Nothing says “I love you” quite as much as readers bullying authors using one of Amazon’s shitty tools to do it.
I am exhausted.
A few times a week, as of late, I get this lovely notice. “One or more of your books has quality items that need to be addressed.”
Ignoring the twitch-inducing grammatical structure of the notice’s statement, let’s go into what happens when you see this warning.
Anxiety. It begins with a chill for me, one that starts in the spine and spreads elsewhere. I know when I click, I will see the ‘quality warning’ banner. There is always a quality warning banner. It doesn’t matter if your error rate is 1 in 10,000 words or 1 in 1,000 words. There is always a banner. If you drop below 1 in 5,000 words, it’s not a quality warning. It’s suppression. (Removal from sale.)
Amazon has put the power over publication in the hands of unhappy readers.
If I don’t do what Amazon says, I’m penalized. If I don’t agree with a change, I have to literally write them a letter over every rejection justifying why I won’t do as this reader says.
Yes, I literally have to justify my creative choices in my book.
If a reader doesn’t like it, it is on me, the creator, to justify why I shouldn’t change my book to a reader’s recommendation.
I did not sign up for this.
Readers also didn’t sign up for this.
If I have asked you to proofread for me, you signed a legally binding contract to not discuss the book you received with anyone until after publication.
If you have not received the NDA, you have not been invited to proofread for me. Period.
I leave a form on my site as a courtesy. I don’t like errors. I like fixing them.
I do not appreciate fixing errors at someone else’s ‘guidance’ when they were not hired/contracted/requested.
The author to reader contract is simple. You give me money, I give you a book. That is it, that is all.
If you didn’t like the book, you have the choice to go to a vendor and leave a review trying to convince other customers to not buy the book. (Guess what? That’s what reviews are for, to tell other readers if they should give the book a chance, not to communicate with the author.)
I will say it’s never appreciated when readers do this. Ever. But, that is your choice and right. I definitely don’t appreciate it, nor will I ever.
If you loved the book, you have the choice to go to a vendor and leave a review telling other readers you loved the book.
Authors LOVE when people love their books and take a moment to leave a one liner just telling people they loved the book. (Seriously, they bring joy.) I absolutely do appreciate this, because it is a signal you actually want me to succeed and continue writing books.
Which reminds me… need to talk to Jenny about how to scan for reviews on new titles and share only the positive things with me.
Okay. That’s done.
Yes, yes I did stop working on the post to ask Jenny to do that because I’ve forgotten numerous times so far in the past week. Oy, oy, oy.
This error reporting tool has completely trashed my emotional, mental, and physical health. My anxiety medication can no longer keep up. My blood pressure is spiking to high heaven. I am getting these notices multiple times a week. I’m struggling to find the motivation to do the basics, including eat. Especially eat. I love food, but the idea of investing any effort? More than I want to deal with, frankly.
This is literally killing me from stress.
Release weeks are now my living nightmare. I know, when Silent Stalker releases, the vocal and unhappy minority will speak up the loudest because it isn’t the book they wanted me to write. Someone will find a typo, and they’ll tattle to Amazon. And yes, it is tattling.
Mistakes happen in books because books are written BY HUMANS. There is a literal person behind the keyboard working on that book. A person with feelings. A person who is worn out by the incessant demand for perfection.
Guess what? Perfection costs a lot fucking more than $5.99.
Essentially, when you buy my book, you are paying me $0.019 cents per HOUR of my time. Yes, that is not a typo. You’re paying me just under two pennies an hour for my time. That isn’t including the expenses I dish out.
Writing a book is a labor of love, and the approximate 300 hours I spend per book? My patreons essentially throw many pennies at me so I can feel like I have a ‘job.’ (And it’s hugely appreciated. Hugely.)
But the $5.99 people pay for a book is not an invitation to be a jackass.
Ditch Amazon’s tool. Go into Amazon’s chat and tell them the tool is harmful and leading your favorite authors to quit publishing. Tell them if the tool continues to do so, you’ll just buy books on another vendor or retailer. Tell them it’s not okay for them to act like publishers and editors when they are neither. They’re a VENDOR.
Amazon doesn’t care what authors say. The customer is always right is how they function.
And only when the CUSTOMERS bitch in force will anything change.
Frankly spoken, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but something has to change, because this is literally killing me.
