Amazon

Amazon backstabs e-book “buyers”

This entry was posted in Publishing and tagged Amazon ebooks publishing on by

If you pay for an e-book that has DRM (digital rights management) on it, you aren’t really buying it, no matter what the vendor says. At best, it’s a long-term lease which can be revoked at any time. Amazon has made this plain by removing the ability to download permanent copies of any and all e-books you may have “bought.” As of February 25, 2025, you will no longer be able to download your “purchases” to a device that isn’t directly under Amazon’s control.

If you care about keeping what you “own,” you need to download all your “purchases” before then. You have to do it one book at a time, which can get tedious if you’ve “bought” a lot of books.
(more…)

Book burying under White House pressure 3

This entry was posted in Censorship News and tagged Amazon books censorship on by

According to a New York Post article, the White House successfully pressured Amazon to put some books under a “do not promote” order. The books remained available but presumably are less discoverable than comparable books not under the order. The order was issued “the same day Amazon officials met with the White House.”

The order covers “anti-vax books whose primary purpose is to persuade readers vaccines are unsafe or ineffective.” The article doesn’t mention any titles, so I can’t judge their worth. Would a book that called attention to legitimate risks or exaggerated claims of effectiveness fall under that category? Biden said, “You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations,” a claim whose inaccuracy many people have learned firsthand.
(more…)

David Friedman’s battle with Amazon

This entry was posted in News Publishing and tagged Amazon KDP law on by

David Friedman is the son of economist Milton Friedman. While he isn’t as famous as his father was, he’s respected in libertarian circles. On November 8, he reported on his blog that Amazon has terminated his KDP account, taken his books offline, and denied him the right to collect outstanding royalties.

Update: Friedman reports Amazon has reinstated his account.

Apparently KDP, Amazon’s self-publishing arm, terminated my account in September, sending me a message I missed. They claim I had multiple accounts, why I have no idea, and also that “this account is related to an account that was terminated due to violations of our Content Guidelines.”

(more…)

A win for authors

This entry was posted in Writing Writing as business and tagged Amazon ebooks writing on by

Amazon is changing its e-book return policy to make it harder to read entire books for free, producing no income for the author. Currently, it’s generally permitted to “return” any e-book within seven days for a full refund, even if the customer has read the whole thing. Under the new policy, automatic returns will be allowed only if the customer hasn’t read more than 10% of the book. People who have read more than 10% can still request a refund, but they’ll have to file a customer service request, which a human will review.

Some authors have reportedly experienced a serious decline in their income due to abuse of the return policy.

Of course, this is a reminder that Amazon tracks your reading habits in detail when you buy their e-books.