41 replies
Let this be a warning. Kindle are actively removing any products that do not have original content. I have a lot of books on Kindle and most of my stuff is written by me, but they found one of my early ones called Twitter made easy and removed it yesterday.
I rewrote about 30% of it and added more content as well. Different cover also.
So be warned.

I think this good in the respect that quality content will now surface, but I am quite suprised how deep they are going.
#kindle #warning
  • Profile picture of the author paul wolfe
    Andy

    Thanks for the share.

    Can you share what kind of success you are having with Kindle? (don't have to get to precise numbers...but an outline would be good).

    And there are several threads about this on the Forum - but I think in the long term that it's good news that Amazon are going 'deep' now.


    Paul
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    • Profile picture of the author Ansar Pasha
      Banned
      Originally Posted by paul wolfe View Post

      Andy

      Thanks for the share.

      Can you share what kind of success you are having with Kindle? (don't have to get to precise numbers...but an outline would be good).

      And there are several threads about this on the Forum - but I think in the long term that it's good news that Amazon are going 'deep' now.


      Paul
      Paul, I've had 2 books on there so far in the last few weeks and they've each gotten a few sales.

      I can't see any commissions on them for whatever reason though, I'm guessing it takes some time to update in their system or it does once a month or something.

      A humble but viable strategy that works

      Ansar
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      • Profile picture of the author paul wolfe
        Originally Posted by Ansar Pasha View Post

        Paul, I've had 2 books on there so far in the last few weeks and they've each gotten a few sales.

        I can't see any commissions on them for whatever reason though, I'm guessing it takes some time to update in their system or it does once a month or something.

        A humble but viable strategy that works

        Ansar
        Hey Ansar

        Thanks for sharing that. I think I read somewhere that it takes up to 60 days to get paid....(Haven't got any Kindle books loaded...yet! That will change later this year.)
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  • Profile picture of the author WebsiteDeck
    I think that is a good move by Kindle, it will give a better chance for the folks with original and worthy content to come up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ian McConnell
    I thought this would happen because I've watched 2 webinars where the experts have said to use PLR with a different image and upload them to Kindle... They published a Kindle book from start to finish in less than 20 minutes!

    A person who is interested in a subject may buy 2 or 3 kindle books to get a nice coverage of the information they need. And will be very unhappy if the books have the same content.

    I love the Kindle publishing format, but I think it is important to publish stuff that you have written or at the very least make substantial changes to the PLR.

    Cheers
    Ian McConnell
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    • Profile picture of the author RubenJames
      Paul,

      I think that Amazon pays 60 days AFTER you've made your first $100.

      A couple of months ago I put up 9 original ebooks and one public domain that I did enough re-writes for them to accept.

      I just cleared the $100 and am now waiting for the 60 Days!

      Ruben
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      • Profile picture of the author paul wolfe
        Originally Posted by RubenJames View Post

        Paul,

        I think that Amazon pays 60 days AFTER you've made your first $100.

        A couple of months ago I put up 9 original ebooks and one public domain that I did enough re-writes for them to accept.

        I just cleared the $100 and am now waiting for the 60 Days!

        Ruben
        Thanks for the update Ruben!


        Paul
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    • Profile picture of the author GalenaEd
      Originally Posted by Ian McConnell View Post

      I thought this would happen because I've watched 2 webinars where the experts have said to use PLR with a different image and upload them to Kindle... They published a Kindle book from start to finish in less than 20 minutes!

      A person who is interested in a subject may buy 2 or 3 kindle books to get a nice coverage of the information they need. And will be very unhappy if the books have the same content.

      I love the Kindle publishing format, but I think it is important to publish stuff that you have written or at the very least make substantial changes to the PLR.

      Cheers
      Ian McConnell
      Thank you, Ian. I think I watched the same webinar, purchased the upsell and followed the instructions. I also purchasd some WSO's (one yesterday). I did this for the experience and used a pen name as recommended. I only did 1 back in June because I was not comfortable. I had started on another topic, but Kindle already had 2 books with the exact same title. Even though I made a number of changes to my book, I was notified yesterday that they took the book down. I deserved it.
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  • Profile picture of the author andybeveridge
    Paul, it is far from my biggest earner, but I do make sales every week. I would say IM stuff does not sell so well, but it is an ever changing market. So watch this space.

    Strange but I have always been up front with my marketing. I believe that attracting people who relate to the real you is very important. However, on Kindle if the topic is away from what people know me for, then I have used pen names.
    Ironically they seem to sell better.
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    • Profile picture of the author paul wolfe
      Originally Posted by andybeveridge View Post

      Paul, it is far from my biggest earner, but I do make sales every week. I would say IM stuff does not sell so well, but it is an ever changing market. So watch this space.

