Misinformation on Amazon about Harry Potter ebook

[kellymonaghan]

Hi, guys! Some of you might have seen the new Kindle ebook on Amazon.com called "Harry Potter at Universal Orlando" by me and Seth Kubersky.

Unfortunately, the sales page on Amazon's Kindle store gives the impression that it is a Kindle version of the entire text of "Universal Orlando 2011" which I also wrote with Seth.

It is not! It is an excerpt from that book, containing only the section on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

I'm really worried that folks will think they are getting the whole book at a low price on Kindle and will feel ripped off when they realize it's just an excerpt.

I am working with our distributor to get Amazon to change the sales page to reflect the reality, but in the meantime I just wanted to make sure that at least no one on this board was misled.

 

[damo]

Can you put that info in the user review section?

 

[kellymonaghan]

Can you put that info in the user review section?

I don't think that would work. It would just look like another review and it would probably appear on the second page of reviews. I'm not sure most people read all the reviews on the first page, let alone click through to read the others.

 

[Metro West]

Thanks for letting people know Kelly.

I don't know what else you can do about it now though.

I hope Amazon clears up the confusion.

 

[stacynak]

Kelly- is it the entire section on WWOHP?

 

[Sugarglider]

Ummmm .... when I go looking I don't see any of your books in the Kindle store - for me you are only available in paperback.
could it be cause I am in a different country?

 

[EpcotGuy]

As a person who bought the ebook, and then found out that it was only a TINY exerpt, I felt COMPLETELY RIPPED OFF. There is nothing that shows it isn't the whole book.

That being said, I almost didn't buy the physical book as I was pretty pissed.

 

[Jara50]

Kelly. Just wanted tos ay I bought your book (paperback) and am so glad I did. It 's very helpful and I really enjoyed it!

 

[kellymonaghan]

Kelly- is it the entire section on WWOHP?

Yes.

 

[kellymonaghan]

As a person who bought the ebook, and then found out that it was only a TINY exerpt, I felt COMPLETELY RIPPED OFF.

I hear you. And you were absolutely right to feel that way. That's a point I made to both Amazon (via feedback) and our distributor: That we are going to wind up with angry customers, something which (in theory at least) no one wants.

I would encourage you to write an angry email to Amazon and demand a refund.

Our distributor says it's trying to get Amazon to change the page, but that will probably take some time. I just checked and it still the same. <groan>

 

[kellymonaghan]

Ummmm .... when I go looking I don't see any of your books in the Kindle store - for me you are only available in paperback.
could it be cause I am in a different country?

Maybe. I don't how that works, but you'd think an electronic book should be available anywhere.

 

[cgattis]

As a newbie planning the fam's first trip EVER to Universal, I bought the full paper book and just wanted to say I love it. There's not nearly as many sources out on the web for Universal info (besides here, OF COUSE...heehee), so it was nice to have it all in once place. I thought it was well-written and fun. I especially liked having specific information (we liked this entree at this restaurant, etc.) along with the general. And super job getting the new WWoHP info in print so quickly!

 

[bumbershoot]

As of right now, the *info* is pretty clear.

Product Description
Your complete guide to all the rides, all the shops, all the restaurants and all the insider secrets of Harry Potter's Wizarding World at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park.

The editorial info showing the pages is almost certainly wrong...shows 302 pages.


Right at the bottom of the page is the following:

Feedback
If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
Would you like to report poor quality or formatting in this book? Click here
Would you like to report this content as inappropriate? Click here
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Click here
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide? Click here

That could have been a way for you, without the distributor, to contact them.


If the distributor is the one with the amazon relationship, they should have contact info for the exact team that's working with your book...there shouldn't have been much of a delay.

If you did it directly, there should be a team for self-publishers to work with you and you should have been given contact info for them.

Basically, unless they are very very backed up, there shouldn't be much of a delay. Unless their team has been taken down by this "bug" that hubby (product tester for Kindle) is home with. A ton of other teams there have been slammed with it as well. And now it's been snowing for two days, and when it snows in Seattle/Tacoma, lots of things close down b/c of all the hills (and it's an icy, slippery snow that's much harder to drive in than normal snow), but those that aren't sick are likely working from home like DH is.


But all that seems to still need to be changed is the page number (and maybe file size), b/c the description now is clear to me.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

I bought the excerpt for my nook at Barnes & Noble. Their page is also confusing.

 

[kellymonaghan]

Bumbershoot:

I used the feedback mechanism -- twice. The distributor also weighed in.
The Amazon listing is now somewhat better; at least the side by side price comparison between the excerpt and the full book is gone. But it still seems confusing to me.

I'm afraid what's there now is going to be as good as it gets.

Lorelie Lee:

I felt the B&N page was LOTS less confusing, but obviously people still get confused as the positive review there shows.

I was thinking of doing chapter-long excerpts of a lot of my guidebooks. After all, there will be people who want to visit Busch Gardens Tampa who have no interest in Aquatica. Or folks who will go to IOA and have no interest in USF.

But I am coming to realize that there's probably no way to so that without creating confusion or misunderstandings about exactly what is in any ebook excerpt.

What do you guys think? Should I go ahead and do it anyway?

 

[southernsam]

Hi just wanted to say Thank You for introducing me to DISboards.com which I read about in your excellent book