seems mindless as "again" everything in the world shows up. On my Author Central page the only books I have that are published and in print didn't show up at all until I pinged Amazon to ask if that's what they meant to happen when they added that sort to the Author Central page.
Bottom line, Amazon's Author Central isn't anything but a retailers ploy to get authors to send their readers to their site to possibly purchase books. I must say though, Amazon seems to be working harder to "fix" things that are screwed up when those things are brought to their attention. However they do little to ensure accurate information is available. In fact, they don't care at all about accurate information. They're primary goal is to sell books period. BUT that's pretty much true of all retailers.
****Update 7-6-2012 Mid-morning: I asked Amazon's Author Central why the most recent publication didn't even show up but rather the out of print book. They've not responded to my email . . . yet. But did seem to miraculously "fix" that on my Author Central Page. What remains to be fixed is having out of print books (that only Amazon makes money on and not necessarily the author or publisher, in fact rarely the author or publisher) showing up when they aren't in fact the most popular and I can prove this in one instance. Also sorting by highest and lowest price never, ever, ever, ever shows the most recently published books. What is that about?
While Amazon's Author Central proposes to be a tool for "helping" authors it falls miserably flat in this department because an author/publisher actually has very limited control over the content. In this particular instance I'm referring to books that show up on the Author's Page that one can sort by. You can choose "popular," Highest Price first, Lowest Price first etc . . . In the instance of my books the CURRENTLY published titles, the only ones my publisher and I make money off of NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER show up no matter WHAT option you choose. Not even most recently published. Way to go Amazon!
Basically an author may mark the EXACT books listed on Amazon that belong to them but that doesn't mean those are the books that will display on one's Author Central page. For those of us who have had several publishers go under and have several editions of one book out there, control of what shows up on our page is IMPORTANT!!!
When I went to my page today, two of my newest releases weren't even showing up but rather two titles that are no longer in print or rather two books I'd NOT selected as belonging to me and books I make no money off of. I queried Amazon to see what could be done about this. Here's the response I received:
"Due to recent design changes in our search features, titles on Author Pages are now sorted by popularity."
Since my first publisher liquidated over 4000 copies of my debut novel before they went under, there are tons of this title available for as little as .01 cent. I'm fairly certain a book that sells for .01 cent is going to be more popular than one that sells a little below retail meaning the books showing when someone searches on "Sue Dent" are titles that are out of print and no longer available for sale as new.
Just keep in mind, as most readers do, a Publisher/Author has very limited control over the content on Amazon's Author Central. Amazon controls it for the most part with little to no regard to the author/publisher. The reason these books are allowed to show up is because Amazon is a retail site! DUH! It isn't hurting them if the out of print books show up on an author's page. They still make money . . . at an author/publisher's expense.
Given that Amazon can make it affordable for readers to purchase an author's/publisher's books in all countries, all authors/publishers have to tolerate them. UGH!
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