# So I think Amazon has terminated my account...



## Guest (May 3, 2018)

https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,267677.0.html


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Oh no. I'm so, so sorry Julie... I really, really hope this gets resolved soon. It's got to be a glitch, because that makes zero sense -- but it's still so frustrating and unfair. Please keep us posted.

*hugs*


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

SMH. I know it's ridiculous to want Amazon to recognize how much their actions matter to us and have a care, but I keep finding myself nevertheless feeling that way.

I hope this gets resolved soon, Julie.


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## Guest (May 3, 2018)

Mark Gardner said:


> I saw that all the issues of BASQ are still available, and list Bards and Sages Publishing as the publisher... I hope they get this resolved, and quick!


At the very least, sometime before November would be nice.


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

What the heck? That is just ridiculous--I mean, since when do they even care that an author has a name similar to a famous author (the "other" stephen king is still out there, they just added a blurb to his author profile that he wasn't the famous SK), let alone mess with your account over it? For Pete's sake, you have a long-term, established account with them. It's so disturbing to see this kind of stuff continue. I hope you get some resolution ASAP. 
Fuming mad for you


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## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

So sorry this is happening to you.


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## Guest (May 3, 2018)

I am assuming this is some sort of technical error, since all of my books (except the one with the author name issue) are still available and I can still access reports. But the fact that I can't reach a human being or even access KDP support at all is the frustrating part. I just had to send an email to an author informing her that her story won't be live tomorrow due to this issue. Those are not the kind of emails I should have to send out just because my...eh hem..."business partners" can't get their crap straight.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

I'm so sorry this is happening to you. Also, if no one has mentioned it, sometimes [email protected] is the best option.


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## Hope (Nov 28, 2014)

Wow...I'm so sorry this is happening to you! It's beyond crazy that they do these kinds of things without contacting the author and getting any pertinent info before shutting accounts down.


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## Guest (May 3, 2018)

C. Gockel said:


> I'm so sorry this is happening to you. Also, if no one has mentioned it, sometimes [email protected] is the best option.


I want to at least give them a chance to correct the issue before going over their heads.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

Have you tried calling Author Central? I've never done it myself but I gather they have a phone number attached and you can ask to be put through to KDP.


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## Sam Kates (Aug 28, 2012)

This is crazy, but lots of crazy seems to be happening with the Zon right now. Hope they resolve it with as little hair-pulling on your part as possible.


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## Joseph J Bailey (Jun 28, 2013)

Be sure to mention that you would hate to use the power of the Dark Side when they talk to you.

That should clear things up quickly.

Except maybe that's what the Zon is using...

All silliness aside, I hope this is resolved quickly in your favor!


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## Guest (May 3, 2018)

So I just got this reply:



> During a quality assurance review of your catalog, we found that you have published books with intentionally misleading metadata.
> 
> Here are some examples of the books you have submitted:
> 
> ...


The want me to promise to not do anymore what I never did in the first place. I just sent a reply and copied [email protected] Let's see what happens.

The part pissing me off is that my metadata is PRISTINE compared to the majority of crap on Amazon. No keyword stuffing in the title. The title is the same title that is on the cover that is on the title page. The author's name is the author's name. The story is in KDP, but it is ONLY a story. No samples of other stories. No additional text except an author bio. There is no reason for this.

Folks should bookmark this thread and reference it the next time someone wants to argue semantics about the Amazon TOS. You can do everything 100% right, and they STILL can arbitrarily block you.


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## Indecisive (Jun 17, 2013)

That totally sucks and makes no sense. I hope Amazon straightens itself out!


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Do they think "The Society of Misfit Stories" is the author, and you've sneakily gone and put some other random name in the author field?


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Holy cow. What a mess. I hope this turns out in your favor, and soon.

And here I was, happy to see that Amazon had removed a crap ton of "fake" books with Russian-looking titles from the SF list. Seems like they're just casting wide nets and don't care who they catch, right or wrong.


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## A Dark Path (Aug 24, 2015)

Sorry to hear you are having problems, Julie. I always enjoy reading your posts, and it is obvious from your input that you are a wise head in this business. The fact that an experienced publisher such as yourself can get flagged by the bots, it just shows what a shambles Amazon/KDP currently is.

Best of luck getting this sorted!


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## C. Rysalis (Feb 26, 2015)

Wow. This sounds horrible and I hope you can get it resolved soon.


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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

So I just got another reply:



> Hello,
> 
> For information regarding your account, please reference the message that we sent you on May 3, 2018:
> 
> ...


I genuinely don't think a human being is reading my emails. It HAS to be a bot looking for me to cut and paste the exact declaration.

I'm going to include a link to this thread in my next reply. I wonder if that will get anyone's attention...


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## The Deposed King (Mar 18, 2014)

This is awful.



the Deposed king


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## busywoman (Feb 22, 2014)

I feel for you. It's awful to deal with these humongous companies where you can't get a hearing by a human.


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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

Joseph J Bailey said:


> Be sure to mention that you would hate to use the power of the Dark Side when they talk to you.
> 
> That should clear things up quickly.
> 
> Except maybe that's what the Zon is using...


Yeah, now I know how


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

It's weird that they single out one of the books and not any of the others even though they are all using the same beginning title. Maybe because they aren't in a series, it's thinking the blah blah presents... is referring to another book. Definitely need to clear this up before all the books get flagged.


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## Lisa5 (Oct 23, 2012)

Yikes I'm scared now I just got my first book covers made and a logo with my real name but I know my real name is close to a somewhat famous author they are the same name said out-loud but they are spelled differently. Yikes since when does this even happen? My book covers are going to be $100 US and I don't even know what the logo is going to cost.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Lisa5 said:


> Yikes I'm scared now I just got my first book covers made and a logo with my real name but I know my real name is close to a somewhat famous author but they are spelled differently.


If it's your real name, it's your real name.

You might need to send them some docs proving it, but it's still a real name, and they cant reject someone's real name.


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## LindsayBuroker (Oct 13, 2013)

Geez, it's hard not to feel like it's a matter of when not if when it comes to getting kicked in the ass by Amazon. Good luck with things!


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## Lisa5 (Oct 23, 2012)

Well it's my name since marriage. The OP's problem may be that his/her own name has been used for other books and s/he is publishing someone else's book with the famous name so they think the OP might be pulling a fast one on that one book. So sorry this is happening to you OP.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> The want me to promise to not do anymore what I never did in the first place.


Tell them you will comply.
Tell them all your books do comply.
Ask them to provide further information on how the book they think doesn't comply.

If it's the name they object to, send them a copy of the contract you hold, stating it is a real name.

The only way to deal with Amazon is to bury them in electronic paper.


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## johannesrexx (Mar 30, 2015)

The Zon is not the only vendor in the market. This would be a fine time to examine its competition. 

Recall what Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker as they overlooked the Mos Eisley space port.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

johannesrexx said:


> The Zon is not the only vendor in the market. This would be a fine time to examine its competition.


Amazon has 80% of the market. You dont ignore that, even if you consider them "scum and villainy".


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## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

I am so sorry Julie.  I went straight to ecr aka Jeff's email in November during the copyright nonsense because another author had her books pulled down and I couldn't risk that. 

Turnover is high at Amazon. They want it that way. They purposely do not let there be decent help available in the lower level as a cost savings measure figuring most will just deal with it or solve their own problem and only the really messed up stuff will go to Jeff. Their costsaving mechanism is thorn in our supply chain. 

I would never hesitate going to the Jeff email. Even that can take 2-3 days to hear a response. I had to email twice, once nice and the second time two days later letting them know of this is not fixed I'm telling my sob story to the nearest newspaper and leveraging my milspouse status just trying to run a business while my family has to move.... I got a call back that day. 

It's triage and chain of command. If the robot malfunctions and punishes someone they aren't supposed to the robot can't fix it only a human can. Getting to the humans is the hard part.


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## Lisa5 (Oct 23, 2012)

kw3000 said:


> I've read horror novels less chilling.


Living on the other side of the world this stuff is even more scary if it happens to me it would cost me a fortune on the phone.


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

TimothyEllis said:


> Amazon has 80% of the market. You dont ignore that, even if you consider them "scum and villainy".


They rely on keeping us convinced of the illusion of them being so all-important to us when they wouldn't be if we weren't all afraid of them and refuse to fight back.


