The Guild’s arrangement with Amazon for handling complaints is yet another new offering in its expansion of membership services
Now at some 10,000 members, it’s notable how much the Authors Guild has recently expanded its author-facing efforts under the leadership of executive director Mary Rasenberger, who took the helm in 2014.
Just last week, the guild announced new regional chapters (see Links of Interest), but more interesting still is the organization’s announcement that it’s opening a new channel to handle author complaints about Amazon. Needless to say, this could be a boon for Guild members, who are both trade and independent authors. One of the most common complaints among writers is that they can’t get the responses they need or want from Amazon.
For Amazon, the Guild brings to the table something important: a trusted and professional filter for handling problems. “For the past year, we have opened a direct dialogue with Amazon,” the Guild writes, “and have been reporting these types of incidents to them on an informal basis. We have learned which issues represent legitimate use cases and which do not, and we have been able to get these issues resolved. … After discussions with Amazon, we have agreed to an additional procedure that will directly flag issues where Authors Guild members feel they are being harmed as authors (not as customers), and online communications with Amazon have not borne fruit in a timely manner. Authors Guild members may now file complaints directly with the Guild. The Guild will review all of the author complaints to determine whether they raise problems that Amazon can or should address.”
As an example, in the case of authors losing out on royalties when third-party sellers won the Buy box by offering used books as new, the guild reports a slowdown in complaints after it worked with Amazon on cases in which Buy boxes were being won in violation of the company’s policies.
Bottom line: This is unquestionably a welcome development in an area of dramatic need. However, the Guild staff cautions, “[We] will not be able to successfully resolve every issue, of course,” and there will no doubt be instances in which authors will be disappointed. But the partnership is a potential breakthrough in handling disagreements. We look forward to seeing how things play out.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
