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Amazon Kindle KDP account terminated!

by Calamaroo
38 replies
I had 70 ebooks on Amazon Kindle. Ten of these used public domain works that I got from Project Gutenberg. About a week ago, they sent me an email telling me my account had been "temporarily blocked" because these public domain works which I submitted were not "differentiated."

The thing is that they are indeed differentiated with annotations after every 4 chapters.

The way to unblock it was to respond to them with an email promising that I should not do it again and that I should unpublish anything that was "undifferentiated content". Again, all my public domain works have annotations in them but I removed all of them anyway just to eliminate any issues.

A few days later my KDP account got terminated even though I had removed the ten that used public domain. There were 60 ebooks remaining that are original content - no PLR, no public domain. Just pure original content.

My question in this thread is:

If I open an LLC in the State of Nevada (where I live) and therefore have a new EIN tax number, can I re-open a new KDP account? Has anyone ever done this? I will, of course, submit entirely new works that are totally different from the works that I had in Amazon. And yes, no more public domain.

Another question:

Since my account has been terminated, what will happen to payments from past royalties? I had sales in January and February that won't get paid until two months later, which is their standard payment timeline.
#account #amazon #kdp #kindle #terminated
  • Profile picture of the author danr62
    Did you contact KDP and ask them why the terminated your account and try to get it reinstated? If not, this should be your first step.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    I'm with Dan, why don't you contact them and find out what steps you need to take to get reinstated? Show them proof that you complied with all their requests. I think starting a LLC is a bandaid approach and it doesn't resolve the underlying issue(s).

    RoD
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    • Profile picture of the author nubchai
      To answer your other question - if your account isn't reinstated you lose all unpaid royalties. It's in the TOS. So I agree with the others you should contact Amazon again and try to work it out,
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  • Profile picture of the author cage73
    Contact KDP again and explain that your other books are originals and if you can provide proof do so. Same thing happened to me last month. I took a few PD books down(yes, they were differentiated too) after getting the initial email from KDP, then my account was terminated. I contacted KDP and provided proof that the remainder of my catalog was indeed originals. My account was reinstated within 3 or 4 days.

    This is no guarantee that they will reinstate your catalog but it's worth a try.

    Its almost as if Amazon is going Gung-Ho with cleaning up all the PLR crap that they are closing accounts that do indeed have unique content. I've heard many, many stories of this exact thing happening.
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  • Profile picture of the author donnieo
    What do you show as proof that your work is original?
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  • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
    Why do people try to game the system and then wonder why they get the boot??? Look, they owe you no explaination or second chance the minute you upload your first piece of PLR crap.

    I swear if people put in 1/3 the effort they put in to taking shortcuts into running an actual above-board business, there would be far more success stories.

    Man up, take your lumps, and rethink the whole online thing and how you'd like to build a sustainable business.
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    • Profile picture of the author edlewis
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

      Why do people try to game the system and then wonder why they get the boot??? Look, they owe you no explaination or second chance the minute you upload your first piece of PLR crap.

      I swear if people put in 1/3 the effort they put in to taking shortcuts into running an actual above-board business, there would be far more success stories.

      Man up, take your lumps, and rethink the whole online thing and how you'd like to build a sustainable business.

      Or...you could try actually READING the original post.


      The FACT is the lazy, get-rich-quick schemers have given Amazon so much trouble that Amazon is now, at times, throwing the baby out with the bathwater and terminating accounts of publishers who are following the rules.

      Amazon's own TOS says you can publish public domain content as long as it is "differentiated" and spell out what "differentiated" means pretty clearly.



      I said it back in April, before the first Kindle "slap", that Kindle spammers - most coming from the Warrior Forum - were going to ruin/change Kindle....

      Amazon isn't going to let a bunch of get-rich-quickers flood their system with crap and destroy what is likely a multi-BILLION dollar business.
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      • Profile picture of the author batchos
        Why does the Kindle topic draw so much ill-feeling?

        This is the third thread I've read today about Kindle and the responses have been very unfriendly.

        I guess the Kindle slaps are hurting a lot of people.
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      • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
        Originally Posted by edlewis View Post

        Or...you could try actually READING the original post.

        .....

        Amazon's own TOS says you can publish public domain content as long as it is "differentiated" and spell out what "differentiated" means pretty clearly.
        I did read the OP. Adding annotations every 4 chapters can hardly be considered differentiating.

