I have a question on which guidance is needed.
It has been suggested that I should use Amazon to turn publications like ‘Money for nothing and my Tweets for free' and this weekend's ‘The consequences of Rishi Sunak' into actual books available for sale on its site. They offer a print on demand service that permits this. Price would, at a minimum, be £4 to £5.
I can see the attraction. By no means everyone wants to read a PDF and I think the messages in these publications are important. But it's Amazon. Is the compromise worth it?
But just to be clear how pervasive Amazon is, I think that this site is ultimately hosted by them, way down the line. So we cannot pretend anymore that they do not exist.
Thoughts?
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Most people I know don’t mind reading pdfs. What is your evidence that Amazon ultimately hosts your blog? In asking this, I am not in any way suggesting it doesn’t.
Amazon are one of the biggest underpinning hosts in the world now
Hi
It looks like your website is 35.186.238.101
host http://www.taxresearch.org
http://www.taxresearch.org has address 35.186.238.101
This is part of google cloud – not AWS
whois 35.186.238.101
NetRange: 35.184.0.0 – 35.191.255.255
CIDR: 35.184.0.0/13
NetName: GOOGLE-CLOUD
Pretty sure that Amazon are not involved in providing your web infrastructure.
Ok, thanks
What I read was wrong
But it’s another tax offender
And not who I pay
I don’t like Amazon but use them regularly. Yes, I am a hypocrite…… but I won’t compound my hypocrisy by suggesting that you do not publish there.
Ditto. During Covid, with libraries and archives closed I simply felt cut-off; the digital access to libraries (the American universities in particular have digitised just so much in the way of ‘special collection’ stuff), and in book buying (reading online at great length I find much more tiring than a book, and I do not think the harsh screen lighting is good for the eyes). I loathe Big Tech (see Shoshanna Zuboff ‘s magnum opus for the reasons why), and feel dreadful about this, but in simple honesty Amazon was also a life saver for me. Its book resources are remarkable, and the list of alternative sellers, including second-hand, unmatched. I have bought very hard-to-find copies of obscure works in my kind of area for pennies; literally. In a couple of cases 1p, plus £2.80p postage. Amazon is so successful because it works. So use it; you are allowed to grit your teeth.
Thanks
I love Abe books, but this is not one for them
I believe Abe books is owned by Amazon.
I did not know that
A slightly annoying thing about publishing on Amazon (Kindle) is that they only pay commission on sales in tranches of $100. I think there must be a lot of lesser amounts that they are sitting on. However, I encourage you to go ahead anyway. Anything to reach a wider audience for your very important message.
Thanks
there are a number of other sites but I have no idea how good they are.
This is one. https://print2demand.co.uk/
Thanks
I will look
If you are interested in print on demand it might be worth you looking into Lulu.
https://www.lulu.com/
Thanks…but do they manage all the sales bit? Amazon win by managing all that
They’ll give you a sales page and collect credit cards and mail out a copy.
EG, Here’s one of mine:
https://www.lulu.com/content/8253577
LuLu Print On Demand won’t end up in searches done at amazon for it though, which is presumably important, and won’t link from the Kindle editions.
Thanks
The last is, I think, the problem
Yes.
As someone who has sweated blood trying to get books self published with Amazon, I would advise against going down that route – unless you like a challenge.
To be fair though, the books were written by my brother-in-law and designed by me using design software. Perhaps if you’re not fussy what they look like and use Word, it’s a lot easier.
I have a volunteer to do all that for me….
A resounding ‘Yes’ from me.
I go on Amazon and buy and review stuff.
At one time you could go on and reply to reviews but that was stopped during lock down. I used to take people to task for dishonest reviews of your books and people like Stephanie Kelton and others and support other heterodox writers but this was halted during lock down for everyone. I even got told off for being rude but they never bothered to tell on what basis and who had complained. There’s a bit of Big Brother at work. I also made a point of writing positive reviews on progressive minded books in response to the usual besmirching that takes place from the same people who find kit OK to keep voting Tory and worship the royal family.
I want you to go on because it is a place were lies are actively peddled – lies about Government money and fiscal policy, tax, BREXIT, global warming, politics – all the usual orthodox crap – and you can see how these ideas get sucked up and used as ‘wisdom’ if your read some of the reviews which can be both frightening and disappointing.
So – if you have the time – go for it Richard.
I think this will happen
In my experience in writing engineering reports with lots of pictures and diagrams Word simply cannot handle it and becomes unstable but it is OK for pure writing. I have found that WordPerfect much better in handling text, diagrams and pictures.
Does it still exist? It bis twenty years since I heard of it
As somebody who works as a bookseller and publisher, I hate to say that you’re probably best off going with the Amazon service. We’ve ordered from smaller publishers who have used the Amazon PoD service for their books, they arrive reasonably quickly and the pricing is reasonable for them (though obviously a lot more expensive than if you self-published via a printer selling a PoD service).
Ultimately, Amazon have successfully ‘bought’ the book trade through their years of losses to the extent that you don’t have much choice but to deal with them one way or another if you want to sell books. People think of a book and look on Amazon first of all so you really need to have your books on there. As an example of this, we sell books directly to customers via our own web site and a mailing list built up over decades, but we also sell through Amazon and ebay. We supply our own publications to Amazon directly to sell themselves and also sell through the Amazon Marketplace, despite their eye-watering fees for these sales, which can be around 30% of the selling + postage price for lower-priced book orders! Experience tells me that the same book we list on ebay for a cheaper price will sell a lot fewer copies than the same book listed on Amazon at a higher price! Such is the dominance of Amazon in the book sector. If I’m looking for a book, I’ll usually check the price on the two sites and you’ll often find the same item from the same seller cheaper quite a bit cheaper on ebay. Not surprising, given the ebay fees are not far off 50% of the amount charged by Amazon for cheaper books and they remain lower pretty much all the way up the scale.