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

This is so frustrating! I'm sorry you have to deal with this.

Stuff like this that they pull is why I won't go exclusive. Not when my family's income is dependent on my royalties. Every time I hear a story like this, I'm more convinced that being wide is the right decision.


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

TimothyEllis said:


> If it's your real name, it's your real name.
> 
> You might need to send them some docs proving it, but it's still a real name, and they cant reject someone's real name.


I think someone with the real name of Harrod's was prevented from using it as the name of a small grocery store .


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

I just looked at the book in question, and I think the problem is with the cover.

There is no author named.
The editor is named.
The publisher is named.

The only book I have with an editor name on it instead of an author name, attracted their attention, and I had to prove I had the permissions to publish.

My suggestion is, the editor should be removed from the cover, the publisher removed from the cover, and all of the author names put on there.

The cover is very non standard, and anything non-standard is a nail for the Amazon nuke to hit.

First though, you need to prove to them you have the rights to publish the stories, so send them a copy of every contract for the whole book. Offer to change the cover to have all the authors listed on the cover.

I think the whole stuffed books thing has changed something else now. Where editors could be the name on the book, now it looks like this is treated as suspect until proved otherwise. Likewise with a publisher name instead of an author name. I'm not sure why you did it this way, but I think you accidentally put the book in the brand new suspect pile, and were swept up by a bot looking at new criteria.


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## solo (Dec 19, 2017)

TimothyEllis said:


> I just looked at the book in question, and I think the problem is with the cover.
> 
> There is no author named.
> The editor is named.
> ...


This could be the reason. But our "business partner" should have the decency to ask first before doing something so drastic. Or the matter came up on somebody's computer near lunch hour or quitting time and was in a hurry to leave.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

solo said:


> This could be the reason. But our "business partner" should have the decency to ask first before doing something so drastic.


According to our guidelines - quote - your book - title - doesn't conform - because.

You are requested to send us the following documentation - list.

Or...

"Your book - name - has a cover which is misleading- because. Please change the cover to be ......."

At least you know the actual problem, why it is a problem, and have a course of action to solve it.


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## Chinese Writer (Mar 25, 2014)

Julie, I PMed you.


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## Lisa5 (Oct 23, 2012)

Never-mind I misunderstood something.


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## ShayneRutherford (Mar 24, 2014)

TimothyEllis said:


> I just looked at the book in question, and I think the problem is with the cover.
> 
> There is no author named.
> The editor is named.
> ...


Julie said it had to do with one of the authors having the same name as a famous author, I think. So it's probably the fact that the author's name is in the meta data, which should be fine, because it's the author's name, but is probably getting dinged because somewhere in the TOS it says something to the effect that we're not allowed to use famous author names as meta data/search terms.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

ShayneRutherford said:


> Julie said it had to do with one of the authors having the same name as a famous author, I think. So it's probably the fact that the author's name is in the meta data, which should be fine, because it's the author's name, but is probably getting dinged because somewhere in the TOS it says something to the effect that we're not allowed to use famous author names as meta data/search terms.


Which is probably why the author name in question needs to be on the cover, so its proved to not just be added meta data.


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## scott.marmorstein (May 26, 2015)

That truly, terribly sucks. I so hope it gets resolved quickly!

What am I going to do when Scott Mortensen skyrockets his books to the top of the NY Times Bestseller lists for several years? 

(I don't think there is a bestselling author/celebrity named Scott Mortensen.)


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

TimothyEllis said:


> I just looked at the book in question, and I think the problem is with the cover.
> 
> There is no author named.
> The editor is named.
> ...


What book are you looking at? Here's the one I found on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/60134283-the-society-of-misfit-stories-presents-the-curse-of-manorville-house
It has only the author name as you'd expect because this is a single short story by a single author. It's not an anthology. Also, looks just like all the rest of the short stories this publisher has put out with the same cover to unify them. The only oddity is they aren't marked as a series. But that didn't trigger bots on any other stories, so that's not the issue. (I would put them all in a series so people could find them all if it was me.)

I looked up the author, Shana Scott, and found her blog. Apparently, she changed her pen name on March 8th thereabouts to avoid clashing with S. L. Scott who has a lot of romance books out. The book was published Feb 8th and has the new name on it right now, but did it originally publish with the old name? Her name was the exact same as the other author, so I can see the bots not liking that, but why did they wait so long to flag a book, and why this one with the different name?

I don't see an author page for her new name on Amazon. And clicking on her name in other anthologies she lists on her webpage with her old name doesn't go to an author page either. So it doesn't seem like she tried claiming it as hers which might have triggered the bots. So totally clueless why now, why this book. Only the Amazon bots know (and probably not their 'handlers' either.  )


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

C. Gold said:


> What book are you looking at? Here's the one I found on Goodreads:
> https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/60134283-the-society-of-misfit-stories-presents-the-curse-of-manorville-house


No, not talking about the same book.

Now I'm confused.


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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

johannesrexx said:


> The Zon is not the only vendor in the market. This would be a fine time to examine its competition.
> 
> Recall what Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker as they overlooked the Mos Eisley space port.


As I said, I've never been 100% exclusive with Amazon and they aren't even my primary market. Which is why I am more annoyed than panicked right now.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

The goodreads kobo link goes to a different book than the title quotes, which doesn't have that author name in it. And it's the same book I mentioned above.

Really weird.


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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

TimothyEllis said:


> I just looked at the book in question, and I think the problem is with the cover.
> 
> There is no author named.
> The editor is named.
> The publisher is named.


I don't know what you are looking at. The book in question is not even on the site right now.

The title impacted Has the author name on it. If you look at one of the books in my signature (The Society of Misfit Stories Presents...Headstones") You see the author name on the cover. ALL of the Misfit titles have the exact same set-up. Title and author name. The only one that doesn't is the anthology, which is an anthology.


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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

C. Gold said:


> What book are you looking at? Here's the one I found on Goodreads:
> https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/60134283-the-society-of-misfit-stories-presents-the-curse-of-manorville-house
> It has only the author name as you'd expect because this is a single short story by a single author. It's not an anthology. Also, looks just like all the rest of the short stories this publisher has put out with the same cover to unify them. The only oddity is they aren't marked as a series. But that didn't trigger bots on any other stories, so that's not the issue. (I would put them all in a series so people could find them all if it was me.)
> 
> I looked up the author, Shana Scott, and found her blog. Apparently, she changed her pen name on March 8th thereabouts to avoid clashing with S. L. Scott who has a lot of romance books out. The book was published Feb 8th and has the new name on it right now, but did it originally publish with the old name? Her name was the exact same as the other author, so I can see the bots not liking that, but why did they wait so long to flag a book, and why this one with the different name?


The book has had her full name on the cover since day one.

The project isn't a series because each story is completely unrelated. And each story only remains on Amazon for six months, then all the stories get compiled at the end of the year into an anthology. Those are the terms of the publishing agreement I have with each other.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

I have no advice to offer, but...  May the fourth be with you.  (And Amazon had better beware The Revenge of the Fifth.)


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

LilyBLily said:


> Different country, different laws? Here, even if you're in the same business as the more famous one, you do have some rights to your name. Not saying you'd win in every situation, but we have the example of that other Stephen King as proof of principle.


As you say, you won't win in every situation. Taylor Wine in New York being a famous example.
https://www.inc.com/magazine/19811201/2124.html

Julie--

Sorry to hear about this. I know you will persist...

Betsy


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## MissingAlaska (Apr 28, 2014)

What bothers me most -- if this is not a technical error (which it might be) -- was the lack of a warning letter.  This is something that you should have been allowed to respond to or to fix before they terminated your account.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Ugh.  I am sorry to hear you're having such a headache & I really hope they get it fixed soon.


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

MissingAlaska said:


> What bothers me most -- if this is not a technical error (which it might be) -- was the lack of a warning letter. This is something that you should have been allowed to respond to or to fix before they terminated your account.


Amazon seems to terminate first and relent when you browbeat them back into submission.  I too think it's only courteous and good business sense to send a letter warning of problems before letting the axe fall.


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## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

MissingAlaska said:


> What bothers me most -- if this is not a technical error (which it might be) -- was the lack of a warning letter. This is something that you should have been allowed to respond to or to fix before they terminated your account.


I hope this gets resolved soon. In fairness, they should have contacted you first. It would have saved so much time and aggravation.


