Why learning to buy books from anywhere is worth the hassle.

I tripped over something rather interesting the other day.  I’ve been saying for years now that, as a reader, it really pays to be flexible about where you buy your books.  That you shouldn’t rely purely on Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, et al.

I’ve always said that being able to buy your books from anywhere, and knowing how to get them loaded onto your primary ereading device, can only benefit you in the long run.  It gives you the ability to read books no matter where you find them, instead of being locked into one retailer’s format and store.

I’ve maintained this in the past because I know, just to begin, that I have books available for sale on this site right here, that you cannot get anywhere else.  (Here, for example).

I also know there are books available at retail sites other than Amazon, that are not available elsewhere.

And just the other day, I came across the interesting thing that prompted me to speak of this one more time.

Another reason to shop as wide as you can.

I read the newsletter of another author, announcing that his series boxed set was available for only 99 cents, for only a few days, at all retailers, act fast!

So I did.

I clicked through to Amazon (which is my primary bookstore for buying books).  And woah!  The set was $14.99 there!!

I spent a minute cursing the author for misleading me, before I realized what had happened.

What’s happening with Amazon lately?

If you review books on Amazon, you may have noticed lately that approvals on reviews are taking days and days to come through now, whereas before they only took a few hours.

Right?

Well, that’s happening to everything on Amazon.  Changes to books are taking days and days to come through, and show up on the book’s page.  Including price changes.

So this poor, unfortunate author probably set his prices to change in time for the “sale”…and they didn’t.  Not that day, anyway.  Maybe the price change went through days and days later, but it hadn’t switched over when I clicked through.

Has this happened to you, recently?  Have you clicked over to Amazon to scoop up a deal, only to find the price isn’t close to what was advertised?

This slow down of changing anything is likely what has happened.  Authors are getting socked in the jaw with this one, because there’s no way to predict how long a price change will take to come through.

In turn, that bites you, the reader.

But here’s the solution.

This is why it pays to know how to buy your books from anywhere you want.

When I gagged over the $14.99 boxed set I thought would only be 99 cents, and after cursing out the author for a couple of seconds, I realized what had happened.

So I went over to Google Play and bought the set there.  Google Play Books did have the set at 99 cents.  So did Kobo and Barnes & Noble–I checked, out of pure curiosity.  The uniform 99 cents except for Amazon told me what had happened.

Who knows how long this state of affairs will last.

Amazon seems to be growing stodgier and slower to respond by the day.  It could be that this days-and-days response lag is here to stay.

In which case, it’s pure self-defense to figure out how to buy books from other stores.

Just in case. 😉

Cheers,

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