Amazon , we need to talk. ππ§
Earlier this year, I published my book in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats across Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and Amazon’s Audible platform ACX.
Over 25 years ago, I worked at Amazon and often described is as a “data rich environment”Β So, naturally, I expected world-class reporting from the publishing platform.
What I found feels⦠surprisingly fragmented.
Instead of a unified, author-centric dashboard, we get:
π KDP reporting for Kindle & paperback
π ACX reporting for Audible
π― Amazon Ads reporting
π Amazon Attribution reporting
All separate.
All speaking different languages.
All requiring manual effort to connect the dots.
As a business coach, building a deep understanding of a client’s business requires data.Β Without it, it is difficult to look for opportunities to optimise growth.
As an author, this experience feels like a patchwork β not the seamless ecosystem Amazon is famous for.Β Certainly not the level of flexibility and sophistication I remember.
Here are a few pain points:
β No holistic view across ebook/paperback/audiobook data
β Ads show βsales revenueβ but not profit
β ACX data only updates once every 24 hours!
β No automated weekly/monthly sales summaries
β Audible sales canβt be tracked via Amazon ads
β Payments lag while ad charges are frequent (funny, thatβ¦)
β Order reporting logic makes analysis harder than it should be
For one of the worldβs most sophisticated data company, this feels like different teams building in silos β and authors paying the price in lost insight and wasted time.
Perhaps someone should read my book – it’s all about putting the customer at the heart of everything you do, not focussing on YOUR requirements
π’ Dear Amazon: independent authors are running real businesses.
Give us a unified reporting experience befitting the platform that built AWS.
In the meantime β if youβre an author juggling these dashboards tooβ¦ I feel your pain.
Letβs compare notes. π
