Oh-Oh … Avoid the Amazon Warning and Possible Slap Down for a Crappy Book
Amazon has been the self and indie publisher’s best friend. If you’ve got a book, Amazon will be a primary portal to sell it. Amazon also sells 70 percent of eBooks. Because of the ease of getting on Amazon, there are plenty of crappy books available. In January of 2016, Amazon announced that it will slap Warning labels on poorly edited books that include spelling typos effective in February of 2016 and are identified under Kindle Quality Reports. Books that have formatting errors will be noted as well. Not knowing this can easily cripple your eBook.
There are two phases of the warning system. If your eBook contains a few spelling errors, a simple warning message will appear on the details page your title. It says: book buyer beware-there’s some issues with the book. If there are bad formatting issues, Amazon and reviews it as unreadable Amazon, your eBook will be suspended for purchase until it’s fixed.
You don’t want this warning label on your page, a warning that suspends your eBook from any sales via Amazon:
This has been generated from the massive complaints from buyers who buy and regret it. Many eBook sales come from impulse buys fueled by the low price point of most eBooks.
Some of those warning are generated from the sci-fi and fantasy arena that contain odd names and spellings—in some cases like a new language. To counter the robots from the get-go, get back to your book and add a lexicon at the beginning that provides the “new vocabulary” … this should ensure that your eBook is not thrown under the bus because of misspellings. If you do get tagged and Amazon notifies you, all you need to do is point to the opening pages where the new words and vocabulary and disclosed.
If yours has the British spelling of words, i.e., color/colour – favor/favour – honor/honour, just be consistent throughout—don’t mix them up with the American English spelling.
You will have ample warning. Amazon has notified many authors over the past two years of page issues and allowed sufficient time to get the fix in. It looks something like this:
In the past, Amazon has privately contacted authors/publishers of errors. No more, it now goes public. You don’t want the slap down.
Tip: What should you do now? Read your eBook. Note any typos and formatting errors. Fix them by uploading a new copy. Normally, it takes two full days for Amazon to verify that your copy is clean. If you do receive a Kindle Quality Report warning; fix whatever is noted and reload the new version. Amazon will then notify all previous buyers of the eBook that it’s been updated and the warning label comes off.
Source: from How to Avoid 101 Book Publishing Blunders, Bloopers and Boo-Boos by Judith Briles. Available in May 2016. Order your copy today on Amazon.
Judith Briles is a book publishing expert and coach. She empowers authors and is the Founder of Author U, a membership organization created for the serious author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing 
about and conducting workshops on publishing since the 80s. Judith is the author of 34 books including Author YOU: Creating and Building Your Author and Book Platforms (ForeWord IndieFab Book of the Year), Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers and a speaker at publishing conferences. Book #34 was published this summer: The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors & Writers. Get your copy.
Become part of her inner circle by joining the Author’s Ark and exclusive monthly webinar and coaching event. Each summer, she holds Judith Briles Book Publishing Unplugged, a three day intensive limited to a small group of authors who want to be seriously successful. In 2015, the dates are August 27-29th. Her audio and workbook series, Creating Your Book and Author Platform is now available. Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for Author U – Your Guide to Book Publishing on the Toginet Network at bit.ly/PublishingShow .
Follow @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” at AuthorU and Judith Briles – TheBookShepherd on Facebook. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact Judith at Judith@Briles.com.
Author U is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the author who wants to be seriously successful. Monthly education programs delivered face-to-face and online, The Author Resource ezine, BookCamps and the annual Author U Extravaganza are tools designed for authors pre, during and post publishing of their books. Join AuthorU.org today.
If you are looking for FREE author and book coaching … call in to Judith’s Author Monday Mornings at NOON Eastern each Monday. The number is 218-632-9854; Access Code 1239874444 … have your questions ready–there’s a full hour to ask and listen
Was this helpful? Get more FREE tips and insight:
