bookishdiplodocus
Don’t return ebooks or audiobooks you’ve consumed on Amazon and Audible
Amazon and Audible made it into their policy that you can return ebooks and audiobooks and get a full refund.
They actively promote this, making their book shop into a book lending service, de facto a library you subscribe to. That’s their business plan to encourage subscribtions.
The dirty thing, however, is that Amazon and Audible are making the authors pay for each refunded item. They will detract money, income, royalties, from the authors’ account. They’re not hurting from the refund, the author is.
Look, no-one is saying you’re not allowed to return an item if you’ve read the first 50 pages or listened to the first 45 minutes. Maybe the style is not your thing. Maybe you don’t like the narrator’s voice. Maybe the quality of the writing drops severely after chapter three. Go ahead, if the product is bad, return it.
What I’m talking about is that no one should be able to listen to a ten-hour audiobook or read through nearly an entire novel and still get a refund.
Most of the readers don’t know who’s paying for this business plan. It’s not Amazon and Audible, they’re still keeping your subscription money. It’s the authors.
Spread the word.
myautisticpov
Yeah, in all honesty, I would legit rather you pirate my series than do this.
I had someone read and then return the entirety of one of my series last month, and I don’t make enough from my books for that sudden loss of income to not be noticeable. So, I was going ahead going “oh, okay, when Amazon pays out for this month, I will make X amount, which means I can afford Y”, and then in one day, there was a significant drop from someone returning an entire series.
Like, I need to be able to plan ahead when it comes to my income, so honestly, if your plan is to buy and then return my series as a way to get it for free, please just pirate it instead of fucking me about. Or, you know, join my beta/ARC team or wait for me to make the series Pay-What-You-Want on my website. Or, hell, get it from your local library! It’s not like I don’t make it easy to get my books for free/cheap…
Reblogging again because I just woke up to “you have earned negative money so far this month” which is just a super great way to start the month… /s