        In addition, I don't see how anyone can publish 70 kindle books and maintain any semblance of quality.

        Please, know what you are talking about before challenging me.

        EDIT: Oh I see now why you got so upset. You are one of the ones pushing the whole "kindle thing". I get it now. Quite the agenda there Ed, dontcha think???
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        • Profile picture of the author edlewis
          Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

          EDIT: Oh I see now why you got so upset. You are one of the ones pushing the whole "kindle thing". I get it now. Quite the agenda there Ed, dontcha think???
          What are you talking about?

          Do you even have a clue?

          There is no agenda...in fact, I was posting against the "PLR crap" and whatnot MONTHS before it happened.

          So anyone who actually KNOWS Kindle and publishes there can't post in a Kindle-related thread on the WF because they have an "agenda"?

          I'm done...

          You're obviously a troll.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tadresources
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

      Why do people try to game the system and then wonder why they get the boot??? Look, they owe you no explaination or second chance the minute you upload your first piece of PLR crap.

      I swear if people put in 1/3 the effort they put in to taking shortcuts into running an actual above-board business, there would be far more success stories.

      Man up, take your lumps, and rethink the whole online thing and how you'd like to build a sustainable business.
      That's hardly a fair comment. Did you actually read the OP or are you just being a troll? I agree with you that it's annoying when people try to game the system, but I don't think that's what the OP did.
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    • Profile picture of the author akg12
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

      Why do people try to game the system and then wonder why they get the boot??? Look, they owe you no explaination or second chance the minute you upload your first piece of PLR crap.

      I swear if people put in 1/3 the effort they put in to taking shortcuts into running an actual above-board business, there would be far more success stories.

      Man up, take your lumps, and rethink the whole online thing and how you'd like to build a sustainable business.
      He said he DID NOT have any PLR...read the comment
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      • Profile picture of the author ahro
        Please help. I got a notice from KDP telling me i had to reply in 5 days to their e-mail. They want to know about 2 of my 5 books. I am the sole copyright holder. One is a short story that appeared in a relatively obscure literary mag before it was published on Amazon. The other was a humor collection that i did put on KDP select and. seriously, I forgot to unpublish it on Smashwords.

        I'm very concerned about their e-mail and responded with the facts above. Amazon sent a reply saying it would take longer than usual to respond.

        I see folks here talking about calling Amazon. How do I do that? Is there a telephone number for Amazon KDP? Please let me know the number. TIA
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        • Profile picture of the author yurito
          Originally Posted by ahro View Post

          Please help. I got a notice from KDP telling me i had to reply in 5 days to their e-mail. They want to know about 2 of my 5 books. I am the sole copyright holder. One is a short story that appeared in a relatively obscure literary mag before it was published on Amazon. The other was a humor collection that i did put on KDP select and. seriously, I forgot to unpublish it on Smashwords.

          I'm very concerned about their e-mail and responded with the facts above. Amazon sent a reply saying it would take longer than usual to respond.

          I see folks here talking about calling Amazon. How do I do that? Is there a telephone number for Amazon KDP? Please let me know the number. TIA
          here you go

          https : //kdp. amazon. com / self-publishing/help

          at the bottom you can see contact info

          cheers
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          • Profile picture of the author ahro
            Originally Posted by yurito View Post

            here you go

            https : //kdp. amazon. com / self-publishing/help

            at the bottom you can see contact info

            cheers
            Thanks. Got a note from Amazon saying everything is fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
    Anyone who knows me here knows I'm no troll.

    Does this look familiar?

    "THE KINDLE CLONE METHOD" - Publish Profitable Kindle Ebooks Every Time!

    Dude...

    I blasted the whole "gaming Kindle" mentality and then you come along and tell me, snidely, to read the OP (which I did). Lo and behold, you are promoting Kindle publishing in your sig.

    The OP clearly stated he uploaded public domain stuff (not his own). Adding annotations every 4 chapters is certainly not differentiating in my opinion and certainly not in the opinion of Amazon either (obviously).

    Yes, I will stick to my position that anyone who has 70 Kindle books published is certainly skimping on quality somewhere.
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    • Profile picture of the author edlewis
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

      Anyone who knows me here knows I'm no troll.

      Does this look familiar?

      "THE KINDLE CLONE METHOD" - Publish Profitable Kindle Ebooks Every Time!

      Dude...

