tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post6416799625775679326..comments2024-03-18T22:39:50.137-07:00Comments on A Kindle World blog: Kindle news: Amazon now -heavily- discouraging focused website promotion of free Kindle books. Possible reasons? Update2Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-57232914700952821782013-02-26T19:39:29.526-08:002013-02-26T19:39:29.526-08:00Rosemary and Scott, agree! I love the analogy.Rosemary and Scott, agree! I love the analogy.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-5370470055982310192013-02-26T19:37:08.762-08:002013-02-26T19:37:08.762-08:00Gary, I need to make one thing clearer on what I w...Gary, I need to make one thing clearer on what I was saying.<br /> I said affiliates don't get credits for free-book orders and they count 'for nothing,' but by that I meant there is no *revenue*-credit. <br /><br /> Starting in March, a free-book order and download (much more high-volume than any paid books, even cheaper ones) will be counted -- for checking the 20,000 max per month and to make sure it's no more than 79% of all Kindle books ordered that month from that site. <br /><br /> There is also the first condition re Amazon determining that a site primarily promotes free Kindle books. <br /><br /> Clearly that's not a determination to be made of Squidoo, someone else pointed out, because while their free-book volume will be huge in downloads and percentages of Kindle books, the site itself is not one which primarily promotes free Kindle books... <br /><br /> The older Kindles have ONLY 3G and it wouldn't be good for Amazon's issue to not allow the older-Kindle owners to download free books on 3G.<br /><br />Again, there really is no commission reimbursement at all for free-book orders and downloads so 10 cents would raise Amazon's cost...<br /><br />It's a very confusing situation though, for sure.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-69443305265377039472013-02-26T17:07:51.880-08:002013-02-26T17:07:51.880-08:00Thank you!
I use affiliate links when I talk abou...Thank you!<br /><br />I use affiliate links when I talk about books or movies (or whatever) on my blog. Sometimes I sell unrelated things because they click through, so that makes sense. <br /><br />If Amazon doesn't want people coming for the free books then they shouldn't let authors "sell" free books and use their WhisperNet for distribution (Amazon is paying for that over 3G, right?). Make there be a 10 cent requirement or something (and make there be a 10 cent MINIMUM commission requirement or something). Or a limited number of free copies per book per year or something. <br /><br />Honestly, I have a lot of junk on my Kindle because it was free and it was easy to buy it for free. A good chunk of the free stuff I would never have bought if it had been 25 cents (maybe even if it was 10 cents). I'd certainly have paid more attention before clicking...Gary LaPointehttp://garysaid.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-16578507700513455232013-02-26T14:44:13.961-08:002013-02-26T14:44:13.961-08:00Love your turn of phrase Scott "that's th...Love your turn of phrase Scott "that's the risk when you build a nest in someone else's tree" Beautifully put and a good word of warning for not only Amazon endeavours.rosemary breenhttp://psychicrevolution.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-38083224005092504392013-02-25T15:12:06.848-08:002013-02-25T15:12:06.848-08:00I agree with you, Scott, on the long-term effects ...I agree with you, Scott, on the long-term effects - the expectations that people should just wait until an author's work is offered for free.<br /><br /> The 'see' and 'click' recommendations of larger promotional sites that you mention definitely can help good authors but at what cost, long-range... Still, exposure to a big audience for a book that is very worth the read is still a plus.<br /><br /> I just, myself, got tired of looking at the lists with so much on them that didn't appeal, especially not in so many of the descriptions as written, which often came off as writing that didn't promise much! It takes serious time to go through any daily list now.<br /><br />As a writer with a good base, you must find it hard to find a book of yours in the middle of all that somewhat undifferentiated flow and you probably become annoyed when people ask when the free promos are coming :-)<br /><br />Amazon's all-or-nothing cut-off comes off as unjustifiably harsh when much of it can happen with only indirect purchases from sessions when no free books were even recommended but when Amazon members find them while looking at a discount-alert promotion (because Amazon will continue to 'feature' the free books when people are on their site). That's an area they need to review.<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-13677217242260266982013-02-25T15:01:56.384-08:002013-02-25T15:01:56.384-08:00Anonymous, I'm sure you're right and I lik...Anonymous, I'm sure you're right and I like that idea myself. But competition and market forces being what they are, it would all be upset by other online stores saying, OK, we'll have free books for a day now on a regular basis. <br /><br />And if they all agreed not to do free books to help expectations that, long run, can hurt even the idea of paid books, as has happened with many, it would be collusion to fix prices at any minimum :-) <br /><br />How one breaks out now without heavy free-book-promotion sites is a question. The Amazon Kindle forums don't want authors in the general help places where the audience tends to be but it seems they could generate interest in the Meet the Author forums -- and yet that would lead to have downloads for $0 of tons of books, much of it through 3G that Amazon pays. <br /><br /> I've wondered if some of the big sites could do this on their own if they offer enough. One of the very new, smaller ones even has email registrations of daily readers, and if half of those agreed to pay $1/mo. to continue getting the curated lists, that would be a possible average $6,000 mo. But people will do that for only 1 to 2 sites, and it's an outlay, if one choose two sites, of $24/year, asked of people who are looking for books for which no payment is needed.