# KU Scammers have hit a new low



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Published 2 days ago, #1 in Philosophy, 101 reviews (even obviously fake 1- and 2-star reviews) and it's a book comprised only of the letter A. If this isn't evidence that the scammers are just putting anything up, then running the books through their download circles, then I don't know what is. And there's no recourse, because it's not plagiarism. 

http://www.amazon.com/All-About-As-book-Alphabet-ebook/dp/B00QPB0OCC/


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## Avis Black (Jun 12, 2012)

The scammer put a lot more work into writing the reviews than he did in writing the book.  

"There is no battletoads," is one of the better ones.


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## Mip7 (Mar 3, 2013)

ROFLMAO

One of us must have done this. Someone is obviously making a point.


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

It sounds like more of a joke to me.  The reviews remind me of the ones that were on that 6,000 dollar book about nuclear reactors or whatever it was.


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## Lefevre (Feb 1, 2014)

Wow...I hope Amazon can stop stuff like that...Possibly one of the "real publishers" (tongue firmly in cheek) are doing this to make a point?


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Whether real or a joke, the book is getting downloads to ranked where it is.  But since it's free can't tell if they're free d/l or borrows.


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## SB James (May 21, 2014)

Nobody in their right mind would ever download this. It must be some kind of click-farm scam with the borrows and free downloads. I guess the click farmers get paid a nickel more if they write a review.
Amazon really needs to crack down on this kind of stuff. They are being made a mockery of with scams like this all over there. SMH.


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## Felix R. Savage (Mar 3, 2011)

This disgusts me. I reported it on the book's page. Hope Amazon takes some action. Thank you for bringing it to our attention, Saul.


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## 77071 (May 15, 2014)

It got picked up by a blog: http://kindlebooklist.blogspot.com/

It has a discussion area. http://www.amazon.com/All-About-As-book-Alphabet-ebook/forum/Fx1KHUB0CHJ5Y1R/-/1/ref=cm_cd_f_h_dp_t?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B00QPB0OCC (One topic is titled "move over tolkien.")

It appears to be a reddit gag of some kind. Amazon will have to crack down, I imagine, otherwise this might become "a thing."


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Personally, I hope it goes viral and he gets a million downloads.


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## Moist_Tissue (Dec 6, 2013)

Can I just say that these type of quirky things are part of Amazon's unique culture? I think it is hilarious. If people want to download a free book then they should be able to do so. If someone wants to pay a dollar for a book that is all about the A then should be able to do so.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Moist_Tissue said:


> Can I just say that these type of quirky things are part of Amazon's unique culture? I think it is hilarious. If people want to download a free book then they should be able to do so. If someone wants to pay a dollar for a book that is all about the A then should be able to do so.


Let no one say that Amazon doesn't have a sense of humor. The ones for the BIC Cristal for Her Ball Pen... I laughed so hard I almost wet myself.


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## JessieVerona (May 10, 2013)

KelliWolfe said:


> Personally, I hope it goes viral and he gets a million downloads.


I'm with you! I thought it was a hoot. What's the problem?


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## Moist_Tissue (Dec 6, 2013)

KelliWolfe said:


> Let no one say that Amazon doesn't have a sense of humor. The ones for the BIC Cristal for Her Ball Pen... I laughed so hard I almost wet myself.


Yep. Even Jeff B got into it:

http://www.amazon.com/review/RN9XMF3CS1YPS


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

KelliWolfe said:


> Personally, I hope it goes viral and he gets a million downloads.


Problem is, if this is a scam (and it certainly smells like it being a click farm scam), then it's taking money out of the pockets of legitimate KU authors (disclaimer: I have one of my 40+ titles in KU, and it's not getting much attention, so I'm not personally injured by this).



Moist_Tissue said:


> Can I just say that these type of quirky things are part of Amazon's unique culture? I think it is hilarious. If people want to download a free book then they should be able to do so. If someone wants to pay a dollar for a book that is all about the A then should be able to do so.


Hey, I enjoy the quirkiness, too, but this isn't another banana slicer.


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## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Amazon may take down their account. If they have any legitimate books out, they should be worried.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

Someone making a point.


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## Lady Vine (Nov 11, 2012)

I thought it was hilarious. Not the book itself, but the reviews. That's the idea. No one will borrow this, though they may download it free. The reviews are the reason why this is up there.


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

You just have to go over to the ACX list of titles seeking auditions to find all the scam books you want.


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## dragontucker (Jul 18, 2014)

LOL....I guess it really isn't a scam book. It is listed in the humor section. If you think about it, the book itself is pretty funny.


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## Evan of the R. (Oct 15, 2013)

Hilarious. And the reviews are excellent.

Did anyone see the TOC?



> Chapter Three: Is This For Real?
> 
> Chapter Four: You Know it Is
> 
> ...


LOL


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## Scout (Jun 2, 2014)

The reviews are hilarious. Clearly, meant as a joke. And maybe a statement.


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

Back during Occupy Wall St I really wanted to release a humor story in two versions, one for the 99% at 99 cents, and one for the 1% at $99.99. Then I realized it was a dumb idea.