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

What's frustrating is that Amazon's explanation keeps changing. How can you comply with something if you don't know what you did wrong? I had this issue just a couple months ago, and it's not a nice feeling.

Keep pushing, Julie.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> As you say, you won't win in every situation. Taylor Wine in New York being a famous example.
> https://www.inc.com/magazine/19811201/2124.html
> 
> Julie--
> ...


Some story!


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Just catching up on this now. Fingers crossed it gets resolved quickly, Julie (and in your favor).


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## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

This is just further proof that there are jobs bots simply can't do. We need more real humans standing by for exactly this kind of problem.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

MissingAlaska said:


> What bothers me most -- if this is not a technical error (which it might be) -- was the lack of a warning letter. This is something that you should have been allowed to respond to or to fix before they terminated your account.


This. ^^^ It's like you go to work every day for years, and then one day you turn up and your keycard doesn't work and you can't get in. And no one cares or even notices. You're just outside the building wondering what on earth happened. It's a really nasty way to treat a business partner. You'd think at the very least that when the bots stumble over some arcane trip-wire in the system, the case would be booted to a human before terminating the account. But then, how many times has this happened before? I suppose we shouldn't be shocked any more.

Really hope it gets sorted soon.


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## My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too (Feb 13, 2014)

Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.


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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

So another response:



> Hello,
> 
> We have temporarily suspended your account and we request that you respond to [email protected] with the following declaration: "I confirm that I have read and will comply with the Content Guidelines and , and that I will remove any previously published books that do not meet these guidelines."
> 
> ...


I did copy [email protected] on the previous replies but I have no idea what is going on at this point.


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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

And for those who are curious, I have been advised NOT to comply with their request regarding the declaration until they provide details on what they think I did, as it would be a declaration of guilt to do so and could set me up for future problems, including forfeiting royalties should another issue arise in the future.


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## Nathan Elliott (May 29, 2012)

Sorry this has happened, Julie.  

If I recall correctly from similar emails that have been shared in the past, they once seemed to demand something like "I will stop violating the terms" even if they were 100% mistaken from the start about whatever issue they pounced on.  But now the wording seems to my nonlawyerly eye not to demand an admission of guilt, at least if interpreted as pain English.  It looks like a human may have looked at the wording and improved it, which is better than I was expecting.

I still understand why you might be advised not to give them the declaration, though.  I hope you get it resolved quickly and easily.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

MissingAlaska said:


> What bothers me most -- if this is not a technical error (which it might be) -- was the lack of a warning letter. This is something that you should have been allowed to respond to or to fix before they terminated your account.





Bill Hiatt said:


> This is just further proof that there are jobs bots simply can't do. We need more real humans standing by for exactly this kind of problem.


I think the above comments could be added to just about every Amazon thread we have here.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

WasAnn said:


> The fact that they terminated an account instead of simply denying that book and sending a letter is more than alarming. Truly. It's a giant, red flag of doom flying around randomly to post at anyone's house.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)




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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

I got an email from KDP Executive Customer Relations informing me that they are currently reviewing the situation and will get back to me once they have completed an investigation. So we'll see what happens.


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## SA_Soule (Sep 8, 2011)

I don't understand why they wouldn't just contact you FIRST and ASK if they have any concerns before just denying you access to your account. How frustrating and scary!  

Hope this gets resolved quickly.


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## inconsequential (May 4, 2016)

kw3000 said:


> Why did you pull me over, officer?
> 
> *snipped here to save space*


This is equal parts funny and sadly accurate.

*sigh*


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## Rob Martin (Nov 15, 2017)

kw3000 said:


> Why did you pull me over, officer?
> 
> _Step out of your vehicle._


¿Por qué me detuvieron, oficial?

_Salga de su vehículo._

Different country, same bureaucracy.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

I just read this, Julie. I am so sorry to hear this happened. What rot.


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

inconsequential said:


> This is equal parts funny and sadly accurate.
> 
> *sigh*


Yeah, I was laughing while horrified at the same time. Good job.  Let's hope this gets resolved soon with a *good *explanation. *snorts*


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## munboy (Apr 13, 2018)

This sucks. Hope you get it all cleared up.

I don't think Amazon is working with malicious intent. I think they're just cracking down hard on those cheating the system...and good for them. I'm sure some innocent people like you Julie are just getting caught in the crossfire.

A warning would have been nice, though.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

*************


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

This is all chilling to read about, Julie. Hope you get it resolved soon.


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

I don't write much nowadays, but its cases like this that led me to get my KDP account separated out from my personal Amazon account. I hope Julie this gets resolved as these cases normally do, but Amazon should not be subjecting anyone to their whack-a-bot Artificial (claims to) Intelligence.


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## Ros_Jackson (Jan 11, 2014)

This is awful, and it seems to be down to robots making decisions that affect people's livelihoods. Sadly, that's getting more and more common, and it is dystopian.

I hope you get a quick resolution, Julie.



kw3000 said:


> Why did you pull me over, officer?
> 
> (SNIP)


This is great fiction because it's so true to how this feels.


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## Guest (May 4, 2018)

munboy said:


> I don't think Amazon is working with malicious intent.


I don't think this was malice, either. Nor do I think it is incompetence. I think it is something, far, far, more frightening: indifference.

Amazon DOES NOT CARE about individual publishers. They just don't. They are completely indifferent to the suffering they cause with their policies and behaviors. And that is what should concern every single author. This entire scenario never should have happened in any normal business relationship. I'm just glad I don't depend on them as my primary source of income or I would be screwed. As it is, regardless of how this plays out, I think I'm going to have to simply end the Society of Misfit Stories as an Amazon Exclusive project and rework the program as something else. I've already transitioned to IngramSpark for print and will start moving Createspace titles there as I have time. And I will probably stop using ACX as well. Amazon has just once again proven to be an indifferent and untrustworthy business partner.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Mercia McMahon said:


> I don't write much nowadays, but its cases like this that led me to get my KDP account separated out from my personal Amazon account.


Can you say how you did that? I'd love to but keep thinking each person is only supposed to have one Amazon account.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

ellenoc said:


> Can you say how you did that? I'd love to but keep thinking each person is only supposed to have one Amazon account.


You can only have one publishing account, but so far as I know, you can have more than one customer account, and your publishing and customer account don't have to be the same.


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## MarilynVix (Jun 19, 2013)

You know, it just accured to me as I was reading the posts that Amazon's logic for shutting down the account is so the scammer/black hat CAN'T CHANGE anything before they review it. They have the bots skimming for violations, and then if it is a real human that owns the account, they'll object and then The Zon will review. It is a way to weed out "sock puppets" and "phony accounts", because you know the scammers are not following TOS. They probably have multiple accounts. 

So, if they shut something down and someone hollers and screams, they know it's a real person. 

**Just saying. Yes, not a way to do business, but if you are a HUGE company that runs on algos, it is the new way of doing business. We may have to get used to it.


----------



## Lisa5 (Oct 23, 2012)

kw3000 said:


> Why did you pull me over, officer?
> 
> _Step out of your vehicle._
> 
> ...


I guess this is what we can expect once governments decide to save money with Robocops. *sigh*


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

MarilynVix said:


> **Just saying. Yes, not a way to do business, but if you are a HUGE company that runs on algos, it is the new way of doing business. We may have to get used to it.


I suspect we do. It's just a hard pill to swallow, given that it probably wouldn't take much of an investment to make KDP a lot better. I mean, think about it: in order to get decent help with what should be a fairly minor problem, you have to _send an email to the richest person on earth_. Why aren't there competent professionals between the levels of "bot responder" and "people who check Jeff's email" who can help us? It all seems so duct tape and shoestrings, you know?


----------



## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> I don't think this was malice, either. Nor do I think it is incompetence. I think it is something, far, far, more frightening: indifference.


I'd say it's indifference to their malicious levels of incompetence.

The ways the TOS itself is written already proves malice of forethought and the fact that this crap KEEPS HAPPENING is a clear sign of dangerous incompetence.


----------



## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

ellenoc said:


> Can you say how you did that? I'd love to but keep thinking each person is only supposed to have one Amazon account.


I have a business account and a personal account. Amazon promoted it to me.


----------



## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

Jeebers. Best of luck getting this sorted out, Julie. What a huge pain in the arse.