Quitting is always an option, and yeah… no amount of money is worth being the target of bullying. And that’s what this tool is, it’s Amazon-sanctioned bullying.
If you want to tell readers to not buy my books in reviews? Fine. Tell them not to buy my books in reviews. Be that asshole who feels like they must tell everyone why they shouldn’t buy a book. That’s reflective on you and not on me.
But to bring Amazon into it?
That’s just bullying.
Why?
Amazon forces me to shovel out the shit these readers spew.
I can avoid reviews.
I can’t avoid Amazon’s penalties.
But seriously… am I allowed to quit?
Frankly spoken, any job feels like it would be better than being an author in a society where I’m penalizes by a fucking corporation if I have more than one error in every ten thousand words.
And no, I’m not okay.
I’m absolutely not looking forward to Silent Stalker’s release, because readers have taught me this: they absolutely will slam me if their $5.99 doesn’t buy them utter perfection.
If you’re not happy with the book I wrote, please just go write the book you’ll be happy with rather than shit on me because I didn’t write the book you wanted.
If you think you can write a better book, by all that’s sacred, go do it and publish it so people have a great book to read.
Otherwise, maybe keep your vitriol to yourself for a change.
Can you get other authors together and fight back? Assuming you would want to. Also we can get your books on apple and other providers who hopefully don’t do that?
No other vendor excepting Amazon has this practice, so yes, purchasing at any other vendor would work well and be appreciated.
Have your assistant deal with those notes.from amazon. Don’t let it stress you out. No matter what the jerks say, the majority of us love your books and want more.
I cannot. It’s something I must deal with directly. She is not the author, and she can’t make creative decisions on my books.
Tell Amazon to stick their policies where the sun shineth not..they are just a bunch of bullying arseholes. We can buy from another vendor, and will!!
Just kick the whole kit and kaboodle into touch for a while while you recover. Your devoted readers can and will wait for our next fix xx
We love you screw the naysayers. NWe keep buying the books that means we are happy with you. You can never make Amazon happy. They are big business and one of your many boses. If writing is killing you take a break or quit. We shall miss your excellent stories but you happy,health and alive is more important. I have seen errors in many books. People couldn’t read what I wrote due to bad handwriting and I am a horrible speller until spell check came and emails over letter came along. Hang in there. Sherry I love reading but due to arthritis I can no longer hold a bopk.
I really enjoy your books. Discovering you as a new to me author was one of the few not truly awful parts of 2021. I get as many e books as I can from my public library, I rarely buy paper books and it is almost impossible to get e books anywhere besides Amazon especially as I live in Canada. I will go and leave some positive reviews.
Kobo is an amazing book retailer for in Canada, and they have all my titles. They’re a Canadian company.
Done with Amazon. Too bad you can’t have them disable that for your books. I would hate for you to stop writing. I understand if you have to take a break or find a different platform.
I love everything you do, every word to make it to paper is precious to me. Your health and happiness matter more than anything. I wasn’t aware that you sold on Barnes and Nobel also and I will definitely be purchasing from them in the future if you do decide to continue.
Love your books. Hey here’s an idea to all the haters out there – move on. More joy for the rest of us.
For what it’s worth, I did chat up Amazon. Basically was told thank you for your opinion. I really can’t understand why anyone would complain about your stories anyway. Yes there are a few typo’s from time to time. It happens and it’s no big deal. I read one series from KU that not only had typo’s, it had improper sentence structure, improper punctuation, improper time tense, etc. It was a mess. It’s still there in the same exact same format several weeks later. Then again it is KU. All I can really say is if you leave Amazon, I’ll go to one of the other vendors to get your stories. Now I have to leave as my “owner” has decided he wants some playtime.
Doesn’t matter where you sell your books, I’ll buy them and be happy with the book because I love the series’ I follow (which is most of them). Mistakes happen with EVERYONE and if those idiots at Amazon and using the stupid tools are perfect, I’m the queen of the universe.
If you can ignore the jerks, ignore them, if not, know you have many more readers that adore your books and will keep buying pretty much anything you release without bitching but with much love of the stories. I hope release days go better for you.
I would hate to see you quit something you obviously love so much, and it does show in your writing. Dump Amazon – I’ll follow your writing anywhere you choose to go.
