When Amazon Is WEIRD

Last year I published several ebooks with Amazon, some of which are listed above. It was fun, up to a point, namely until I realized that the policy of the Trumpian wingman Jeff Bezos was as bad as the one of Mark Zuckerberg. Well, what can I say, except that I'm a woman of principles so all of a sudden, Amazon became a no-no-place for me. That's why I pulled all the ebooks that I myself had published with Amazon, but not those others had published as part of their publishing program. The list of my books with Amazon shrank to a minimum.

 

 

It felt quite good, but at the same time sad, but no matter how I felt, I couldn't overlook the fact that Bezos and Amazon are part of what I call the "tRump-Mafia" which is something I detest. However, after having pulled my Amazon-ebooks I started to notice the many complaints of my fellow writers, like e.g. this one on REDDIT, but without bringing the name of the person who wrote it: 

 

"My KDP was terminated for no reason. My entire body is shaking. I've published 14 books of fiction on Amazon and today I logged into my KDP account, and it said my account was terminated. There was no reason listed. I've received no email from Amazon or KDP. There was a "contact us" - and I sent a short email asking what had happened and that I had no idea why. As of this moment, my books are still listed on Amazon, but I suppose that will change and they will be taken down. Ten years of writing and self publishing, and I have played by all the rules. I truly jave zero ideas why this happened to me. I have even stopped publishing "wide" because I never wanted to "upset" Amazon if I was running a promotion and mis-remembered to pull a book down from Kobo during the promotion. I'm living in a nightmare. I welcome support. This came out of nowhere. I've purchased every cover image, worked with professional cover designers, have a Canva premium account where I use images that they have for marketing, also for marketing I purchase images off Depositphotos. Absolutely no clue. Dying here ...."

I know the name of this Amazon-writer, and I must say, that she certainly worked in a very serious manner. Her publishing-program is quite impressive, and should have secured her safety at the Amazon-platform. Was it her books they didn't like, or did they just feel like "deleting something" and chose her? As far as I know, she still hasn't received the reasons for why this happened to her, which brings me to a new point in this Amazon-tale: She is not the only one who may tell a gruesome tale of being ditched by Amazon. 

Another Amazon-user tells how the same happened to him, but that his books are still up. That's weird, and I wonder whether he is the victim of some kind of "shadow-banning": The page looks all right, but one is banned, and thus there is no sale.

One of those who have had the same experience indicates that the problem may be connected to the use of AI, which is not accepted anymore. However, there is no indication that that was the case, so there is really cause for alarm. The bereaved one points out troubles that are unbearable for a writer who made an effort when publishing:

"All my marketing, all my time and effort and all my reviews will go up in smoke. It's unbelievable. Not one word or email from Amazon or KDP about why or what is happening." 

Yup, that's what happens to most of those writers who don't treat their writings as a career and a trade which, in my opinion, ruins or disrupts the fun of it 

A lot of people on REDDIT tell their sorrowful tales of having had the same or similar experiences, and some also bring good advice: "They might have emailed you something you missed. My advice is to stay calm and polite in each email you send and to keep replies in the same email chain so you're not staring a new help ticket each time and there's a paper trail of their responses." That's sound advice, and in the end it may lead to a solution. At least, that's what I hope for her, also because to read that other authors have experienced what she did is shocking because to write and publish a book is something that resembles giving birth to a baby. One may not be quite happy with the life and destiny of one's child, but still, being the parent of someone means that everything bad happening to him/her stabs one in the heart ....