Tuesday, November 08, 2022

Why You Can't Get Most of My Books

I recently discovered that most of my self-published books were no longer available on Amazon. Apparently KDP, Amazon's self-publishing arm, terminated my account in September, sending me a message I missed. They claim I had multiple accounts, why I have no idea, and also that "this account is related to an account that was terminated due to violations of our Content Guidelines."

No explanation other than that. 

I have replied to them asking what is going on. Assuming they don't restore my account, the alternatives are either to find another self-publishing firm or to put up all my books on my web site in both pdf and ebook formats for free — although that doesn't provide print copies.

Any opinions? Any of you  have experience with KDP competitors? Apple books does ebooks, but I don't think they do print books.

12 comments:

Daniel Lemire said...

Though I have not used it myself, I believe that one alternative is lulu.

Anonymous said...

There’s also Kobo which I believe is a pretty large ebook seller.

Stephen Kirchner said...

Hi David, I recommend using Ingramspark instead:

https://www.ingramspark.com/

Patrick said...

David,

My wife is an IP attorney for Amazon, and we have both enjoyed reading your books. How long has it been since you replied to KDP? If you have problems getting KDP to reinstate you, she could contact someone to escalate the matter.

David Friedman said...

Patrick:

Thanks. I spoke to someone yesterday who claimed the issue was being referred to the relevant people and I would eventually receive an email from them. If nothing happens in a week I may take you up on your offer.

The pattern of behavior — I gather from stuff online I'm not the only victim — is puzzling. As best I can tell, the first thing KDP does when it discovers what it thinks is a problem is to terminate the account — at least, that is the first message I seem to have gotten from them, checking my back email. In the best case, the author spends some significant amount of his time and KDP employees' time solving the problem and then has to recreate the account, all of whose information has been deleted. Before this, if someone asked me about self publishing I would recommend KDP, after this I won't.

If they don't reverse their decision I can switch to Lulu or Barnes and Noble and still have my books on Amazon, which is what matters. They are driving away customers. Either it's just incompetence or there is some serious problem I'm not aware of that they are trying to solve.

David Friedman said...

On further inquiry, Lulu doesn't seem to be very good for ebooks. I will probably go with B&N unless someone suggests something better.

Patrick said...

David,

I'm sorry to hear that. I showed what you've posted to my wife. She doesn't work in KDP legal, but she knows people who do and will reach out to them to try to get this resolved. If she has any difficulty locating your account, I'll let you know; otherwise, she said it might take a few days.

Gary McGath said...

Another alternative is Smashwords. I've used them for years with good results.

Jonathan said...

Your Kindle ebooks still seem to be available for purchase here from Amazon Spain, and those that I've already bought haven't disappeared from my library.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark Atwood said...

Patrick, could you ask your wife to Chime or Slack me internally? I want to dig into this too, but don't want to duplicate pressure on the KU team.

Patrick said...

Mark: I've asked her to contact you.