Love your books. Gobble them down. I have never read a book without a typo. It’s life! Why must people be a keyboard bully! I for one would be devastated if you stopped writing.
I don’t buy ebooks from Amazon because I don’t like their attitude toward authors. But I have corresponded with other authors who’ve told me that they feel they have to sell on Amazon because it’s the best way for them to make a living. From a reader’s point of view, I’ve missed out bigtime when favourite authors of mine have switched completely to Kindle, and I’ve been cut off at the knees partway through a series, but I’m not prepared to compromise my principles which is why I’ve always bought from Kobo. (I’m in the UK).
You need this aggravation like you need a hole in the head, but I’m guessing it’s the same for you – without Amazon you cannot generate enough income from your books. Please hang in there – you are one of my favourite authors and I hate think how badly all this is affecting your creativity. We are all thinking of you and hope things will get better for you. Much love x
Yeah. So, I like being open about things, but I will, rather than report numbers, I’ll use a percentage.. My tax software makes it fairly easy for me to do this, so give me a moment: (if there’s interest, I can make this into a post later.)
Amazon was 76% of my earnings last year.
If I remove those earnings, assuming nobody jumps to other platforms, I don’t make enough to be above the poverty line for where I live.
I expect MAYBE 10% of people would move away from Amazon. Maybe. So, yeah. I’d fiscally die. I get it. It’s SO frustrating.
Authors are literally trapped in an abusive relationship with Amazon. And it is SO abusive.
Since I heard about this Amazon bullying, I have made it a practice to buy books only from Barnes and Noble. I will only support (knowingly) book sellers that understand the value of artistic freedom. I abhor censorship and LOVE the off button.
This is unacceptable….I have buying paper/trade & hard backs from Amazon since 2008 through my local bookshop…..I have now emailed Amazon with a complaint about this and told them I will now be using Kobo,Alibris/my Deal and Kogan.
Please put your health first….I love your books but health and family is more important.
You are a fun and entertaining author and very appreciated, by a lot of people. Please don’t feel you need to use Amazon if it is bothering your health. We can deal with downloading books from any where you choose.
Just preordered a couple of your books on Barnes and Noble Nook books.
Do other authors have the same vindictive followers that seem to want to hurt you? I have never heard of this behavior before. I am going to order books through Barnes and Noble Nook now.
Yes, this happens to other authors commonly. Even Stephen King has gotten hit with this.
Yes, one author I know has received death threats if they didn’t hurry up and finish a series!!! Death threats! Over a book! People are scum.
You are actually a victim of poor design by Amazon. If you buy an ebook from Amazon and immediately find it does not suit your tastes, you can “return” it to Amazon and request a refund. You must check a box on a lists of reasons for returning book. Things like “ordered by mistake” or “found cheaper price elsewhere”. The closest reason they offer to “does not suit my tastes” is “quality issues”. So you are getting pounded because folks just wanted a refund, not because they actually wanted to pound you. I don’t have a clue how to fix that.
No, these people are using a different tool. It’s independent from the refund system. I hate the refund system, but authors actually never get any feedback regarding the refund. We just have the money taken out of our accounts.
Sometimes, when scrolling through the Amazon pages on my ipad looking for a read, I’ll accidentally put too much pressure on ‘buy now’ and suddenly I’ve ‘bought’ a book I didn’t mean to. I immediately go to the ‘refund page’ and ‘return’ it. I don’t believe it’s ever happened with one of your works, but if it has, I do apologize!
Honestly, I do not mind returns for that reason. It happens. There are an unfortunate number of people who just read the book, return it, read the next book. It’s easy to tell when they do it if you monitor the return stats. You watch them ‘check out’ 1-2 books a day and return them… lol
Your totally justified girlfriend! Give them hell! I love your books, I consider you a guaranteed incredible read and will continue to refer others to your books! I am sorry for the few, the ugly, the diaper rashed! Keep the coming please!
Diaper rashed. Hehehe
That’s a good one.
Keep your chin up.
I’m on an iPhone, I can’t see the chat tool. I absolutely want to tell them to stick proverbial things where the sun don’t shine. Do I need a desktop to access it?
Im buying what I can on apple and authors direct. I wish I could download all my Amazon purchases into my apple library and have done with them.
Sorry they suck.
The rest of us love you.
When my anxiety and depression strike I listen to mood lifting music (that’s different for everyone) and try to list things that have gone well.