<br /><br />Another very large and successful siteowner says on his blog today that he has 125,000 unique readers daily - so he has quite a lucrative possibility there if he decides to go with an alternative.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-68357332941135878042013-02-25T11:55:27.472-08:002013-02-25T11:55:27.472-08:00I wouldn't mind in the least if all the free &...I wouldn't mind in the least if all the free 'loss leaders' books were changed to cost $.99 or $.49 or some other nominal fee, instead of this odd new ruling. That would cover Amazon's costs, probably, and I'm sure that would cut down on the mass downloading of free books just because they are free. And if I'm interested enough to try an author, I think I'd still do it at 99 cents :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-32021905301016063582013-02-25T07:29:15.493-08:002013-02-25T07:29:15.493-08:00I was a big advocate of free books last year (as a...I was a big advocate of free books last year (as an author and reader) but I stopped doing free books this year when I saw 50,000 free titles every day. I did feel it was undermining my long-term ability to make a living as a writer. While the dynamic volatility of the Amazon market was fun, it also (as Edward Robertson pointed out) led to muddy waters for readers, when books were getting on the charts solely for having good covers or a mention by one or two huge freebie promote sites. In fact, those few sites were briefly the most powerful literary forces in the world! And NONE of it was based on having read the book--it was all "see and click."<br /><br />I am sad that affiliates lose out who worked hard to build their businesses--but that's the risk when you build a nest in someone else's tree. It is hard to conceive of any economy built on "free" that could sustain itself for a year or two, much less decades.Author Scott Nicholsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09778999586794284457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-31190669802453620962013-02-24T16:57:10.983-08:002013-02-24T16:57:10.983-08:00Thanks for the pointer to the discussion, 'cle...Thanks for the pointer to the discussion, 'clearly misunderstood' :-)<br /> Karen needs to cite the person who wrote the email, the name and the person's position at Amazon, especially if citing it as the word.<br /><br /> The legalese in the contract clearly stipulates the first clause a condition and uses "AND" for the remaining two conditions instead of saying "determined by" -- in other words, their attorneys will have to rewrite it to say what she was told by an unidentified representative.<br /><br /> While I know one person who was told this in email, the Amazon rep was going to get confirmation from another member of the team.<br /><br /> Amazon would need to have their attorneys rewrite that section, as it does not say what perhaps they would like it to say. <br /><br /> What's your take? Mine is everyone needs to be very careful but especially Amazon needs to be. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-3197723636560880982013-02-24T15:51:34.014-08:002013-02-24T15:51:34.014-08:00According to this post the 2 conditions determine ...According to this post the 2 conditions determine whether an affiliate is primarily promoting free ebooks. Evidently, confirmed by Amazon.<br /><br />http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2435932#post2435932clearly misunderstoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07213962721699703902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-29895199749500410552013-02-24T15:40:06.415-08:002013-02-24T15:40:06.415-08:00Gary, For affiliates, a click on a link to a speci...Gary, For affiliates, a click on a link to a specific free book never results in a fee for any order or download of the book or of any other free books.<br /><br />Amazon prefers that people read the operating agreement and fee schedules in their 'Associate' info area to get best info rather than rely on explanations from a non-Amazon staffer. <br /><br /> But, if a free-book link is clicked by 100 people and ordered by each of them, there is no 'selling' of that book and no credit to the website.<br /><br /> However, if within certain conditions (which are plentiful and complex) the person buys something else at Amazon, there -can- be a resulting affiliate fee from -that- sale by Amazon unless certain things occur that make this not doable.<br /><br /> Free orders are also not countable as either ordered or 'sold' books -- only Amazon sells, the link is a 'referral' mechanism. But while there are referral credits to paid books, there is none for free books. <br /><br /> Again, re the last question, there's no credit to affiliates for free books orders or downloads. They count 'for nothing.' <br /><br /> You can read how it works, per Amazon, at <a href="https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/landing/main.html" rel="nofollow">https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/landing/main.html</a>.<br /><br /> I agree with you that any of this is confusing as there are many conditions to be met or avoided...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109282436243758435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872447660964013545.post-29544844116500074042013-02-24T15:15:56.422-08:002013-02-24T15:15:56.422-08:00It's kind of implemented strangely, if you bre...It's kind of implemented strangely, if you break the rules you lose ALL commissions for the month!!! At worse, they should just not count all the free items towards the calculations.<br /><br />Just to make sure I understand: Does you selling a "free" books (someone clicks your link then gets a copy at Amazon) could as one of your sold items as a affiliate? To elaborate the question if you sell a hundred free books and sell one other item as an affiliate, do you get the higher percentage rate (as if you'd sold 101 items)?<br /><br />If that is the case, I can see why Amazon might be concerned, not just from the free items, but from people gaming the system. Someone buys a $300 piece of electronics through one of my links, I just get several friends to buy six "free" books and my percentage rate jumps from 4% to 6% (or on a larger scale, hundreds of books). I can see them worrying about people gaming the system.<br /><br /><br /><br />Gary LaPointehttp://garysaid.com/noreply@blogger.com