August 8, 2025 • 32 mins
What would you do if your entire author career disappeared overnight? That's exactly what happened to one unfortunate writer who shared their devastating experience on Reddit—all 30 of their books, representing four years of work and a significant portion of their income, vanished without warning when Amazon banned their account.
The shocking part? This catastrophic ban stemmed from a single book being flagged for "misleading metadata" because it referenced a popular influencer in the subtitle. Despite the author's attempts to appeal, Amazon rejected their plea and withheld pending royalty payments, effectively erasing both their catalog and money already earned.
We believe this case represents Amazon's increasingly aggressive approach to combating AI-generated content flooding their marketplace. Like a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel, their enforcement mechanisms are catching legitimate authors in the crossfire. Throughout this episode, we dissect the specific triggers that put authors at risk, including lookalike covers, celebrity name-dropping in subtitles, unverifiable claims, and implied endorsements.
Whether you're a seasoned author or just starting your publishing journey, this episode provides critical information that could save your author career from an unexpected catastrophe. Have you experienced similar issues with Amazon or other platforms? Share your story with us and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips
and Author Success Podcast.
This is Penny Sansevierie andAmy Cornell and this show our
shows are always inspired bysomething either an author that
I talk to or somebody that Amyspoke to.
This show in particular, isinspired by Reddit.
So we love Reddit.
(00:21):
We're always on Reddit.
So one of the things that Ilove about Reddit is it's such
an interesting place to get toknow what authors are really
struggling with.
I mean, you and I kind of knowthat, obviously because we talk
to authors all the time, butReddit is sort of a next level
(00:44):
of seeing what people arestruggling with just kind of on
a daily or weekly basis.
I mean, would you agree?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Oh yeah, because I mean you have to consider, even
though we work with authors thatkind of cover the full spectrum
in terms of how long they'vebeen in the industry, the types
of topics or genres, all thekinds of things we still work
with authors that are at a placewhere they are exploring,
collaborating with a team, youknow Right.
(01:10):
So Reddit is a great place forus to go and get viewpoints from
a perspective of somebody thatisn't at that point yet or
that's already committed todoing everything on their own.
Yeah, you know, so kind ofapproach, some things from
different angles, and it's yeah,it's definitely very insightful
.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, it really is very insightful.
And this one in particular thatI found a couple of days ago
was an author who had beenworking on their books for four
years and lost everythingovernight.
And lost everything overnight,no warning, no second chances.
Um, and it really struck anerve with me because, as an
(01:53):
author myself, like this wouldbe my worst nightmare.
What I think is happening andyou know, a lot of people chimed
in on this during both, somepeople just in support, because
they were all equally horrified,but then other people chimed in
like, oh well, I know somebodythat this has happened to, and
blah, blah, and we're going tobreak down the story.
But I think what's happening isI think that Amazon is just
(02:16):
becoming a little overzealous intheir protecting their site
from content generated by AI.
And I think that you know andunfortunately Amazon does not do
anything with precision I meanlike they'll take a.
You know, they'll take asledgehammer to.
(02:36):
You know what I'm saying?
Like they're just.
And then you know, because itwas the same thing with the
review polling thing, where alot of authors like legitimately
had all these reviews, and thenAmazon was like nope, and then
overnight, all the reviews aregone.
They never.
It's never, you know.
Maybe on the rest of their sitelike I can't speak for every
single page on their website,but in the author's corner it's
(03:00):
always a sledgehammer, so theauthor had.
It's just unbelievable.
This author had 30 nonfictionbooks on Amazon for four years.
The the account was banned fora single book flagged for
misleading metadata.
(03:20):
Misleading metadata it wasn'teven like your cover's awful
dude or you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, like a flagrant violation.
It was just like oh, you'reskirting the line, so we're
going to stop this.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Right, exactly, the book did reference a popular
influencer in the subtitle okay,which I thought I thought that
was interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I really I can't honestly, penny, and I feel like
I've seen a lot.
I can't honestly say I've seenthat before.
So that stood out.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, yeah, that really stood out to me and I and
I as I read through the post.
The author said well, but youknow the the influencer was
credited and was not necessarilypart of the book.
So the influencer hadn't,hadn't written the book like
co-authored the book, but waslike the inspiration or
mentioned throughout the book orwhatever.
(04:10):
The author tried to appeal.
Amazon rejected the appeal andclosed the account.
Not only that, lost all hisroyalties.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, that's right, didn't they say they were like
there were the past two royaltychecks were just not going to
come through?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yes, and this author had said in this post that he
was making a relatively decentliving off of his books on
Amazon Right.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So, yeah, he said it was a significant, a reasonable,
yeah, like a notable portion ofhis income.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So he was doing pretty well, you know he was
doing pretty well and and one ofthe things.
So if you're listening to thisand you're, you've stopped
whatever you're doing and you'rejust as horrified as we were.
We are going to break down whythis happens.
This isn't just like noteverybody is going to be on this
.
You know, not everybody isgoing to get this email from
(05:09):
Amazon.
It just is a matter of I thinkthat that you know the tiny
little bit of misleadinginformation was something, as I
said, that the Amazonsledgehammer, just you know,
ended up ruining this guy'scareer essentially.
So part of the issue is, youknow, one of the things that one
(05:32):
of the comments in thisregistering said that you know
this is really hard, especiallywhen Amazon is your only stream,
income stream forself-published authors.
I mean, let's face it, amazonis the number one place to sell
books, to place your book.
Like people say, you know, Iwant to be on Kobo, I want to be
in all the things, and that'sfine, that's great, but Amazon
(05:52):
still sells the lion's share ofbooks.
There was no warning, so itwasn't like hey, hey, take that
off your subtitle.
And this wasn't even aboutpirated content or fake reviews.
It was just the presentation.
But, as I said, I think thatAmazon is cracking down on.
So what's happening with this AIstuff and we covered it, I
(06:13):
think, a couple of shows ago isthat people are actually taking
existing books so let's sayanything that's on the
best-selling list right now, andthey are.
They're uploading them toChatGPT I don't know, or
whatever AI system that they use, and they're asking Chat to
(06:33):
essentially rewrite it and insome cases, like so,
republishing the book withoutthe author's permission is
pirating, like.
So that's a different kind of athing and that's something that
authors have battled as long aswe've been in business.
But this is where theyliterally upload the book and
ask chat to rewrite it, and chatdoes that and probably does a
(06:56):
very poor job of it, because I'msorry, but we love much as we
love chat GPT.
You can't just throw somethinglike that and expect it to be
perfect.
Even on the shorter stuff thatwe do, there's a lot of editing,
but anyway, these books aregetting thrown up on Amazon and
they're essentially cheating thesystem.
