We have just discovered that Amazon has started, unilaterally, without consulting anyone, to state that certain small press titles are "unavailable" when they are plainly in print and very much available. This is a sinister and unpleasant move by Amazon because they consulted no one about it and are in effect putting out false information because people who use Amazon will assume that they are right and that the publications are unavailable.
When a new publication is given an ISBN number by a publisher details are automatically routed to Amazon and others. The publisher has no choice in the matter. I cannot remove this information from Amazon's site and if we depended on them for sales, which we don't, this would be extremely damaging, like a public and false declaration that our titles were out of print.
The moral is clear: when buying from small poetry presses buy direct from them and never from Amazon. That way more of the income comes to us and we can survive longer.
Things are little better in the much-mentioned independent bookseller world. Foyles refuse to stock our publications even as they accept the award of Independent Bookseller of the Year.
Winner of the 2014 Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlet Publisher of the Year
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