When my first book was published, I couldn't wait to see it listed on Amazon. In my mind's eye, I imagined the listing and grew excited, but reality was holding back a few disappointments that I wouldn't realize until my journey traveled a bit farther down the Amazon road.
In this video, I share details of that journey and how it drove me to a fork: to Amazon or not to Amazon? That was the question.
Video Transcript:
When my first book got listed on Amazon, I felt like I’d arrived somewhere. I made it. I was a published author. I wanted to scream it out loud. “My book is on Amazon!” I was insufferable about it.
For a few years, the relationship worked fine. I nudged my readers toward leaving reviews, they came through, and eventually I had over fifty 5-star ratings stacked up like little gold trophies. It felt like proof of something — that readers were finding the book, reading it, and actually liking it enough to say so publicly.
Then a big-fish publisher, swallowed my little-fish publisher. Classic business move. Happens every day. Except this time, I was the plankton.
Suddenly my book showed “not available” on Amazon. Not out of print. Not discontinued. Just… gone. Never mind the 500 copies sitting in climate-controlled storage, or the couple hundred more at my office. Amazon didn’t know about those, or didn’t care, and the new publisher shrugged and said they couldn’t access the old accounts. “Sorry, nothing we can do.” Love that sentence. Really rolls off the tongue when it’s not your problem.
So I set up a new seller account. Jumped through the hoops — and Amazon has hoops, my friend — got everything relisted, and then made the mistake of asking a reasonable question: could they transfer my reviews to the new account?
“Sorry, can’t be done. You’ll have to start over.”
Start over? Years of work. Fifty-plus gold star reviews. And they’re telling me to Start. Over.
I sat with that for a minute. Then I got to work.
I built The Author Spot — a place where authors get their own personalized storefront, full control over their listings, and nobody can pull the rug out because a corporate merger happened three states away. Print, ebook, audiobook — all in one place. Reviews intact. Sales automated. The whole thing runs on our own servers, not Amazon’s goodwill.
Was it more work than just re-uploading a book to a marketplace? Obviously. Did I lose time I’ll never get back chasing down the “traditional” route? Absolutely.
But here’s what I didn’t lose: my reviews, my readers, or my sanity. Two out of three would’ve been fine, honestly.
I tried playing by Amazon’s rules, and I paid the price. Now I make the rules, and my 5-star reviews are right where I left them.
Subscribe if any of that sounds useful. New content is on the way, and we’re just getting started.
Turns out the best thing Amazon ever did for me was let me down.
Until next time my friends, and as we like to say at The Author Spot, “Go on and write, we’ll handle the tech.”
“Till next time – TJ
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TJ Culler is an author, reader, and an adventurist. She loves working at The Author Spot as an Author Platform Specialist. Her hobbies include hiking, camping, and driving her Jeep in the great outdoors. After publishing her first book in 2017, TJ discovered what a daunting task an author platform really was. She now dedicates her time to helping authors, like herself, who struggle with technology. |
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