So a couple of weeks ago, therewere a couple of books that were
(07:16):
actually on USA Today and theNew York Times bestseller list,
mistaken for the original booksand hitting the bestseller list
and selling books.
I mean, it's a problem, right,it's such a problem.
So, yeah, so Amazon is flagging.
(07:37):
So there's a few things thatAmazon is flagging.
So the first is you know themisleading metadata and it can
show up and, amy, I want you tospeak about that Cover and title
, right?
So do you want to take this one?
Because I know we both havestrong feelings about covers,
(07:57):
but you mentioned something inthe green room that I thought
was really made me laugh, but itwas also really so, so spot on.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yes, okay, so a cover that is too similar in design
to a popular book.
You know, basically we'vetalked about this plenty of
times Amazon wants to sell stuff, they want to sell lots, they
want to make a ton of money, sothey want to make it easy for
the customer, the shopper, tomake buying decisions and to
click, buy and check out.
(08:25):
And so confusion, unless Amazoncauses it themselves, is not
allowed.
So having a similar cover toespecially a popular book, I
think, will definitely put youin their sights a lot quicker.
But when we were talking aboutbefore the show, there are, I
mean, and for me it's obviouslyeasy to spot.
(08:47):
They just make me cringe.
But I bet a lot of y'alllistening have seen them too.
There are some cover designs outthere that are straight up like
template covers and so manyauthors, unfortunately, have
used them and they don't evenbother to change the font style
or you know what I mean.
And so they're quite literallyjust duplicates of the same
(09:07):
exact concept over and over andagain, but insert, you know your
title instead of you know soit's.
But I'm so glad that I mean outof all of this, I feel for this
author, I feel for anybodythat's getting banned.
I can't say I'm particularlyupset about the fact that
they're cracking down on authorshaving to show up with a proper
(09:28):
cover.
That is a unique concept thatwe've reached the point where
it's like, okay, we've beensaying it's not okay for so long
, penny, and sometimes it feelsa little justified when it's
like Amazon caught up and theysaid it's not okay now too.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Right, exactly, and it took Amazon.
I mean literally, it took.
It took AI overtaking the, theovertaking the book inventory
for Amazon to finally do this.
But the other thing is, though,too, is that and this is not
and, as you said, this is not anew thing I talked to an author
a couple of years ago who waslike I said oh, your cover, look
(10:05):
.
I don't know if I mentionedthis to you even I'm sure I did
but I was like oh, your coverlooks so familiar.
And it looked familiar becauseit was exact replica, similar
genre to Stephen King, and itwas an example of one of his
books.
And I'm like, oh, dude, youreally need to just pull back on
like, but my book is just likeStephen King.
I'm like, yeah, great, that'sawesome, but you cannot
(10:28):
literally have, you cannot copyhis cover.
And so that's where Amazon likeand I understand you know you
get desperate like I just wantto sell books, I want to be blah
, blah, like I get it, but nowAmazon's.
And part of the reason why thecover is so important is because
the majority of thesemisleading AI-generated books
are not taking the time toreally do the research right,
and we talked about that before.
(10:49):
So subtitle abuse.
So, as the case in this author,this poor guy who had all of
his books pulled, is still.
I'm going to keep followingthat string because I really, I
mean, I hope that Amazonreverses it, but I just don't
know.
Again, sledgehammer, I justdon't know that they ever will.
So y'all, I love subtitles, canwe just be clear Like I love me
(11:09):
some subtitles, but you cannotname drop public figure, names,
figure, names.
Like I remember one time andthis is very this is sort of
like very different the majorityof public figures will call you
out if Amazon doesn't right?
We had an author misuse Oprah'sname, right, because his book
(11:30):
was mentioned in a very tinylittle corner of one of her
magazines, and so he wasname-dropping Oprah, oprah, like
all over the place, and thatwas right.
And he got a letter from Harpoand all this other stuff.
Now, now, like this was 20 yearsago, so fast forward to you
know 2025, and we're allbattling.
(11:50):
You know, fake books Amazon isyour new Oprah.
They will not send you a letter, they will just say bye, bye,
and you're done so.
Um, they will not send you aletter, they will just say
bye-bye, and you're done so.
And also potentiallymanipulative and this is where
we did a show a couple of weeksago.
I know we're going to get moreinto that about how sometimes
(12:12):
manipulative apparently I can'ttalk today sometimes subtitles
can be right and I think thatnonfiction and self-help
obviously for genre fiction,your subtitles are not generally
going to be manipulative,unless you say soon to be a
Hallmark movie, and it's not.
(12:32):
Or it's a bestseller and it'snot.
You know what I mean.
And then impliedmisrepresentation.
Do you want to take that one?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yes.
So this is interesting too,because I've when okay, sorry
Now, I'm like when they have 8million things going on in your
brain at the same time and theyall need to come out somewhat
coherently, right, yeah, rightOkay.
Because I wanted to say I'vepersonally experienced this as
(13:05):
the A-plus content process wasevolving.
You know, after Amazon releasedthat for self-published authors
, they were really kind oftweaking the rules for a while
and what they were allowing,what they weren't.
It was really interesting.
Their terms of use for A-pluscontent definitely shifted as
they tried to figure out whatthey would allow and, probably
honestly, internally, how theywere able to vet it.
(13:27):
But so implied results,outcomes, endorsements that
aren't verified these are thingsthat are very much filtered
through with A-plus content.
So this is interesting that nowAmazon apparently is cracking
down and finding ways to pullthis out of other aspects of
your retail page.
(13:47):
So endorse, buy as seen on, getrich, like guarantees for sales
or making money.
I mean, we've talked about thison a recent show recently
because Amazon has been crackingdown on bestseller claims and
sales claims.
I sold this many copies.
(14:07):
Amazon is really not.
They're not allowing thatanymore and that's interesting.
Again, from knowing that thishas been something that they've
been filtering out for theA-plus content and now that
they're clearly filtering it outfor a lot of other aspects of
the retail page, I find it veryinteresting that they're
expanding this.
It doesn't surprise me, but itdoes make sense.
(14:32):
And it's worth sayingmisleading, as we're talking
about this, as I'm sure theoriginal poster that Penny saw
on Reddit, it doesn't mean badintentions, so misleading really
doesn't mean that you're anawful person that's trying to
trick everybody and game thesystem, but it's more along the
lines of could an averageshopper browsing and keep that
(14:55):
in mind too?
I think that's important, Penny.
These people are browsing,they're scanning, and that's
something that Amazon keeps inmind as well.
So if it's something that couldreasonably be misunderstood
based on how a typical shoppingexperience goes, they're going
to say this isn't happening.
You know they're going to callyou on.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right, exactly, and Amazon must have some kind of a
backend system.
