Amazon

This is just the latest salvo from the FTC, which has been particularly focused on challenging the dominance of Big Tech companies.

Lately spam books on Amazon and included in Kindle Unlimited have been visibly infiltrating category bestseller lists.

The changes are expected to reduce abuse by authors who have been adding their book to inappropriate categories for visibility and ranking.

Starting June 20, for the first time since its launch in 2016, Amazon KDP will increase the pricing for print (POD) books.

Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited payouts to self-published authors—determined after the reading takes place—took a recent nosedive.

Standout subcategories include domestic thrillers, organized crime, paranormal mysteries (featuring shifters), and legal thrillers.

Earlier this month Amazon started revealing to authors just how many followers they have, but not their names or contact info.

Amazon has dramatically redesigned the Amazon Author Page, removing the ability for authors to include supplementary media.

Trends and takeaways in a popular romance subcategory.

In our last issue, we discussed limitations Amazon has made to how many categories a book can rank in simultaneously.

Amazon has announced it’s ending magazine and newspaper subscriptions for Kindle next year along with print textbook rentals.

Indie author Nicholas Erik calls it “nothing short of a marketing gamechanger.”

The brightest sparks of the year.

Amazon has new category ranking limitations; whether these changes are intentional or a glitch remains unclear

During the pandemic, Amazon hired more than 800,000 employees, mostly at its warehouses. Now there is a hiring freeze.

Amazon is tightening its belt by laying off workers, pulling back on expansion of its fulfillment network, and closing some warehouses.

To break into the rich romance market, look for a subgenre with high sales and lower competition.

While books can be assigned up to 10 categories, Amazon has now disallowed books from ranking in more than three categories.

On the heels of a major change to its ebook returns policy, Amazon has modified its policy for audiobook returns in Audible.

Earlier this year, a viral TikTok post sparked an online petition by authors demanding that Amazon change its returns policy.

Right on the heels of the TikTok and Barnes & Noble marketing partnership, TikTok and Amazon have announced that Amazon will now sponsor the TikTok Book Club.

The popular genre of urban fantasy is competitive, but with a lot of sub-category crossover.

This subgenre has high sales but low title growth, making it attractive for authors wanting to break in.

Self-publishing authors, among others, have long complained that Amazon’s ebook return policy is far too permissive.

In our last issue, we raised a red flag for self-published authors using 979 ISBNs who might experience trouble selling print editions via Amazon.