Anybody had a similar experience to this recently?

You order a book from Amazon, specifically a trade paperback. It arrives in a bubble envelope with bubbles that are pretty flat. You open the envelope to find the book damaged.

The damages can vary. Corners are usually bent no matter what other damage there is. The cover and some or all of the pages have a crease running the length of the book. The crease may or may not be noticeable at a casual glance.

I’ve had all of these happen in the last several orders. The one that takes the cake, though, is the issue of Occult Detective Magazine that arrived with a broken spine. I don’t mean the spine was cracked along its length because someone opened it too wide. The crack was across the spine. In other words, the spine had a bend in it of about fifteen to twenty degrees. The pages were torn  on the inside; they were layered like a partially shuffled deck of cards.

I wish I had taken a picture before I sent it back.

The replacement copy was creased across the lower right corner. The copy of Renegade Swords III that arrived yesterday had a crease down the right hand side, cover and some interior pages. Neither of these were worth the aggravation of trying to get a replacement copy.

It didn’t use to be this way. There was a time where the worst thing about the ‘Zon’s packaging was your book might arrive in a flimsy cardboard box with no packaging.

So, I’m going to start actively looking for alternatives to Amazon, at least for paperbacks. Trade published books I can order from B&N, which has its own set of problems, but I can have the books delivered to the store.

Any ideas about indie and small press print books, such as where I might be able to get them without going through Amazon? I know Lulu is an option for some products, but not all.  Suggestions would be appreciated.