So, like on my books, my Amazonauthor formula books, they say
you know, we'll teach you how toyou know, you will be able to
hear the things.
So so it's not that you can'tsay that you, you can't talk
about what the benefits of thebook are going to give the
(15:33):
reader, because I'm very surethat Amazon has some really
spiffy AI system that willliterally scan through the book
and know whether or not thatactually is true.
And I'm always very carefulabout not misrepresenting the
book.
There's nothing on my retailpages that talks about book
(15:54):
sales or like oh, you're justgoing to sell so many books.
It's going to be awesome,because I don't want to be
getting those First off.
I would never do that.
But secondly, I didn't sell ahundred thousand books, like
your book said I would you know.
And that's where we don't havetime for that kind of email.
We don't have time for thatkind of email.
Yeah, it's really, it's, it'sit's.
It's a very interesting thing,and can I just say could we just
(16:16):
take this wholemisrepresentation to every page
on Amazon, no matter what, andlet's just start with
supplements?
Sorry, oh, my gosh, now I'mgoing to be totally on my
soapbox.
Soapbox will burn fat in fourhours or something.
I mean Amazon, y'all likeyou're always cracking down on
authors, could be the same thingon all of your pages.
(16:37):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, down on authors could be the same thing on all
of your pages, because, yeah, Ifeel like books get the worst of
it for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Always, yeah, yeah, they always get the worst of it.
I, if Amazon wants a list, Iwill send them a list of things
that I think they need to reallylike here.
Try these supplements first andyou tell me if they're allowed
to use that verbiage on theirpage.
Right, right, thank you.
So I think that I think you knowso how to protect yourself does
(17:01):
the first?
You know, most important partof this is go through and audit
your metadata, and not just youknow.
We always refer to metadata aswhat's on the back end of Amazon
when you upload your book orwherever you've uploaded your
book to.
But I think, really doing acritical self-assessment of your
book descriptions, yoursubtitle, make sure that it's
(17:25):
not, don't, it's not worthpushing the envelope.
And again, if your bookdelivers on that, then it should
be in your description for sure.
But, um, you know, get richlike whatever.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Um, yes, Over-promising.
Don't say that you've got aNetflix deal in the works just
because you got one of thosespam emails Like that doesn't
count either.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Oh my gosh, can I just tell you how many.
I still get so many Netflixdeals.
The Amazon Author Formulaworkbook came out.
I got so many deals fromNetflix you can't even I should.
Should, seriously, I should bedoing this podcast from my home
in the South of France, um, so Ithink that you know, make sure
(18:15):
that you're not.
You know, never compare yourbook to other authors,
especially in the bookdescription, like if you liked
blah blah, you'll like this.
No, no, no, no Right.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Right, and I will say , penny too.
I think that you know, as we,as we came to know with when we
went to update your bio onAmazon, doing something new on
Amazon, I feel like you are theones that are the new stuff
definitely is more under themicroscope than the older stuff.
(18:50):
Yeah, so I would say, if you'relistening and you have yet to
release a book or you have abook coming out soon or anything
like that, definitely takethese extra careful.
I mean, yes, do all thisauditing, even if your book is
already out, like double checkwhat you can possibly control or
fix or might be wrong.
But if you have a book comingout out, like double check what
you can possibly control or fixor might be wrong.
But if you have a book comingout soon, definitely pay
(19:12):
attention to these, cause I feellike Amazon puts new, anything
new or any changes, much likeit's under the microscope, even
more so than things that arealready established on the site.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Right, exactly, exactly.
And then, um, so, cover design.
Amy, you want to take that?
I know I keep throwing thecover design to you.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Don't just jump on Canva and grab a template and
(19:52):
run with it as is, by insertingyour title, don't copy layout or
typography.
We talk about doing marketresearch a lot and we're huge
fans of doing market researchand on who is successful in your
category and what they're doingright.
But there is a line, you know,and like Penny's example of the
author that was like no, mybook's very much like Stephen
(20:13):
King.
This is very you know.
It's like that's crossing aline.
You know you're not going.
That is not the right way to goabout marketing and branding
your book to the right audience.
So we're big fans of hiring adesigner that has original
concepts that don't uselookalikes.
We're big fans of hiring adesigner that has original
concepts that don't uselookalikes.
Canva can be tempting.
So can pre-made covers, but insome of those pre-made covers
(20:35):
that I've seen, penny actuallycan be solid, but not all sites
offer the guarantee that they'reone-time use.
So I think that's reallyimportant.
So if you're going to a sitethat has covers available for
purchase that they'll customizefor you, make sure there is a
guarantee that these are aone-time use situation.
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
That's a really, really good point, but the other
thing that I think is worthmentioning is that we don't want
lookalike templates.
We want we also we want uniquebooks, but I do think that you
know a lot of and traditionalpublishers do this too is they
will follow the trending bookwave in terms of what their
(21:15):
cover looks like.
So we're not necessarily sayingthat you should not look like
your competitors, because thatnow feeds into the reader
psychology.
You know what I mean, like howreaders select books and things.
So you should look like youbelong on the shelf without
being a copycat, and I know, wejust made making a cover 10
(21:37):
times harder, but it's worthyour time if you can, you know
if you can, if you can get to,if you can find that real, that
sweet spot.
So clickbait phrases, ultimateguide, guaranteed results
approved by and usually theapproved by is followed by a
celebrity name.
So that can also be risky, thething that I think I mean.
(21:57):
At some point in my mind, Ithink Amazon is going to get
enough complaints that they'regoing to have to kind of pull
back on this sledgehammer way ofremoving books and they're
going to ask you for proof, solike when authors who have
bestseller claims on their booksor I've sold a million copies,
(22:18):
or whatever.
They will ask those authors.
Typically, that has been myexperience up to this point
anyway they will ask thoseauthors for proof.
Now maybe they're just yankingthem off the site, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, that's dangerous.
They do that for awards too.
I will say that's another bigone in the A plus content that
if you want to talk about anaward, it would have it has to
have been awarded within thelast calendar year.
Yes, they're not messing aroundLike you don't get to claim an
award that you got five yearsago for a different book and be
like I'm an award-winning author.
It's like you might be, butAmazon says there's no place for
(22:51):
that in your A-plus content forthis latest title.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Right, exactly.
So I think the other thing isis that you want to make sure
that you have proof, right.
So, whatever the claims are, ifyour book has been endorsed, if
the forward is written by Idon't know who, like Stephen
King, whatever, you better makesure that you have proof.
Do you want to take the nextone, amy, to get too close to?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
your own work to be like totally objective about
this.