      I blasted the whole "gaming Kindle" mentality and then you come along and tell me, snidely, to read the OP (which I did). Lo and behold, you are promoting Kindle publishing in your sig.

      The OP clearly stated he uploaded public domain stuff (not his own). Adding annotations every 4 chapters is certainly not differentiating in my opinion and certainly not in the opinion of Amazon either (obviously).

      Yes, I will stick to my position that anyone who has 70 Kindle books published is certainly skimping on quality somewhere.

      What does it matter that I have a Kindle link in my sig?

      I am hardly "promoting" it...


      The reason you don't have a CLUE is because I've been blasting the "gaming" Kindle mentality for close to a YEAR...


      We agree on that.

      You are just too hard-headed to even realize it...


      First off, I wish I had left my other post up, but I deleted it in an effort to avoid getting in a disagreement with someone who clearly doesn't know what he is talking about...

      But now I have to post again.


      The OP clearly said he that TEN of his ebooks(out of 70!) were public domain.

      Publishing public domain on Kindle is NOT against Amazon TOS...whether you think it should be or not.

      This is what they've told publishers makes public domain "differentiated":

      • It is a unique translation
      • It contains annotations (unique, hand-crafted additional content including study guides, literary critiques, detailed biographies, or detailed historical context)
      • It includes 10 or more unique illustrations


      Wow....second bullet point = ANNOTATIONS.


      Now, as I said in the post I deleted, neither of us knows what the OP's annotations were. Perhaps they were 2 unique sentences every 4th chapter...in that case, he would clearly be trying to "game" the system.

      But what if those annotations were hundreds or thousands of words every several chapters??

      You don't know if they were or not...only the OP knows that.

      And don't tell me that Amazon taking them down PROVES anything.

      I know of several publishers who have had 100% unique content taken down by Amazon...and then later had that content re-instated. Heck, someone in this thread said that EXACT thing happened to him.


      Originally Posted by cage73 View Post

      Contact KDP again and explain that your other books are originals and if you can provide proof do so. Same thing happened to me last month. I took a few PD books down(yes, they were differentiated too) after getting the initial email from KDP, then my account was terminated. I contacted KDP and provided proof that the remainder of my catalog was indeed originals. My account was reinstated within 3 or 4 days.


      Its almost as if Amazon is going Gung-Ho with cleaning up all the PLR crap that they are closing accounts that do indeed have unique content. I've heard many, many stories of this exact thing happening.

      As for the idea that the QUANTITY of ebooks published on Kindle relates to the QUALITY of ebooks published on Kindle...I fail to see how this has any bearing on that.

      The key word as I said before is PUBLISH...he didn't say he wrote all of them.



      I have two stances here - the first is that you attacked the OP without having a grasp of the situation and jumped to the conclusion he was somehow "gaming" Kindle. if you read his post, it really doesn't seem like that is the case.

      My other stance is that because of the FLOOD of crap on Kindle(something I am against, just like you) some LEGITIMATE publishers are getting caught up in the clean up by Amazon - I've had to deal with it and know others who have as well....some have even voiced that in this very thread.
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

      Yes, I will stick to my position that anyone who has 70 Kindle books published is certainly skimping on quality somewhere.




      That is certainly the "biggest load of" comment that I have seen in a long time.

      I put out 22 products last year, and my quality never wavered.

      In previous years, I had written and syndicated as many as 300 articles per year. My quality was never a problem.

      If someone uploaded 70 books in a day, then maybe you would be right...

      But, talented writers can create lots of quality articles, reports, and books at a very fast pace.

      Barb Ling has been producing two products a week for some time, and she writes all of her own stuff.

      If I outsourced more of my writing, I could easily step up my production rates too... And quality would not need to be sacrificed!!

      Just because you cannot write 70 books in any length of time without sacrificing quality does not mean that others cannot do it either!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Michael
    I dont think a LLC would help you. They can always see who the company is registered to (you) and when they find out you're banned, the LLC gets banned too.

    I'm with everyone else who said you should contact them & see what you did wrong & what needs to be done to reinstate your account.

    Worst case scenario, they say no, and you dont get it back. But its worth a try.
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    • Profile picture of the author edlewis
      Originally Posted by Whos That Guru View Post

      I dont think a LLC would help you. They can always see who the company is registered to (you) and when they find out you're banned, the LLC gets banned too.

      I'm with everyone else who said you should contact them & see what you did wrong & what needs to be done to reinstate your account.