No matter how much they try to bring you down, YOU ARE A SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR!
Please don’t forget.
Have an awesome day! Xx
Is it just 1 person doing this? I’ve not read all of your work, but what I’ve read I’ve enjoyed. IMHO you are a very good writer.
Could it be another author trying to ‘get rid of you’?
I have bought all your books from Barnes and noble as well as all the audiobooks. I really don’t like Amazon as they are hard to search for authors and give to much leeway to the reader when our job is to just buy books and some of my books form the have disappeared completely before I could even read them. I love your books even the ones that are in my read once shelf. You are the best find I found during the last year. I hope they stop soon. I wonder if the armchair editors are part of a new job with Amazon? Since they are going after so many authors now
I despise trolls. Does Amazon monitor who is leaving these comments to determine if someone just has it out for you?
I really enjoy your books and would hate it if you quit because someone is just an ass hole (had to make that two words to allow it). But I would understand if you stopped in order to salvage your health. Hopefully venting here at least relieves some of the pressure and anger.
I’m horrified to read about how this is happening. I love your books, and hope you continue. Is there another venue you can go to besides Amazon, if they totally burn you out?
My books are sold on all major ebook retailers, so yeah.
I would be happy to buy e-books from you directly if you want to leave amazon out of it.
I just spent some time on Amazon looking for a way to get in touch with somebody to b1itch. Didn’t find how to do that, but on this page: https://www.aboutamazon.com/impact/empowerment/authors they included this amazingly ironic statement:
Amazon started as a bookstore, and taking care of authors is at the heart of our company. We’re committed to supporting independent authors by helping them find readers and grow their revenues with services like Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP enables authors to self-publish and distribute their books to millions of readers around the world, and earn up to 70% of every sale in royalties.
If you RJB or anyone else, can direct me who to get in touch with, I’ll be more than happy to throw in my support for the authors and request that this tool (what is it, would be helpful in my ‘note’) be at minimum changed, although removed would be better.
Most importantly, take care of yourself. I’d completely miss your stories, but I’d be much sadder if your health suffered.
Yeah, they don’t make it easy to actually CONTACT somebody. (Mainly because they do not care.)
It’s not a straight forward process. I’ll try and give you a step by step. There might be other ways but this is how I found it.
On the main page there should be a link called Customer Service. Click it.
The page that pops up should state Welcome to Amazon Customer Service with several box links below. One of them says eBooks, Prime Videos or Music. Click that.
This page now has several more box links. The top left one should say Kindle eBooks/ Digital content / Comics. Click this.
This takes you to another page with box links. One should say General question about Kindle books / Digital content. Click it
Another box link page. Click the one that says other questions.
This page is general instructions. At the bottom is a link that says I need more help. Click it
You have arrived! This gives you the option of requesting a call or starting a chat session.
I would have just given you a link but it doesn’t seem to work. Good luck. I was basically told thank you for your opinion.
Chat duly chatted to Amazon- they don’t make it easy to report. And I don’t know that it will help, but I hope so. I love your books.
Becky43, can you help me find the chat page or whatever it is?
What I did was click on customer service, then “something else”, then “I need more help”. You will start out with the bot answering, but at one point it asked something about Did I answer or something like that, I typed no and it connected me to (supposedly) a human to chat with. I’m not expecting stellar results as I got a “the correct department will get this and handle it”. But hopefully if enough of us do it, they will do something about it.
Would you be able to tell Amazon to stick it they can’t sell your books anymore? Or would you lose too much money?
I would have to seek out employment in some fashion due to the expense of where I live. 🙁 And moving isn’t an option because my husband has his dream job, and I won’t take that from him. Writing is supposed to be my dream job, but the reality of it is kind of beating it out of me right now.
I still love the WRITING part of it, but… oof.
Is there a petition floating around that addresses this issue? You are not the only author who gets this sort of crap. Amazon really should remember that they started out as a book seller and letting the arm chair editors have creative control is a drain of resources. I’m sure that plenty of authors and their fans would sign a petition that would (hopefully) have more of an impact that individuals voicing their easily ignored opinions.
Yes, there is. It’s on change.org. AJ Sherwood is the coordinator. I am in talks with Amazon trying to resolve some of this garbage through the approved channels, but please do go seek out the petition!