So if in doubt, after you'vedone your audit and you're still
(23:36):
like, I don't know, I'm notsure, or after you pull away the
things that you think might putyou over the edge and you're
like, well, now my book soundsboring, give us a call, talk to
a marketer or an editor even,and have them help you review
your metadata to make sure thatit's really it hypes up your
book, but in really genuine,unique, interesting ways that
don't rely on some of thephrasing and things like that
(23:58):
that we've covered.
That can get you in trouble andthat's really hard to do
sometimes when it's your ownwork, you know you really do
know it too well in order totalk about it.
It's kind of like when you haveto talk about yourself.
For most people that's reallyuncomfortable and it's very
similar to do for your book.
Not that you're uncomfortabletalking about your book, but you
see it in a different light andthrough a different lens.
(24:19):
So it's worth chatting withsomebody that might be able to
give you a different perspectiveand say you know what I feel is
really great about your bookand things you should highlight
are X, y and Z, and those may bethings that you completely
never would have come up with onyour own, and it's going to
make your book stand out andkeep you out of trouble.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Right, exactly.
And the other thing, though,too, is I think you know it's
worth and this is not just aboutpromoting us and the fact that
you know you could hire us for aconsultation or whatever but
you really want to get.
So a lot of times, authors willrely too heavily on AI, and I
(24:58):
know, in particular, chat lovesto inflate everything, and Amy
and I have had this discussionbefore.
Like you can always tell, thereare two ways that you can
always tell that something isbeen put through chat GPT.
The one is all the friggingemojis that chat uses, like it's
just the weirdest thing in theworld, and then the fact that
chat always inflates and makesthings sound sometimes 10 times
(25:20):
bigger, better than maybe theyactually are.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Like it feels right.
It's trying to serve everyone.
Kool-aid.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, like you've really.
You know there's a lot.
That's why I said you know yougenerally I mean chat's super
helpful, brainstorming, all thethings but it's sometimes it's
really I mean, in the majorityof cases it's really hard to use
something from there verbatim,and I think that some authors
are, and that's where they'realso, you know, getting into
trouble.
So here's.
(25:48):
So, obviously, if this happens,it's terrible.
You're going to get in touchwith Amazon and I'll talk about
that in a minute but maintaincopies of all your book files
and metadata.
I cannot tell you how manytimes that Amy and I have
onboarded an author who's goingto be working with us and we
(26:10):
need a copy of their book fileand they can't find it, or they
don't have it, or it wasn'tactually given to them.
So if you work with a publisherany publisher, I don't care who
they are, they should, youshould, your book file should be
part of what they give you.
Okay, that's absolutely.
Save all your metadata, makesure that you have it.
And you know I'm going to tellyou something.
(26:31):
This even happens to me too,like when somebody cause we're
doing, um, obviously in-house,but we're doing a blog tour for
the workbook right now and um,the influencer who's on the team
, who's doing this tour.
She's like oh, I need a copy ofyour book file and you know, by
the time you publish a book,you have 18 different versions
of that.
I'm sorry, but everybody, youjust have so many different
versions of that file Amyprobably doesn't, because she's
(26:53):
much better at deleting stuffthan I am, and you know you're
scrambling.
You're like oh, where is it?
That's fine, as long as youhave a copy of your book file,
for sure.
So somebody on the Redditstream was like oh, you should
just go wide, and wide will saveyou.
And by going wide means, youknow, making sure that your book
is off of Amazon, and that'sfine.
(27:15):
But Amazon is the biggestseller, you know, of books.
I mean, they sell like 98% ofeBooks.
So that's not a solution,unfortunately.
That's not a solution,unfortunately, and I think that
you know having a flexible plan,making sure that you're doing
(27:38):
all the right things.
But this is another reason whyauthors need to build.
You have a website, have anemail list, make sure that you
know if something happens.
You're not gonna be able tocontact all of your readers, but
make sure that you're not justsitting there without anything
wondering what you're going todo now after you spent all this
amount of time, right?
No?
And the other thing that I willsay, too, is that, even though
(28:00):
you know yes, this author wastold that the Amazon bans are
final and all this other stuff Ijust always think that the
squeaky you know, squeaky wheel,so make sure that you have.
That's why you want to have allyour metadata Like cause.
You want to go back to Amazonand say where did I go wrong?
And now, obviously, if you'vecheated the system which you're
probably not listening to thispodcast anyway our listeners do
(28:23):
not cheat the Amazon system.
But if somebody is cheating theAmazon system, you know
Amazon's going to shoot you downand be like no, we're done here
.
But if you legitimately have aquestion or you legitimately did
get that celebrity endorsementthat you mentioned in your book
description, I would present itto Amazon.
(28:43):
It's not going to be easy, butI would present.
This is what I encourage thisauthor to do, who posted on
Reddit I'm like, don't, cause hehas so many books, like 30
books, I mean, good Lord, right,so go after Amazon.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Right, um, I agree, we tell our clients that all the
time and I can tell you ninetimes out of 10, they end up
getting something resolved.
But it for sure takes gettingthe right person, and so it's
like Groundhog Day, you know, oryou act like a toddler and you
just keep asking until you getthe answer you want.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's a great, that's a great
analogy.
Yeah, be the toddler.
That goes back to like why, why, why, and you know.
The thing about it is, though,and and I've had issues, like I
had to contact amazon with myrecent book launch over the, the
file that was uploaded, andsometimes amazon's system has
been glitchy, like sometimes thesystem is just glitchy and you
(29:41):
have to contact amazon, and it'sreally really weird, and just
be prepared to be patient andkeep kicking this up higher and
higher in the Amazon system.
And eventually, because we'vehad two major situations with
authors, both involving booksthat were either severely
(30:02):
miscategorized the author thatwe've worked with a few times
and she had this beautiful,sweet, lovely children's book
that was put in erotic romanceright Got that fixed, took a
while.
And then the other one was anauthor who actually had a book
pulled for different reasons andtook a while, but that got
(30:23):
fixed.
So sometimes it can take awhile.
I don't know if necessarily,unless you're legitimately
cheating the system, if theseare final, final right.
So I think Amazon will tell youthat just to shut people up.
I think Amazon does a lot ofthings that should shut people
up.
I'm just going to put that outthere.
Yeah, absolutely, you know.
So, anyway, don't let this.
So we don't want the show toscare you, it just doesn't
(30:45):
matter, it just is.
You know, it's just good to bea little self-aware when it
comes to what you're putting upon your Amazon retail page,
because Amazon is payingattention and not always in a
good way.
Like I said, the Amazonsledgehammer hits far and wide.
So thank you so much for tuningin.
It is such a pleasure.
We love this podcast.
(31:09):
I can't tell you I think wehave.
We have such a good time, umputting together show ideas and
stuff and we we love yourfeedback.
So send us an email.