      Worst case scenario, they say no, and you dont get it back. But its worth a try.
      Getting back on topic...

      This is solid advice.

      Email them or try to call them and explain the situation. If they have mistakenly taken down unique content that is making sales, then it is also in their interest to have it back up for sale.

      As long as it was quality unique content, with a professional look and formatting, you shouldn't have a problem.

      Remember they make money when you do either 30% or 65%, depending on the price.

      If this does not work, then you may want to try going the LLC route.

      It shouldn't be a problem, unless you are selling crap...and if that is the case, then nothing is going to fix it except, well....not selling crap.

      One thing you may want to look at is the appearance of your ebooks.

      Do they look professional? Are they formatted correctly?

      One last thing, are you paying for reviews or have you done so in the past?

      If you have, then there is a chance that this may have something to do with the termination of your account.

      Not accusing...just covering all the bases.
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      • Profile picture of the author specialized
        Originally Posted by edlewis View Post

        One last thing, are you paying for reviews or have you done so in the past?

        If you have, then there is a chance that this may have something to do with the termination of your account.
        Ed, can I ask you something about that? I've been curious about this for a while. NOT that I would do this (buy paid reviews), but I just wonder how things are determined.

        How could Amazon possibly know, or why would they believe, that reviews are "paid-for" if they arise from real purchases?

        Do they make assumptions based on geographical criteria, you think? Like if someone in the US has a book up and it gets six reviews that are all from the Philippines, is that a red flag to them? (Which would be wrong, and I don't know what Amazon uses as evidence of it, but I'm trying to imagine what they might use for criteria on something like this.)
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        • Profile picture of the author edlewis
          Originally Posted by specialized View Post

          Ed, can I ask you something about that? I've been curious about this for a while. NOT that I would do this (buy paid reviews), but I just wonder how things are determined.

          How could Amazon possibly know, or why would they believe, that reviews are "paid-for" if they arise from real purchases?

          Do they make assumptions based on geographical criteria, you think? Like if someone has a book up and it gets six reviews that are all from the Philippines, is that a red flag to them?
          I don't believe they do know.

          Right now there is alot of fear mongering going on when it comes to this topic.

          Most of the time, Amazon's job is easy - all of the reviews are 5 stars and like one sentence. Amazon is still very user-driven as well.

          So if readers start to notice something, they will report it to Amazon and then they will take action. Most often this happens with really lousy ebooks, a few readers buy because of some fake reviews and then realize there is no way the 5 "glowing" reviews can be legit.

          You can send feedback on ebooks and just about any product if you scroll towards the bottom of Amazon's site.

          Some seem to think they have an entire team investigating this, but I don't buy it. The users on Amazon do a pretty decent job of policing this, in some cases it takes some time, but that's just how it goes.
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          • Profile picture of the author Calamaroo
            Thank you for the responses, everyone!

            Everything turned out okay.

            Amazon unblocked my account within less than 36 hours of the OP and everything is back to normal.

            I unpublished all of my public domain based ebooks even though they were annotated. You see, Amazon only allows you to publish public domain works if they are "translated" and/or "illustrated" and/or "annotated."

            The "translated" part is self-explanatory. It is just a matter of changing the language.

            The "illustrated" part is very straight forward. Amazon requires 10 or more original and relevant images.

            But the "annotated" part is very ambiguous because they don't explain what "annotated" really means. If you google the meaning of the word, even underlining and highlighting passages in a work can pass as "annotated". But Amazon does not define it very well. "Annotated" could be a sentence every chapter. It could be a chapter length explanation of a chapter after every chapter. Or it could just be the basic one sentence notes after every other chapter. They do not define "annotated" too well and it is for this reason that I will not be submitting annotated work to Amazon for the foreseeable future.

            My annotations were every 4 chapters and they were 1 to 3 paragraphs long. If any of you are planning to publish annotated public domain works to Amazon keep these numbers in mind so that you will know in advance what could get you in trouble. Apparently, this is not good enough for them as far as making the work "differentiated." Again, they don't explain where the line between differentiated and undifferentiated lies. I suggest that you be very careful. I'm avoiding the issue by not submitting public domain works at all even if my annotations are 10 times longer than the public domain book that I have chosen to annotate.

            After pulling out my about a dozen or so public domain works I was left with 65 nice and shiny 100% original content ebooks. I have published 3 new ones since then.