----------



## Guest (May 5, 2018)

So got another email from content-review today:

Hello,

For information regarding your account, please reference the message that we sent you on May 3, 2018:



> Hello,
> 
> During a quality assurance review of your catalog, we found that you have published books with intentionally misleading metadata.
> 
> ...


Haven't heard back from the person at KDP Executive Customer Relations yet. I forwarded this email to her. *sigh*


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> So got another email from content-review today:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> ...


SMH. It's Kafkaesque, isn't it?


----------



## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> So got another email from content-review today:
> 
> . . .
> 
> Haven't heard back from the person at KDP Executive Customer Relations yet. I forwarded this email to her. *sigh*


Oy. A straight answer would be nice. Fingers crossed this gets straightened out in a couple days.



MarilynVix said:


> You know, it just accured to me as I was reading the posts that Amazon's logic for shutting down the account is so the scammer/black hat CAN'T CHANGE anything before they review it. They have the bots skimming for violations, and then if it is a real human that owns the account, they'll object and then The Zon will review. It is a way to weed out "sock puppets" and "phony accounts", because you know the scammers are not following TOS. They probably have multiple accounts.
> 
> So, if they shut something down and someone hollers and screams, they know it's a real person.
> 
> **Just saying. Yes, not a way to do business, but if you are a HUGE company that runs on algos, it is the new way of doing business. We may have to get used to it.


I think you're right, Marilyn. We're becoming a society built on automation. Having been on the other end of Amazon's seemingly endless stream of canned replies, it's frustrating. Then their algo outright told me it wasn't responding anymore, and none of my further emails were ever answered (although, I didn't email Jeff -- I probably should have).


----------



## Guest (May 5, 2018)

So it is after 6 PM where I am, and still no word on what is going on. At this point, I have officially entered Nolongergiveanyf*&^sville, so I just sent the following email to the autobot.



> As per the request below:
> 
> "I confirm that I have read and will comply with the Content Guidelines [https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A2TOZW0SV7IR1U] and [https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A294SHSUYLKTA6], and that I will remove any previously published books that do not meet these guidelines."
> 
> ...


If this gets my account unfrozen, I will laugh and cry at the same time. And probably consume a bottle of wine.

Come to think of it, I'm heading to a party in 30 minutes. I might consume the bottle of wine regardless...


----------



## MClayton (Nov 10, 2010)

Julie, I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. It's my ultimate nightmare. Enjoy the party, and the wine.


----------



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

Elizabeth Barone said:


> I think you're right, Marilyn. We're becoming a society built on automation.


I can vouch for this. I've had no landline since April 19th and therefore no ADSL and therefore no internet . Had to buy expensive wi-fi connection and make daily calls to the faults department. The last call elicited the information that my fault had been linked to an outage and as the outage had been resolved my fault had been logged as fixed. Some kind person unlinked it and said they would send a technician. That was four days ago! Having to use the internet at 3.30 am to take advantage of a cheaper night time rate  .

Julie, I do hope your account is sorted out. I can imagine how frustrating this must be.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

> During a quality assurance review of your catalog, we found that you have published books with intentionally misleading metadata.


I assume you use the same metadata on other platforms?

Have you checked there to see what might be offending the Amobots?

What might work, is if you respond with what you intend to fix, they might give you access again to fix it.


----------



## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

I honestly think Amazon is a big ole hot mess right now. I'm slightly concerned they're losing control.


----------



## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Lydniz said:


> I honestly think Amazon is a big ole hot mess right now. I'm slightly concerned they're losing control.


I've been wondering for a while if things have simply gotten to big for Amazon to handle with the level of automation they installed. I'm thinking this would explain a lot of issues that seem to get worse, rather than being solved, such as the mess that is reporting these days. I've had issues myself with reports, with days showing no sales and no page reads, and then three days later, suddenly those days go from zero to something (and sometimes it's a huge jump for me). Add on the continuing problem with the various types of scammers they're trying to catch without actually hiring a few competent human beings, and it's like trying to untangle a ball of yarn without eyes or hands.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

she-la-ti-da said:


> ... it's like trying to untangle a ball of yarn without eyes or hands.


----------



## MissingAlaska (Apr 28, 2014)

she-la-ti-da said:


> I've been wondering for a while if things have simply gotten to big for Amazon to handle with the level of automation they installed.


Add into this the likelihood that there are groups trying to hack their systems. Without getting into politics, hacking by foreign governments, competitors, or thieves wanting customer data is likely -- and Amazon's programmers are probably tied up in those issues too. I don't remember seeing "are you a bot" questions on my account until recently. Can you imagine the chaos if Amazon was successfully infiltrated?


----------



## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

she-la-ti-da said:


> I've been wondering for a while if things have simply gotten to big for Amazon to handle with the level of automation they installed.


Some things don't scale up. Many things work fine small but are doomed to fail when expanded. That's why supposed efficiencies after mergers usually fail to appear.

Bigger is not necessarily better, especially with top-down control. There's such thing as too much growth too fast. Guess what? That's what cancer cells are.

Who would want the criminal justice system to be automated? Nobody except perhaps the criminals. People have to be in the loop to even hope to approximate fair outcomes. This is obviously what's lacking.

Reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon that's oh-so-true--and applies here as well:

http://dilbert.com/strip/2018-05-03


----------



## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


>


Well, you got me there, Patty.  Amazon is a cat wrapped up in a big ol' ball of yarn! 



David VanDyke said:


> Some things don't scale up. Many things work fine small but are doomed to fail when expanded. That's why supposed efficiencies after mergers usually fail to appear.
> 
> Bigger is not necessarily better, especially with top-down control. There's such thing as too much growth too fast. Guess what? That's what cancer cells are.
> 
> ...


Yes, exactly. Things seemed to work pretty well up until a year or so ago, and then it's like the glue came undone and things are slipping more and more. The answer was to add more bots, but that's not fixing anything, but is likely only going to make it worse. There are loads of things bots can do, but as we're seeing, bots without human attention doesn't quite cut it. I suspect we're going to see a lot more issues like this, and worse, before it's all over (and by over, I hope it doesn't mean Amazon failing, but possibly them cutting off the book area into a separate company).


----------



## Guest (May 6, 2018)

WOW...just...WOW...

So got this response today, which essentially confirms that NO HUMAN BEING has read any of my emails and is only scanning for the specific verbiage they want repeated.



> Hello,
> 
> Thank you for your email concerning the status of your account.
> 
> ...


----------



## Guest (May 6, 2018)

TimothyEllis said:


> I assume you use the same metadata on other platforms?
> 
> Have you checked there to see what might be offending the Amobots?
> 
> What might work, is if you respond with what you intend to fix, they might give you access again to fix it.


It is a title in Select. The ebook does not appear anywhere else.

There is nothing to fix. Seriously. As I have said, my metadata is PRISTINE. ALL the metadata has is the title of the story (which is the exact title as it appears on both the cover and the title page, and the author name.

And as their last response demonstrated NO HUMAN IS READING THE EMAILS! No human would have read my last reply and responded like that. This is a 100% bot-generated problem and no human being was involved.


----------



## My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too (Feb 13, 2014)

Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.


----------



## 101569 (Apr 11, 2018)

Congrats on getting it back. Sorry you had to go through it.


----------



## Avis Black (Jun 12, 2012)

I'm glad to see your account has been reinstated, Julie.  No one should have to go through this sort of nonsense.  My suspicion is that a certain CEO, after realizing how much scamming had been going on in KU, went out and fired a whole batch of KDP staff in the past few months, and it's basically being operated by computers nowadays.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this CEO has only been confirmed in his belief that algos are better than humans at catching problems with KDP, and KDP is going to have very few human employees from now on and become about as responsive as Nook.


----------



## cvwriter (May 16, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> WOW...just...WOW...
> 
> So got this response today, which essentially confirms that NO HUMAN BEING has read any of my emails and is only scanning for the specific verbiage they want repeated.


It's still not entirely clear what rule you supposedly violated though, so how can you even fix it or insure you don't make the same mistake? Glad you got your account reinstated, but this must be extremely frustrating. Sorry you were hit with this.


----------



## Guest (May 6, 2018)

WasAnn said:


> So *****, does that mean they still haven't told you what you did wrong and shouldn't do again?
> 
> I'm freaking baffled.


