Why You Should Steer Clear of #Erotica label if You Want to Sell Your #Kindle
To be clear, my book is not erotica. It is a Comedic Romance with a few sexy scenes, most of which are funnier than they are hot, as we hear all the wacky thoughts that go through the main character's head, while she's supposed to be focusing on having sex. I'm sure all you women out there know what I'm talking about. (Don't worry men, it's not like that every time, just when we're feeling distracted or anxious.)
Anyway, when we left our story, I had just completed a failed Kindle Countdown Deal, where I sold severly less books than I should have, because Amazon decided to block me from their "Deal" pages.
Here is the reasoning they ultimately gave me:
I'm following-up with you regarding your Kindle Countdown Deals category inquiry.
Our category team confirmed that the book, "How Long You Should Wait to Have Sex," has erotic content and is therefore not included under the Kindle Countdown Deals categories.
Please know, we reserve the right to make judgments about whether or not content is appropriate; this can include the cover image or the content within the book. We have found your Kindle book contains mature content.
I'm sorry if this causes an inconvenience.
Also, the Kindle Store on Amazon.de works a bit differently and mature titles do appear in the general product search results.
Thanks for understanding. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.
Interesting factoid about Germany, right?... Anyway, I'm not going to go into it in great detail here, but this has been an ongoing problem ever since I first published my book. They blocked me from all searches (including the exact name of the book and author), and I went to great lengths to clear it up with them, through the use of comparable screenshots of other racier non-blocked books and covers, as well as explanations of what the book is really about (despite the fact that it's described clear as day on the product page on their own website), which is the story of a girl who goes back in time to wait longer to have sex-- i.e. she has less sex, and gets to know the guy better, each time she gets a do-over. The period of my during which I was trying to make them see what was, included many weeks of extreme stress, utter exhaustion, and endless tears.
So here's the part where I flip my lid:
"I do not accept this response.
I have already gone through extensive conversations with all the departments at Kindle regarding what consists of erotic content, and everyone at Kindle has agreed that my book is not erotic, and should not be blocked. I was told that all blocks had been removed from my book back in June or July (2013). Let's make sure that's still the case.
I AM TIRED OF HAVING THIS CONVERSATION OVER AND OVER AGAIN, WHEN IT HAS ALREADY BEEN RESOLVED, AND EVERYONE AT AMAZON HAS AGREED THAT MY BOOK SHOULD NOT BE BLOCKED.
Because this issue has already been resolved, I feel that you are coming up with fake excuses to avoid taking responsibility for a mistake that your system has made.
If I can not be listed in the Kindle Countdown Deals section, when I am doing a promotion, then I have no incentive to participate in the "SELECT" program, as I am getting no advantage for making my book exclusive to Amazon.
This has caused much more than an inconvenience to me. This has cost me money and hours and hours of time. I am trying to run a business selling my books, and to build a good reputation as an author, and if Amazon is not willing to be a platform on which I can do that, I will have to pursue other avenues and publishers.
Amazon.de is irrelevant to me, as my book is not in German, and it is not possible to do Kindle Countdown Deals in Germany at this point. My market is the US (primarily), and there are plenty of people in the US, who would and have enjoyed my book, and who do not find it offensive in any way. In fact, many of my reviews call it, "Sweet," or "Fun," "Quirky," and "Heartwarming."
I implore you to escalate this issue, and look into it further. Whatever blocks are still in the computer system regarding my book, should be removed. These blocks have been discussed at length over 6 months ago, and they were all supposed to be resolved back then.
This is a mistake in the system. Please fix it.
I thank you for your serious investigation into this matter.
But I wasn't done yet. At the bottom of the email I received from Sid at KDP, it asked me if my problem was resolved or not, "yes" or "no." So of course I clicked "no," which led me to a feedback page, which I filled out as such:
I have written back to the service representative who was handling my matter with a detailed explanation of why his response was unacceptable, and felt like an excuse not to deal with or take responsibility for the problem I reported, which was obviously due to some problems in the system, that were supposed to have been resolved 6 months ago.
In general, I find KDP almost impossible to deal with, and I'm starting to question whether it's worth it to do business this way. There needs to be phone support. Preferably in America. The people at Author Central, for example, are delightful and helpful, but they are not trained in KDP matters. They should be.
We authors are trying to make this our business, and we are not getting appropriate help when we have time sensitive issues. I find myself dealing with the same issues over and over again, and I'm explaining the same things over and over again to people who either don't understand, or don't care. It seems like many of the people in the help centers for KDP have no interest in creating a good user experience or helping. I often feel like my emails are going to a variety of different people, and depending on where they land, I will get average help or completely blown off. They are incredibly skilled at apologizing for my inconvenience, and find excuses as to why I am wrong and Amazon is right, but they don't seem incentivized to actually solve my problems.
I am in touch with several dozen other authors who also experience struggles with getting decent help through this system.
Thank you for the opportunity to express how difficult dealing with KDP has been.
I don't know where this feedback landed, but it seems to have gotten results:
Thanks for your message and feedback regarding your experience publishing the following book:
How Long You Should Wait to Have Sex: a Novel
While they’re unable to respond to you personally, my managers have been made aware of this situation.
We have re-reviewed your book and have decided to remove the search restrictions so your book will now be found in our general product search results. This may take up to 24 hours to process.
Further, your book(s) is currently live and can be purchased. Check out the detail page to verify its status:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CCH4VIQ
We appreciate your feedback as we improve our programs and services, and apologize for any inconvenience caused by this temporary restriction.
Your feedback is helping us build Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company.
I will not know for sure if they have fixed the problem until I do another Kindle Countdown Deal, which requires me to sign up for another 3 months of exclusivity, and wait at least 30 days before I'm eligible to try it again (after which I'm still exclusive for 2 more months). If it doesn't work next time, I may have to give up on KDP Select for good.
I hate to complain, especially in a public forum, but I feel like somebody has to say something, or Amazon KDP will never recognize that their authors deserve better support. Every one of us has written and completed at least one full book, which is a major accomplishment. Every one of us has found some way to get a cover designed, and format the book to fit their technical specs. Every one of us has set a goal and followed it through to completion. That should be proof that we are professionals, who expect and deserve to be treated professionally. We need phone support, and it should be in the US, with people who have been trained to give a shit. If we can't get that, the Amazon KDP brand will continue to plummet in the eyes of authors who started out excited about the opportunity to move into the modern era of publishing, only to end up calling their literary agents in New York, about publishing their future books traditionally-- read: the old fashioned way (which is what I did, during this saga). I also hope this writing inspires some of Amazon's competitors to get their act together, and think a little more creatively about how they can turn digital publishing into a real marketplace that isn't essentially dominated by one all-powerful force.