            Once again, thank you for all of your responses. It was a very valuable lesson early in my Kindle business.
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            • Profile picture of the author yurito
              Hey buddy, the remaining books, did you write them? or outsourced? if you did, can you pm me with more info please? It happen the same to me, i unpublished the public domain books, and I want to publish original books, self help guides and DIY, all about problem solving guides.. did you outsourced?


              Thanks,
              Jose

              pd: anyone interested in offering writing these guides from scratch, no plr, please let me know... yuritoclick(@) g mail(.)com
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            • Profile picture of the author yurito
              Originally Posted by Calamaroo View Post

              Thank you for the responses, everyone!

              Everything turned out okay.

              Amazon unblocked my account within less than 36 hours of the OP and everything is back to normal.

              I unpublished all of my public domain based ebooks even though they were annotated. You see, Amazon only allows you to publish public domain works if they are "translated" and/or "illustrated" and/or "annotated."

              The "translated" part is self-explanatory. It is just a matter of changing the language.

              The "illustrated" part is very straight forward. Amazon requires 10 or more original and relevant images.

              But the "annotated" part is very ambiguous because they don't explain what "annotated" really means. If you google the meaning of the word, even underlining and highlighting passages in a work can pass as "annotated". But Amazon does not define it very well. "Annotated" could be a sentence every chapter. It could be a chapter length explanation of a chapter after every chapter. Or it could just be the basic one sentence notes after every other chapter. They do not define "annotated" too well and it is for this reason that I will not be submitting annotated work to Amazon for the foreseeable future.

              My annotations were every 4 chapters and they were 1 to 3 paragraphs long. If any of you are planning to publish annotated public domain works to Amazon keep these numbers in mind so that you will know in advance what could get you in trouble. Apparently, this is not good enough for them as far as making the work "differentiated." Again, they don't explain where the line between differentiated and undifferentiated lies. I suggest that you be very careful. I'm avoiding the issue by not submitting public domain works at all even if my annotations are 10 times longer than the public domain book that I have chosen to annotate.

              After pulling out my about a dozen or so public domain works I was left with 65 nice and shiny 100% original content ebooks. I have published 3 new ones since then.

              Once again, thank you for all of your responses. It was a very valuable lesson early in my Kindle business.
              Hey buddy, the remaining books, did you write them? or outsourced? if you did, can you pm me with more info please? It happen the same to me, i unpublished the public domain books, and I want to publish original books, self help guides and DIY, all about problem solving guides.. did you outsourced?


              Thanks,
              Jose

              pd: anyone interested in offering writing these guides from scratch, no plr, please let me know... yuritoclick(@) g mail(.)com
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            • Profile picture of the author Mike Ogbin
              Originally Posted by Calamaroo View Post

              Thank you for the responses, everyone!

              Everything turned out okay.

              Amazon unblocked my account within less than 36 hours of the OP and everything is back to normal.

              I unpublished all of my public domain based ebooks even though they were annotated. You see, Amazon only allows you to publish public domain works if they are "translated" and/or "illustrated" and/or "annotated."

              The "translated" part is self-explanatory. It is just a matter of changing the language.

              The "illustrated" part is very straight forward. Amazon requires 10 or more original and relevant images.

              But the "annotated" part is very ambiguous because they don't explain what "annotated" really means. If you google the meaning of the word, even underlining and highlighting passages in a work can pass as "annotated". But Amazon does not define it very well. "Annotated" could be a sentence every chapter. It could be a chapter length explanation of a chapter after every chapter. Or it could just be the basic one sentence notes after every other chapter. They do not define "annotated" too well and it is for this reason that I will not be submitting annotated work to Amazon for the foreseeable future.

              My annotations were every 4 chapters and they were 1 to 3 paragraphs long. If any of you are planning to publish annotated public domain works to Amazon keep these numbers in mind so that you will know in advance what could get you in trouble. Apparently, this is not good enough for them as far as making the work "differentiated." Again, they don't explain where the line between differentiated and undifferentiated lies. I suggest that you be very careful. I'm avoiding the issue by not submitting public domain works at all even if my annotations are 10 times longer than the public domain book that I have chosen to annotate.

              After pulling out my about a dozen or so public domain works I was left with 65 nice and shiny 100% original content ebooks. I have published 3 new ones since then.

              Once again, thank you for all of your responses. It was a very valuable lesson early in my Kindle business.
              Be careful because it's a hard lesson since you saw all the kindle business disappeared and you nearly lost everything.