This means no human being is even reading these emails. If you go up and look at the last email I sent them, which is essentially a big "FU" disguised as compliance, it is clear a person didn't read what I wrote.

At this point, I am considering pulling off of Amazon entirely. They have never been my primary sales point to begin with. And I prefer to work with humans. I mean, serious, even GOOGLE replies to my questions with actual people.


----------



## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

That is astonishing, but I'm delighted you got your account back at last.


----------



## Dave Dykema (May 18, 2009)

This is really frustrating to read. You're right...you gave a tongue in cheek "admission" of "guilt" (although they never state what they're accusing you of and you never state it either) and all is forgiven.

Except they threaten you that you've been a "bad little girl" and your future works might be picked over with the proverbial comb.


----------



## Guest (May 6, 2018)

Dave Dykema said:


> Except they threaten you that you've been a "bad little girl" and your future works might be picked over with the proverbial comb.


On the bright side, that might mean an actual PERSON looks at it instead of a bot, so...maybe bonus?


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I have long suspected that nobody reads those emails (including the ones we're told here we should send ahead of a Bookbub promo). It's all done by machines. It's only when you manage to escalate that you get to talk to a real person.

I don't know why people are surprised.

And someone should write a novel about something like this.


----------



## Guest (May 6, 2018)

Patty Jansen said:


> And someone should write a novel about something like this.


I think Ken has already presented a few samples from the one he is writing in this very thread lol


----------



## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Well, I'm glad you got your account reinstated, Julie... I agree that Amazon is just too big at this point for automation. Unfortunately, it's cheaper than hiring actual people, so I wouldn't be surprised if nothing ever changes there. I hope you had fun at your party and got to enjoy your wine. I'd be enjoying a bottle, too.


----------



## Guest (May 7, 2018)

Elizabeth Barone said:


> Well, I'm glad you got your account reinstated, *****... I agree that Amazon is just too big at this point for automation. Unfortunately, it's cheaper than hiring actual people, so I wouldn't be surprised if nothing ever changes there. I hope you had fun at your party and got to enjoy your wine. I'd be enjoying a bottle, too.


There was wine and vodka-spiked lemonade and birthday cake. So, yeah, good party lol


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Avis Black said:


> I'm glad to see your account has been reinstated, Julie. No one should have to go through this sort of nonsense. My suspicion is that a certain CEO, after realizing how much scamming had been going on in KU, went out and fired a whole batch of KDP staff in the past few months, and it's basically being operated by computers nowadays. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this CEO has only been confirmed in his belief that algos are better than humans at catching problems with KDP, and KDP is going to have very few human employees from now on and become about as responsive as Nook.


War Games. Joshua is now controlling the nuclear launch codes and only tic-tac-toe can stop him.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> There is nothing to fix. Seriously. As I have said, my metadata is PRISTINE. ALL the metadata has is the title of the story (which is the exact title as it appears on both the cover and the title page, and the author name.


Ok.

Are you up for testing that? Something set the bot off. Its in the interest of all we figure out what, so we can all make sure we dont have something similar, or do something similar in the future.

Would you be up for posting the KDP screens and cover for the book they took down?

Basically an intellectual exercise to see if the group can spot what the bot did. If nothing else, maybe we can do a group response pointing out where the bot is doing stupid.

If we leave this alone, all we have is scary for everyone. If we can figure out what triggered the bot, maybe we can get it fixed, or at least tell Amazon where the bot is failing, and how to fix it.

Up to you though.


----------



## Lee Nichols (Apr 14, 2018)

TimothyEllis said:


> Ok.
> 
> Are you up for testing that? Something set the bot off. Its in the interest of all we figure out what, so we can all make sure we dont have something similar, or do something similar in the future.
> 
> ...


I've been selling on the Amazon marketplace for a good few years (not books). You are very unlikely to find any rhyme or reason. I have been on the brink of suspension multiple times for being a "model" seller. I abide by all rules and treat every customer with great respect and basically bend over backwards for them. I run a 100% legal business, pay all taxes and VAT and all my details on Amazon are 100% correct, always. This is not enough. Every single person that sells on Amazon will go through this at some point, more than once. I usually have a problem at least once a year and can guarantee that, depending on your query, you will only get response by autobot.

They used to (it seemed), after a few autobot responses for the same query, become "upgraded" to human response. Lately it seems you get four responses by autobot and then thrown into the ignore list, no human contact allowed. In this case it is just best to do what they ask and pretend you fixed the problem that doesn't exist.

I could tell you stories of problems that you wouldn't believe I've had with them. It's a disgrace and an absolute pain in the ****. There is a plus side though. Every problem I have had, does get sorted out in the end. I've learned now not to get too stressed (although it is still very annoying) and just accept it as part of the ups and downs of selling through them.

A few years back the only contact was through tickets, no other option. Gradually I am seeing more options to have a human "call back," again depending on the query. VAT problems (that never existed in the first place) used to be ticket only, now they have a call back option. There is hope yet


----------



## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

This very much resembles a lot of [people] I know who, having been proved wrong, will ignore any proof that they are wrong and pretend it never happened rather than admit they were wrong. 

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Doglover said:


> This very much resembles a lot of [people] I know who, having been proved wrong, will ignore any proof that they are wrong and pretend it never happened rather than admit they were wrong.
> 
> _Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


Which is why I feel we need to take this further and go looking for what the bot saw.

I dont doubt Julie, but most of the time the zon bots point something out to me, they eventually will point out what is wrong if I keep telling them I cant see it. They eventually shut up about wanting me to change vain to vein (no blood in the paragraph), but with most of the rest recently, the ones I couldn't see usually did need correcting.

So even if Julie cant see it, maybe one of us can. And in the process, we all learn something.

_Edit was to quoted post. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


----------



## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

TimothyEllis said:


> Which is why I feel we need to take this further and go looking for what the bot saw.
> 
> I dont doubt Julie, but most of the time the zon bots point something out to me, they eventually will point out what is wrong if I keep telling them I cant see it. They eventually shut up about wanting me to change vain to vein (no blood in the paragraph), but with most of the rest recently, the ones I couldn't see usually did need correcting.
> 
> So even if Julie cant see it, maybe one of us can. And in the process, we all learn something.


The only time I had anything rejected was the cover of a print edition (the e-book had gone through fine). It came back saying there was a spelling mistake on the cover. I had spelled the word 'honour' the English way. On that occasion I replied, telling them that this was the English way of spelling it and had been for centuries, and they passed it. No apology, no nothing.

I don't know which one of Julie's books was taken down, but it's likely not so much a bot as an uneducated student, a bit like the one on the Facebook staff who thought my mention of Bloody Mary meant I was advertising alcohol.


----------



## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

ellenoc said:


> Can you say how you did that? I'd love to but keep thinking each person is only supposed to have one Amazon account.


I emailled them via the Contact form and got a swift reply (so probably a bot) asking me to create a new KDP account and then contact them again to ask for the new account to be linked to my books. Once that was done they automatically cancelled the old KDP account. Note that your books are copied across to the new account, but the sales history is not, so you need to download spreadsheets etc before the accont is deleted (or a day or two afterwards as the old KDP account works for a while longer). I had my personal/KDP accont under my business email address and was able to change this to a personal email address and immediately set up the new KDP account under the business email address.


----------



## Guest (May 7, 2018)

TimothyEllis said:


> Ok.
> 
> Are you up for testing that? Something set the bot off. Its in the interest of all we figure out what, so we can all make sure we dont have something similar, or do something similar in the future.


The book in question was already discussed earlier in the thread and people already went and looked at it. The closest explanation anyone can come up with is that the author's pen name was the same as a well-known romance author. Which would make sense IF the book in question actually used the pen name...but it didn't. It used the author's real name because the author already made the change to her real name.

And even if the book had the same name as a romance author:

1. How many authors are on Amazon with the same/similar names? 
2. I have a contract with the author's name on it, but they never asked for proof that the name was legitimate or even gave me a chance to send it to them before freezing my account.
3. How do they know it wasn't the same author and it was just a different genre? I have published HUNDREDS of authors over the years. Some of them, while no household names, are well-known in their genres and have fan followings. Am I suddenly going to have every book that includes one of those authors frozen because Amazon doesn't understand that authors might use multiple publishers?


