Monday, 11 March 2013

Another Amazon BEWARE post.

I'm offline today, but just wanted to quickly let you all know to be very careful about posting examples of the content of your books online. I got an email from KDP today after uploading an updated file for one of my books saying:
During a review of your KDP submission(s), we found content that is widely available on the web. You can do an online search for the content inside your book(s) to discover which sites are offering the content for free. Copyright is important to us – we want to make sure that no author or other copyright holder has their work claimed and sold by anyone else.
To confirm you have publishing rights to and control where you distribute the book(s), please provide all of the following information:
1. The URLs for all websites where this content is published
2. An explanation as to why the content is available online
If the books are in the public domain, please confirm this and include the information you used to make this determination. We may request additional information to confirm the public domain status.
Please respond within 5 days to title-submission@amazon.com, and include the title and ID of your books in your reply. If we do not receive the requested documentation, your book will not be made available for sale.

I emailed them with some links that I KNOW of, but if anyone has posted content from my book in a review, for example, I'm not going to know about it. I'm sorta shitting bricks right now. I can't afford for them to take my BESTSELLING book off the market.

So today I will be FRETTING. A LOT.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that it all works out!!!
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17 comments:

  1. Hilary Melton-Butcher11 March 2013 at 13:25

    Hi Jess .. it's like having Big Brother watching over you ... I do hope all is well - surely proving you're the author should be enough ... but your and your readers' knowledge is much more informed ... I shall be back to read others' comments ..

    With thoughts .. many of them - Hilary

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  2. S.A. Larsenッ11 March 2013 at 13:36

    I understand their need for caution, but there must be a more effective way to prove your work is your own. I also have to wonder what content flags a message like this. Hmmm...

    Good luck with this Jess. Keep us informed. (Oh, maybe if you Google some of those review links would show up. *shrugs*)

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  3. Laura Pauling11 March 2013 at 13:57

    That is interesting. It must the examples people have up on their blogs if it's your show and Tell book. Hopefully what you've sent them is enough!

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  4. L. Diane Wolfe11 March 2013 at 14:00

    That's one of the reasons I tell writers and authors not to post excerpts online. But you can't control reviewers who might quote it. Hope you found most of the links.

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  5. Stina11 March 2013 at 14:31

    I know a number of people who've had this letter. I think it's randomly sent out, and you were the unfortunately recipient of it this time, Jessica.

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  6. Alex J. Cavanaugh11 March 2013 at 16:41

    That's scary! Hope you can set them straight.

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  7. LTM11 March 2013 at 17:57

    How bizarre! I didn't even know they did this or cared--thanks for the heads up! I guess it's different samples from the craft book? Ugh. ((hugs)) Here's to getting it straightened out! <3 <3 <3

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  8. Jessica Bell11 March 2013 at 22:20

    Just got an email. All is fine! *PHEW*

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    Replies
    1. Unknown13 March 2013 at 01:57

      Oh good, glad to know everything worked out!

      Delete
  9. Unknown11 March 2013 at 23:40

    That is scary. I hope you can get it sorted out and they don't pull it down.

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  10. Trisha12 March 2013 at 03:01

    Glad to hear all is fine, but wow, this is something I never would have thought of.

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  11. D.G. Hudson12 March 2013 at 04:59

    I'm sorry to hear about the Amazon trouble. Why do they seem to be overbearing to some authors? I try never to include any quotes from the author's work in a book review. Too dangerous with the online theft of content that occurs. Sheesh. Could that happen in interviews as well, if the interviewer quotes from your book?

    Thanks so much for alerting fellow writers about this, and good luck with getting everything corrected.

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    Replies
    1. D.G. Hudson12 March 2013 at 05:02

      Oops, missed the comment about everything being okay. That's a relief.

      Delete
  12. Hilary Melton-Butcher12 March 2013 at 13:22

    Hi Jess .. thank goodness for that - relax and keep writing now! All the best Hilary

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  13. Sarah Ahiers12 March 2013 at 17:20

    WTF. But i'm glad to hear that everything is fine now!

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  14. Mina Lobo13 March 2013 at 00:29

    That's surreal! I'm glad it worked out for you, but it doesn't sound like they made it easy...did they at least point out any of the text they found online?

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  15. Unknown29 March 2013 at 12:54

    I got this exact email a little while back. After some online searching I found my book available on some book pirating torrent sites. NOT the greatest feeling!

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