Mr Weiss obviously has no such internal dumbness filter, thank goodness.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Am I the only one who doesn't think this crap is funny? If Amazon decide enough is enough, they could put gatekeeper-like restrictions on us. It would be a huge hassle, but they could make all uploads take weeks while they bot-check all files. They could have human intervention when a file is flagged etc.

Turning Amazon into a cesspit for giggles hurts us all.


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

> Turning Amazon into a cesspit for giggles hurts us all.


Respectfully, I have to disagree with you on this one, Mark. I think most would agree that KU at least is a deeply flawed program that needs a rethink and an overhaul. "All About A's" is exactly the kind of satire necessary to point out those flaws, in my opinion.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

The book equivalent of a pet rock?


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## Jack Weiss (Dec 11, 2014)

Hello everyone. I am the author of "All About A's" and am here to help you understand how this all happened.

First of all, it is not a scam. All downloads are legitimate. Trust me, I'm just as confused as you all.

Secondly, I am a novice writer who wanted to see how publishing on Kindle worked. I put this book together and submitted it for the sole purpose of seeing the process. As one of you mentioned, it became popular when 4Chan and Reddit found out about my "work." Someone even made a video of a book reading. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNMFtZ8LAX8

Lastly, I am truly sorry if my book's two days of fame has overshadowed your real books. I'll admit that the popularity got me quite excited, but I understand that it can negatively impact the way that your hard-earned books are perceived when one looks at the top 100 lists.

Proof: http://imgur.com/a/LnC2D


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## Evan of the R. (Oct 15, 2013)

Hey Jack, welcome. You'll learn a lot about publishing on KDP if you hang out here. 

Like I said, I think it's great — no need for an apology. Some professors of literary theory might be teaching your book in a few years.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Jack Weiss said:


> Hello everyone. I am the author of "All About A's" and am here to help you understand how this all happened.
> 
> First of all, it is not a scam. All downloads are legitimate. Trust me, I'm just as confused as you all.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the explanation and welcome to the KBoards. We can throw this into the pile of 'experiments' and perhaps learn something from it .


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## JessieVerona (May 10, 2013)

Hi Jack.

Welcome and no need to apologize. Your experiment may not be classic literature or even a drawn-out space saga, but it was clearly worth a download and a review to quite a few. It obviously made a lot of people smile and that's valuable in its own right.


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

Jack Weiss said:


> Hello everyone. I am the author of "All About A's" and am here to help you understand how this all happened.
> 
> First of all, it is not a scam. All downloads are legitimate. Trust me, I'm just as confused as you all.


All hail the King of Bazinga. Well done for doing over Amazon and then coming and Bazingaing kboards.

Folks lighten up. Think this through. To generate a payment in KU a reader needs to page through 7 pages of As. Leaving a one star review of this bazinga makes you look an As.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

So, now that the book has 100 + reviews and a 4.6 average, upload a good .mobi and get a book bub on it


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Am I the only one who doesn't think this crap is funny? If Amazon decide enough is enough, they could put gatekeeper-like restrictions on us. It would be a huge hassle, but they could make all uploads take weeks while they bot-check all files. They could have human intervention when a file is flagged etc.
> 
> Turning Amazon into a cesspit for giggles hurts us all.


I agree with you, Mark. This is the sort of thing that makes that payout for borrows go lower and lower. That hurts me and other writers who are depending on readers utilizing Kindle Unlimited for actual books.



Jack Weiss said:


> Hello everyone. I am the author of "All About A's" and am here to help you understand how this all happened.
> 
> First of all, it is not a scam. All downloads are legitimate. Trust me, I'm just as confused as you all.
> 
> ...


There are many ways to "see the process" without putting up nonsense. You could have uploaded and not hit the Save and Publish button, for example. Or you could have looked around the Web and found a site like this one that would have happily answered any questions you had. Now you have a link to somewhere that I for one won't be clicking.

Frankly, I'm not buying it.

It's bad enough that the scammers have hit the program to the detriment of other writers. Reference "Jay Cute", who uploaded several pages worth of other author's books. Reference the SEO marketers who skim the Internet and upload "books" with no value.

When Amazon takes enough hits, any changes they make to their system won't benefit us. Amazon is about customers, and if customers aren't happy, Amazon will fix it. I guarantee we won't be happy with the result.

And I'm not waiting with joy to see what the KU payout is for November, because I'm worried that more useless download farms will have cut the number to end up below $1 per borrow.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> Problem is, if this is a scam (and it certainly smells like it being a click farm scam), then it's taking money out of the pockets of legitimate KU authors (disclaimer: I have one of my 40+ titles in KU, and it's not getting much attention, so I'm not personally injured by this).


^This^

FFS!


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Hello Jack.

I am thinking about writing a book about the letter Z. This is all new to me, so any advice on how I might structure the book would be welcomed...


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Mercia McMahon said:


> All hail the King of Bazinga. Well done for doing over Amazon and then coming and Bazingaing kboards.
> 
> Folks lighten up. Think this through. To generate a payment in KU a reader needs to page through 7 pages of As. Leaving a one star review of this bazinga makes you look an As.