      Strange but I have always been up front with my marketing. I believe that attracting people who relate to the real you is very important. However, on Kindle if the topic is away from what people know me for, then I have used pen names.
      Ironically they seem to sell better.
      Thanks for that.


      paul
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    If you write original content but include a couple of pages of URLs to relevant sites, is that still ok?
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  • Profile picture of the author carlpicot
    I am currently reading and watching some training on this. Some of it changes virtually nothing in the original PLR content. It seems a little bit like the recent Google Farmer update for Kindle books - weed out all the non original stuff - so it is better for the serious content writers.

    I wonder how much % original content they are allowing before they reject the book ??

    I know a high profile Warrior who teaches this got his Amazon account banned this month - not sure if it is over this though??

    Have they published anything about this?

    xxxxcarlxxxx
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Buddha
    Hey Guy's What Program Is The Best Out There On How Too Use The Kindle Platform The Best Way! I Hear All Sorts Of Stuff Use PLR But Change The Cover Or Don't Use It. What If You Just Want To Make Money Plus Put Good Content, But Don't Like Too Write... Please Help:confused:
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    • Profile picture of the author Rose Anderson
      Originally Posted by Big Buddha View Post

      Hey Guy's What Program Is The Best Out There On How Too Use The Kindle Platform The Best Way! I Hear All Sorts Of Stuff Use PLR But Change The Cover Or Don't Use It. What If You Just Want To Make Money Plus Put Good Content, But Don't Like Too Write... Please Help:confused:
      You'll need to rewrite the PLR or hire a ghostwriter.

      Rose
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  • Profile picture of the author ItsChrissy
    I heard this also from a friend who recently published on Kindle and it was refused, although they rewrote a good proportion of it and added value also.

    Seems like they're really cracking down, which is good when you think about it. You can find so many MRR products on there, duplicates uploaded by every Tom Dick & Harry.

    Also, when you just change the title and the cover graphic, is it really fair for people to think they're buying something unique, only to find out they already bought that book under a different guise a couple of weeks ago?

    And when you think about it - there's been quite a few WSOs on how to make big bucks with Kindle lately - so Amazon Kindle are bound to be keeping track of these kind of things and I'm sure they don't really like what they're seeing!

    Chrissy
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  • Profile picture of the author mmixon
    I have a few hundred books on Kindle, mostly plr and public domain works that I took and added a few pages in the front and a few in the back, mainly my affiliate links. I consistently make around $100 a month in commissions, and have done so for the last 14 months. Amazon is great, and the checks come in right on time on the 30th of each month for the sales I made the month prior.

    I also have some books by independent authors that I publish for them and claim a 25% fee from their commissions.

    I have not done anything with the books for several months. If Kindle is deleting some, I better go and check things out!
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  • Profile picture of the author Willie Crawford
    Thanks for the update.

    All of my titles on Kindle are selling well, and
    I did edit any PLR that I used fairly heavily.

    I use PLR as a rough draft in some cases, but
    it is often edited so much that even the original
    author might not recognize it

    My Kindle strategy is long-term, with many of
    my ebooks being lead generators where I offer
    the audio version for free within the ebook to
    get them into my autoresponders... and offer
    backend products and services.

    I believe that we must focus on quality or
    Amazon is going to be forced to keep changing
    the rules/criteria, and we'll forever be chasing
    our tails... or they'll simply ban certain categories
    of ebooks and authors wholesale.

    Willie
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    • Profile picture of the author Onora Oz
      Originally Posted by Willie Crawford View Post

      I believe that we must focus on quality or
      Amazon is going to be forced to keep changing
      the rules/criteria, and we'll forever be chasing
      our tails... or they'll simply ban certain categories
      of ebooks and authors wholesale.
      That's a wise advice, Willie (as usual) but I'm afraid only a few will listen. Because people are plain lazy. I don't know maybe it's their genes... Plus, Kindle is the new gold rush. Well... "was".
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  • Wow, I was just reading an article the other day about how Amazon/Kindle is becoming overwhelmed with crappy PLR. I have bought several Kindle WSO's but haven't implemented them as of yet, due to the fact that I just didn't feel right about using PLR with simply a different ebook cover. I think it's a good move by Amazon/Kindle.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    I hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but people shouldn't be republishing PLR as is in the first place, that's just sleazy. Imagine walking into a bookstore and 99% of the content is the same? The logic applies because eventually the quantity of those republishing identical content would overcome those writing anything unique.

    Never publish anything you'd be ashamed to show your friends and family. (There are obvious exceptions of course, but you should be proud of the quality.)

