I've just seen this from a successful indie author, Rachel Renner, who has had a lot of success with her Gilded Blood urban fantasy series. She not the first author I've seen this happen to in recent months either.
Image description: Screenshot of a Facebook post with the following content:
"I am devastated.
It has been brought my attention that JINXED, the second book in the Gilded BIood series, has been removed from Am--zon for containing “content that’s widely available on the web, which is considered “disappointing content” for [Am--zon’s] customers.”
There are three possible explanations for this: 1) two one-line song lyrics (which were quoted and credited on the copyright page), 2) small portions of the book that exist on my own domains in the form of quotes/snippets, or 3) blatant plagiarism, seeing as my books regularly show up on illegal pirate sites.
I am absolutely gutted and am working feverishly with the bots--excuse me, “humans”--over at Am--zon to rectify this as soon as possible. In the meantime, if you are looking to get the 2nd book in the Gilded Blood series, signed copies are available at RachelRener d0t-c0m. (If I type it out this post will be further suppressed.) I’ll make sure ALL orders are shipped within 24 hrs until this matter is rectified.
I am deeply, deeply sorry for the inconvenience."
Below is the email Rachel has sent Amazon, in which she states that working with Amazon gives her PTSD due to a past abusive relationship.
Image text:
Hello,
I know this message will be triaged by Mr. Bezos’ team, and I know I’m not high on this list of priorities, but I am imploring you for help. I am a mid-list KDP author who make All Stars for the first time last month, and now my 2nd most popular book has been removed from Amazon with no explanation save for “containing (text and/or images) that’s widely available on the web”. No explanation of the text or images, no clarification when I called KDP to ask. I’m just supposed to guess while my livelihood is taken from me, while the cause (i.e. rampant piracy) may be entirely out of my hands.
I was once in an abusive relationship and I am not exaggerating when I say that working with Amazon gives me PTSD. I’m forced into a relationship that causes me inordinate amounts of stress - like my actual earnings being 20% different than the estimated royalties, or having my page reads payouts be slashed again and again to fractions of pennies, and now this - some sort of sick guessing game where I have to figure out what I did wrong or continue to suffer.
This has to change. Amazon HAS to change, or its biggest and up-and-coming authors will continue leaving in droves.
Please help me fix this, and don’t leave me hanging for weeks or months as so many authors have been lift.
-Rachel (Rener) Kullman
Personally, I'm fairly certain book piracy is the cause of this. I know I'm preaching to the choir here re book piracy, but Rachel's story really highlights the damage it does to authors not just from an lost sales perspective, but from a mental health and overall career as authors are forced to deal with Amazon's bureaucracy
The result: fewer people are able to read the author's books (in this case, because they've been removed from Amazon, but I've seen other authors loose their accounts entirely). This impacts the author's ability to earn an income—potentially from their whole back catalogue. Meanwhile, the author has to take time out from writing to deal with the Amazon beaurocracy=fewer new releases for readers. It might seem like a small thing to download a pirated book, but it makes big waves in the lives of others—both readers and authors.
Image description: Screenshot of a Facebook post with the following content:
"I am devastated.
It has been brought my attention that JINXED, the second book in the Gilded BIood series, has been removed from Am--zon for containing “content that’s widely available on the web, which is considered “disappointing content” for [Am--zon’s] customers.”
There are three possible explanations for this: 1) two one-line song lyrics (which were quoted and credited on the copyright page), 2) small portions of the book that exist on my own domains in the form of quotes/snippets, or 3) blatant plagiarism, seeing as my books regularly show up on illegal pirate sites.
I am absolutely gutted and am working feverishly with the bots--excuse me, “humans”--over at Am--zon to rectify this as soon as possible. In the meantime, if you are looking to get the 2nd book in the Gilded Blood series, signed copies are available at RachelRener d0t-c0m. (If I type it out this post will be further suppressed.) I’ll make sure ALL orders are shipped within 24 hrs until this matter is rectified.
I am deeply, deeply sorry for the inconvenience."
Below is the email Rachel has sent Amazon, in which she states that working with Amazon gives her PTSD due to a past abusive relationship.
Image text:
Hello,
I know this message will be triaged by Mr. Bezos’ team, and I know I’m not high on this list of priorities, but I am imploring you for help. I am a mid-list KDP author who make All Stars for the first time last month, and now my 2nd most popular book has been removed from Amazon with no explanation save for “containing (text and/or images) that’s widely available on the web”. No explanation of the text or images, no clarification when I called KDP to ask. I’m just supposed to guess while my livelihood is taken from me, while the cause (i.e. rampant piracy) may be entirely out of my hands.
I was once in an abusive relationship and I am not exaggerating when I say that working with Amazon gives me PTSD. I’m forced into a relationship that causes me inordinate amounts of stress - like my actual earnings being 20% different than the estimated royalties, or having my page reads payouts be slashed again and again to fractions of pennies, and now this - some sort of sick guessing game where I have to figure out what I did wrong or continue to suffer.
This has to change. Amazon HAS to change, or its biggest and up-and-coming authors will continue leaving in droves.
Please help me fix this, and don’t leave me hanging for weeks or months as so many authors have been lift.
-Rachel (Rener) Kullman
Personally, I'm fairly certain book piracy is the cause of this. I know I'm preaching to the choir here re book piracy, but Rachel's story really highlights the damage it does to authors not just from an lost sales perspective, but from a mental health and overall career as authors are forced to deal with Amazon's bureaucracy
The result: fewer people are able to read the author's books (in this case, because they've been removed from Amazon, but I've seen other authors loose their accounts entirely). This impacts the author's ability to earn an income—potentially from their whole back catalogue. Meanwhile, the author has to take time out from writing to deal with the Amazon beaurocracy=fewer new releases for readers. It might seem like a small thing to download a pirated book, but it makes big waves in the lives of others—both readers and authors.
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