There are many people -- perhaps in Third World countries -- that would be more than happy to page through 10% of a book to earn money. Some of us don't want to "lighten up" over things like this. It's hurting our business, which for most of us is selling books that readers want to purchase and enjoy.

Normally I don't get very worked up in public over things, but this congratulatory attitude some of you have for this is amazing. Remember this when you want to post about how poorly your books are selling, while some people upload junk and get a hail fellow, well met reaction.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

This hurts every single novel/author enrolled in KU. 

Amusing? Sure, if you don't have to share the 'monthly pot' with this. 

To the author, have you had many borrows? Please do share your numbers. (I've nothing against you personally; you've been very enterprizing.)


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## Evan of the R. (Oct 15, 2013)

DaCosta said:


> This hurts every single novel/author enrolled in KU.
> 
> Amusing? Sure, if you don't have to share the 'monthly pot' with this.
> 
> To the author, have you had many borrows? Please do share your numbers. (I've nothing against you personally; you've been very enterprizing.)


EDIT: Sorry, I read the graph wrong - on closer inspection it looks like he does have a few borrows. Not zero (but definitely not hundreds). My bad.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

she-la-ti-da said:


> Remember this when you want to post about how poorly your books are selling, while some people upload junk and get a hail fellow, well met reaction.


And again, ^this^


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

DaCosta said:


> This hurts every single novel/author enrolled in KU.
> 
> Amusing? Sure, if you don't have to share the 'monthly pot' with this.
> 
> To the author, have you had many borrows? Please do share your numbers. (I've nothing against you personally; you've been very enterprizing.)


Take your complaint to Amazon. They claimed that putting freebies in KU was a mistake that they were going to correct. After you have done that take yourself to a modern art gallery and smile at your recollection of this thread.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Mercia McMahon said:


> Take your complaint to Amazon. They claimed that putting freebies in KU was a mistake that they were going to correct. After you have done that take yourself to a modern art gallery and smile at your recollection of this thread.


Amazon will say; meh, it's a book about a's. Customers don't have to buy it.

I've already complained to Amazon & Jeff about KU in relation to novel length works and the influx of scammers. Their executive response was a 'thanks, we appreciate your feedback'. I'm complaining with my feet & walking away as soon as I'm out of the 90 day tie-in.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

The line on the sales chart is green. Not blue for borrows. Last time I checked the green line was for free units.

So (bear with me, I'm no mathematician) 700 units at $0.00 per unit = $0.00

Chart link:


http://imgur.com/LnC2D


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

To be clear, my beef (and why I'm spitting feathers) isn't with this book, or the author, it's with Amazon and the flawed system that is KU.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Colin said:


> The line on the sales chart is green. Not blue for borrows. Last time I checked the green line was for free units.
> 
> So (bear with me, I'm no mathematician) 700 units at $0.00 per unit = $0.00
> 
> ...


There are borrows there too (granted, not many, but one is too many).

But you're missing the point. This is one book. Throw in the countless scammers books. And 'the KU payout' gets thinner and thinner.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Dwallock said:


> I am very curious as to how 100 reviews were written with hundreds and hundreds of votes. It seems unbelievable or like spam bots were doing the whole thing. I understand Reddit/4chan have power, but it seems unreal to me.


Indeed.

It took me ten months to get 40 genuine reviews. Each of those reviews is precious to me. Every time I get a review, I do a little happy-dance. Months of blood, sweat & tears goes into a novel. Getting reviews is like pulling teeth.

And this book? These reviews? How exactly? I get that a few readers would have jumped on the amusing bandwagon. I'd be interested to know if they are 'genuine' or another 'test'.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

DaCosta said:


> There are borrows there too (granted, not many, but one is too many).
> 
> But you're missing the point. This is one book. Throw in the countless scammers books. And 'the KU payout' gets thinner and thinner.


It looks like the 'borrows' are flat-lining ie. no borrows.

I totally agree with your point about KU scam-meisters, but this ain't one of them.

Reddit can be a very powerful tool. A few weeks' ago some IT guy posted a (highly dubious) story about a PC used by his boss getting infected with a virus from an e-cigarette charger. Within hours the 'story' was picked up by The Guardian and subsequently many other online news sites. Later, when the IT guy was asked for the make of the charger, he said he din't know.


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## Molly Tomorrow (Jul 22, 2014)

I don't see why this is getting labelled a scam. Low effert Joke/Novelty books like this have been around forever.

That the reward/effort ratio isn't all out of whack is just something that authors need to make their peace with. I mean most of us have seen the same thing happen even with our own catalgue. I have short erotica that makes way more money than a novel I poured my heart and soul into. It's all part of the game yo.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

For me, this was the best part of the book:


> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> ...


But it was spoiled by the typos...


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## Jac1106 (Jan 13, 2012)

> Dedicated to my loyal partner, Jeffrey.


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

I left a four star review. I had not noticed any typos in my speed read. It could not be given a five star review due to the traumatic memories of dentist visits that it evoked.


Spoiler



Not surprisingly then my favourite chapter was number 5.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

So now that someone has posted about this on Kboards, and there are quite a few who think this is funny and a great way to show Amazon that KU is flawed, how many here will now rush over to Amazon to borrow the book and read to the required amount to "prove" that KU doesn't work?