Um, the email details are inthe show notes and Amy, so smart
, she found a really cool, easyway to leave a review on itunes
(31:30):
and she has also posted that inthe show notes.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
So we put some helpful tips in there for you,
because we know how frustratingthat is and we get the emails.
You know I really wanted toleave a review but I couldn't
figure it out.
It's like no shame at all, butI thought you know what?
Why don't we find some simpleinstructions?
It'll hopefully help somethingelse and have tried and maybe
gave up.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
So yeah, yeah, so it's a really so, anyway, we
love reviews wherever you listento podcasts, and we will see
you next time.
Bye-bye.
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips
and Author Success Podcast.
This is Penny Sansevierie andAmy Cornell and this show our
shows are always inspired bysomething either an author that
I talk to or somebody that Amyspoke to.
This show in particular, isinspired by Reddit.
So we love Reddit.
(00:21):
We're always on Reddit.
So one of the things that Ilove about Reddit is it's such
an interesting place to get toknow what authors are really
struggling with.
I mean, you and I kind of knowthat, obviously because we talk
to authors all the time, butReddit is sort of a next level
(00:44):
of seeing what people arestruggling with just kind of on
a daily or weekly basis.
I mean, would you agree?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Oh yeah, because I mean you have to consider, even
though we work with authors thatkind of cover the full spectrum
in terms of how long they'vebeen in the industry, the types
of topics or genres, all thekinds of things we still work
with authors that are at a placewhere they are exploring,
collaborating with a team, youknow Right.
(01:10):
So Reddit is a great place forus to go and get viewpoints from
a perspective of somebody thatisn't at that point yet or
that's already committed todoing everything on their own.
Yeah, you know, so kind ofapproach, some things from
different angles, and it's yeah,it's definitely very insightful
.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, it really is very insightful.
And this one in particular thatI found a couple of days ago
was an author who had beenworking on their books for four
years and lost everythingovernight.
And lost everything overnight,no warning, no second chances.
Um, and it really struck anerve with me because, as an
(01:53):
author myself, like this wouldbe my worst nightmare.
What I think is happening andyou know, a lot of people chimed
in on this during both, somepeople just in support, because
they were all equally horrified,but then other people chimed in
like, oh well, I know somebodythat this has happened to, and
blah, blah, and we're going tobreak down the story.
But I think what's happening isI think that Amazon is just
(02:16):
becoming a little overzealous intheir protecting their site
from content generated by AI.
And I think that you know andunfortunately Amazon does not do
anything with precision I meanlike they'll take a.
You know, they'll take asledgehammer to.
(02:36):
You know what I'm saying?
Like they're just.
And then you know, because itwas the same thing with the
review polling thing, where alot of authors like legitimately
had all these reviews, and thenAmazon was like nope, and then
overnight, all the reviews aregone.
They never.
It's never, you know.
Maybe on the rest of their sitelike I can't speak for every
single page on their website,but in the author's corner it's
(03:00):
always a sledgehammer, so theauthor had.
It's just unbelievable.
This author had 30 nonfictionbooks on Amazon for four years.
The the account was banned fora single book flagged for
misleading metadata.
(03:20):
Misleading metadata it wasn'teven like your cover's awful
dude or you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, like a flagrant violation.
It was just like oh, you'reskirting the line, so we're
going to stop this.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Right, exactly, the book did reference a popular
influencer in the subtitle okay,which I thought I thought that
was interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I really I can't honestly, penny, and I feel like
I've seen a lot.
I can't honestly say I've seenthat before.
So that stood out.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, yeah, that really stood out to me and I and
I as I read through the post.
The author said well, but youknow the the influencer was
credited and was not necessarilypart of the book.
So the influencer hadn't,hadn't written the book like
co-authored the book, but waslike the inspiration or
mentioned throughout the book orwhatever.
(04:10):
The author tried to appeal.
Amazon rejected the appeal andclosed the account.
Not only that, lost all hisroyalties.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, that's right, didn't they say they were like
there were the past two royaltychecks were just not going to
come through?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yes, and this author had said in this post that he
was making a relatively decentliving off of his books on
Amazon Right.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So, yeah, he said it was a significant, a reasonable,
yeah, like a notable portion ofhis income.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So he was doing pretty well, you know he was
doing pretty well and and one ofthe things.
So if you're listening to thisand you're, you've stopped
whatever you're doing and you'rejust as horrified as we were.
We are going to break down whythis happens.
This isn't just like noteverybody is going to be on this
.
You know, not everybody isgoing to get this email from
(05:09):
Amazon.
It just is a matter of I thinkthat that you know the tiny
little bit of misleadinginformation was something, as I
said, that the Amazonsledgehammer, just you know,
ended up ruining this guy'scareer essentially.
So part of the issue is, youknow, one of the things that one
(05:32):
of the comments in thisregistering said that you know
this is really hard, especiallywhen Amazon is your only stream,
income stream forself-published authors.
I mean, let's face it, amazonis the number one place to sell
books, to place your book.
Like people say, you know, Iwant to be on Kobo, I want to be
in all the things, and that'sfine, that's great, but Amazon
(05:52):
still sells the lion's share ofbooks.
There was no warning, so itwasn't like hey, hey, take that
off your subtitle.
And this wasn't even aboutpirated content or fake reviews.
It was just the presentation.
But, as I said, I think thatAmazon is cracking down on.
So what's happening with this AIstuff and we covered it, I
(06:13):
think, a couple of shows ago isthat people are actually taking
existing books so let's sayanything that's on the
best-selling list right now, andthey are.
They're uploading them toChatGPT I don't know, or
whatever AI system that they use, and they're asking Chat to
(06:33):
essentially rewrite it and insome cases, like so,
republishing the book withoutthe author's permission is
pirating, like.
So that's a different kind of athing and that's something that
authors have battled as long aswe've been in business.
But this is where theyliterally upload the book and
ask chat to rewrite it, and chatdoes that and probably does a
(06:56):
very poor job of it, because I'msorry, but we love much as we
love chat GPT.
You can't just throw somethinglike that and expect it to be
perfect.
Even on the shorter stuff thatwe do, there's a lot of editing,
but anyway, these books aregetting thrown up on Amazon and
they're essentially cheating thesystem.
So a couple of weeks ago, therewere a couple of books that were
(07:16):
actually on USA Today and theNew York Times bestseller list,
mistaken for the original booksand hitting the bestseller list
and selling books.
I mean, it's a problem, right,it's such a problem.
So, yeah, so Amazon is flagging.
(07:37):
So there's a few things thatAmazon is flagging.
So the first is you know themisleading metadata and it can
show up and, amy, I want you tospeak about that Cover and title
, right?
So do you want to take this one?
