Man, I really need to come up with a “fly swatted by sledgehammer” .gif for extremely-astute posts like this.
Where’s Sawie when I need him?
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Hence my statement “at least not in regards to bookselling”.
The people trying to sell Nike or Adidas will never stop.
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I’m concerned about people seeking instruction or pattern books for plans/ideas to make holiday craft items. Knitting, crocheting, sewing, woodworking, etc. items take time to create. Crafters usually don’t wait until December 1 to start on a Christmas craft item. They will order pattern and instruction books far in advance of a holiday, not at the last minute.
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Yep, can confirm. Hopefully it’s not that Amazon won’t have these offered–new and used–but just that some Sellers will be (weirdly) shut out.
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Sheet music also falls under the books category. I checked my past sales and discovered that multiple buyers have purchased Christmas sheet music in July. Musicians need to start practicing their holiday music (Christmas, Easter and more) far in advance of the actual performance during the season.
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Yet another long-established societal norm trampled underfoot by the headlong rush to profit, sustainable or not.
There’s a reason why some of us bandy the term “sociopathic greed machine,” no matter the consequences for stepping out of line.
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I think the reason for this is because most youtubers don’t know what a book is, so they can’t make videos about how to get rich quick selling books.
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It also falls under the gated Entertainment Collectibles category. Might not be absent from the site, if there are still any Entertainment Collectibles sellers left.
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My house in Maine is in a town which had a thriving carriage industry when Henry Ford introduced the Model T.
Need I complete the story of what happened to that industry and the town?
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A direct result of gated publishers. I would bet that these sellers want to offer last year’s or the year before’s best sellers. And they represent little lost revenue for Amazon or themselves.
As much as I love selling books, I do not recommend it as a good business for anyone who is not seeking other than solely financial rewards.
Used and antiquarian booksellers have hated Amazon That hatred was so strong that when Amazon bought Bibliofind, a huge number of sellers moved to ABEbooks. And we know what happened to ABEbooks in time.
I sold on Amazon for about 12 years and never found anything to love about it.
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No, the reason I was saying it is that because Amazon is now requiring approval on almost every publisher (last I checked, I’m approved for over 800). The approval is almost always automatic, “based on your account history”.
Many new sellers are reporting being unable to get approval, even on common brands that are no problem for established sellers.
It’s not that people aren’t trying, it’s that Amazon is moving the goalposts, and actively discouraging people from selling books.
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I’ve also seen sheet music listings in home decor. People frame the covers and use them for decoration.
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FTFY.
We older sellers are grandfathered in.
Usually, I am opposed to such unearned privileges on principle. But principles obviously don’t matter anymore on Amazon, so I am unabashedly enjoying my position.
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I had no idea there were 800+ publishers represented on Amazon. I usually get approved every time except for one or two who want invoices showing purchases of 10 or more books. Not going there. I can list and sell those books on other venues.
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The biggest one for me is Lippincott. Approved and have listings on the .ca platform, not allowed on the .com, where they spell it $Lippincott with the dollar sign. Maybe if I added the dollar sign? I just might try it on my next upload. 
Valentines Day is next, no books for you with Heart, Love, Sweetheart or ?.. in the title after that!
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Maybe that could make for a better marketplace with only experienced booksellers being allowed to sell on Amazon?
I remember when it was a bit scary applying to sell on ABE, back when they had standards.
Interesting. Lippincott as a publisher seems to be off my radar. I have sold books they have published in the past. I looked up about 100 past sales of their books and they seemed to be a mix of medical books and cookbooks??
I have none in my inventory right now.
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What really gets me with some of the publisher approvals is how random it seems. With Marvel, I can’t get approved; but there are some titles I’ve been able to list.
More bizarre, I listed two books recently that were (I think) in the same series; at least, same author and publisher. First one listed no problem; second one, I had to get approved (automatic, of course).
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Given how bastardized Marvel’s corporate control of its IP has become over the last ½-century, I’d probably be willing to wager the difference in those circumstances is likely to be found rooted there…
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