
Amazon Needs to Listen to Indie Authors' Concerns


July 2017
VIA EMAIL: jeff@amazon.com
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
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