I've had the opportunity to have a converstaion with several Authors on this topic and it's suprising what is going on.
Kindle downloads of hard working Authors, who put so much time creating, inventing and publishing great bodies of literature, are actually on loan through their return policy. Let’s face it, Kindle allows the reader an opportunity to read at times, 10% - 20% of a book before purchasing that work. Talk about taking it out for a “test run!” On top of this, they (the reader) have a return policy of seven (7) days to take advantage of and can turn around after reading the remaining portion of the book, returning it for a full refund. Oh yes, there’s many who do this and are habitual repeat offenders of this use and abuse policy. Is this fair to the Author? The Author chooses to allow a percentage of his/her work to be viewed, which again, at times is a huge portion of the book to begin with. Now, the test run of a preview and again, sometimes it varies in the number of pages, but it seems fitting that if, a reader takes the time to explore the work, like what they’ve read, then purchases it…the deal is done! You would think it should be a final sale? Would you agree? Another factor to take into consideration is, these downloads aren’t breaking anyone’s wallet, as most are just a few dollars at best. Do you feel Kindle should remove their return policy after given all the factors going into a purchase as said above, or do you feel what they have, is a proper way of doing business?
Inquisitive minds want to know!
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Actually I believe that the online preview at Amazon is 10%, while Smashwords allows a variable percentage, with the default set at 20%. In any case, the first 10% of a book should be enough for a reader to make an informed decision.
ReplyDeleteI think that the consumer should have a limited time to ask for a refund. For instance, if they buy the first edition and find out that the second edition is available, and they state their reason within ?24 hours? that would be a valid condition for return - assuming that they buy the second edition.
I´ve had very few returns as an author.
ReplyDeleteI have returned some books myself for various reasons:
1.
The main reason are the the previews, at the end of the preview there is a button saying BUY THE BOOK, a normal person would think that you´d see a price before you decide to buy, but that means a sale has happened. It happened to me 2-3 times before I noticed. In the first day my mother had a Kindle reader she did this mistake twice.
2.
Very badly formatted ebooks.
3.
Too many typos.
4.
Rarely an ebook I didn't like, in one case it was one costing 12$ from one of my favorite authors, read half of it, or should I say I forced myself to read and then said to myself it was too much.
All in all I returned a dozen books.
Let's face it, Kindle (unlike smashwords) will let you upload almost any book with very bad formatting or typos, a restricted policy may stop some people from buying indies.
Maybe 7 days is a long time, but I am sure that the sales at the smashwords site that doesn't allow returns is not a good policy.
Thanks for your post.