The latest Author Earnings report looks at Amazon UK, the second-biggest market for ebooks in English.
Most of the findings are not surprising. There’s a clear difference in book pricing from large publishers, which has the effect you would expect.
The surprising finding, though, is that indies are significantly outperforming traditional publishing in selling books across both markets (US and UK) rather than just their local market.
My UK sales are terrible. One likely reason? My Amazon.com reviews don’t appear over there. Most of my books have zero reviews over there. I asked Amazon about it, and so far, no response… good reminder to ask again.
My UK sales are terrible. One likely reason? My Amazon.com reviews don’t appear over there. Most of my books have zero reviews over there. I asked Amazon about it, and so far, no response… good reminder to ask again.
I believe the reviews between the sites are kept separate. You need a separate login for each site as a customer, which is part of the reason.
I believe the reviews between the sites are kept separate. You need a separate login for each site as a customer, which is part of the reason.
Mike Reeves-McMillan – that would provide part of the explanation, but I can see an easy way to code around that. The reviews are pegged against ASIN/ISBN, after all, which should be the same (it is, right?) across the UK and US (among others) sites.
Mike Reeves-McMillan – that would provide part of the explanation, but I can see an easy way to code around that. The reviews are pegged against ASIN/ISBN, after all, which should be the same (it is, right?) across the UK and US (among others) sites.
ISBN, probably not. As the linked report notes, a growing proportion of books don’t have an ISBN at all; those that do should have different ones in different countries, technically.
ASIN is more likely to be the same, certainly for indies, though I wouldn’t be completely sure that the US and British editions of the same trad-pub book would have the same ASIN without checking.
But yes, if the ASIN was the same, why not share the reviews between the sites?
ISBN, probably not. As the linked report notes, a growing proportion of books don’t have an ISBN at all; those that do should have different ones in different countries, technically.
ASIN is more likely to be the same, certainly for indies, though I wouldn’t be completely sure that the US and British editions of the same trad-pub book would have the same ASIN without checking.
But yes, if the ASIN was the same, why not share the reviews between the sites?
I just checked, and yes, the ASIN and ISBN numbers on both sites are the same.
I just checked, and yes, the ASIN and ISBN numbers on both sites are the same.
On the Amazon UK site there’s a section “Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com” which copies across at least some of the .com entries. Not sure of the exact rules they use but there certainly is some provision here
On the Amazon UK site there’s a section “Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com” which copies across at least some of the .com entries. Not sure of the exact rules they use but there certainly is some provision here
Richard Abbott – Yes, that agrees with the response I just got from Amazon (emphasis on applicable section):
“Our Customer Reviews feature doesn’t link reviews across Amazon.com and the International Amazon sites or ASINs. However, we do have a feature that spotlights reviews from Amazon.com on international Amazon websites for the same product. While the reviews are spotlighted, the votes and number of reviews don’t count toward the total for the listings on international websites.”
Richard Abbott – Yes, that agrees with the response I just got from Amazon (emphasis on applicable section):
“Our Customer Reviews feature doesn’t link reviews across Amazon.com and the International Amazon sites or ASINs. However, we do have a feature that spotlights reviews from Amazon.com on international Amazon websites for the same product. While the reviews are spotlighted, the votes and number of reviews don’t count toward the total for the listings on international websites.”