Amazon Answers for Book Authors

T
The Source
By: Penny Freedman, Thu Dec 8 2016
Penny Freedman

Author: Penny Freedman

When you’ve come to the end of the publication process, and it’s time to see your book sold to colleagues, students, and researchers we know there are many questions about how we get your book to Amazon. We asked the Product & Metadata Management team to explain the processes that brings your book from our internal databases to the worldwide used website.

What books are on the Amazon websites?

All Springer and Palgrave books are sent to Amazon worldwide through what we call a data feed. The only exception is our MyCopy titles.

What is a “data feed” and how is it sent?

All product information about our books is stored in our internal database that is sent to Amazon (and other trade partners) every Tuesday night. Once the book has been issued an ISBN it is considered ready to go through the feed. It then takes 5-7 days for the data to be reflected on Amazon pages.

What happens when something is updated on my book page? (For instance, a book description is updated or a review is added).

The weekly Tuesday data feed includes both new and updated information so the update will be included in the weekly data feed. It will then take the standard 5-7 days for changes to be reflected on the Amazon websites. Since Amazon does not accept manual changes, if you have requested a change after the weekly Tuesday feed, keep in mind that it will not go through the feed until the following week.

How do cover images get to the Amazon detail page? What do I do if my book’s cover is missing?

Covers are included in the weekly data feed sent to Amazon. If the cover is missing on our website, then it will also be missing on Amazon. If you see your cover on the Springer or Palgrave website, but it is not yet on Amazon, reach out to your editor who can investigate further.

What happens if my book cover was changed?

As long as the new cover is updated in the cover database then it will be sent through in the next weekly data feed.

What about media and customer reviews?

Quotes from book reviews written by media are put into our internal database by our Book Review Team and these quotes are fed to Amazon. Media reviews are listed on Amazon as “Editorial Reviews”. Reviews that are written directly on the Amazon site are not fed back to our website unless someone alerts the review department. Publishers cannot control or delete a “customer review” on Amazon.

Is “Look Inside” available for all titles?

When your book is published, the complete PDF is sent to Amazon. All Springer and Palgrave books are made available for this program and 10% of the content is viewable by a potential customer. After publication it will take 2-4 weeks for “Look Inside” to display.

Featured Image Credit: e-book_main by portal gda. CC 2.0 via Flickr.

Penny Freedman

Author: Penny Freedman

Penny Freedman is a Marketing Manager on the Author Experience & Services team based in the New York office. She works closely on sharing insight and guidance on the benefits and services available to our editors, reviewers, and authors.

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