Competing with swag for slots in the top 100?

[Lilly_Frost]

Listing swag and accessories in the book section seems excessive. It's not like the HP books aren't already there.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/16926919011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_3_4_last

I don't know, it just doesn't seem quite right.

[LilyBLily]

That's not swag. That's "brand extension." These are actual products for sale.

Swag means free stuff.

[Lilly_Frost]

But why are they in the book bestseller list? I'll admit, reading the "Made In China" tag on the bottom of the Golden Snitch probably technically qualifies as reading, but calling it a book is stretching it. By that standard, why not have "Welcome" mats there?

[Monique]

These should not be listed as books.

[Going Incognito]

You have got to be kidding me.
And romance authors miscat? "Accessory with book" they're calling them.


Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#1 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Fantasy Sports
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Dragons & Mythical Creatures
#1 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Performing Arts

[Going Incognito]

They even get 'author pages' for this crap:
https://www.amazon.com/Danielle-Selber/e/B00IZIQJ7W/

[Lilly_Frost]

Yeah, I was looking through the cats on my break, and they are up in a lot of the big categories, over in SciFi/Fantasy, at any rate. Those toys, stickers, and calendars.

<shakes head>

[Seneca42]

wow, it's almost like amazon is turning into a flea market. I wonder if anyone has pointed this out a thousand times before 

[Victoria Wright]

I'm guessing the 'book' referenced in the listing is the booklet of stickers. /sigh

[SevenDays]

I reported some of them as not being books because--well, duh--they are most definitely not books.

You know, for all the good that will do.

[Going Incognito]

All the 'books' have paperback isbns. For a while there recently, maybe still, people were getting really weird reviews for dental products and health and beauty products on their books, cause Zon had fubbed the pb links or something. Maybe this is like that? An f'ed up pb linkage? I hope. Cause if this is on purpose...

[Lilly_Frost]

Well heck, if 6 stickers = a book worthy of of an ISBN number and a spot in the top 100 according to Amazon's standards, I see a productivity surge of epic proportions in my future. I might be able to hit the book a day mark. 

All the 'books' have paperback isbns.

[Going Incognito]

Well heck, if 6 stickers = a book worthy of of an ISBN number and a spot in the top 100 according to Amazon's standards, I see a productivity surge of epic proportions in my future. I might be able to hit the book a day mark. 

I don't understand how they're doing it. Ok, yeah, upload a pic of everything together as your 'cover,' link to the 'paperback' somehow, but how do they get Amazon to send out the product? They can't be doing this thru kdp, right? So they've gotta be doing it thru the marketplace as a seller? And picking books as a category like a reseller does when they sell createspace pb's for a hundred bucks?

[Lilly_Frost]

I have no idea; I thought there were specific rules for how ISBN's were used--I didn't think you could just slap a number on any old thing and call it a book. I thought it at least had to be an actual book of sorts, even if it did talk about wise donkeys and the goats in the meadow over and over for 3000 pages or however long those scam KU books are.

[Going Incognito]

TBH, there isn't really much about Amazon that is making sense right now.

[Annette_g]

I glanced at a few and each item of collectable or toy, all seem to have a 16 page mini book - I guess this is why they can have an ISBN?

[Lilly_Frost]

Weren't the mini books just stickers though? Not actual book-books? Aww heck, I guess it's the same as a picture book. It's Harry Potter though, so it's not like anybody would get a spanking no mater how inappropriate the categorization. One day, my brain will develop an immunity to logic fails. One day.

I glanced at a few and each item of collectable or toy, all seem to have a 16 page mini book - I guess this is why they can have an ISBN?

[Gentleman Zombie]

Actually, thinking back on my old "working in a bookstore days" these items look suspiciously like stuff that brick and mortar bookstores sell. Plus, I seem to recall that stuff we sold in the store used ISBN's and not SKU's.  Because they were considered "book-like" products.

I suspect someone is taking advantage of that and listing their products for sale this way on Amazon. That would explain how they are able to ship and sale on Amazon. It's shady as hell if that's what happening. This kind of makes me want to take a trip down to the nearest B&N and look a the stickers on some of the non-book stuff they are selling.

I glanced at a few and each item of collectable or toy, all seem to have a 16 page mini book - I guess this is why they can have an ISBN?

Aha.. now I remember. Yes.. the mini-books that came with some stuff had it's own ISBN. We tracked and sold the items based on that as the product number. It was ages ago... so I'm a little fuzzy on the details. But all those items do have a legitimate ISBN and are technically considered "book like" products. Amazon probably doesn't consider these any different than puzzle books or coloring books.