Because I know we both havestrong feelings about covers,
(07:57):
but you mentioned something inthe green room that I thought
was really made me laugh, but itwas also really so, so spot on.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yes, okay, so a cover that is too similar in design
to a popular book.
You know, basically we'vetalked about this plenty of
times Amazon wants to sell stuff, they want to sell lots, they
want to make a ton of money, sothey want to make it easy for
the customer, the shopper, tomake buying decisions and to
click, buy and check out.
(08:25):
And so confusion, unless Amazoncauses it themselves, is not
allowed.
So having a similar cover toespecially a popular book, I
think, will definitely put youin their sights a lot quicker.
But when we were talking aboutbefore the show, there are, I
mean, and for me it's obviouslyeasy to spot.
(08:47):
They just make me cringe.
But I bet a lot of y'alllistening have seen them too.
There are some cover designs outthere that are straight up like
template covers and so manyauthors, unfortunately, have
used them and they don't evenbother to change the font style
or you know what I mean.
And so they're quite literallyjust duplicates of the same
(09:07):
exact concept over and over andagain, but insert, you know your
title instead of you know soit's.
But I'm so glad that I mean outof all of this, I feel for this
author, I feel for anybodythat's getting banned.
I can't say I'm particularlyupset about the fact that
they're cracking down on authorshaving to show up with a proper
(09:28):
cover.
That is a unique concept thatwe've reached the point where
it's like, okay, we've beensaying it's not okay for so long
, penny, and sometimes it feelsa little justified when it's
like Amazon caught up and theysaid it's not okay now too.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Right, exactly, and it took Amazon.
I mean literally, it took.
It took AI overtaking the, theovertaking the book inventory
for Amazon to finally do this.
But the other thing is, though,too, is that and this is not
and, as you said, this is not anew thing I talked to an author
a couple of years ago who waslike I said oh, your cover, look
(10:05):
.
I don't know if I mentionedthis to you even I'm sure I did
but I was like oh, your coverlooks so familiar.
And it looked familiar becauseit was exact replica, similar
genre to Stephen King, and itwas an example of one of his
books.
And I'm like, oh, dude, youreally need to just pull back on
like, but my book is just likeStephen King.
I'm like, yeah, great, that'sawesome, but you cannot
(10:28):
literally have, you cannot copyhis cover.
And so that's where Amazon likeand I understand you know you
get desperate like I just wantto sell books, I want to be blah
, blah, like I get it, but nowAmazon's.
And part of the reason why thecover is so important is because
the majority of thesemisleading AI-generated books
are not taking the time toreally do the research right,
and we talked about that before.
(10:49):
So subtitle abuse.
So, as the case in this author,this poor guy who had all of
his books pulled, is still.
I'm going to keep followingthat string because I really, I
mean, I hope that Amazonreverses it, but I just don't
know.
Again, sledgehammer, I justdon't know that they ever will.
So y'all, I love subtitles, canwe just be clear Like I love me
(11:09):
some subtitles, but you cannotname drop public figure, names,
figure, names.
Like I remember one time andthis is very this is sort of
like very different the majorityof public figures will call you
out if Amazon doesn't right?
We had an author misuse Oprah'sname, right, because his book
(11:30):
was mentioned in a very tinylittle corner of one of her
magazines, and so he wasname-dropping Oprah, oprah, like
all over the place, and thatwas right.
And he got a letter from Harpoand all this other stuff.
Now, now, like this was 20 yearsago, so fast forward to you
know 2025, and we're allbattling.
(11:50):
You know, fake books Amazon isyour new Oprah.
They will not send you a letter, they will just say bye, bye,
and you're done so.
Um, they will not send you aletter, they will just say
bye-bye, and you're done so.
And also potentiallymanipulative and this is where
we did a show a couple of weeksago.
I know we're going to get moreinto that about how sometimes
(12:12):
manipulative apparently I can'ttalk today sometimes subtitles
can be right and I think thatnonfiction and self-help
obviously for genre fiction,your subtitles are not generally
going to be manipulative,unless you say soon to be a
Hallmark movie, and it's not.
(12:32):
Or it's a bestseller and it'snot.
You know what I mean.
And then impliedmisrepresentation.
Do you want to take that one?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yes.
So this is interesting too,because I've when okay, sorry
Now, I'm like when they have 8million things going on in your
brain at the same time and theyall need to come out somewhat
coherently, right, yeah, rightOkay.
Because I wanted to say I'vepersonally experienced this as
(13:05):
the A-plus content process wasevolving.
You know, after Amazon releasedthat for self-published authors
, they were really kind oftweaking the rules for a while
and what they were allowing,what they weren't.
It was really interesting.
Their terms of use for A-pluscontent definitely shifted as
they tried to figure out whatthey would allow and, probably
honestly, internally, how theywere able to vet it.
(13:27):
But so implied results,outcomes, endorsements that
aren't verified these are thingsthat are very much filtered
through with A-plus content.
So this is interesting that nowAmazon apparently is cracking
down and finding ways to pullthis out of other aspects of
your retail page.
(13:47):
So endorse, buy as seen on, getrich, like guarantees for sales
or making money.
I mean, we've talked about thison a recent show recently
because Amazon has been crackingdown on bestseller claims and
sales claims.
I sold this many copies.
(14:07):
Amazon is really not.
They're not allowing thatanymore and that's interesting.
Again, from knowing that thishas been something that they've
been filtering out for theA-plus content and now that
they're clearly filtering it outfor a lot of other aspects of
the retail page, I find it veryinteresting that they're
expanding this.
It doesn't surprise me, but itdoes make sense.
(14:32):
And it's worth sayingmisleading, as we're talking
about this, as I'm sure theoriginal poster that Penny saw
on Reddit, it doesn't mean badintentions, so misleading really
doesn't mean that you're anawful person that's trying to
trick everybody and game thesystem, but it's more along the
lines of could an averageshopper browsing and keep that
(14:55):
in mind too?
I think that's important, Penny.
These people are browsing,they're scanning, and that's
something that Amazon keeps inmind as well.
So if it's something that couldreasonably be misunderstood
based on how a typical shoppingexperience goes, they're going
to say this isn't happening.
You know they're going to callyou on.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right, exactly, and Amazon must have some kind of a
backend system.
So, like on my books, my Amazonauthor formula books, they say
you know, we'll teach you how toyou know, you will be able to
hear the things.
So so it's not that you can'tsay that you, you can't talk
about what the benefits of thebook are going to give the
(15:33):
reader, because I'm very surethat Amazon has some really
spiffy AI system that willliterally scan through the book
and know whether or not thatactually is true.
And I'm always very carefulabout not misrepresenting the
book.
There's nothing on my retailpages that talks about book
(15:54):
sales or like oh, you're justgoing to sell so many books.
