I knew it would happen eventually. I just hoped it wouldn’t be for a stupid reason.
Long story short, I have a personal kdp account for everything – audiobooks, fiction, etc. Decades of effort was spent building it and while it wasn’t enough to avoid a job or other business, the royalty streams were at the level that I was truly thankful for them to be there.
I was a minority shareholder in a business that was putting out nonfiction, some of which I was writing. The majority shareholder (not me) started a kdp account, and verified it with his identity. Then, after a book I had written and not published on any other account was released there, Amazon did something terrible.
They closed that kdp account. Then decided my personal kdp account was linked to it and closed that one too.
Not much of an appeals process. ‘Email us if you think it was a mistake and we’ll think about undoing the termination’ to paraphrase. I asked respectfully for them to reconsider, and they not only upheld their decision — they also went to my acx audible account where I release audiobooks and decided to close that one too.
Based on Amazon’s royalty percentages with my book sales, audiobook sales, and amazon ads which I paid for on a regular basis, this decision cost them $4000-$6000 per year in lost revenue. With more to come as Night Noise continues and the nonfiction writing through other writers and myself continue to come out.
Was it worth $4000-$6000 a year for them to do what they did? To them, it seemed, the answer was ‘yes’.
What’s next?
To respond, I am doing several things:
- I’m closing the amazon links to all my books on this personal webpage. Emotionally Bulletproof and Pool of Echoes are still available on NookPress, Kobo, Draft2Digital (formerly Smashwords), and Apple. Audiobooks are still available everywhere else audiobooks are sold.
- Night Noise was an Amazon Exclusive. I was testing the waters to see what support they would give to an exclusive title and optimistic about a better working relationship with them. Now that trust has been significantly damaged. As far as I’m concerned, their decision to terminate my accounts has freed up Night Noise to be sold on a reverse-exclusive basis: Everywhere except Amazon.
- I am researching how to host and sell direct to readers from a website I own and control 100%. This will not emerge overnight, as I have more urgent priorities, no thanks in part to the good people at Amazon KDP. That being said, all companies are now outposts of discovery, at best. This will enable me to do some cool things, like sell signed copies, let people print from retailers they want, and package offers so that readers can get all digital versions for the purchase of one, at a price high enough to advertise but low enough to be a great deal for all of us.
Amazon has made itself a useful part of our lives, and with some ebooks and physical media I may still need to interact with them from time to time. So I don’t blame you at all for continuing to use and benefit from what they’ve built. That being said, if this post put you past the point of wanting to cancel your Prime membership, please do so. If they give a reason, feel free to put:
“Please restore the kdp account of Night Noise author ceo—–k@gmail.com”as the reason.
I use a different email for kdp than for personal communication.
Whenever you do, screenshot and send it my way. I’ll be sure to thank you.
Even if Amazon restores the account, the trust will never be what it was. They have been demoted to outpost only.
What does this mean for you?
If you’re a writer, you’ll want to keep these companies at arms’ length. They aren’t your friend, and operate off a logic where in some cases they would rather lose money than be reasonable.
If you’re a reader, connect with authors you like. Open a note file on your phone and write the accounts and names of video bloggers, writers, and people you like so you can follow them even when the algorithm or cancel culture tries to make you forget about them. Support them directly whenever you can. It only takes 1000-10,000 fans to support an author who consistently produces good work.
The future is artists controlling their work and generating the majority of their profits by finding and interacting with their fans. This is the endgame that has been delayed in multiple ways, from publishing companies taking royalties until they make a ‘profit’, music labels relying on payola to radio stations, and tech companies redefining what it means to ‘own’ or ‘buy’ something until what they are selling is temporary access to something that isn’t even theirs. We are in the final round of that delay where creators can use AI to fuel their genius and create massive infrastructural support for their work while big tech tries to use it to replace creatives entirely, save for a fortunate few who come from families that likely don’t need the money.
The risk to creators is that they might lose themselves, their sense of taste, and connection to their audience. The risk to big tech is that they’ll make all the money, yet the creative pallette becomes gray reminders of a better era. The Mudden Age, where new styles look like combination of old styles, but without the intentionality and focus from past eras.
There have only been three days in my life where an emotional event caused heart pain, dizziness, and nausea. Last Wednesday was one of them. When that happens, remember that you are in a chapter of your life where you will need to stop doing some things, and start doing something else. Trust God, take your time, and do the best you can one step at a time.
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. – James 1:3-4 KJV
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