Any author who has e-books in Amazon will
have experienced it at least once. A returned e-book. I don’t have a major
gripe with this as I expect there will be those occasions someone hits the
wrong button (the one click buy is very simple after all) and buys a book they
didn’t mean to. What I do have a problem with is the people clearly using the
system. The ones that buy a book in a series, read it, return it then proceed
to do the same for the next book. They’re fairly easy to spot if you check your
sales daily, there’s a day or two in between and suddenly a return and it
continues that way till they’ve finished the series.
have experienced it at least once. A returned e-book. I don’t have a major
gripe with this as I expect there will be those occasions someone hits the
wrong button (the one click buy is very simple after all) and buys a book they
didn’t mean to. What I do have a problem with is the people clearly using the
system. The ones that buy a book in a series, read it, return it then proceed
to do the same for the next book. They’re fairly easy to spot if you check your
sales daily, there’s a day or two in between and suddenly a return and it
continues that way till they’ve finished the series.
I don’t like that. Amazon might as well be
supporting pirating of e-books with that sort of reader. I mean, I can’t buy a
new book from my local book store, read it then march back and return it for
the next in the series. That’s what libraries are for (and yes, my e-books are
available in libraries via Smashwords distribution).
supporting pirating of e-books with that sort of reader. I mean, I can’t buy a
new book from my local book store, read it then march back and return it for
the next in the series. That’s what libraries are for (and yes, my e-books are
available in libraries via Smashwords distribution).
However, it has occurred to me since
observing the pages-read numbers of my trilogy for the last month, that Amazon
could monitor this.
observing the pages-read numbers of my trilogy for the last month, that Amazon
could monitor this.
For any book purchased you can’t return it
once you hit the 10% mark. Really, that’s what the sample is for but many
people don’t make the effort to read the sample. I think that should be
encouraged just a tad more.
once you hit the 10% mark. Really, that’s what the sample is for but many
people don’t make the effort to read the sample. I think that should be
encouraged just a tad more.
Seems pretty simple to me, and with
Amazon’s new page monitoring system I don’t see how this couldn’t be possible.
Amazon’s new page monitoring system I don’t see how this couldn’t be possible.
That's a good idea and Amazon could do it easily.
A couple of months ago, I noticed that a book title would be bought and then returned in the hour: one right after another until all my 30 books had been bought and returned. ??? It irritated me. It got me to wondering if our books could be copied and sold under another day in another country. Something must have happened for now my book sales have all but dried up. 🙁 Thanks for dropping by my blog today. 🙂
My books are pirated on various torrent sites. It's an unpleasent part of digital publishing. Good luck with your sales, hope they lift!