A few weeks ago, I noticed that not all of my eight books
were showing up on my Author's Page. Things occasionally go wonky in the tech world,
so I let it go.
Then a few days ago I noticed that it had gotten much worse.
Maybe three books would show up across the banner on my Author’s Page. Below that, where all my books had previously
been listed, only one or two were visible. This was not good.
I wrote to Amazon Author Central, the department in charge, expecting to hear back that it was all down to a slight technical problem. This was their devastating reply.
***
Greetings from the Author Central team!
Please note that that is no mistake or error. It is a new design of Author
Pages which our developers made called Top Picks (which changes from customer
to customer-including yourself- and it will change constantly based on your
shopping behaviors and each customer's shopping behaviors).
The Top Picks feature allows Amazon customers to see personalized
recommendations from your catalog of books. Customers will see this on your
Author Page and it will suggest books based on these traits:
• New releases and pre-order books matching their interest.
• Unread books from a series they started.
• The customer’s reading and purchase history.
The goal is to help them find more books they want to read from you. Each
customer will have a different recommendation, including you, if you’re logged
into your Amazon account.
Author Pages currently support the “Top Picks” feature in the US and UK
marketplaces.
Since this feature is updated based on customer shopping habits and changes
frequently to reflect current buying patterns, I'm not able to modify it.
While changes to the feature are not possible, I hope this information better
explains the way the feature works on our website.
Thank you for using Amazon Author Central”
***
Were I some controversial,
well-known author, this would not be a surprise. Amazon has been playing around
with such authors for a few years now. But I am not famous. Added to that,
there is not one controversial topic in any of my fiction writing. True, my
blog posts might possibly be a bit more on the provocative meter, but no one
really reads my essays. I’m lucky if one hundred people a week dip into my
blog.
Most alarming is
that Amazon is now deciding which books a person should read based on “their
shopping behaviors”. Even if one is not logged into their Amazon account, the
wizards at the company feel they can mind-read a computer and only show certain
books.
I checked popular
authors who write in one genre. All their books are listed. I write across
several genres so I presume Amazon feels that if someone pulls up one of my mysteries,
they could not possibly be interested in my thrillers, literary fiction, or anything
else.
Even more alarming
is that my one and only Paranormal Romance seems to pop up as my only book more
often than not. The Curse Breaker of Cairo is my only naughty
book and there will never be another. I am quite happy with the tale, but I do not
ever promote it to anyone.
I am at a total
loss for how to proceed. It is true that I have not yet been able to fully
support myself with book sales, but I have never lost hope that one day it will
happen. I spend hours and hours writing, working on my Amazon Author’s Page,
and blog. I’m not sitting around eating bon bons and waiting to be discovered
for a book I wrote years ago. But now that Amazon has decided to basically
eliminate half, to 90%, of my books that a prospective reader might see, what is the point
of it all?
No longer can I
pass out a business card and tell people that they can see all my books on
Amazon. They can’t. I have lost prospective customers before even given a
chance.
Today I went back
on Public Square
to try and figure out how to best use their service as a
platform for my books. It’s a bit confusing, and not really geared toward
authors, but it remains my only hope at this point. Possibly I can start an Independent
Author trend on Public Square. It’s a thought.
Meanwhile, I will
continue to write and try not to feel so bummed by the latest tech trend. I am certainly
not the first author to be silenced.
Power to the Indy
writers out there!
******************
25 Oct update:
I sent the above
listed concerns to Amazon Central. The reply is below. Takeaway: Authors and
readers do have input. Any concerns about the current “Top Picks Feature”,
should be addressed to Amazon. It might just be possible to get rid of this
crazy feature.
“Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts about
"The Top Picks feature". Customer feedback like yours is very
important to helping us continue to improve our products and services. From
time to time, we test both new and existing features to determine which
features or services provide a great customer experience.
We’re unable to provide information about future plans but we will consider
this as feedback and pass on to business team.
I appreciate your thoughts and will be sure to pass your suggestion along.
Thank you for using Amazon Author Central,
Your feedback helps us improve our service.”
***
26 Oct Update:
My Author's Page is back to normal! I still cannot believe it and check several times a day to make sure I'm not imagining it.
Could it be that a non-famous author wrote to Amazon Author Central, and they actually took my concerns seriously? Whatever happened, I am extremely greatful.
