CompletelyNovel

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David - Wordsworth: +412

27 Sep 20:10

No one ever came back to me on this?
1
Simon - Wordsworth: +257 - Most popular response

28 Sep 06:10

I had a very similar problem, David. Someone ordered my book via Amazon and Amazon effectively never bothered to send the order through to CN. As a result, I eventually had to ask him to cancel it and purchase instead directly through CN. It’s ambarrassing really- various retailers seem to be claiming to have my book but none of them do as far as I’m aware and they can’t be relief upon to honour the order and make CN aware of it. It’s just frustrating and I can’t seem to do anything about these retailers claiming to have my book available!

Hope you get something more useful than this message back soon!

Simon
1
Ross - No-vel prize: +716

28 Sep 09:40

On Plus plan the book is only available via Amazon via the CN merchant account which they access via the ‘new and used’ menu. If they order it via the Amazon one ( where it says Out of Stock) I suspect it will never arrive! Don’t know what your plans are and if it is any different with a Pro plan. It is problematic- I had to tell a friend how to do it. She managed via Amazon new and used though.
Hey Ross,

With the merchant account distribution the order comes directly through to us at CN so we can fulfill it.

I do see your point about the merchant account being a bit hidden so we we have plans to upgrade the plus plan soon. The proposal is to give plus plan members full distribution aka the pro plan but restrict the number of books which can be distributed this way (all previous privileges will be maintained as well). This will mean the book appears as listed by amazon like the pro plan does. I am planning to do a series of upgrades to CN in October and will give more details closer to the time in our blog.

Cheers, Oli
- Oliver 29 Sep 12:25
1
David L - No-vel prize: +892

28 Sep 10:16

Thanks for that Ross very useful information.
1
Jo - Bookilicious: +130

28 Sep 17:26

I have a similar problem, my book is on Amazon but showing as out of stock… has done for weeks now and nobody has got back to me about it!
1
Simon - Wordsworth: +257

28 Sep 17:45

I did raise it with CN but apparently there’s nothing they can do about external retailers listing people’s books (and more to the point, liusting them as out of stock). It’s very frustrating as I’m sure it’s dissuaded some people from buying my book (because they’re just to buying through Amazon). I try and direct people to purchase through CN- there’s nothing more that can be done as far as I’m aware. Maybe CN staff can raise the issue 2with amazon somehow, I don’t know. I doubt very much that Amazon would listen to individual authors somehow. : (
this in stock but out of stock is no different from all the online and high street retailers who get our attention by claiming to have stock but then just take the order and expect to be able to get it in a short space of time.
I once wanted some car stuff and a mate said his mate had opened a parts shop but when I got there it was just a guy with a little office and phone and parts books and all he did was order the stuff but of course that meant delays and annoyance.
Probly nothing we can do about it but if we are trying to succeed as authors we have to ensure our books are available so that means the pro plan?
- rose 11 Oct 11:50
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Simon - Wordsworth: +257

28 Sep 17:46

My book has also appeared on Ebay (who don’t even have it but have seen fit to list it!) and again, apparently nothing can be done about it… grrrr…
1
David - Wordsworth: +412

28 Sep 22:28

So are we saying that Amazon will ignore an order placed for a book on their website? I’m sorry but i dont believe that. They must then order it on CN surely. Is there anyone at CN seeing this message string?
David, all I’m saying is that a few people I know tried to order it on Amazon (and I know they did- they would have had no reason to say they had when they hand’t). They waited something like 4 weeks, and when I queried it with CN they said they never got the order. Logically, therefore, Amazon failed to send through the order.

When one of them ordered through CN, he got the book without any problem.

Like I say, it’s frustrating when Amazon and Ebay and their like add a book to their systems when they don’t actually have it. I just hope no one has tried to order it through Ebay.

Just embarrassing and freustrating- and I can’t really see that CN can do anything about it as it’s out iof their hands (hopefully they’ll try though)
- Simon 29 Sep 08:45
David L - No-vel prize: +892

29 Sep 06:34

Hi everyone. Thanks for following and commenting on this. It has obviously been an issue for a while and needs dealing with. I have emailed all the above comments to Georgina
1
Oliver - Lord of the reads: +3087

29 Sep 12:29

Hey guys,

99 times out of 100 books are fulfilled seamlessly but the remaining time is still an issue. Georgina is correct in saying the amazon fulfillment is largely out of our hands but we try to help out. I’m afraid I don’t have a solution right now but I’ve written an explanation of the process and how we intend to try to improve the situation in the future.

The process

When a book is published with all the distribution details complete then the book details will be sent to the ISBN database. Once listed in the ISBN database, retailers can request details of new books via a data feed. The feed provides book metadata so catalog listings can be made.

To provide retailers with distribution data we update the ISBN agency with a spreadsheet detailing each book and it’s availability with different distributors. The ISBN agency compile this into a distribution list which the retailers can use.

For premium members we set up each book with our distribution partners for automatic fulfillment. The distribution partner is listed as the distributor for the book and will be the ones who fulfill the order. The distribution partner will also have a data feed which they send to their retailers with book availability and fulfillment times.

Once all of this is set up a retailer such as amazon can decide to sell a book. Amazon’s default is to list and sell each book they are given in their feeds.

The problem

The problem seems to be that occasionally amazon just don’t send a request for an order out. Amazon won’t deal with anyone else but the distributor and customer so it is hard for us to get specific details. However it seems more common to have this problem if the book has only just been published so perhaps amazon take orders before they collect all the details to fulfill it.

How we intend to make the process better

We can’t check the information which amazon has for each book. However we might be able to mitigate against the chance of them missing information by ensuring all the distribution information is set up at least a week before the book is made available to order.

We can initially list a new book with the ISBN agency as ‘unavailable pending release’ so no one can purchase the book. Once all the information has been sent out we will wait a week and then mark the book as ‘in print’ with the ISBN agency. When this happens, amazon should update the status of the book to available.

Please keep letting us know if you hear of any failed deliveries as there is no way of us knowing otherwise.

I’m sorry it doesn’t solve the problem right now but we’ll continue to do what we can to help out.
David - Wordsworth: +412

29 Sep 21:22

I have checked with the guy who has ordered the book on Amazon and he ordered it on 4th August with them and still hasnt had it! I will now tell him to push back to Amazon to find out why it is taking so long! I can understand why everyone is buying the Kindle version.