Also, since he has gotten away with this, maybe many more people will do the same thing, again to destroy the system they hate. If it all happens in December, well, say hello to $0.35 cent KU payout for December.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

Well I'm going for the "It's quite funny but please don't do it again" option.


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## Jack Weiss (Dec 11, 2014)

Thanks everyone for the welcome. I'm glad I came across this site and all of these helpful forums. 

To those doubting the power of the internet, just take 10 minutes to look up all of the crazy things 4Chan has done in the name of humor, justice, etc. I am not sure why my book blew up, but the reviews are all 100% real.   There were only 7 KU borrows over the past few days (I'm not really sure what that means or how it works), and all sales are free. I won't be earning anything from this venture. 

I see how poor Amazon's content management system is at filtering out scammy books. I thought this would never be published per Amazon's guidelines. For now, I just want to work on my other novel and see what course of action Amazon takes. Hopefully it is removed and draws attention to the flaws that you all have mentioned.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

*My review:* The letter A has been undervalued for far too long. At last someone has come along and given it the status it so richly deserves. Imagine if we were to lose this precious letter. For me at least, life would become unbe r ble.

ETA: It was a fun read and if it exposes the flaws in the ill-conceived KU debacle, happy days!


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Jack Weiss said:


> I won't be earning anything from this venture.


Yes you will. You can sit and wait each month (like the rest of us in Select) to see what your 7 borrows get you. Last month it was around $1.17 a borrow. See, Amazon has a sense of humor too.

Here's Nov's guesses thread: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,202736.0.html


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## WordSaladTongs (Oct 14, 2013)

Add me to the list of people who thought it was funny. As far as concerns over how this type of thing spoils the KU pot for the rest of us--if a customer gets past 10% of a book filled with only the letter A, then I have to guess it's giving them some kind of experience that _deserves_ payment from the pot. I laughed through the whole sample. If I'd borrowed it, I might have laughed even longer. That's an experience, not a scam.

I think we need to be really careful who we refer to as scammers as that word's getting thrown around this site the way "troll" sometimes is. A scam is manipulating the system through dishonesty and fraud, not putting out a book that doesn't meet the approval of a set of forum users. Going down this road, you could start calling people who don't pay for editing or proofreading "scammers." Or people who put out short, to-the-point, but extremely helpful NF guides scammers, simply because it's not what YOU would do. It's like crying wolf and does nothing to empower us as a group (assuming such a thing is possible anyway).


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## WordSaladTongs (Oct 14, 2013)

carinasanfey said:


> +1. This is making a mockery of self-publishing.
> 
> It's very easy to see how publishing on Kindle works without publishing a book filled with the letter 'a'. You can, as I'm sure you know, go through the whole process of uploading and previewing a book without clicking 'publish'. I don't buy this whole 'I just wanted to see how publishing worked' rubbish.
> 
> It doesn't just negatively impact the way our books are perceived. It negatively impacts how much those of us with *genuine* books in KDP Select earn.


I disagree as this is pretty obvious satire. The people who *I* think make a mockery of self-publishing are those who try really, really hard and put out terrible books, but who market them like they're TEH BEST OF ALL. That makes me sad and annoyed. Still, they're not scamming anyone and they certainly have the right to release whatever they think rocks because that's how self-publishing works.

*Edited to add that there could be people who think my books suck rocks and are sad and annoyed at me. This is the subjective nature of the topic and why we should be careful calling out so-called scammers. If I did that every time I read an indie book I didn't like, I would be a word that I can't use on this family-friendly forum.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> Published 2 days ago, #1 in Philosophy, 101 reviews (even obviously fake 1- and 2-star reviews) and it's a book comprised only of the letter A. If this isn't evidence that the scammers are just putting anything up, then running the books through their download circles, then I don't know what is. *And there's no recourse, because it's not plagiarism. *
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/All-About-As-book-Alphabet-ebook/dp/B00QPB0OCC/


Sure there's recourse: use the feedback link at the bottom of the page and report it as inappropriate.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

This book isn't a scam.

Scammers are those that upload ten page pamphlets, or rip-off other people's works and photoshop their name over the author's name. 

But even the author of this book admits they published it as a joke, to 'test' KDPS, without realizing they would ACTUALLY EARN MONEY! 

KU is the scam.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

I needz to step away from the internetz.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

JRHenderson said:


> Jack, just out of interest, how did you get Amazon to sell your book at $0.00? Did you set the price to zero at another retailer, and then wait for Amazon to price-match?


Freebie Select days, I assume.


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## Evan of the R. (Oct 15, 2013)

Guys, be cool. Jack is a new member here.

Name calling is not allowed according to Forum Decorum: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,36.0.html


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## A Tiger (Aug 29, 2013)

Do you know what's a scam? It's what I find on Elance daily: "write a book for us about x and y, we'll pay you almost nothing." And the poor freelancer who doesn't know better actually bid on these "jobs", and deliver the worst piece of English murdered content (because, well, non-native), that'll get uploaded and will share your pot. It's a wild world out there.
I actually thought this A-class parody was funny. It does point out the flaws in the system, specially the part that a content composed primarily of capital A letters wasn't flagged as strange by Zon's robots.
And regarding the reviews, I do believe they're legitimate. Know why? Because places like Reddit and 4chan thrive on puns. I'm not kidding, they love making puns. When you visit a subreddit like r/aww, for example (mostly comprised of pictures of cute pets), the most up-voted comments will be the cleverest puns. It's a way of anonymous internet people showing how clever and smart they are. Which brings me to this book - which has a pun potential off the charts, so no wonder they latched onto it.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Thanks Evan.  Yes: name calling not allowed.  Editing has occurred.

