Amazon.com is my frenemy. Well, Amazon doesn’t know I exist, but if it did, we’d be frenemies. My book The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, is one of the best-selling books about self-publishing on Amazon. It sells a lot, so ranks high. It ranks high because it sells a lot. Amazon is not hooking me up. Its algorithm loves me. Amazon is my frenemy because if I want to sell my book through its by-it-new-or-used marketplace , and not use Amazon to fulfill it, I have to practically sell my soul.
I sell my book through the marketplace (in addition to just through regular Amazon distribution) for a strategic business purpose –I want to have contact with as any many of my readers as possible. When you order the book directly from my company (through Amazon’s new/used marketplace or elsewhere) I enclose a personalized letter offering a free 30 minute publishing consultation. So, I can’t use Amazon’s fulfillment service, as it obviously isn’t set up to insert personalized letters into each order.
You’d think because I don’t have to buy my book from a wholesaler or at the wholesale price, I should be able to be #1 in the Amazon Marketplace by pricing it for a few cents less than whoever is #2.
Wrong-o-mundo.
A few days ago I figured out my frenemy’s game. Amazon practically forces you to use it to fulfill items you want to sell yourself in its marketplace, if you want any chance to be listed high (in the marketplace). My company’s fulfillment division is MyBookOrders. For months I had priced my book lower than any other reseller, including Amazon, but couldn’t figure out why MyBookOrders wasn’t the first listing in the marketplace. Then I figured it out (read below the graphic).
Here’s how the marketplace looks today:
I could not secure the first marketplace position, despite selling my book for the lowest price UNTIL I lowered my price by the amount of Amazon’s $3.99 shipping. Any book (or product) Amazon actually warehouses it makes eligible for Amazon Prime and free shipping (for orders over $25). Those potential discounts (even though not every customer gets them) are obviously figured into the marketplace pricing / ranking algorithm. Amazon sells my book for $11.53. If a buyer doesn’t have Amazon Prime or doesn’t spent more than $25 in one order, that person pays $11.53 plus $3.99. So, if I want to be #1 in the list of resellers of my own book, I have to lower my selling price to $7.50 since if I sell you the book, you have to pay the $3.99 in shipping. So $7.50 + $3.99 = $11.49.
I don’t fault Amazon for squeezing authors and publishers. It’s business. Amazon doesn’t owe me anything. And, like many other huge, nearly monopolistic businesses, Amazon can press the little guy until he’s practically losing money. True, I chose the price in order to get the position, but I’m one of the few who can afford to. I pay about $2.00 to print my book, so even selling it for $7.50, after Amazon’s cut, I’m still doubling my money. But, I own a publishing company and don’t pay printing markups.