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> The book in question was already discussed earlier in the thread and people already went and looked at it. The closest explanation anyone can come up with is that the author's pen name was the same as a well-known romance author. Which would make sense IF the book in question actually used the pen name...but it didn't. It used the author's real name because the author already made the change to her real name.
> 
> And even if the book had the same name as a romance author:
> 
> ...


Fine. BUT. It might not be that name at all. If we can see what is entered on the book, we might be able to spot something else you're not seeing.

For the time it takes, I think it's worth doing. You never know. It could be like self-editing. The really obvious you cant see yourself.


----------



## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Doglover said:


> This very much resembles a lot of [people] I know who, having been proved wrong, will ignore any proof that they are wrong and pretend it never happened rather than admit they were wrong.
> 
> _Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


Ah, you've met my ex-husband, then.

Timothy, I'm inclined to believe that Julie has checked and had others check the book to make sure something didn't slip through. She's never struck me as someone who makes random errors like that, so if she says the metadata is correct, then it is.

_Edit was to quoted post. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


----------



## Guest (May 7, 2018)

TimothyEllis said:


> Fine. BUT. It might not be that name at all. If we can see what is entered on the book, we might be able to spot something else you're not seeing.


No offense, but I feel like I am arguing with Amazon's bots all over again. As I already stated, the book title is already mentioned in this thread. Others have already posted links and looked at it. If you are that interested, just go back through this thread. All the info you are asking for is already in this thread. Or just go look at any of the Society of Misfit Stories entries on Amazon. They are all set up the same exact way.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

she-la-ti-da said:


> Timothy, I'm inclined to believe that Julie has checked and had others check the book to make sure something didn't slip through. She's never struck me as someone who makes random errors like that, so if she says the metadata is correct, then it is.


*sigh*



Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> No offense, but I feel like I am arguing with Amazon's bots all over again. As I already stated, the book title is already mentioned in this thread. Others have already posted links and looked at it. If you are that interested, just go back through this thread. All the info you are asking for is already in this thread. Or just go look at any of the Society of Misfit Stories entries on Amazon. They are all set up the same exact way.


Metadata is in the behind the scenes stuff. Keywords. Subtitle as entered in KDP. You cant see those from the product pages.

I'm just trying to help. Since it isn't wanted. *poof*


----------



## Guest (May 7, 2018)

TimothyEllis said:


> Metadata is in the behind the scenes stuff. Keywords. Subtitle as entered in KDP. You cant see those from the product pages.


Except they didn't site keywords. The only thing they cited was an author name. Which is not a keyword issue.

The book doesn't have a subtitle. None of the Society titles have a subtitle. No, this was not a case of "Lust After the Werewolf Billionaire (a bad boy shifter alpha billionaire hot romance set in New York)" type nonsense.

And to amuse you, here are the keywords that WERE on the book:

anthropomorphic creatures
senior citizen protagonist
elderly protagonist
talking animals
possession

So to recap:

No weird keywords
No subtitle
No series listed
No links in the book other than a link to my website
The only content in the book was title page, the story, and an author bio. No samples of other books. No padding. No full novels tacked onto the end of a short story. No duplicate content.

When I say my stuff is pristine, it is pristine.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> anthropomorphic





> No weird keywords


Well, arguably, "anthropomorphic" is a weird word. 



But, I take your point.


----------



## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> There was wine and vodka-spiked lemonade and birthday cake. So, yeah, good party lol


Nice!


----------



## eroticatorium (May 6, 2016)

As I think it was Confucius said, "the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is to give the wrong one". So maybe email that content-review address with something like, "okay, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize senior citizen protagonists were considered offensive. That was obviously insensitive of me, and I understand my error now. I will edit my books to remove all senior citizens and tell my readers to go elsewhere if they want to read about the elderly".

Maybe that's a little passive-aggressive, but it might get you a response...



Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Except they didn't site keywords. The only thing they cited was an author name. Which is not a keyword issue.
> 
> The book doesn't have a subtitle. None of the Society titles have a subtitle. No, this was not a case of "Lust After the Werewolf Billionaire (a bad boy shifter alpha billionaire hot romance set in New York)" type nonsense.
> 
> ...


----------



## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

eroticatorium said:


> As I think it was Confucius said, "the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is to give the wrong one". So maybe email that content-review address with something like, "okay, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize senior citizen protagonists were considered offensive. That was obviously insensitive of me, and I understand my error now. I will edit my books to remove all senior citizens and tell my readers to go elsewhere if they want to read about the elderly".
> 
> Maybe that's a little passive-aggressive, but it might get you a response...


Since the account has been reinstated, and Amazon never apologizes, what response could there be, except an undesirable one?


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

eroticatorium said:


> As I think it was Confucius said, "the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is to give the wrong one". So maybe email that content-review address with something like, "okay, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize senior citizen protagonists were considered offensive. That was obviously insensitive of me, and I understand my error now. I will edit my books to remove all senior citizens and tell my readers to go elsewhere if they want to read about the elderly".
> 
> Maybe that's a little passive-aggressive, but it might get you a response...


LOL. "Old people can't do anything" was a separate thread.


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

eroticatorium said:


> As I think it was Confucius said, "the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is to give the wrong one". So maybe email that content-review address with something like, "okay, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize senior citizen protagonists were considered offensive. That was obviously insensitive of me, and I understand my error now. I will edit my books to remove all senior citizens and tell my readers to go elsewhere if they want to read about the elderly".
> 
> Maybe that's a little passive-aggressive, but it might get you a response...


Response:

I am writing to let you know that KDP does not offer senior citizen discounts at this time, but I will raise your suggestion with our technical team. Did I answer your question? YES / YES.


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## GrandmaBirdie (Oct 12, 2016)

This Facebook group might be able to help anyone who has experienced a similar problem:

*Account Closure Discussion Group*

It's a closed group, so you may have to wait awhile to have your membership approved. I was accepted within minutes. I joined not because my account was closed, but because I know of authors who have experienced this, and I wanted to see what was happening.

As I write this, the group has over 5100 members.


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## Guest (May 7, 2018)

Becca Mills said:


> Response:
> 
> I am writing to let you know that KDP does not offer senior citizen discounts at this time, but I will raise your suggestion with our technical team. Did I answer your question? YES / YES.


   

Yep, that about does it.

SO I did finally get another email from Executive Relations asking for a contact number to discuss what they discovered. I can only imagine how this will spin. I may need another bottle of wine lol


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## munboy (Apr 13, 2018)

Bill Hiatt said:


> Since the account has been reinstated, and Amazon never apologizes, what response could there be, except an undesirable one?


Maybe a clear cut answer to what exactly was wrong with the book.


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## Desert Rose (Jun 2, 2015)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Yep, that about does it.
> 
> SO I did finally get another email from Executive Relations asking for a contact number to discuss what they discovered. I can only imagine how this will spin. I may need another bottle of wine lol


We may all need wine by the time this is over.


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## Guest (May 7, 2018)

Had a very polite conversation with the woman at executive relations, who apologized repeatedly for the situation and said they would review how the content review team deals with such things, particularly the whole "maybe tell the author what you actually need them to do and not freeze their account so they can do it" thing. 

She did confirm that it was related to the author name, but that they should not have frozen the account over it. Particularly when I told her I have a signed contract that shows the author's name is the author's name, but I never even had a chance to send it to them to show them it wasn't bad metadata, but the author's name.

I also stressed that this is NOT an isolated incident, and from speaking to other authors this is a common problem with the content review team and it is becoming more and more commonplace. 

She said all of the right things, but, you know the old saying: actions speak louder than words. Ask me how much I think the conversation is actually going to change behavior at Amazon.


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## 101569 (Apr 11, 2018)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> There was wine and vodka-spiked lemonade and birthday cake. So, yeah, good party lol


I read this and thought vodka spiked lemonade cake sounds good. lol


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

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> SO I did finally get another email from Executive Relations asking for a contact number to discuss what they discovered. I can only imagine how this will spin. I may need another bottle of wine lol


I need a bottle just reading your updates. You have nerves of steel. Glad your account is reinstated


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## Guest (May 7, 2018)

idontknowyet said:


> I read this and thought vodka spiked lemonade cake sounds good. lol


Now I'm thinking I need to talk to my baker friend and make this happen!


