The Dangers of Publishing on the Kindle

I had a very irritating two weeks last month.

I had attempted to update the description of my annotated book, Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers. I'd updated it once, just by adding something to the text and then saving it, but after two weeks that update had never come across to the Amazon page.

So I decided to republish the book....which I assumed would just republish the description. (Yes, I know, to assume means you make an Ass of U and Me.)

Next thing I know, Amazon has taken the book down until I confirm that its in the public domain. Which it is.

So I send them three emails pointing this out, over the course of the two weeks, and never get a personalized response, just the typical form letter, "We've received your email and we'll respond to it during business hours Mon thru Friday."

So after two weeks, which cost me at least 10 sales and probably more, the book is finally back for sale on Amazon. And the email I received? "Your book is for sale in our catalog. We have nothing else to say on the matter."

Just really, really irritated me.

Now, yes, I get 35 cents whole royalty per copy so I'm not that much out of pocket, but it's just the principal of the thing. If the Kindle folk take down a book, you should be informed (I was not informed. It was only after I'd gone 2 days without a sale and then checked the page, to find out that it was gone, that I found out it was gone!) and you should always get a personalized email telling you what's going on, so you can solve it in ten minutes instead of two weeks!