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Originally Posted by starrigger
This stuff tells you nothing about why the book is delayed on Amazon. Sure, it's possible that Macmillan is withholding it. But I doubt they would do that on purpose. For one thing, it would be costly administrative overhead on their part. Amazon frequently screws up ebook listings, and backlogs of getting stuff up are well known. (I've been waiting on several of my books for some time now. The uploading system from publishers is convoluted and not very amenable to fixing problems.)
God knows I have my differences with publishers, and I'm no fan of the agency model. But I do grow weary of the assumption that every time something bad happens, it's the evil publisher's fault. That's supposed to be the author's line.
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I personally think Amazon has something up their sleeve, but ...that's just me, and maybe I'm being a conspiracy-theory wingnut about it.
Donna Andrews (author of the Meg Langslow series) has told me (via Hank Phillippi Ryan) that Amazon's backlog is the reason her backlist isn't available for Kindle. So I tend to agree with your contention that Amazon has a backlog of stuff waiting to be put up. However, it's been a long time (at least a year, because I started looking for her titles when I first got my EZ Reader last February) now, and still nothing. How big of a backlog can they have and still keep any credibility?
Why can't at least ONE retailer get it right consistently? If they're all going to be forced into the same pricing, you'd think they'd at least try to get the books out there at the same time.
Admittedly, I'm no fan of the publishers in this war. And I wouldn't put it past any of them to withhold or delay titles from a specific retailer that they see as "the enemy". But at this point, no one is innocent, and everyone is guilty. It's only a matter of degree. I want the publishers to shut up and put up; get those backlists out there. I want the publishers, Amazon and the other retailers to get ebooks on the sites on the same day as the hardback releases (midnight, to be exact), and I want everything to be available at at least ONE retailer...not the spotty "this is here but that is here" system we have now.
I know...call me a dreamer...