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Had a very polite conversation with the woman at executive relations, who apologized repeatedly for the situation and said they would review how the content review team deals with such things, particularly the whole "maybe tell the author what you actually need them to do and not freeze their account so they can do it" thing.
> 
> She did confirm that it was related to the author name, but that they should not have frozen the account over it. Particularly when I told her I have a signed contract that shows the author's name is the author's name, but I never even had a chance to send it to them to show them it wasn't bad metadata, but the author's name.
> 
> ...


Well, for whatever it's worth, thank you very much for saying those things on behalf of the community, once you finally got an ear to say them to.


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## Pandorra (Aug 22, 2017)

Gratz Bards, I am glad it was finally resolved and sorry it doesn't take away the stress of the process.. I dread half of this stuff but know it will come to me as well eventually... good to see how others have handled their situations, it helps a lot!


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## Queen Mab (Sep 9, 2011)

What a mess, but it must have felt good to get an apology, finally!


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## baldricko (Mar 14, 2014)

Patty Jansen said:


> I have long suspected that nobody reads those emails (including the ones we're told here we should send ahead of a Bookbub promo). It's all done by machines. It's only when you manage to escalate that you get to talk to a real person.
> 
> I don't know why people are surprised.
> 
> And someone should write a novel about something like this.


The Rise of the Bots.

I'm sure someone is working on it right now, and figuring how to include an entity based on Zon, yet still get the book published by them.


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

Relieved to hear that you finally got some sort of satisfaction. I hope this issue is on someone's agenda for discussion at a higher level.


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## C. Gold (Jun 12, 2017)

Woot, a human! Still want to know what about the author name caused all this bot drama.


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## Kalen ODonnell (Nov 24, 2011)

For those of you who've seen it, John Mulaney's Captcha part of his stand-up routine has never felt more relevant.


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## Desmond X. Torres (Mar 16, 2013)

Julie:
When you were contacted, and the subsequent email exchanges... was there a name at the bottom of an individual? Or was it a boilerplate sign off such as 'Amazon Blah Blah'. The reason I'm asking is that my current correspondence w/ Zon over another issue has someone's name at the bottom and I'm now skeptical if that actually reflects a person or is it just a 'nom-de-bot'. 

Any opinion?


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## elalond (May 11, 2011)

So glad to hear that the issues had been sorted out, well, as sorted out as it can be with Zon. I really admire you for your patience and the fact that your hair is intact - I assume it's intact.


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Had a very polite conversation with the woman at executive relations, who apologized repeatedly for the situation and said they would review how the content review team deals with such things, particularly the whole "maybe tell the author what you actually need them to do and not freeze their account so they can do it" thing.
> 
> She did confirm that it was related to the author name, but that they should not have frozen the account over it. Particularly when I told her I have a signed contract that shows the author's name is the author's name, but I never even had a chance to send it to them to show them it wasn't bad metadata, but the author's name.
> 
> ...


I'm glad you got to talk to an actual person. Thank you for bringing up those issues with her. Hopefully we'll see some improvement. Too many of us have been there.

I'd like to second the request for vodka-spiked lemonade cake. It could be the Writers' Cafe official go-to in times of crisis.


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## Guest (May 8, 2018)

Elizabeth Barone said:


> I'd like to second the request for vodka-spiked lemonade cake. It could be the Writers' Cafe official go-to in times of crisis.


Because there comes a point where you just need the answer, Google comes through for my search!

https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cake/lemon-vodka-cake.html

I may have to make this over the weekend now...


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## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Had a very polite conversation with the woman at executive relations, who apologized repeatedly for the situation and said they would review how the content review team deals with such things, particularly the whole "maybe tell the author what you actually need them to do and not freeze their account so they can do it" thing.
> 
> She did confirm that it was related to the author name, but that they should not have frozen the account over it. Particularly when I told her I have a signed contract that shows the author's name is the author's name, but I never even had a chance to send it to them to show them it wasn't bad metadata, but the author's name.
> 
> ...


Well, at least you got an apology, which is more than most people seem to get in this kind of situation, at least if the reports on here are typical.

I've gotten responses on other issues that sounds encouraging but didn't end up producing change. However, this kind of thing does have the potential to create embarrassment, and that's one thing Amazon definitely doesn't like. A lot more journalists are looking seriously at Amazon, and one never knows what story about someone getting trampled on by Amazon will go viral.


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## My Dog&#039;s Servant (Jun 2, 2013)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Had a very polite conversation with the woman at executive relations, who apologized repeatedly for the situation and said they would review how the content review team deals with such things, particularly the whole "maybe tell the author what you actually need them to do and not freeze their account so they can do it" thing.
> 
> She did confirm that it was related to the author name, but that they should not have frozen the account over it. Particularly when I told her I have a signed contract that shows the author's name is the author's name, but I never even had a chance to send it to them to show them it wasn't bad metadata, but the author's name.
> 
> ...


So....how many sales, page reads, and productive hours have you lost to this nonsense? Next question for the nice lady: Since Amazon screwed up, will Amazon reimburse me for the losses I've suffered?

Let me guess what the answer to THAT might be..........................!


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## Douglas Milewski (Jul 4, 2014)

Congratulations over a successful resolution. Treating your business partners badly is a known bad recipe for success. Let's hope that this translates into action.


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Because there comes a point where you just need the answer, Google comes through for my search!
> 
> https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cake/lemon-vodka-cake.html
> 
> I may have to make this over the weekend now...


Yeah, I might have to scrap my coffee cake baking plans now...


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Mark Gardner said:


> And of course, it looks as if somehow, my middle initial has gotten lost, and they have the author as M. Gardner instead of M. A. Gardner, so after it's unsuppressed, I'll have to call in, get several humans that don't know how to resolve the author name, and eventually it'll get fixed - triggering yet another copyright verification...


Oh, hadn't you heard? I trademarked "A."


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## Desert Rose (Jun 2, 2015)

Becca Mills said:


> Oh, hadn't you heard? I trademarked "A."


How cocky of you.


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## Hope (Nov 28, 2014)

I'm glad you got this resolved.


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## FFJ (Feb 8, 2016)

I'm so glad this situation was remedied Bards and Sages.


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## My Dog&#039;s Servant (Jun 2, 2013)

Julie...you're a genius. 

Last month my sister, who writes non-fiction and sells primarily in paper, not ebook, was one of those who had KU reads removed and was given a warning to stop her bad behavior (of which there was none, but in her case, there were no specifics about what kind of bad behavior). She was still waiting for an answer to even one of her requests for an explanation this Wednesday when, without warning, she got a notice that her account was closed.

I referred her to this thread so she would understand she wasn't alone and recommended she consider following your example and send an email copying their text and basically saying she wasn't agreeing to anything because she was still waiting for the courtesy of an explanation. She did that yesterday and....Voila!.....this morning, Friday, she opened her email at about 6 a.m. to find an automated message from Amazon reinstating her account.

She's now waiting to hear back on her follow-up email requesting to be removed from KU.

Anyway, just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing your experience.


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## The one with all the big dresses on the covers (Jan 25, 2016)

My Dog's Servant said:


> Julie...you're a genius.
> 
> Last month my sister, who writes non-fiction and sells primarily in paper, not ebook, was one of those who had KU reads removed and was given a warning to stop her bad behavior (of which there was none, but in her case, there were no specifics about what kind of bad behavior). She was still waiting for an answer to even one of her requests for an explanation this Wednesday when, without warning, she got a notice that her account was closed.
> 
> ...


My goodness, it's like the bots have run mad


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

My Dog's Servant said:


> Julie...you're a genius.
> 
> Last month my sister, who writes non-fiction and sells primarily in paper, not ebook, was one of those who had KU reads removed and was given a warning to stop her bad behavior (of which there was none, but in her case, there were no specifics about what kind of bad behavior). She was still waiting for an answer to even one of her requests for an explanation this Wednesday when, without warning, she got a notice that her account was closed.
> 
> ...





MelanieCellier said:


> My goodness, it's like the bots have run mad


We've outsmarted them... for now. &#128561;

In all seriousness, though, I do hope Amazon plans to really look into this and make some changes. I will not stay in business with a company who won't communicate with its vendors. Those automated responses may save them the pay hours, but they're unprofessional. Authors shouldn't have to jump through hoops in order to get a genuine response.


