July 2017
VIA EMAIL: [email protected]
Jeff Bezos
Chairman and CEO of Amazon
410 Terry Ave.
North Seattle, WA 98109-5210
We, the undersigned, would like the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, to listen to the authors who contribute to his business success. Without our books which we entrust to his care, there would be no:
- Readers
- Sales
- Kindle e-Readers
- Kindle Unlimited
- Lending Library
- Prime Reading
We entrust our books to you, Jeff Bezos, on the premise that you will always have our best interests at heart. We have noticed lately that you and Amazon have failed us.
First, Amazon continues to ignore the obvious click farming and bot driving that is taking place, driving poorly written books, and books in foreign languages, and allowing these books to rank in the top 100, taking up slots that prevent honest authors from ranking, as well as shrinking the percentages in the shared KU fund.
Additionally, we are frustrated that our book reviews are erroneously removed, without the right to defend against these removals. We are also unsatisfied with the practice of leaving the one star reviews when they are either: 1) a personal attack on the author, and it’s obvious that the reviewer hadn’t even read the book, or 2) because the book was late or damaged.
We feel our complaints have not been taken seriously, even though we approach Amazon staff through the provided channels. Thus, this petition, hoping that you will take action. We, the petitioners, implore you to investigate the issues stated above and to overhaul a system that no longer works. We are hopeful, Jeff Bezos, that you will listen to our issues, and that we can be a team again.
Sincerely,
Your Indie Authors
Updates
July 19, 2017
I truly never imagined that so many of you would rally behind this cause. This momentum belongs entirely to the writers who chose to speak up, and I am just humbled to be a small part of it.
Reached 100 supporters
July 19, 2017
36 Comments
Jeff Bezos, we know that you and Amazon continue to fail us. You and the people who run Amazon seem to be oblivious to the click farms and bots that are destroying KU and anything that an authentic author would do with Amazon Kindle books. We all feel that our complaints have fallen on deaf ears and have been replaced by the loud pocketbooks of Amazon raking in the money and not caring about anything but themselves. Please listen to what we say.
Let's not also forget that authors are readers too, and would like to be able to voice their honest opinions on what they have read without having our reviews deleted for nebulous reasons because Amazon feels we *know* another author, even if we've only met through a writing group once.
I've worked very hard to write a flawless book, and get legitimate reviews from readers. Healthy competition is good and promotes excellence. bots and scams are not. Please help make Amazon the marketplace authors deserve.
We all work hard to put out quality books that connect with readers and if that is undermined by people trying to make a quick buck, then we are all in trouble. Please take action against these people, for your customers and the authors that publish on Amazon, some of them exclusively!
I am a reader who closed my Amazon account of 15 years because the site had become overrun with scammers, spammers, advertising, and low-quality books. It got to the point where it just became too difficult to find good books there. If you stopped rewarding the scammers and those who use dishonest methods to promote their books, I'm sure it would go a long way towards fixing the problems. Until that happens, Kobo, Google and other retailers get all my custom.
You can identify scammers so please do more to defend your reputation against their antics
We create the works your customers buy. Without creators, your business is nothing.
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July 2017
VIA EMAIL: [email protected]
Jeff Bezos
Chairman and CEO of Amazon
410 Terry Ave.
North Seattle, WA 98109-5210
We, the undersigned, would like the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, to listen to the authors who contribute to his business success. Without our books which we entrust to his care, there would be no:
- Readers
- Sales
- Kindle e-Readers
- Kindle Unlimited
- Lending Library
- Prime Reading
We entrust our books to you, Jeff Bezos, on the premise that you will always have our best interests at heart. We have noticed lately that you and Amazon have failed us.
First, Amazon continues to ignore the obvious click farming and bot driving that is taking place, driving poorly written books, and books in foreign languages, and allowing these books to rank in the top 100, taking up slots that prevent honest authors from ranking, as well as shrinking the percentages in the shared KU fund.
Additionally, we are frustrated that our book reviews are erroneously removed, without the right to defend against these removals. We are also unsatisfied with the practice of leaving the one star reviews when they are either: 1) a personal attack on the author, and it’s obvious that the reviewer hadn’t even read the book, or 2) because the book was late or damaged.
We feel our complaints have not been taken seriously, even though we approach Amazon staff through the provided channels. Thus, this petition, hoping that you will take action. We, the petitioners, implore you to investigate the issues stated above and to overhaul a system that no longer works. We are hopeful, Jeff Bezos, that you will listen to our issues, and that we can be a team again.
Sincerely,
Your Indie Authors
Updates
July 19, 2017
I truly never imagined that so many of you would rally behind this cause. This momentum belongs entirely to the writers who chose to speak up, and I am just humbled to be a small part of it.
Reached 100 supporters
July 19, 2017
36 Comments
I think the 'related or close' IP rule is unfair to indie authors who can but get reviews just one way. This kind of logic is dangerous for creativity and must be tweaked/relaxed/axed. It is not correct to assume that relatives and friends will just 'happen by and fish out five stars blindly'. It is still a lot of hard work. Most high functioning adults do not want to attach themselves to anything that might seem nepotistic. If an author has found such a person willing to give him/her five stars, she/he must be genuinely talented. Thank you for your time.
Jeff Bezos, we know that you and Amazon continue to fail us. You and the people who run Amazon seem to be oblivious to the click farms and bots that are destroying KU and anything that an authentic author would do with Amazon Kindle books. We all feel that our complaints have fallen on deaf ears and have been replaced by the loud pocketbooks of Amazon raking in the money and not caring about anything but themselves. Please listen to what we say.
Let's not also forget that authors are readers too, and would like to be able to voice their honest opinions on what they have read without having our reviews deleted for nebulous reasons because Amazon feels we *know* another author, even if we've only met through a writing group once.
I've worked very hard to write a flawless book, and get legitimate reviews from readers. Healthy competition is good and promotes excellence. bots and scams are not. Please help make Amazon the marketplace authors deserve.
We all work hard to put out quality books that connect with readers and if that is undermined by people trying to make a quick buck, then we are all in trouble. Please take action against these people, for your customers and the authors that publish on Amazon, some of them exclusively!
I am a reader who closed my Amazon account of 15 years because the site had become overrun with scammers, spammers, advertising, and low-quality books. It got to the point where it just became too difficult to find good books there. If you stopped rewarding the scammers and those who use dishonest methods to promote their books, I'm sure it would go a long way towards fixing the problems. Until that happens, Kobo, Google and other retailers get all my custom.
You can identify scammers so please do more to defend your reputation against their antics
We create the works your customers buy. Without creators, your business is nothing.
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I think the 'related or close' IP rule is unfair to indie authors who can but get reviews just one way. This kind of logic is dangerous for creativity and must be tweaked/relaxed/axed. It is not correct to assume that relatives and friends will just 'happen by and fish out five stars blindly'. It is still a lot of hard work. Most high functioning adults do not want to attach themselves to anything that might seem nepotistic. If an author has found such a person willing to give him/her five stars, she/he must be genuinely talented. Thank you for your time.