It's going to be awesome,because I don't want to be
getting those First off.
I would never do that.
But secondly, I didn't sell ahundred thousand books, like
your book said I would you know.
And that's where we don't havetime for that kind of email.
We don't have time for thatkind of email.
Yeah, it's really, it's, it'sit's.
It's a very interesting thing,and can I just say could we just
(16:16):
take this wholemisrepresentation to every page
on Amazon, no matter what, andlet's just start with
supplements?
Sorry, oh, my gosh, now I'mgoing to be totally on my
soapbox.
Soapbox will burn fat in fourhours or something.
I mean Amazon, y'all likeyou're always cracking down on
authors, could be the same thingon all of your pages.
(16:37):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, down on authors could be the same thing on all
of your pages, because, yeah, Ifeel like books get the worst of
it for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Always, yeah, yeah, they always get the worst of it.
I, if Amazon wants a list, Iwill send them a list of things
that I think they need to reallylike here.
Try these supplements first andyou tell me if they're allowed
to use that verbiage on theirpage.
Right, right, thank you.
So I think that I think you knowso how to protect yourself does
(17:01):
the first?
You know, most important partof this is go through and audit
your metadata, and not just youknow.
We always refer to metadata aswhat's on the back end of Amazon
when you upload your book orwherever you've uploaded your
book to.
But I think, really doing acritical self-assessment of your
book descriptions, yoursubtitle, make sure that it's
(17:25):
not, don't, it's not worthpushing the envelope.
And again, if your bookdelivers on that, then it should
be in your description for sure.
But, um, you know, get richlike whatever.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Um, yes, Over-promising.
Don't say that you've got aNetflix deal in the works just
because you got one of thosespam emails Like that doesn't
count either.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Oh my gosh, can I just tell you how many.
I still get so many Netflixdeals.
The Amazon Author Formulaworkbook came out.
I got so many deals fromNetflix you can't even I should.
Should, seriously, I should bedoing this podcast from my home
in the South of France, um, so Ithink that you know, make sure
(18:15):
that you're not.
You know, never compare yourbook to other authors,
especially in the bookdescription, like if you liked
blah blah, you'll like this.
No, no, no, no Right.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Right, and I will say , penny too.
I think that you know, as we,as we came to know with when we
went to update your bio onAmazon, doing something new on
Amazon, I feel like you are theones that are the new stuff
definitely is more under themicroscope than the older stuff.
(18:50):
Yeah, so I would say, if you'relistening and you have yet to
release a book or you have abook coming out soon or anything
like that, definitely takethese extra careful.
I mean, yes, do all thisauditing, even if your book is
already out, like double checkwhat you can possibly control or
fix or might be wrong.
But if you have a book comingout out, like double check what
you can possibly control or fixor might be wrong.
But if you have a book comingout soon, definitely pay
(19:12):
attention to these, cause I feellike Amazon puts new, anything
new or any changes, much likeit's under the microscope, even
more so than things that arealready established on the site.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Right, exactly, exactly.
And then, um, so, cover design.
Amy, you want to take that?
I know I keep throwing thecover design to you.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Don't just jump on Canva and grab a template and
(19:52):
run with it as is, by insertingyour title, don't copy layout or
typography.
We talk about doing marketresearch a lot and we're huge
fans of doing market researchand on who is successful in your
category and what they're doingright.
But there is a line, you know,and like Penny's example of the
author that was like no, mybook's very much like Stephen
(20:13):
King.
This is very you know.
It's like that's crossing aline.
You know you're not going.
That is not the right way to goabout marketing and branding
your book to the right audience.
So we're big fans of hiring adesigner that has original
concepts that don't uselookalikes.
We're big fans of hiring adesigner that has original
concepts that don't uselookalikes.
Canva can be tempting.
So can pre-made covers, but insome of those pre-made covers
(20:35):
that I've seen, penny actuallycan be solid, but not all sites
offer the guarantee that they'reone-time use.
So I think that's reallyimportant.
So if you're going to a sitethat has covers available for
purchase that they'll customizefor you, make sure there is a
guarantee that these are aone-time use situation.
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
That's a really, really good point, but the other
thing that I think is worthmentioning is that we don't want
lookalike templates.
We want we also we want uniquebooks, but I do think that you
know a lot of and traditionalpublishers do this too is they
will follow the trending bookwave in terms of what their
(21:15):
cover looks like.
So we're not necessarily sayingthat you should not look like
your competitors, because thatnow feeds into the reader
psychology.
You know what I mean, like howreaders select books and things.
So you should look like youbelong on the shelf without
being a copycat, and I know, wejust made making a cover 10
(21:37):
times harder, but it's worthyour time if you can, you know
if you can, if you can get to,if you can find that real, that
sweet spot.
So clickbait phrases, ultimateguide, guaranteed results
approved by and usually theapproved by is followed by a
celebrity name.
So that can also be risky, thething that I think I mean.
(21:57):
At some point in my mind, Ithink Amazon is going to get
enough complaints that they'regoing to have to kind of pull
back on this sledgehammer way ofremoving books and they're
going to ask you for proof, solike when authors who have
bestseller claims on their booksor I've sold a million copies,
(22:18):
or whatever.
They will ask those authors.
Typically, that has been myexperience up to this point
anyway they will ask thoseauthors for proof.
Now maybe they're just yankingthem off the site, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, that's dangerous.
They do that for awards too.
I will say that's another bigone in the A plus content that
if you want to talk about anaward, it would have it has to
have been awarded within thelast calendar year.
Yes, they're not messing aroundLike you don't get to claim an
award that you got five yearsago for a different book and be
like I'm an award-winning author.
It's like you might be, butAmazon says there's no place for
(22:51):
that in your A-plus content forthis latest title.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Right, exactly.
So I think the other thing isis that you want to make sure
that you have proof, right.
So, whatever the claims are, ifyour book has been endorsed, if
the forward is written by Idon't know who, like Stephen
King, whatever, you better makesure that you have proof.
Do you want to take the nextone, amy, to get too close to?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
your own work to be like totally objective about
this.
So if in doubt, after you'vedone your audit and you're still
(23:36):
like, I don't know, I'm notsure, or after you pull away the
things that you think might putyou over the edge and you're
like, well, now my book soundsboring, give us a call, talk to
a marketer or an editor even,and have them help you review
your metadata to make sure thatit's really it hypes up your
book, but in really genuine,unique, interesting ways that
don't rely on some of thephrasing and things like that
(23:58):
that we've covered.
That can get you in trouble andthat's really hard to do
sometimes when it's your ownwork, you know you really do
know it too well in order totalk about it.
It's kind of like when you haveto talk about yourself.
For most people that's reallyuncomfortable and it's very
similar to do for your book.