Please continue the discussion -- agree or disagree -- with courtesy.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

WordSaladTongs said:


> I think we need to be really careful who we refer to as scammers as that word's getting thrown around this site the way "troll" sometimes is. A scam is manipulating the system through dishonesty and fraud, not putting out a book that doesn't meet the approval of a set of forum users. Going down this road, you could start calling people who don't pay for editing or proofreading "scammers." Or people who put out short, to-the-point, but extremely helpful NF guides scammers, simply because it's not what YOU would do. It's like crying wolf and does nothing to empower us as a group (assuming such a thing is possible anyway).


+1


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## dkgould (Feb 18, 2013)

Jack Weiss said:


> Thanks everyone for the welcome. I'm glad I came across this site and all of these helpful forums.
> 
> To those doubting the power of the internet, just take 10 minutes to look up all of the crazy things 4Chan has done in the name of humor, justice, etc. I am not sure why my book blew up, but the reviews are all 100% real.  There were only 7 KU borrows over the past few days (I'm not really sure what that means or how it works), and all sales are free. I won't be earning anything from this venture.
> 
> I see how poor Amazon's content management system is at filtering out scammy books. I thought this would never be published per Amazon's guidelines. For now, I just want to work on my other novel and see what course of action Amazon takes. Hopefully it is removed and draws attention to the flaws that you all have mentioned.


lol hi Jack! I believe you, this was something I thought about doing my first time out too, I wouldn't have thought it would go through either (I'm glad I didn't and just uploaded my real book, but the people saying KDP is intuitive are either way smarter than me or they don't remember the first time they published) I've also seen lots of weird stuff stick on the internet. People, remember Select is extra hard to figure out (how many questions a DAY get posted on this board about what's allowed and how free days work and what the heck KU is anyway) and he didn't exactly have a choice about being in KU if he was trying to figure out Select. Anyway, Jack, welcome to Kboards, and I'm glad it was you and not me that did it  I look forward to your next, hopefully more alphabetically diverse book


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## Molly Tomorrow (Jul 22, 2014)

carinasanfey said:


> +1. This is making a mockery of self-publishing.
> 
> It doesn't just negatively impact the way our books are perceived. It negatively impacts how much those of us with *genuine* books in KDP Select earn.


To me, one of the most important aspects of self-publishing is people who are not me don't get to decide what is and isn't a *genuine* book any more. That's the "self" part of the equation. This doesn't make a mockery of self-publishing, it celebrates what's great about it. There are plenty of novelty books that have literally no content, both self and traditionally published. Its a dumb thing that you may or may not find funny.

I'm not down with scams that steal content and intentionally mislead people by pretending to be written by a more popular author. The issue there is that we're talking about theft and fraud. But beyond that I don't see any reason why this, or other silly novelty things, or really low content niche "pamphlets" (assuming the content isn't stolen) are any less *genuine* than the books you and I have written, or that the people who published them are any less deserving of their slice of the KU pie.

Whether or not it's fair how that pie is distributed or the KU system is flawed is a different matter entirely.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

Jack Weiss said:


> I see how poor Amazon's content management system is at filtering out scammy books. I thought this would never be published per Amazon's guidelines. For now, I just want to work on my other novel and see what course of action Amazon takes. Hopefully it is removed and draws attention to the flaws that you all have mentioned.


Really? I don't know about the rest of these people, but I wasn't born yesterday.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

Scams don't have to be compared in regard to severity. A robbery and a murder are both crimes. I don't need to say my definition of crime is murder. That's like saying murder is really horrendous, but robbery is fine. (This is just an example.)

We're all giving our opinions here. If an opinion is that someone believes this is a scam. That's their opinion. Why exactly do they need to be "careful" when others are slinging around their opinions? They didn't say they were going to attack the person. People are slamming Amazon day and night, a company that has the power to destroy a small individual, but one has to be "careful" of claiming a little guy is scamming?

BTW, I don't have any novels in KU and don't like KU personally. However, I believe this book is a bad idea. That's my opinion. I didn't think it was funny because my sense of humor runs in a different direction. It's okay.

CORRECTION: Oops, I do have a novel in there! Egad. It's coming out. Lol. There's my sense of humor. Now you see why.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

JRHenderson said:


> Authors of 80,000 word novels are rather peeved that, under the current KU setup, they'll get the same payout per-borrow as those people who quckly cobble together a 3,000 word "information product" about trimming nasal hair.


And 5k short stories and novella serials, don't forget those. Those especially have caused a great deal of consternation on the boards generating several threads about how KU and Amazon should start prorating payment in KU according to length.