I suspect that ease of use is a major factor – the apps on phones/tablets are well-designed and make it very easy for people to purchase books. A few taps and a swipe, and something is ordered. Ebay tries, but the site and their apps have always been clunky in comparison.
This doesn’t even consider the Kindle aspect with e-books. If the text is formatted correctly, it is trivial for them to be sold via Kindle which will open up the market further – people could read them on their phone/tablet while commuting, for example in addition to their Kindle readers. We don’t have any plans to sell any of our own books as e-books of any sort, but I think Richard’s output would be very popular in this format.
Somebody mentioned ABE Books earlier in the thread – this has been owned by Amazon for some years.
Ultimately, yes, Amazon are evil, but you’ve got to work in the real world and you can’t ignore them. Perhaps think of it as battling back from the inside!
AWS (Amazon Web Services) is an absolutely massive business and hosts the web sites of many major companies. Amazon is completely pervasive and, however distasteful the actions of Bezos and his flunkies are, you really can’t avoid them in this day and age.
Thanks for that
I am learning a lot
Two important advantages of Amazon I have found are efficiency and speed of service. Typically (notably but not exclusively with second hand books), what you see is what you receive. I find the book condition reviews reliable and the delivery is usually very reliable. I have to admit, it means I buy with confidence. I am uneasy about how this all happens, and what pressure people are under to provide me with a good quality service and product; but there is the seduction. I caved in. On Big Tech generally I actually make life difficult for myself by resisting the seduction of “convenience” in ways that give me ‘headaches’; but there you are; Amazon began with my weak-spot; book,s and sucked me in – hook, line and sinker.
I’m with John Warren – it’s either Amazon or Ebay for me (good deals on the more esoteric second hand books can be had there too). I got a mint second hand copy of Christine Desan’s’ ‘Making Money’ for £12.00 from Ebay and ‘How China Avoided Shock Therapy’ from Amazon for £14 (it’s £26 brand new).
Off topic to the original post, but it’s either Alibris or Blackwells for me for online book purchases. As far I know they are both non-affiliated to amazon.
Alibris also have second hand books
https://www.alibris.co.uk/
Blackwell’s prices can also be surprisingly competitive with free delivery:
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/home/
If it makes any difference, Blackwells was recently bought by Waterstones, which as I understand it is majority owned by Elliott. And Alibris is owned by Oakhill.
Eh, actually I buy new Blackwell books through Amazon. A very good service.
I utterly refuse to buy from Amazon, or any bookseller that I know to be associated with it. But I’m just one person; I doubt if there are many like me. I can usually find what I want elsewhere., even if it might cost me a little more.
I’m perfectly happy to download and read a pdf so you publishing via Amazon wouldn’t cause me any problem, thankfully.
I do appreciate the pro Amazon arguments that others have made; just thought I’d contribute my penn’orth…
Thanks. Appreciated
Who do you pay the hosting to?
It’s who the6 host with that matters
I agree with Maggie.
Amazon has been on my banned list for many years and I have always been able to source a book I have wanted and avoid using Amazon at the same time.
I’ve recently bought “99%: Mass Impoverishment And How We Can End It” and “Reclaiming Economics for Future Generations” through “bookshop.org” which meant I could support the lovely independent bookshop where I used to live. I don’t mind paying a bit more to that.
Having said that, given that the aim of your efforts is to reach as many people as possible, I’m with the others and say I think you have to hold your nose and use Amazon.
I research books online at Amazon (most books there you can ‘look inside’) and then order them from my lovely local independent bookshop. I have no qualms about making use of Amazon in this way without paying them a penny.
I do that sometimes, supporting Toppings in Ely
I am peculiar in that I will not trade with anyone who is a rival of the BBC, lest my support hastens even further its demise. But because as a result of MS I can’t handle a book anymore, I have become a regular user of Kindle. I agree with your correspondents Who fairly report that it is a very good service, (not least because it will let you read a small sample of the writing before you purchase. )
What makes it particularly professional in my view is that you can find comparatively Obscure books on it, and buy them for less than a Kings ransom. Credit where credit is due.
Straightforward .pdf files can be sent to one’s Kindle account and converted to a Kindle format for “nowt”. (Files full of adverts can also be converted, but adjusting text size for actual readability becomes awkward.)
Of course, not everyone has a Kindle, but a Kindle app for Android phones and tablets is free.
I suspect it’s not the publishing format (certainly not at a fiver) that is the perceived problem, but advertising.
I have been boycotting Amazon for several years now and would not consider buying anything from them.
I prefer pdf to hard copy for books – with around 3,000 books on them already (not one bought from Amazon or ABE Books) my bookshelves are overfull!
The PDF will still be free
I apply a moral test with Amazon purchases *most* things I buy through them I am confident they are making slim to no profit on – often a loss. A free PDF would pass with flying colours.
The trouble with tax offenders is, through their tax avoidance advantage they have hijacked corners of most markets and virtually monopolise. Ebay also own Gumtree for example, they and Facebook saturate the used sales market.
I think you have little choice but to ‘fight the beast from within.’
I would however suggest that you do Amazon AND Lulu, I know people who have done this. The physical books from Lulu are very nice, and perhaps a review might appear pointing to the books availability there. 😉
I will see if that is possible