Maybe. Though indies might have much the same complaints now.
blockbuster authors and celebrities whose books are likely to sell well are prominently featured
Amazon does a lot of things that could justly be criticized, but isn't that pretty much a description of every bookstore ever? Aside from a huge specialized bookstores that feature obscure titles, have you ever seen a store where the bestsellers aren't more prominently positioned than those by nearly unknown authors? In that respect, Amazon is getting slapped around for what is pretty much industry-standard practice. The problem may be more acute with Amazon because of the sheer volume of titles it has.
THANK YOU! This is stupid. If you're gonna investigate Amazon for this you'll need to investigate Kobo, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, and all the brick-and-mortar bookstores. While they are at it, investigate streaming companies like Netflix, Hulu, and all the others that promote their films and shows above others. And also investigate the major sports leagues that dare to give more money to the best players in the game. This is how business works. The best gets preferential treatment. It's always been that way.
I don't get this where people try to dictate what a retailer showcases. Retailers want to make money so they're gonna showcase things that sell more than others. It's not Amazon or any other store's responsibility to help our books sell. So what do people expect Amazon to do? Start pushing books that are in the 3 million and haven't had a sale in 8 years??? I mean, if you don't push the bestsellers, who do you push? And these bestsellers bring eyes to other books. Those authors keep readers coming to Amazon but people don't think about that. Some act like Amazon owes them something. They allow authors to upload in their store and sell which is a blessing seeing how self-publishing used to be. Business is NOT supposed to be an even playing field. People gotta work for privileges. Authors who sell the most get the privileges. It doesn't mean others aren't selling or doing well too. Many authors do well without handouts from Amazon. But the DOJ or whatever cannot make Amazon or anyone else push certain books or whatever. It's Amazon's store and they can do what they want. This sounds like whining coming from publishers or whoever whose books aren't being seen enough. And if trade pubs are behind this they really need to sit down and shut up with the way physical bookstores have been catering to them since the beginning of time.
But I don't see anything anyone can do about how someone runs a store. Amazon is a private company and it sets its own rules. People don't have to sell on there if they don't like it. It's challenging for anyone to get visibility on Amazon not just unknown new authors and even so, it is NOT Amazon's job to promote those authors. Those authors have to find a way to get eyes on their work themselves. Amazon is not their publisher or their personal marketer.
This looks pathetic. It sounds like a bunch of disgruntled authors who aren't selling so they wanna demolish Amazon because they can't get a handout. Who told them they are supposed to be seen on Amazon? I don't remember that being a condition. You put your books on there and Amazon sells them and pays you. They are not obligated to do anything else certainly not push our books. Why don't they go write books people wanna read and learn how to market and promote instead of whining?