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

Wait. Is this a short story about A's? Everyone grab your pitchforks.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

EldaVeiga said:


> ... Which brings me to this book - which has a pun potential off the charts, so no wonder they latched onto it.


What's wrong with puns?

Anyway, the reviews were relatively pun free and playing along brilliantly with the satirical spirit of the 'book'.

In other words (no pun intended) they got the joke!


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

<humor>If the author was serious about making money from KU he would
have broken the chapters into 'shorts' and serialized the book...</humor>


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Colin said:


> <humor>If the author was serious about making money from KU he would
> have broken the chapters into 'shorts' and serialized the book...</humor>


Maybe he has. Perhaps it started as a book about the entire alphabet.


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

DaCosta said:


> I needz to step away from the internetz.


I know, right? Me too. I thought this was hilarious until I realized I spent all day yesterday back and forth with Amazon over my new release. Amazon said my book was available already on Amazon and basically that I plagiarized my entire book. It took a slew of emails to figure out that I had used the same template for a different pre-order I have up and there was a blurb for my new book that matched inside the pre-order. I was chewing my nails down to stubs all day because I didn't know if someone stole my stuff or what the heck was going on, and Amazon was going to block my new release. It is resolved now, thankfully, but in the meantime I have no fingernails.

I wonder sometimes how the heck things really work at Amazon.


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Banana slicer, people. Banana slicer.

For those who may not have ever had the pleasure . . . don't read while drinking. You have been warned.

http://www.amazon.com/Hutzler-571-Banana-Slicer/dp/B0047E0EII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418310166&sr=8-1&keywords=banana+slicer


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Maybe he has. Perhaps it started as a book about the entire alphabet.


Possibly, Betsy. And I heard somewhere that his next series is going to be about numbers.

Can't wait!


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## Hannah Steenbock (Dec 2, 2014)

I have to admit that I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Reading the reviews has given me an afternoon of laughs.

This is clever, and if Amazon let it get through, it just goes to show that robots are no replacement for editors. And do we really want editors and gatekeepers on Amazon?


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

So why does Amazon accept something this silly? Did the book break their autobot?


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Hannah Steenbock said:


> I have to admit that I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Reading the reviews has given me an afternoon of laughs.
> 
> This is clever, and if Amazon let it get through, it just goes to show that robots are no replacement for editors. And do we really want editors and gatekeepers on Amazon?


Yes, the reviews are _funtastic_, but be sure to empty your bladder before reading them!


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

Anyone else sing the title to Megan Trainor's song?

Because you know I'm all about the A's bout the A's, no W's. I'm all about the A's, bout the A's, no W's.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Daniel Cane said:


> So why does Amazon accept something this silly?


I read on a techie forum that Amazon's Silliness Filtering System (SFS) has been malfunctioning lately. I'm hoping to get several books on before they resolve the issue...


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

DaCosta said:


> Yes you will. You can sit and wait each month (like the rest of us in Select) to see what your 7 borrows get you. Last month it was around $1.17 a borrow. See, Amazon has a sense of humor too.
> 
> Here's Nov's guesses thread: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,202736.0.html


November's rate was $1.33.


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## Jack Weiss (Dec 11, 2014)

Joe Vasicek said:


> November's rate was $1.33.


Oh wow. I had no idea. I played around with the features on the KDP Bookshelf and didn't read the fine print.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Jack, welcome. Emotions are high regarding the KU situation right now; the system is rife with problems and abuse, and your book happened to follow on the heels. As I mentioned, I'm not personally hurt by these issues as my exposure to the program is very limited, but I have a lot of author friends who are in and have suffered from the scams.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Joe Vasicek said:


> November's rate was $1.33.


I thought that was October? I don't recall seeing an announcement for November, but it's very possible I lost it somewhere.


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## I&#039;m a Little Teapot (Apr 10, 2014)

KelliWolfe said:


> I thought that was October? I don't recall seeing an announcement for November, but it's very possible I lost it somewhere.


November hasn't been announced yet. Won't be until the 15th, or thereabouts.


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## Going Incognito (Oct 13, 2013)

I think it's brilliant. I see no difference between this one and the book that's titled something like 'The Handbook on Understanding Women' or something, and the whole thing is blank. And yeah, the Pet Rock someone mentioned earlier. Brilliant, dude. I applaud you. It doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't, it made me laugh, and like any other book-if it's something you like/want, pick it up. If it's not, don't. And when it's no longer free, good luck there, too. A buck wouldn't be too much to spend on a gag book that made someone laugh.
And on the borrows? This bunch thinks they are too good to share a pot with anyone but other literary geniuses anyway. Come hang out with us in the making money on short porn red headed stepchildren area, we're used to it over here. They forget its readers who get to vote on what they want to read, not other authors on what they think people should be buying.


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## A Tiger (Aug 29, 2013)

Colin said:


> What's wrong with puns?


Nothing wrong with puns...  I was just explaining why the book went viral at Reddit and other social sharing sites.


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## Jack Weiss (Dec 11, 2014)

Had I known all about the KU issues that would arise from this, I would have removed the book as soon as I saw it was successfully published.



Going Incognito said:


> Come hang out with us in the making money on short porn red headed stepchildren area


Thanks for the invite. I'm not sure if my fingers would be able to type such sultry things. 

