The Bottom Line

Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you imagined them. 

Yesterday is the day of my book’s release. It should be an awesome moment, right? It should have been celebratory! I’ve worked many years to reach this moment.

So… why wasn’t it?  I’ll briefly tell you.

Over the past few weeks, my book has been on pre-order status on Amazon. People were buying it. Things were going well. Then, last Thursday, the book’s status changed to “Temporarily Out-of-stock.” Though you could still order the book, it was listed as out-of-stock.

Okay. That’s seems good, maybe?  I don’t know.  But then, Monday night, the status changed again.

The note on Amazon said that you couldn’t even buy the book from them, only from 3rd party sellers. Essentially, it was as if Amazon and my publisher had no relationship. What? That’s crazy, since the kindle version was up and running!

After many, many conversations with my publisher and Amazon, I found out there are a lot of different opinions as to what the problem is and whose fault it is. The relationship between Amazon, the Distributor, and the Publisher appears to be a complicated mass of codes, buttons, misinformation, and miscommunication. I could go into it all, but it would probably be very boring to read, and possibly incorrect, since everyone seems to give a different response.

Bottom line: Amazon doesn’t have my book available to ship because they don’t actually have copies of them in the warehouse. 

It’s disheartening that this would happen, but I guess that’s just indicative of how things don’t always turn out the way we would imagine that they would. While there is no doubt the book will eventually be in stock, the fact is that it isn’t currently, and everyone who preordered a copy (including myself) will most likely be waiting a few weeks for it.

This post isn’t to bash anyone or any company. It is to express the frustration and disappointment I have felt on a day that I should’ve been able to celebrate. (Just being transparent.)

With that in mind, I would encourage those who haven’t bought a print book yet to go to Barnes and Noble instead. I bought one on Sunday night and it shipped on Monday. I have an actual tracking number for it and it should be here tomorrow.   I think that I will start buying my books from Barnes & Noble from now on. They seem to have their act together.

I will also say this:  It’s too easy to feel powerless in a situation like this one. I have called and emailed many people trying to figure out what the problem is. And, I will continue to do so. Apparently this has been an issue for other authors as well, and I feel like it needs to be worked out. Some people may say that I need to just wait it out, but I keep thinking… this isn’t a hobby for me. Becoming an author is my chosen career path. It’s what will hopefully allow me to one day support my family.

Simply letting go of this is not really an option.

Here is the link to Barnes & Noble. Order from them. Leave a review. And hope that this will be resolved shortly.