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## My Dog&#039;s Servant (Jun 2, 2013)

Elizabeth Barone said:


> We've outsmarted them... for now. &#128561;
> 
> In all seriousness, though, I do hope Amazon plans to really look into this and make some changes. I will not stay in business with a company who won't communicate with its vendors. Those automated responses may save them the pay hours, but they're unprofessional. Authors shouldn't have to jump through hoops in order to get a genuine response.


How many similarly snotty, tongue-in-cheek responses is it going to take before they realize they look like fools--and darned disrespectful, to boot? Or do we have to wait until Alexa gets smart enough to read?


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## 101569 (Apr 11, 2018)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Because there comes a point where you just need the answer, Google comes through for my search!
> 
> https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cake/lemon-vodka-cake.html
> 
> I may have to make this over the weekend now...


Now my mom is asking me to make this for her and she doesn't even like cake. Though I think she would be ok with just the lemonade vodka we have.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Had a very polite conversation with the woman at executive relations, who apologized repeatedly for the situation and said they would review how the content review team deals with such things, particularly the whole "maybe tell the author what you actually need them to do and not freeze their account so they can do it" thing.
> 
> She did confirm that it was related to the author name, but that they should not have frozen the account over it. Particularly when I told her I have a signed contract that shows the author's name is the author's name, but I never even had a chance to send it to them to show them it wasn't bad metadata, but the author's name.
> 
> ...


Did you get her name? It might be helpful to other authors going through this type of thing. Of course I'm not suggesting posting it publicly but maybe let those in the closed group someone upthread linked? Just a thought.


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

My Dog's Servant said:


> How many similarly snotty, tongue-in-cheek responses is it going to take before they realize they look like fools--and darned disrespectful, to boot? Or do we have to wait until Alexa gets smart enough to read?


Alexa: Sorry. I don't know that.


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

I don't know why Timothy was sighing in response to my post. I know what metadata is, Julie knows what metadata is, and I'm sure many others here know as well. My point that I believe Julie would have checked and double-checked, and had someone else check stands.

Mark, I hope you can get your situation straightened out. I kid around about Skynet coming, and for some things maybe a bot works, but for stuff like authors go through, real live people need to be involved.

I think I'll pass on the cake (unless you use sugar substitute), and just have the vodka, thanks.


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## Atlantisatheart (Oct 8, 2016)

Are you sure you were speaking to a real human?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40jgFZ5hXk

What if amazon got there first?


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## jenminkman (Mar 2, 2013)

Is this still happening to people? I tried to log into my dashboard this morning and discovered I was locked out. The password was 'not correct'. I didn't even get an email about delisting books or whatever. I have NO idea what I've done wrong. Is there a number I can call? I am actually in the US right now so I might as well speak to a human, if anyone has any ideas on what to do. Of course I also sent an email to support but I'm not holding my breath. The sad thing is that it's not just my books - I'm a publisher. I can't even see how many books I sold for others, nor can I stop selling them. Which doesn't seem fair to me


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## My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too (Feb 13, 2014)

Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

jenminkman said:


> Is this still happening to people? I tried to log into my dashboard this morning and discovered I was locked out. The password was 'not correct'. I didn't even get an email about delisting books or whatever. I have NO idea what I've done wrong. Is there a number I can call? I am actually in the US right now so I might as well speak to a human, if anyone has any ideas on what to do. Of course I also sent an email to support but I'm not holding my breath. The sad thing is that it's not just my books - I'm a publisher. I can't even see how many books I sold for others, nor can I stop selling them. Which doesn't seem fair to me


Agreeing with WasAnn -- it sounds like your account might've been hacked. If you can't make the password recovery process work, definitely call them. Start with Author Central, maybe, and have them transfer you?

ETA: Looks like you need to sign in to Author Central and fill out a web form to generate a call-back from them -- not so useful if your account info really has been changed. Hopefully someone here has a phone number for them, if you need it.


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## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

WasAnn said:


> I just clicked a book in your sig and it's still for sale. It sounds like your password got changed, rather than a lock out. I'd do the recovery of your password super quicklike.


Second that. Not so long ago, I had password glitch. There was no sign anyone had hacked the account, but password no longer worked. I reset, checked to make sure nothing nefarious had happened, and all was well.


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## Spin52 (Sep 6, 2015)

jenminkman said:


> Is this still happening to people? I tried to log into my dashboard this morning and discovered I was locked out. The password was 'not correct'. I didn't even get an email about delisting books or whatever. I have NO idea what I've done wrong. Is there a number I can call? I am actually in the US right now so I might as well speak to a human, if anyone has any ideas on what to do. Of course I also sent an email to support but I'm not holding my breath. The sad thing is that it's not just my books - I'm a publisher. I can't even see how many books I sold for others, nor can I stop selling them. Which doesn't seem fair to me


I got that, too. After three attempts, I 'changed' my password to the original one and logged in.


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## Rob Martin (Nov 15, 2017)

Bill Hiatt said:


> Second that. Not so long ago, I had password glitch. There was no sign anyone had hacked the account, but password no longer worked. I reset, checked to make sure nothing nefarious had happened, and all was well.


Good advice. I use a random generator (8-12 characters, upper, lower, numbers and symbols) for my passwords and occasionally there's a glitch. Happened with my Amazon account, and I was worried I'd been hacked (though who would go through the trouble, I don't know) Password reset and I was back in action.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Bill Hiatt said:


> Second that. Not so long ago, I had password glitch. There was no sign anyone had hacked the account, but password no longer worked. I reset, checked to make sure nothing nefarious had happened, and all was well.





Spin52 said:


> I got that, too. After three attempts, I 'changed' my password to the original one and logged in.


Man oh man, talk about glitchy!  Well, hopefully that's all is is for Jen as well.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

The password thing has happened to me a couple of times. I just changed it and it worked fine after that.


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## eroticatorium (May 6, 2016)

Bill Hiatt said:


> Second that. Not so long ago, I had password glitch. There was no sign anyone had hacked the account, but password no longer worked. I reset, checked to make sure nothing nefarious had happened, and all was well.


That happened to me with an AuthorCentral account.


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## jenminkman (Mar 2, 2013)

Guys, all solved. I got several emails from Amazon with 'temporary passwords' and was even called by Amazon Customer Service. They couldn't explain what had happened but said it was probably because I logged into KDP from an IP address in the US (I live in Holland, FYI, but am currently doing a road trip through Washington State, Idaho and Montana). All the stress took two years off my life, but oh well. At least my account is still intact! <3 Thanks for the support!


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

So glad it got fixed, Jen!


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## Lisa5 (Oct 23, 2012)

Rob Martin said:


> Good advice. I use a random generator (8-12 characters, upper, lower, numbers and symbols) for my passwords and occasionally there's a glitch. Happened with my Amazon account, and I was worried I'd been hacked (though who would go through the trouble, I don't know) Password reset and I was back in action.


Password hacking via bruteforce is only one method of hacking.


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## KumiMuttu (Aug 4, 2021)

I'm glad I found this discussion. I am in the same position right now, my account temporarily suspended while they are asking me send a note to comply with their content guidelines to reactivate my account. No one will call me or tell me the exact violation other than content guideline breach. My book is call Mr Wanker with a funny cartoon image on the cover, no ruder than Go **** Yourself colouring books with image of penis on the cover!! I wrote series of book under Mr Rude Men Collections and this is the first in the series! I am really annoyed they won't tell me exactly what the problem is so I have now copied Jeff as someone suggested here. I write under the pen name K M QUEEN, you can still view the book cover on amazon but not available to buy currently.



_Edited to remove profanity. - Becca_


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## travelinged (Apr 6, 2014)

Weirdly fascinating. I know Amazon and English don't dovetail well, but this statement is curious: "As stated in our metadata guidelines, we don't accept content that is meant to advertise, promote..." Ummm, metadata does nothing but promote. What other use is it? Making it searchable is by definition a promotional task. It's basic marketing. 

Maybe Amazon can inform Random Penguin that using famous author names is a no no. That's advertising famous writer's books by using their brand. I think Patterson shouldn't be able to use 'Thriller' as a keyword, because that's, ahem, advertising that builds on other books (and if the book doesn't thrill me, then it was misleading).


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## travelinged (Apr 6, 2014)

johannesrexx said:


> The Zon is not the only vendor in the market. This would be a fine time to examine its competition.
> 
> Recall what Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker as they overlooked the Mos Eisley space port.


"Go wide, Skywalker. Go wide."


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