Old Editions Outrank New Editions on Amazon

One of the biggest complaints successful nonfiction writers have about Amazon is their handling of editions. When a book goes into edition, different authors (and publishers) want different things. Some would like to keep all of the reviews from the old edition, some would like to start fresh. Almost all would like the new edition to magically replace the old edition in "Also Bought" and "Better Together" situations, a trick that should be too hard for Amazon to perform, and one they sometimes do on request.

However, the one complaint all authors and publishers can probably agree on is when an old edition of a book appears instead of the new edition in Bestseller, Most Relevant, or other Amazon search results. The old edition will almost certainly be available used through marketplace, which benefits neither the author or the publisher, but more importantly, it probably won't sell at all. Shoppers aren't likely to notice that they've been steered to an older edition of a book, they just assume it's out-of-print or hasn't been updated in a long time. Then they click on one of the "Also Bought" titles or simply go back to the search results and pick a different title.

I've noticed lately that Amazon has been displaying old editions of books in some sorts that previously displayed the current version. For example, the current Bestseller sort for Publishing Books > General that I reviewed just last week is now showing the 3rd edition of the Ross's book, which was published in 1994. Don't know why, my guess is will fix it, either intentionally or unintentionally, but it's interesting to note that 10 years in, the catalog still shows signs of instability.