              Original content is the best way to publish in Kindle. Write it yourself or outsource it to legitimate people doing it for you.

              Good Luck in your business and learn from this lesson.
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          • Profile picture of the author tpw
            Originally Posted by edlewis View Post

            I don't believe they do know.

            Right now there is alot of fear mongering going on when it comes to this topic.

            Most of the time, Amazon's job is easy - all of the reviews are 5 stars and like one sentence. Amazon is still very user-driven as well.

            So if readers start to notice something, they will report it to Amazon and then they will take action. Most often this happens with really lousy ebooks, a few readers buy because of some fake reviews and then realize there is no way the 5 "glowing" reviews can be legit.

            You can send feedback on ebooks and just about any product if you scroll towards the bottom of Amazon's site.

            Some seem to think they have an entire team investigating this, but I don't buy it. The users on Amazon do a pretty decent job of policing this, in some cases it takes some time, but that's just how it goes.

            I don't believe they have a team investigating either. I suspect that most decisions are made by computer algorithm, with a little bit of human oversight included.

            As far as identifying fake reviews, this story is interesting in that someone has designed software that seems very potent at identifying fake reviews:

            Cornell students, professors design software to spot fake hotel reviews - Travel Weekly

            Here is another angle that folks may take to identify fake reviews, although as the above story pointed out, humans are generally less capable of spotting the fakes:

            30 Ways You Can Spot Fake Online Reviews - The Consumerist
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  • Profile picture of the author Elvis Michael
    Congratulations, Calamaroo. Must feel great to have your account up and running again.

    And thank you Edlewis for teaching certain clueless trolls a thing or two. Makes me wonder why people in forums are always so eager to start personal attacks. I guess they just feel powerful knowing they are hiding behind a monitor.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

      Anyone who knows me here knows I'm no troll.

      Does this look familiar?

      "THE KINDLE CLONE METHOD" - Publish Profitable Kindle Ebooks Every Time!

      Dude...

      I blasted the whole "gaming Kindle" mentality and then you come along and tell me, snidely, to read the OP (which I did). Lo and behold, you are promoting Kindle publishing in your sig.

      The OP clearly stated he uploaded public domain stuff (not his own). Adding annotations every 4 chapters is certainly not differentiating in my opinion and certainly not in the opinion of Amazon either (obviously).

      Yes, I will stick to my position that anyone who has 70 Kindle books published is certainly skimping on quality somewhere.
      wolfmmiii, I've not known you to be a troll, but in this case you are doing a pretty good imitation.

      You can hold onto your position for as long as you like, but it won't make it right. Cow flop will stick to a work boot like you wouldn't believe, but it is still cow flop.

      In this case, making an assertion of fact (anyone with 70 Kindle books is skimping on quality) without a shred of evidence one way or another, is cow flop.

      Given the result, Amazon apparently had no problems with the quality of the 60 remaining books.

      I think you owe both Ed Lewis and the OP an apology.
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      • Profile picture of the author Elvis Michael
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        wolfmmiii,

        In this case, making an assertion of fact (anyone with 70 Kindle books is skimping on quality) without a shred of evidence one way or another, is cow flop.
        Not only that, but who knows? Maybe the OP has been publishing since 2008 for all we know, and puts MANY hours per day/week. The point is that he never stated whether he started publishing last week or years ago. So having 70 books is NOT a quality indicator.

        Also, Amazon LOVES being vague about certain things. So I don't blame anyone for not publishing public domain perfectly.
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      • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
        Yes, I will stick to my position that anyone who has 70 Kindle books published is certainly skimping on quality somewhere.
        This is a pretty dumb statement.

        There are plenty of authors who have been toiling away on books for decades and it's quite possible for them to have 70 of their books - full-length conventional ones - on Kindle.

        For example, Bob Bly has 79 paperback books and 32 hardcover books listed at Amazon.com. If he were up to speed with Kindle he could easily have converted most of these to be selling on Kindle - and they would all be acceptable to Amazon rather than proof of some sort of gaming of the system.

        Marcia Yudkin
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  • Profile picture of the author rickstooker
    I thank the OP for posting about this.

    Amazon's position on public domain is going to have to change.

    For one thing, it's illogical. If you translate a work, it's NOT public domain.
    Your translation creates a brand new copyright for your translation.