    If you're not proud of your work, (are you proud of copying content, even if "legal"?) then you shouldn't release it.

    The days of cheap content are over, quality wins. And that should make you happy. What kind of scammy spammer would be happy with a market filled with low quality duplication?
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    Glad to see Amazon doing this. More than glad, I'd go so far as to say I'd like to see them impose some kind of financial penalty (confiscation of royalties due or something like that) for anyone submitting anything with a measurable amount of PLR material in their products.

    I mean no disrespect to those who would disagree, and I don't mean to sound holier than thou--I am not, but I have set a bar on what I consider ethical standards when it comes to marketing materials of my own. These ethics are mine--they don't have to be yours and likely are not.

    For me, if I didn't write every single word in a book or ebook myself, my name (or any pen name) doesn't go on the cover. If my name does go on the cover it signals the world that I wrote it, I am proud of it, and I did the very best I could. It tells my people I respect them enough to deliver nothing but the best I can create. My people expect that from me and I won't disappoint them. It's a loyalty thing.

    Many will disagree. But there can often be multiple truths to any situation. Our ignorance in understanding that fact is why millions have lost their lives in conflicts throughout the history of mankind. So while most disagree with what I have said, I think that they will understand my position. Be true to yourself and your customers and experience great pride and satisfaction with what you do.

    This above all: to thine own self be true,

    And it must follow, as the night the day,

    Thou canst not then be false to any man.

    Polonius to Laertes, Hamlet, Act I (maybe II)

    --Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author josefeth
    same here i got some of mine removed as well, i would have to agree that they should take the same content off it's bad for biz , if they want to keep there name in good terms they have to do the right thing, to bad for everyone that bought that kindle cash course.
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    • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
      I'm happy to hear that Amazon is taking these measures. I am a Kindle owner and I enjoy buying books for it. It's a real pain to get some with the same content. The other day, I downloaded a sample of a book from Amazon and the sample was completely blank. I scrolled through 10 blank pages until it got to the part where it gave the ordering page. I usually like to get samples to see if the author's writing style is good for me. I guess this seller didn't want to give even a page or two of his work out for free. Needless to say, I thought a blank sample was shady and I didn't order. Having a good sample can really tantalize readers to buy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
    Good idea. It seems silly to see several books with the same title and content by different authors. Gives Indie authors a bad name.

    If you want to make out good, then write top-quality, original content that's in demand.

    I'm surprised that I am making over $1000 per month with my handful of original Kindle books. It was slow at first though. Should pick up with each new book I add.

    Lambert
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    • Profile picture of the author GameVoid
      If you sell 20 books in January, you get paid on the first week of April. There is no required amount of money to be made. I have received deposits of anywhere from $2.00 to $200.
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  • Profile picture of the author GuruGazette
    I have about a dozen books that sell several hundred copies a month on Kindle. My best sellers are those I custom wrote but I have decent success with specialty public domain as well.

    I tested the PLR approach but had a hard time finding what I felt was acceptable quality so I stopped after 2 or 3. Amazon sent me an email yesterday about 2 of my books. One was A PLR I had already unpublished.

    The other one, interestingly enough, was a short report I personally wrote from scratch several years ago. It sells rarely and is only about 2500 words or so, so I don't mind having it removed until I can work it up a bit more. I cannot remember whether I sold PLR rights to other people for that report though. I've never sold more than 25 licenses to most of my reports individually though, so its definitely not plastered all over like most.

    So I'm sticking with original work and plan to keep a tight hold on my rights from now on.

    In any case, yes some Kindle publisher accounts are getting banned while others are just getting books removed. According to some, Barnes &Noble started doing the same today.
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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    The Kindle PLR gravy train is no longer a viable strategy.

    Not much more to say about it than that, is there?

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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Now it the word would spread to all the would-be literary Milli Vanillis out there...

      Attaboy, Amazon. Go get'em...
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      • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        Now it the word would spread to all the would-be literary Milli Vanillis out there...

        Attaboy, Amazon. Go get'em...
        Do you mean ghostwriters? Maybe Amazon will delete JFK's Pulitzer Prize winning book "Profiles in Courage" which was allegedly ghostwritten by Ted Sorensen.

        I don't think Amazon will go after books written by ghostwriters. But you never know.
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        • Profile picture of the author ShayB
          I think it's a great move on Amazon's part. I've said that before.

          I also think that submitting a few pages of quality, original work is worth more than submitting hundreds of pages of stuff that you rewrote from the works of another.

          That, of course, is JMHO.

          Everyone has original experiences. Every one of us is unique. We all have things we can share.
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  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    There is a newsgroup of indie book publisher on Yahoo. A month or two back one of the members published a link to a newpaper article about the problem Amazon was seeing with the PLR books.