Took me a while to find it on change.org. Here the link to make it easier to find:
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-stop-amazon-s-report-errors-feature-on-books
Thx for the link, just went and signed it…Hope it helps because this is just plain BULLSH#T!!!
I just discovered your books this past November, and only because of a $.99 special on Amazon. NO ONE deserves the nasty comments disguised as critique I read on Amazon. Your books have saved my sanity in a world gone crazy. I ran through Mag. RomComs, then the librarians, then found Royal States, and all the rest. Then I read them all again. Then again. I might be on my 4th binge rotation. You are one of three writers I can do this with. From reading the comment threads, I am not unique. You have an amazing talent and I would hate to see you disappear because of hateful trolls. Keep on keepin’ on. And thank you.
Yeah, I can’t look at Amazon “critiques”, they’re horrible. People are just awful, especially in large numbers.
I’m glad you’ve been enjoying my books! <3
Hi stop selling on Amazon. Getting your books downloaded into my ereader through Amazon is a pain in the ass so I’ve gone back to Barnes & Nobles. I stopped selling on Amazon because they keep upping the rates that they keep, I was going broke…..
Yeah, Amazon is a bad deal for most sellers. Sigh. In the book world, it’s SO hard to get any traction elsewhere, though.
I don’t know of any other author who can make a viable character out of sentient mac and cheese that has a total vocabulary of 3 English words. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read Mag Rom Com, Royal States, zodiac, fox witch, and the librarian books. And you always find a way to work in issues without preaching or some crazy term like perissodactyla. Learning time!
BTW I love this line in Cold Flame:
“But—and this is important, Rachel—this is something you will battle for a long time, and anyone who tells you otherwise knows nothing about trauma, abuse, or mental illness.”
So true….. And so not understood.
Anything by RJ Blain, Susan Copperfield and Trillian Anderson is an auto buy. Pre-order and then squee!!!! when it’s released. I have to not start your books at night because I can’t stop and am very tired for work the next day.
And I totally want a yellow demoness. ?
Okay anything paranormal romance is an auto buy. That’s my genre.
Yep. Only a trauma survivor truly understands that line. Sometimes, writing a book means cutting open a vein and bleeding on the page.
Where do I find Amazon chat? I am ready to go to your aid and complain to amazon.
Someone left directions in the comments, and there is a link to the change.org petition as well!
Thanks
I’m so sorry you’ve been harassed. You are one of my favorite authors! Your stories have helped me keep going during some really hard times. I’m on a really limited budget right now and have been using an older kindle but if I have to but a different device to follow you to another retailer U will. Your health and happiness is important. Just know that your stories and waiting for them are what keep me going most of the time. No pressure!
Switching to Kobo, I will support you there, I adore your stories and it would be awful if you were bullied into quitting.
Hi, i read through the wacky, yet awesomely worldbuilt series starting with bailey the cindercorn. Sorry am a little tired to remember the name of the series. I loved it.
I read a comment from you about please not always saying about the other series it’s nice but it’s no cindercorn. So i read those too. Loved them too.
Now this. Honey, baby, sugarcakes….. Fuck em.
Get someone, maybe a marketing intern, who has to learn to keep up with all the different sites and medias and stuff to handle this. Let them make a report once a week, if you agree, sign off on it, and let it go.
This is like that famous woman who put a dog in a microwave to dry him. These people are not your readers, your fans, your peers, or frankly people who understand basic societal rules.
You can make as many comments as you want to try to curb this behaviour, but it won’t work. I stead find a way around it so you have the least amount of interaction with them.
WE love your books, AWE know when the next is coming out, but still secretly check if the date has changed WITHOUT NAGGING YOU TO HURRY UP.
I’m not going to say that not one of those people has something nice or constructive to say but go about it the wrong way, but that’s why i suggested the intern. You have to pass that part on.
In today’s world the overly criticising of strangers has become normal, so the even more overtly criticising of a person you’ve bought something from is also normal, think about yelp reviews and such.
Well, don’t forget about us, the other side of the coin, i hope you feel better soon.
Kind greetings,
Victoria
this is intended to be a reply to the comment left by
**Victoria
March 26, 2022 at 1:29 pm**
Woot•Woot! YES! ABSOLUTELY!! You hit that one out of the park!!
great comment and insight Victoria!