July 1 question – There have been many industry changes in the last decade, so what are some changes you would like to see happen in the next decade?
The awesome co-hosts for the July 1 posting of the IWSG are Jenni Enzor, Beth Camp, Liesbet, Tyrean Martinson, and Sandra Cox!
I missed out on the big change in the writing industry when it became possible for authors to self-publish, or when putting a book on sale at 99¢ was almost a guarantee of big sales figures. Such is life. But there are a couple of changes I’d like to see happen.
First, I’d like to see Amazon change their policies on ebook returns. Their current policies allows readers to use Amazon as a lending library. Buyers have seven days in which to return a book. I can easily read a book in that time frame. Authors have reported watching a series being purchased and then returned one book at a time. That’s just not fair. Amazon, can you fix that?
While I’m picking upon Amazon, how about their review policy? I’ve had reviews removed because Amazon thought the reviewer was my friend. Guess what? Everyone who likes my author page on Facebook isn’t my friend. They’re called fans. That’s why they write reviews. Oh, and how about pulling reviews that aren’t about the book itself. You know, those ones that talk about how Amazon messed something up in the download. Or were for a totally different book.
I suppose I should mention one that isn’t Amazon related. (They are easy to pick on!) I’d like someone to invent a way to make pirating books harder. Without making it harder for readers to read the book! Right now, it’s like playing whack-a-mole for an author to keep their books off pirate sites. One site goes down and another pops up.
What changes would you like to see in the publishing industry? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
Until next time, stay safe.