Recently Amazon has put on a big push to squeeze independent authors and small publishers to use their printing company CreateSpace. I refuse. They are employing tactics such as removing the BUY BUTTON from my books page, or saying that it is temporarily out of stock, will take weeks to order, etc.
ALL OF THIS IS ILLEGAL AND AMAZON HAS SETTLED OUT OF COURT PREVIOUSLY FOR SUCH TACTICS TO PREVENT A HIGH PROFILE TRIAL
Below is the page for my recently released book. Notice that there is no buy button. In order to buy the book you have to pay more and use an independent seller. Or just give up and not be bothered.
You can Buy my book at Barnes and Noble and get free shipping because it is over $25.
My book came out a few weeks back. Initially it was up for sale and a few people were able to buy books and then the BUY BUTTON was removed. Can you believe amazon removed my book's Buy Button.
I have filed a complaint with the NYS Attorney General and will be talking to lawyers about trying to start a class action suit against Amazon.
I encourage you to complain to Amazon.
Please file a complaint with the NYS Attorney General if:
- If you were not able to buy my book.
- Were forced to pay more.
- Or used Create Space to print a book--It cost you much more.
Justice must prevail.
Many independent authors and smaller publishers fearful of retribution and not wanting the hassle switched to Createspace for part of their printing needs. They are a more costly option--THEY TAKE A MUCH LARGER CUT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am on a list serve for independent publishers and constantly hear complaints about Amazon's antics.
Here is a post in response to one of my queries by one brave soul that took Amazon to court. They buckled because they knew that they would loose.
Back in 2008, Amazon began making phone calls to print on demand
publishers, threatening to remove their "buy" buttons if those
publishers didn't start using Amazon's printing division (BookSurge,
which has since been re-named CreateSpace).
After we were one of the unlucky firms to receive such a call,
we sued Amazon (class-action) for (allegedly) violating federal
anti-trust laws. We won when Amazon quickly settled after a federal
judge refused to dismiss the case. See:
http://antitrust.booklocker.com/
We were about to begin discovery and we're pretty sure Amazon did NOT
want us (or anyone) getting an in-depth look at their in-house
communications concerning the controversy.
Under our settlement, Amazon must leave our books alone but other
publishers, who were too afraid to join us as plaintiffs in the lawsuit,
were not protected. Believe me...we tried to get many of them to sign on
but they were too fearful of Amazon's wrath. I, myself, would have
rather gone out of business than have a behemoth firm dictate to me who
my suppliers will be.
At that time, many of our competitors caved to Amazon and signed their
contract. However, firms that didn't, and firms that have emerged since
then, might consider contacting an attorney about Amazon's recent
actions because...it sure looks to me like they're doing the same thing.
Another one one of competitors told me via phone that he recently
received a similar phone call from Amazon - the same type of phone call
we received back in 2008, which led to our lawsuit against them.
I know it's frustrating. You can read all about our lawsuit at the link
above, including all the filings.
Our attorneys' info. is also in those filings. They handled our case on
a contingency basis because they were pretty certain we would eventually
win. And, we did. Amazon ended up paying $300K to our attorneys alone. I
have no idea how much more they spent on their own.
Good luck!!
Angela Hoy
BookLocker.com / WritersWeekly.com / Abuzz Press
publishers, threatening to remove their "buy" buttons if those
publishers didn't start using Amazon's printing division (BookSurge,
which has since been re-named CreateSpace).
After we were one of the unlucky firms to receive such a call,
we sued Amazon (class-action) for (allegedly) violating federal
anti-trust laws. We won when Amazon quickly settled after a federal
judge refused to dismiss the case. See:
http://antitrust.booklocker.com/
We were about to begin discovery and we're pretty sure Amazon did NOT
want us (or anyone) getting an in-depth look at their in-house
communications concerning the controversy.
Under our settlement, Amazon must leave our books alone but other
publishers, who were too afraid to join us as plaintiffs in the lawsuit,
were not protected. Believe me...we tried to get many of them to sign on
but they were too fearful of Amazon's wrath. I, myself, would have
rather gone out of business than have a behemoth firm dictate to me who
my suppliers will be.
At that time, many of our competitors caved to Amazon and signed their
contract. However, firms that didn't, and firms that have emerged since
then, might consider contacting an attorney about Amazon's recent
actions because...it sure looks to me like they're doing the same thing.
Another one one of competitors told me via phone that he recently
received a similar phone call from Amazon - the same type of phone call
we received back in 2008, which led to our lawsuit against them.
I know it's frustrating. You can read all about our lawsuit at the link
above, including all the filings.
Our attorneys' info. is also in those filings. They handled our case on
a contingency basis because they were pretty certain we would eventually
win. And, we did. Amazon ended up paying $300K to our attorneys alone. I
have no idea how much more they spent on their own.
Good luck!!
Angela Hoy
BookLocker.com / WritersWeekly.com / Abuzz Press
Please join me in this fight and file a complaint with the NYS Attorney General. A bully must be challenged and exposed. Shame on Amazon!!!!!
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