Not that you're uncomfortabletalking about your book, but you
see it in a different light andthrough a different lens.
(24:19):
So it's worth chatting withsomebody that might be able to
give you a different perspectiveand say you know what I feel is
really great about your bookand things you should highlight
are X, y and Z, and those may bethings that you completely
never would have come up with onyour own, and it's going to
make your book stand out andkeep you out of trouble.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Right, exactly.
And the other thing, though,too, is I think you know it's
worth and this is not just aboutpromoting us and the fact that
you know you could hire us for aconsultation or whatever but
you really want to get.
So a lot of times, authors willrely too heavily on AI, and I
(24:58):
know, in particular, chat lovesto inflate everything, and Amy
and I have had this discussionbefore.
Like you can always tell, thereare two ways that you can
always tell that something isbeen put through chat GPT.
The one is all the friggingemojis that chat uses, like it's
just the weirdest thing in theworld, and then the fact that
chat always inflates and makesthings sound sometimes 10 times
(25:20):
bigger, better than maybe theyactually are.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Like it feels right.
It's trying to serve everyone.
Kool-aid.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, like you've really.
You know there's a lot.
That's why I said you know yougenerally I mean chat's super
helpful, brainstorming, all thethings but it's sometimes it's
really I mean, in the majorityof cases it's really hard to use
something from there verbatim,and I think that some authors
are, and that's where they'realso, you know, getting into
trouble.
So here's.
(25:48):
So, obviously, if this happens,it's terrible.
You're going to get in touchwith Amazon and I'll talk about
that in a minute but maintaincopies of all your book files
and metadata.
I cannot tell you how manytimes that Amy and I have
onboarded an author who's goingto be working with us and we
(26:10):
need a copy of their book fileand they can't find it, or they
don't have it, or it wasn'tactually given to them.
So if you work with a publisherany publisher, I don't care who
they are, they should, youshould, your book file should be
part of what they give you.
Okay, that's absolutely.
Save all your metadata, makesure that you have it.
And you know I'm going to tellyou something.
(26:31):
This even happens to me too,like when somebody cause we're
doing, um, obviously in-house,but we're doing a blog tour for
the workbook right now and um,the influencer who's on the team
, who's doing this tour.
She's like oh, I need a copy ofyour book file and you know, by
the time you publish a book,you have 18 different versions
of that.
I'm sorry, but everybody, youjust have so many different
versions of that file Amyprobably doesn't, because she's
(26:53):
much better at deleting stuffthan I am, and you know you're
scrambling.
You're like oh, where is it?
That's fine, as long as youhave a copy of your book file,
for sure.
So somebody on the Redditstream was like oh, you should
just go wide, and wide will saveyou.
And by going wide means, youknow, making sure that your book
is off of Amazon, and that'sfine.
(27:15):
But Amazon is the biggestseller, you know, of books.
I mean, they sell like 98% ofeBooks.
So that's not a solution,unfortunately.
That's not a solution,unfortunately, and I think that
you know having a flexible plan,making sure that you're doing
(27:38):
all the right things.
But this is another reason whyauthors need to build.
You have a website, have anemail list, make sure that you
know if something happens.
You're not gonna be able tocontact all of your readers, but
make sure that you're not justsitting there without anything
wondering what you're going todo now after you spent all this
amount of time, right?
No?
And the other thing that I willsay, too, is that, even though
(28:00):
you know yes, this author wastold that the Amazon bans are
final and all this other stuff Ijust always think that the
squeaky you know, squeaky wheel,so make sure that you have.
That's why you want to have allyour metadata Like cause.
You want to go back to Amazonand say where did I go wrong?
And now, obviously, if you'vecheated the system which you're
probably not listening to thispodcast anyway our listeners do
(28:23):
not cheat the Amazon system.
But if somebody is cheating theAmazon system, you know
Amazon's going to shoot you downand be like no, we're done here
.
But if you legitimately have aquestion or you legitimately did
get that celebrity endorsementthat you mentioned in your book
description, I would present itto Amazon.
(28:43):
It's not going to be easy, butI would present.
This is what I encourage thisauthor to do, who posted on
Reddit I'm like, don't, cause hehas so many books, like 30
books, I mean, good Lord, right,so go after Amazon.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Right, um, I agree, we tell our clients that all the
time and I can tell you ninetimes out of 10, they end up
getting something resolved.
But it for sure takes gettingthe right person, and so it's
like Groundhog Day, you know, oryou act like a toddler and you
just keep asking until you getthe answer you want.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's a great, that's a great
analogy.
Yeah, be the toddler.
That goes back to like why, why, why, and you know.
The thing about it is, though,and and I've had issues, like I
had to contact amazon with myrecent book launch over the, the
file that was uploaded, andsometimes amazon's system has
been glitchy, like sometimes thesystem is just glitchy and you
(29:41):
have to contact amazon, and it'sreally really weird, and just
be prepared to be patient andkeep kicking this up higher and
higher in the Amazon system.
And eventually, because we'vehad two major situations with
authors, both involving booksthat were either severely
(30:02):
miscategorized the author thatwe've worked with a few times
and she had this beautiful,sweet, lovely children's book
that was put in erotic romanceright Got that fixed, took a
while.
And then the other one was anauthor who actually had a book
pulled for different reasons andtook a while, but that got
(30:23):
fixed.
So sometimes it can take awhile.
I don't know if necessarily,unless you're legitimately
cheating the system, if theseare final, final right.
So I think Amazon will tell youthat just to shut people up.
I think Amazon does a lot ofthings that should shut people
up.
I'm just going to put that outthere.
Yeah, absolutely, you know.
So, anyway, don't let this.
So we don't want the show toscare you, it just doesn't
(30:45):
matter, it just is.
You know, it's just good to bea little self-aware when it
comes to what you're putting upon your Amazon retail page,
because Amazon is payingattention and not always in a
good way.
Like I said, the Amazonsledgehammer hits far and wide.
So thank you so much for tuningin.
It is such a pleasure.
We love this podcast.
(31:09):
I can't tell you I think wehave.
We have such a good time, umputting together show ideas and
stuff and we we love yourfeedback.
So send us an email.
Um, the email details are inthe show notes and Amy, so smart
, she found a really cool, easyway to leave a review on itunes
(31:30):
and she has also posted that inthe show notes.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
So we put some helpful tips in there for you,
because we know how frustratingthat is and we get the emails.
You know I really wanted toleave a review but I couldn't
figure it out.
It's like no shame at all, butI thought you know what?
Why don't we find some simpleinstructions?
It'll hopefully help somethingelse and have tried and maybe
gave up.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
So yeah, yeah, so it's a really so, anyway, we
love reviews wherever you listento podcasts, and we will see
you next time.
Bye-bye.
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