April 14, 2025 (updated)

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Dear Friends:

 

Unfortunately, I need to comment briefly on the situation at Amazon. Amazon can ship orders quickly, especially to Prime members, because its fulfillment uses print-on-demand. However, the print quality of Amazon’s copies has been inferior to that of copies fulfilled through Ingram (used by other sellers). Amazon’s version is a bit smaller than the standard 6” x 9” book sold by other sellers. Moreover, Amazon’s first batch had lower paper quality, lighter-than-normal text, and misaligned cover images that did not bleed to the edges like they were supposed to.

 

Yet Amazon has shown no concern for quality control when questioned about it. I addressed the issue four times between January and March. The printing error has finally been resolved. However, Amazon refuses to discard the remaining misprints and insists on selling all of them before selling the new (corrected) copies.

 

The publisher even went through the trouble of obtaining a new ISBN for the corrected paperback to avoid confusion, but Amazon has retained the old ISBN on the paperback version’s ad page. Amazon will not update it until the old copies have all been sold.

 

If customers receive copies from the misprinted batch and return them, Amazon will resell them, not discard them. I expressed to Amazon that such a practice is unfair to customers. I have emphasized that it is poor quality control and poor customer service. Amazon does not care if people pay full price for misprints. Amazon only seems to care about making a quick profit.

 

Although this situation is beyond my control, I apologize profusely.

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Fortunately, the paperback, hardcover, and e-book versions of my book are also available at online stores such as Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dabian T. Witherspoon, Ph.D.

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