Much of your exposure on Amazon depends on how many sales you rack up. The more sales, the more often Amazon gives your book free exposure in its Also-Bought lists, Better-Together spots, and recommendations on its Web site and in e-mails. It's a virtuous cycle, one that can make a successful book even more successful.
For most of Amazon's history, this system has been neutral--your exposure was determined purely by sales. The playing field was level. It didn't matter whether a book was by a famous author or an unknown, or published in New York or in your neighbor's basement. It didn't matter whether the book was a pocket-sized paperback or a leather-bound collector's edition. Amazon's customers voted by buying, and books with the best sales got the most exposure.
In mid-2006, however, Amazon changed this system, perhaps with an eye toward improving its quarterly financial statements. Amazon boosted exposure of expensive books and those with big wholesale discounts. Meanwhile, it cut exposure for books with lower prices and so-called "short" discounts. In other words, Amazon began showing customers not necessarily the _best _recommendation--the book most popular among similar buyers--but recommendations filtered according to how profitable the books are for Amazon to sell.
It's unclear exactly what formula Amazon is using to filter its recommendations. Some publishers believe a book's list price is the more important factor, while others believe the wholesale discount matters more. Whatever the formula is, apparently it's a secret. In fact, at least one Amazon executive has flatly denied the company is filtering recommendations at all, although the effects of the practice have become clear to many publishers who track their Amazon sales closely. Many of those publishers are irritated that Amazon seems to be favoring publishers who give bigger wholesale discounts than the 40 percent they have traditionally given to brick-and-mortar bookstores.
It's also unclear whether Amazon's practice of recommendation filtering is a wise long-term strategy. Some customers may begin ignoring recommendations and buy fewer books if they realize that certain books are being recommended mainly because they're expensive. After all, buyers who pay close attention to Amazon's book recommendations tend to be the company's most profitable customers.
In any case, it seems that publishers who want to boost exposure of their titles on Amazon should consider raising their list price and offering generous wholesale discounts of perhaps 55 percent, instead of short discounts, such as 25 percent.