My Amazon KPD account has been reinstated and all my books are back and on sale again!
Thanks to everyone for their support and advice … and particularly to Graham Evans, who pointed me in the right direction when it came to communicating with Amazon KPD.
At 12.20pm I was sent the following email by Amazon KPD:
Hello,
Thank you for your email concerning the status of your account.
After reviewing your response, we have reinstated your account and you may submit titles for possible publication.
To ensure the account remains in good standing, take the following actions:
- Review your catalog and unpublish any titles that do not comply with the Content Guidelines: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/G200672390
- Review your catalog and unpublish any titles where you do not have the necessary publishing rights
- Ensure that future titles comply with our Content Guidelines and that you hold the necessary publishing rights.
As a reminder, finding additional violations of our Content Guidelines may negatively impact your account status. You can find our Terms and Conditions here: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/G200627430
If you have questions or believe you've received this email in error, please reply to this message.
Thanks for using Amazon KDP
SNEH
Amazon Content Review Team
It would appear that my ‘evidence’ was sufficient enough to prove that I had not published anything that I did not have the right to publish ... BUT in future I will be even more stringent when I check articles that have been contributed to the next (and subsequent) compendia.
As an aside, I did give some thought as to the title of this blog post. I was unsure what the opposite of ‘terminated’ might be … and toyed with ‘ex-terminated’ … but decided that word had far too many Dalek/alien intelligence connotations. I settled for ‘reinstated’ instead … but I still think that ‘ex-terminated’ might have been more apposite.
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Great news! But it still leaves the question of what caused them to do it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteCheers … but they still haven’t given a definite reason why they terminated the account.
All the best,
Bob
Good news, Bob!
ReplyDeleteJonathan Freitag,
DeleteCheers! Now I can concentrate on getting the next Compendium finished.
All the best,
Bob
Well done Bob. I'm still not sure that I understand what their problem was though?
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteCheers! It was very welcome news … but I’ve still got no clear idea what the problem was.
All the best,
Bob
Great news Bob
ReplyDeleteTim,
DeleteIt was … and very welcome!
All the best,
Bob
Glad to see your travails have had a great outcome Bob, common sense wins through!
ReplyDeleteDonnie McGibbon,
DeleteIt was a great relief when I received the email.
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
ReplyDeleteThat is good news- saves messing about- and you'll be able to have your 4th Compendium published soon. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteIt was very good news … and now I’m off to do some more work on the 4th PW Compendium.
All the best,
Bob
Glad to see it is sorted😀
ReplyDeleteIan Dury,
DeleteIt’s a speed bump on the road to completing the next compendium that I could have done without!
All the best,
Bob
Yeah, it's good that your account was reinstated, but their reply is not very helpful in indicating why it was flagged in the first place or how you can avoid a repeat of that, since following their guidelines doesn't seem sufficient. Seems like the the daleks can attack without warning.
ReplyDeleteFitz-Badger,
DeleteIt was good news, but the lack of clarity on the part of Amazon KDP is very annoying.
I’ve just received an email from them telling me that they have just checked the very book that ostensibly caused this problem … and it has been approved for publication!
You couldn’t make this up!
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteHoo-bally-ray!!
Incidentally the terminated/ ex-terminated thing might be a case similar to the flammable/ inflammable - meaning (near to) exactly the same thing. How about disterminated? The red zigzag underline suggests this is not a lexigraphic word, but nonce words are always valid.
It did occur to me that the multiplicity of contributors might somehow be the sticking point. But as the covers say 'Edited by...' that ought to have been sufficient validation.
Odd.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteIt was a great relief ... and I can now get on with work on the next Compendium.
According to an online dictionary, the origins of exterminate are as follows: The word "exterminate" originates from the Latin "exterminare," which means "to drive out" or "to remove." It is derived from the prefix "ex-" meaning "out of" or "thoroughly," and "terminus," meaning "boundary" or "limit." The term evolved to signify the complete destruction or eradication of something, often implying a forceful expulsion. The earliest known use of "exterminate" in English dates back to the mid-1500s. It appears that 'terminate' has a similar derivation.
I always list the contributors inside the book and on the relevant bookshop webpage, so I cannot understand why this problem ever arose. As you comment ... it's very odd.
All the best,
Bob
Catching up late to teh storyline here Bob, I am glad it all worked out. Totally bizarre what happened!
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exile FoG,
DeleteIt was bizarre ... but thankfully its now over!
All the best,
Bob
Pleased to hear you are back, and that the suggestions were helpful. Amazon have an interest in people publishing through their website as they make money from it, so the odds were always on you being reinstated. They have had a lot of issues with AI generated pap and almost blank books passing themselves off as proper publications, so I can understand the bots taking people down. That doesn't make it any easier for proper authors, however.
ReplyDeleteTrebian,
DeleteThanks very much for the advice. It certainly worked!
I can understand why they have such stringent rules about copyright and the use of AI. It did strike me that possibly someone else might have published something that they had copied or plagiarised from the Compendium, and that their AI had picked this up and that this might have caused the problem.
All the best,
Bob
Hmm sounds like Little Britain "the computer says no" - we had all better buy another book now they're available 😀
ReplyDeleteAndrew,
DeleteIt certainly had that feel to it!
As for buying the books whilst they are still on sale ... well, you'll not hear me arguing against that!
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob. Sorry to hear about your publishing problems, but glad that they now seem to have been resolved. Good for you to struggle with the "online blob" which so often just seems to ignore any attempts to put things to right. It is bad enough trying to resolve problems with telephone "helplines". But when an email is just ignored it can be daunting trying to resolve the problem. The internet can be, and so often is, a source of information and interest. It allows like minded folk throughout the world to communicate from the comfort of their own home, or indeed anywhere else with smart phones. But as with so much in this modern technical world it can be frustrating when it does not work as it should. Glad that your problem is resolved, and in plenty of time to publish your next compendium in time for Christmas. Regards Paul
ReplyDeleteThistlebarrow (Paul),
DeleteI must admit that it was a very frustrating time. After I received the initial email, I went through the book with a tooth comb to see if I could find anything that might have triggered the termination. I didn't ... and when my reply seemed to be ignored, I began to despair ... and then Trebian gave me some very useful advice. I took it ... and within a matter of a few hours, my account was reinstated.
AI has many uses, but I have a feeling that some organisations have taken it onboard to save costs ... and not realised that it still has failings and needs some sort of human oversight. Luckily, there are still some organisations that like to maintain the human touch when it comes to dealing with customers!
All the best,
Bob
Wonderful news Bob! I'm glad you're back up and running. I have had some issues with another site claiming I don't have the rights to something and that someone anonymously flagged it. I've done what I can and am willing to do to resolve the issue but feedback from the site is either slow or nonexistent.
DeleteYou're fortunate to have someone (be it man or machine) actually read your response and got back to you with good news.