Episode 13 – Industry issues and news – April, 2022

Hosted by: Craig Tuch and Roland Hulme

As a semi-regular ongoing feature of Fully Booked, Hidden Gems will cover news, issues or rumors that affect authors and publishing in general. In the first episode of this series, Craig and Roland discuss three separate issues.

1. Amazon ads for traditional published authors – In a recent blog post, Roland posted about how Amazon’s ad platform has recently opened up to authors of books that were published by traditional publishers and what it may mean for traditional publishing. There were a few comments on that blog from readers that disagreed with his take, so we discuss the issue and Craig gives his thoughts.
2. Read and return controversy – Recently, a battle has been waging between authors and some TikTok users that are urging readers to return their eBooks for a refund after having read them. We discuss this issue in detail as well as give our take on both sides of the argument and what, if anything, should be done about it.
3. Amazon product page changes – Amazon is constantly tinkering with their product pages, making it harder for authors to know where the info is coming from, and thus potentially losing a rich source of advertising information.

Original HG Amazon ad blog post with comments:
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/amazon-delivers-blow-traditional-publishers/

One article about the read and return issue, and the change.org petition
https://medium.com/lets-write/this-new-tiktok-trend-is-damaging-your-favorite-authors-47817bd7c1f6
https://www.change.org/p/change-amazon-return-policies-for-completed-e-books-protect-authors-from-theft

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