    Thus, if you're a terrific Russian scholar and you translate War and Peace
    into English the way you think it should be , you own your copyright and
    have every right to publish it on Amazon, or should.

    Of course, Tolstoy's original in Russian remains in the public domain.

    As does any translations made before 1923. Other, more recent, translations
    are still owned by the translator.

    The same goes for original illustrations. You draw 10 pictures. You own
    the copyright.

    Rick
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Amazon's position on public domain is going to have to change.
      I hope not - if Amazon wants to be "a publisher" higher standards were necessary. Good to see they are realizing that.

      Public domain has been used by writers for years to get ideas, information, structure, organization - but only in order to create a new piece of work that is updated and original.

      Adding a page or two of notes after every 4 chapters of a public domain book is not creating a new product. Amazon is insisting that ebook writers actually "write ebooks" - not an outlandish request.

      Thus, if you're a terrific Russian scholar and you translate War and Peace into English the way you think it should be , you own your copyright and have every right to publish it on Amazon, or should.
      No, you don't. You can submit it to an offline publisher or to Amazon - but the publisher or Amazon has a right to reject it. You have the right to do the translation and can sell it on your own. You can't force a publisher to accept it.

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author Orator
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        I hope not - if Amazon wants to be "a publisher" higher standards were necessary. Good to see they are realizing that.

        Public domain has been used by writers for years to get ideas, information, structure, organization - but only in order to create a new piece of work that is updated and original.

        Adding a page or two of notes after every 4 chapters of a public domain book is not creating a new product. Amazon is insisting that ebook writers actually "write ebooks" - not an outlandish request.



        No, you don't. You can submit it to an offline publisher or to Amazon - but the publisher or Amazon has a right to reject it. You have the right to do the translation and can sell it on your own. You can't force a publisher to accept it.

        kay
        I have to agree, if Amazon wants to be the king of the ebook market, then tight standards are needed. Look how Amazon responded when their customers were complaining about the endless amount of recycled PLR in the Kindle store.

        Original quality content is the key to successful Kindle publishing in my opinion.
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      • Profile picture of the author rickstooker
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        No, you don't. You can submit it to an offline publisher or to Amazon - but the publisher or Amazon has a right to reject it. You have the right to do the translation and can sell it on your own. You can't force a publisher to accept it.

        kay
        So if someone writes a crummy short story they have the right to publish
        it as is on Kindle, but someone who translates a classic work should be
        "validated" by a legacy publisher?

        That's a double standard.

        One of the great things about Kindle is it's removing the traditional
        barrier to entry. A fiction writer no longer has to be "validated" by
        a traditional publishing house.

        Why shouldn't translators get the same benefit?

        Translating is a creative act in and of itself.

        One translation can read VERY differently from another, and yet both
        be faithful to the original. And some classic translations may not be
        as faithful to the original as possible. Two different translations of the
        same book can offer very different reading experiences.

        Readers have the right to have that choice available to them without
        waiting for a traditional publisher.

        It is not in the same category as someone who reprints a public domain
        book and adds a few comments to make it an annotated version. You
        appear to be conflating the two.

        If someone does a good job translating, they deserve to be read and to
        profit from it. If their translation is lousy, let readers give them bad reviews.

        Same as all other original works.

        Besides, under current Kindle guidelines, they do. I was just commenting
        that a new translation is NOT public domain. You seem to think it is,
        because Amazon seems to think it is.

        Yes, the original work may be in the public domain, and some old
        translations may be in the public domain. But a NEW translation is not.
        Translate a work and you own all rights to the translation and Kindle says that's okay to publish.

        In a few years traditional publishers are going to be scarce as hen's teeth.
        Does that mean nobody should translate anything anymore?

        Let a thousand translations bloom.
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  • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
    to the OP, I'm very pleased to read that your account was re-instated. Your post and the responses here have been great little lessons for someone like me just starting out with Kindle.

    To every one else reading this thread, the biggest lesson that I got from this is this: follow the rules and you won't run into problems. Always read the TOS of a website before doing something that might get you in trouble.

    Short cuts are good, but short cuts that violate TOS's - not so much.

    Work smart!

    Here's to our mutual success!

    ~Karen~
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  • Profile picture of the author PeterPro12
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author yurito
      Originally Posted by PeterPro12 View Post

      To answer your other question -
      you were referring to my question?

      thx
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  • Profile picture of the author cashtree
    To the op how much you making off Amazon?
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