    Most of the indie publishers on that newsgroup had not heard of PLR, and some were shocked at the thought of someone selling full rights to many others for a book they had written.

    @Willie - Ahhh the free audiobook. I need to add that to my next ones. Thanks.

    @laurencewins I have been including links to my sites, and doing so at various spots throughout the books. No problem. However, folks at Amazon do read the Kindle books before "okaying" them, and I suspect pages of links would be considered blatant advertising - something Kindle doesn't want.

    :-Don
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Don Schenk View Post

      @laurencewins I have been including links to my sites, and doing so at various spots throughout the books. No problem. However, folks at Amazon do read the Kindle books before "okaying" them, and I suspect pages of links would be considered blatant advertising - something Kindle doesn't want.

      :-Don
      Can't find the link right off the bat here, but I was poking around the Kindle forum and came across a post that pretty much said the same thing.

      They don't mind links which potentially add to the user experience. Even a 'Resource Page' is OK as long as that isn't the whole reason for the book's existence.
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  • Profile picture of the author tim_benedict
    So the first thing I'm not understanding here is whether or not kindle/amazon pull BOTH copies of the duplicate content, or just the second copy uploaded.

    Similarly, if I upload a book that I 100% wrote without any PLR rights sold on it to anyone else, but someone else that has bought it has uploaded it to kindle/amazon already, and I go to upload my original copy, is there any process whereby I can prove to kindle/amazon that I am the original copyright owner and it is the other dude's illegal copy that needs to go away, not mine?

    I truly hadn't considered marketing my ebooks on kindle/amazon yet, but it sounds like I need to- I have quite a few originals, and it sounds like people are making money...
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    • Profile picture of the author Tim Davis
      Originally Posted by tim_benedict View Post

      So the first thing I'm not understanding here is whether or not kindle/amazon pull BOTH copies of the duplicate content, or just the second copy uploaded.

      Similarly, if I upload a book that I 100% wrote without any PLR rights sold on it to anyone else, but someone else that has bought it has uploaded it to kindle/amazon already, and I go to upload my original copy, is there any process whereby I can prove to kindle/amazon that I am the original copyright owner and it is the other dude's illegal copy that needs to go away, not mine?

      I truly hadn't considered marketing my ebooks on kindle/amazon yet, but it sounds like I need to- I have quite a few originals, and it sounds like people are making money...
      I honestly can't answer your question Tim all i know is there are still several copies of the same books on there and yes there are still several copies of some of the books i have listed and even still several copies of the one particular book in my post above granted it does have a different cover and modified content but i know which book it was derived from. I will keep checking in there book store to see how this plays out. That is a good question i can't see how they will police this guideline even if it is PLR someone had to be the first to list any one book with them how will they determine this?
      Sorry i'm not more help!
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  • Profile picture of the author CoffeeIceCream
    Does anyone know the approximate length books should be for publishing on Kindle? I mean is there a word count minimum? Or a required amount of text???
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    • Profile picture of the author Tim Davis
      Originally Posted by CoffeeIceCream View Post

      Does anyone know the approximate length books should be for publishing on Kindle? I mean is there a word count minimum? Or a required amount of text???
      There is no minimum that i am aware of i hav one report on there i sell for 0.99 that is 2 pages long!
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      • Profile picture of the author CoffeeIceCream
        Originally Posted by Tim Davis View Post

        There is no minimum that i am aware of i hav one report on there i sell for 0.99 that is 2 pages long!
        Thanks Tim!!!

        That's great, cuz I have a bunch of articles that I wrote that I can publish.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    LOL

    Some people still don't get it. I wonder if they ever will.

    That being said, I think if you rewrite PLR--in your own words, adding your own thoughts, making it unique--then 30% (however that's measured) isn't enough; I would reject it too. However, if you can get it up to 90%-100%, then you should be fine.

    It's not about gaming THEIR system and slapping up some old stuff you have lying around.

    Is the old PLR gravy train gone? I sure hope so,

    All the best,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author Kate C
    I think it is a great move which will protect people from recycled information. Plr is great if used right but honestly, some people just want to be bublished and they slap things together really fast without really providing value to their customers. It is really bad when you buy a book only to find that you already knew what was inside but because the title was changed and the cover redone, it looks and sounds like a different product until you start reading. If you get plr, use ito only as a guideline and make it unique by rewriting the whole thing yourself.
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  • Profile picture of the author gmcdonald
    Thanks for the WARNING i was unaware of this.
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  • Profile picture of the author unnatural
    As per usual, quality will get you further than quantity - I am personally glad they are cleaning up. Less clutter and more sales for the people who take the time to put out quality content.
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