_Edited to remove quoted post. Thanks--Betsy_


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

Jack Weiss said:


> I am definitely not trolling here. That's immature on many levels. I did see the Bert stare online a few years ago and have since used is as my anonymous icon for everything. Had I known all about the KU issues that would arise from this, I would have removed the book as soon as I saw it was successfully published.


What are you talking about? That book is hilarious. Anyone who begrudges you getting a couple of bucks because of it (or even a couple of Benjamins) needs to get over themselves.


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## Going Incognito (Oct 13, 2013)

Jack Weiss said:


> Had I known all about the KU issues that would arise from this, I would have removed the book as soon as I saw it was successfully published.
> 
> Thanks for the invite. I'm not sure if my fingers would be able to type such sultry things.


Any plans for B-Z? Then numbers?


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

"An innocuous joke!? I MUST allow this to distract me from the real problems!" ~ The Internet


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## Going Incognito (Oct 13, 2013)

Hopefully cause he's smart and has a sense of humor. Let that baby ride and see what happens.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

carinasanfey said:


> So why haven't you removed it now that you know about those issues?


Why would he? Just because a few people here don't approve?


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

carinasanfey said:


> So why haven't you removed it now that you know about those issues?


If he removes the book all those hilarious reviews will be lost to humanity.

Just don't do it!


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## Jack Weiss (Dec 11, 2014)

I'm riding it out as Going Incognito said. It'll be $1 again by Saturday 13 December, so I imagine all remaining popularity will be extinguished by the price increase.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Why don't you make it permafree? Then no harm no foul.

Rue


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

In an interesting twist, I tried to post a review that was all ZZZs and Amazon blocked it, saying that it didn't meet their standards of quality.


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

When I opened my Gmail a minute ago, my eye fell on The Midlist email and thought, "Oh no, them too?" But, no... it's just a coinkeydink.

[/url]


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

A reminder to members (and info for new members) that the word troll is considered a four-letter word here on KB and will get your post edited or removed.  (Also against KB Forum Decorum which prohibits name calling).  A post has been removed and another post that referred to it has been edited.

I appreciate that the discussion, even when disagreeing with the book's presence in KU, has been almost entirely civil.

Thanks,

Betsy
KB Mod


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## Jake Kerr (Aug 6, 2014)

This is awesome. It's the best kind of book in the Internet age, one that requires the collaboration of the reader in a social environment. In other words, the reviews are PART of the book, and they make the whole thing awesome. 

I've enjoyed reading the reviews more than some traditionally published books I've seen recently!

Someone give me the Reddit link so I can upvote it!


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## JohnHindmarsh (Jun 3, 2011)

jakedfw said:


> This is awesome. It's the best kind of book in the Internet age, one that requires the collaboration of the reader in a social environment. In other words, the reviews are PART of the book, and they make the whole thing awesome.
> 
> I've enjoyed reading the reviews more than some traditionally published books I've seen recently!
> 
> Someone give me the Reddit link so I can upvote it!


It's a marvelous piece of satire on the whole process whether intended or not!


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## Jack Weiss (Dec 11, 2014)

It looks like the complaints raised by the community have led Amazon into removing my book. It was a great ride. Your profits are now safely secured.


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## 77071 (May 15, 2014)

Well, personally, I didn't complain to Amazon about your book.  And I highly doubt they listen to any of us here very much!    We just rattle our bones against the bars one in a while and call for more porridge.

Yeah, I don't know where that metaphor came from either.  

My guess is they don't want this to become a running gag.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Lydniz said:


> Well I'm going for the "It's quite funny but please don't do it again" option.


me too.


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## a_g (Aug 9, 2013)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> me too.


Not to worry, those who were appalled and insulted and offended got their wish.



Jack Weiss said:


> It looks like the complaints raised by the community have led Amazon into removing my book. It was a great ride. Your profits are now safely secured.


For myself, I am sorry that it got removed. It was a good run.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Joe Vasicek said:


> In an interesting twist, I tried to post a review that was all ZZZs and Amazon blocked it, saying that it didn't meet their standards of quality.


    now that's funny


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

I'm surprised Amazon took it down. They must have a sense of humor/humour or they'd never have given us Kindle Unlimited.


It's a sad day for word-based installation art...


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## AnyaWrites (May 16, 2014)

Jack Weiss said:


> It looks like the complaints raised by the community have led Amazon into removing my book. It was a great ride. Your profits are now safely secured.


That's too bad. I thought it was hilarious.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

Jack Weiss said:


> It looks like the complaints raised by the community have led Amazon into removing my book. It was a great ride. Your profits are now safely secured.


*NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!*


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## Lady Vine (Nov 11, 2012)

That truly is a shame. I was looking forward to going back and reading some more reviews. 

Jack, perhaps if you made a paperback version in time for Christmas you'd shift a bunch.


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

You could publish it for free on B&N, Apple, Kobo, etc. 

Rue


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Me thinks Amazon has a great sense of humor.


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## Jack Weiss (Dec 11, 2014)

Don't worry, folks. _All About A's_ is not gone forever. It will rise again with time.

I encourage you to check out this excellent post by Michael J. Sullivan. He details exactly what the "problem" with my book was and makes a good case for its removal. https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7509329-this-kind-of-thing-benefits-no-one


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Jack Weiss said:


> Don't worry, folks. _All About A's_ is not gone forever. It will rise again with time.
> 
> I encourage you to check out this excellent post by Michael J. Sullivan. He details exactly what the "problem" with my book was and makes a good case for its removal. https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7509329-this-kind-of-thing-benefits-no-one


There was no problem with your book, Jack, or the hilarious reviews that added to the whole buzz. But there has been a major S.O.H. failure and some faceless jerk working for Amazon has pulled the plug. Meanwhile the money-grubbing scamleteers carry on milking the KU system.

It's utter bollocks.


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

But but but that was my only ever review on Amazon  
I knew I should have copied it here.
I suspect fowl play. I think Big Bird filed a DCMA complaint.


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Going Incognito said:


> I think it's brilliant. I see no difference between this one and the book that's titled something like 'The Handbook on Understanding Women' or something, and the whole thing is blank. And yeah, the Pet Rock someone mentioned earlier. Brilliant, dude. I applaud you. It doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't, it made me laugh, and like any other book-if it's something you like/want, pick it up. If it's not, don't. And when it's no longer free, good luck there, too. A buck wouldn't be too much to spend on a gag book that made someone laugh.
> And on the borrows? *This bunch thinks they are too good to share a pot with anyone but other literary geniuses anyway. *Come hang out with us in the making money on short porn red headed stepchildren area, we're used to it over here. They forget its readers who get to vote on what they want to read, not other authors on what they think people should be buying.


I for one do not think I'm a literary genius. I am trying to make some money from my writing, like many of us here, not put up a nonsense book and then come on a forum and try to make people believe I had no idea what I was doing.



carinasanfey said:


> So why haven't you removed it now that you know about those issues?


^^^Seriously. Why? Amazon removed it, most likely because someone raised a big enough stink about it. Good on them. Now they need to get to work and set up a system that will flag stolen content and those scamphlets being hired out for $5 a pop.

I have to say, I've lost a lot of respect for members who who I thought were like me, trying to write and sell the best books I could produce. That so many think this was a brilliant thrust at KU is depressing. It was nothing of the kind. I still believe it was a blatant attempt to scam the system. And this post can be modded, but it won't change *my OPINION*.

KU has issues. Amazon is fully aware of them, and is letting the program continue for whatever reason. If it's not working for you, then get out. Make your case to Amazon for changes. But don't encourage someone to play the system to the detriment of your fellow writers.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

> ...most likely because someone raised a big enough stink about it....


Someone or two or three or four or five or six people didn't like it, but we _do_ know that at least 125 reviewers got the joke.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

My money would be on someone at Amazon is having a good laugh at this thread.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

cinisajoy said:


> My money would be on someone at Amazon is having a good laugh at this thread.


Probably the jerk who hit the delete button.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

Jack Weiss said:


> It looks like the complaints raised by the community have led Amazon into removing my book. It was a great ride. Your profits are now safely secured.


Good.

Although it's nice to see that some of the people who complain about everything under the sun, for some strange reason didn't protest your slick little book.

I'm glad it's gone.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Eclectic Authoress said:


> Good.
> 
> Although it's nice to see that some of the people who complain about everything under the sun, for some strange reason didn't protest your slick little book.
> 
> I'm glad it's gone.


Yes, humor can be subjective, but let's hope that a handful of people don't complain about your work. It's a slippery slope.


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## JessieVerona (May 10, 2013)

Glad it's been removed. Makes me feel better when books we don't approve of are jerked down immediately. It's so nice to be part of the smug elite. We could almost be trad publishers.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

Colin said:


> Yes, humor can be subjective, but let's hope that a handful of people don't complain about your work. It's a slippery slope.


Honey, I've had more than a "handful" of people complain about my work.  Perhaps all your reviews are 5-stars. Mine aren't.

But when I decide to write a book consisting of only the letter, oh, let's say, Z, I'll let you know.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Eclectic Authoress said:


> Honey, I've had more than a "handful" of people complain about my work.  Perhaps all your reviews are 5-stars. Mine aren't.
> 
> But when I decide to write a book consisting of only the letter, oh, let's say, Z, I'll let you know.


I thought you were going to write about the numbers 6 and 9.


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2014)

cinisajoy said:


> I thought you were going to write about the numbers 6 and 9.


Cin, that's a good idea. 

~~~

But seriously, some of you guys complain about tacky covers, and authors not hiring editors, and 2,000 word erotica books eating up KU funds, and on and on, but you think this little gem of a book is just soooooooo wonderful.

Kudos to you, Mr. A. Welcome to the Twilight Zone.


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

Thing is, whatever sins that books committed, much, much worse is actively encouraged around here, so I'm not in favor of going after the cute funny thing instead of the actual poison burrs.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

OK, folks....the subject book is gone, time to move on.  Nothing left left to see here.  Since the only thing that seems to be happening now are comments directed at each other and the membership in general, I'm locking the thread.

If anyone has a question, don't hesitate to PM me.

Betsy
KB Mod


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