Amazon have closed my account. You will therefore not be able to access any of my titles on either Amazon or Kindle Unlimited. I’m feeling confused and pretty shaken up right now, but I have been keeping a timeline of events for evidence, so if you’re interested, I’ve copied it below. It basically boils down to me trying to upload a new story onto Amazon with a title they didn’t like. I will obviously try to fight this, although many authors before me have experienced similar issues with Amazon and have ultimately been unsuccessful in their fight. Fingers crossed x

Timeline of events:

29/12 – I try to publish a short story book with the title “Crime and Punishment: Erotic short story: Running into an old school friend never felt so good…or forbidden”.  Book is not published and set to status “blocked” on KDP without explanation or discussion.

30/12 – I email (politely) to ask why it is blocked, as there are ample books from multiple authors on Amazon (at least 2 of them from erotica authors) with the same title of “Crime and Punishment” which I assume the issue relates to.

31/12 – Billy from KDP emails me back to say they “uphold their decision”, but doesn’t provide any details to help me fix the problem.

31/12 – I email back (politely) to ask if KDP can please specify which book on Amazon my publication is being flagged about, because there are loads of books of Amazon with the same titles.  Then I can alter the title of my book accordingly to adhere to KDP’s rules.

31/12 – I receive an email from Jasa at KDP requesting 5 business days to review everything, and being thanked for my patience.

31/12 – I look at my KDP Dashboard to discover the message “Your account has been closed and access removed”

31/12 – I receive an email from KDP to state that they are terminating my account, effective immediately, and that I’m not eligible to receive any outstanding royalties (i.e. my income of the past 2 months, because Amazon pay author’s up to 90 days after a book sale/page read)

31/12 – I email (again politely), apologising for whatever it is I’ve done (which they still haven’t really explained) with examples of other authors who have published the same titles on Amazon and offering to retract my short story from sale instead, or change the title to something KDP deems suitable. I copy this to jeff@amazon.com, as many authors have suggested when this has happened to them.

31/12 – KDP respond stating I copied my email to an unknown account and in order to protect my privacy, they will only respond to the email address which on file for my account (which no longer exists). I will receive a response within one business day.

31/12 – I reply (still politely, incredibly), to explain I copied the email to Jeff@Amazon, in the hope of flagging Amazon Executives attention.

31/12 – I should be celebrating the approaching new year and also the fact I’ve just had the best month of sales ever with Amazon.  Instead, I sit quietly, unable to fully relax or sleep, and see out the worst new year’s eve on record, vowing that if I ever manage to get my account reinstated, I will no longer write exclusively for Amazon, as I have done for the past 5 years, if this is how they treat people. As much as you will yourself to keep calm and justify in your own mind that this massive over-reaction by KDP must be a mistake you can logically and calmly resolve, you can’t help the physiological changes that take place in your body (heart-rate fluctuations, nausea, inability to focus, concentrate or sleep, fear at the loss of income, anger at the unjustness of their treatment). It’s not just about the loss of income I’ve been striving to earn (and have spent money in order to maximise) but also about the impact on future income, plus all the plans I have in place (for future book releases, pre-sales, advertising plans, etc). Without access to KDP, EVERYTHING changes, at least for me. I ponder how this has parallels to being in a toxic relationship, where a partner can completely over-react to the smallest mistake you make without explanation, leaving you feeling isolated, fearful, afraid to question and very confused.

01/01 – I check Amazon first thing because I’m obviously not asleep, and all of my books (50 unique titles across 3 pen names) have now disappeared completely, rather than just saying “unavailable” as they did last night.  It’s like the past 5 years of output never existed.  I cancel my Kindle Unlimited membership because I’m starting to feel angry. I hate the thought of giving Amazon any further income when they have confiscated my own, and while I wait for a response, it feels like the only positive action I can take.  I’m starting to get contacted directly by readers now, asking why they can’t pick up any of my titles on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited and kindly asking what they can do to help.  I haven’t responded yet because I don’t know what to say.

01/01 – A lot more readers are starting to get in touch now – love you guys. Comments range from “WTF, this can be fixed right?!” and “F’ing Bullshit”, through to “This is bloody shocking”, “That is really shitty – a really nasty way to start a new year” and “You are not alone”, which means so much thank you.

01/01 – A bog-standard response from Amazon again, now asking for 5 working days (having said they’d get back to me within 1 working day), because they need some “additional time to review everything”. Seriously, how much is there to review?! Once again they thank me for my patience (which is now pretty limited). I reply saying I’d be grateful if they could sort this faster than a week. I haven’t slept for 36 hours with worry and I’m running on empty – not sleeping properly for another 5 days will have a detrimental impact on my health and I have a young child to care for.
It probably sounds stupid being this worried, but we are talking about my only income source here. I have effectively worked for the past 2 months (November and December), anticipating to be paid for that work (which includes spending time and money on advertising to drive people to my books on Amazon), only to be told I’m not going to be paid for that work. Instead, Amazon will retain 100% of the profits that my books sales made since 1st November – they won’t be refunding you guys who purchased my book either – and during that time, I’ve released 5 new titles. No wonder Amazon’s profits are so huge because this is not a unique situation – I could provide you with a long list of authors this has happened to.

01/01 – The final word from Amazon. All communication lines have now been closed to me, and the KDP team can only be contacted on the phone via an active KDP account (which I obviously don’t have).

02/01 – I unexpectedly stumbled across an option to submit an appeal to Amazon about my account closure, which I’ve submitted today. So far, I fear all of my interaction with Amazon might have been via bots, so I really have my fingers crossed that my appeal might be read by a real person.

02/01 – I’m honestly overwhelmed by all the support I’ve been getting about this – of course there have been a few notable exceptions, as there always are in life, but overall, your support has buoyed me through this tricky time. Thank you. The more I speak about this experience, the more authors are contacting me, letting me know exactly the same thing happened to them. This is not an unusual event and although many have fought to get their accounts reinstated, many have not. Amazon put up barriers to prevent their authors making contact, once accounts have been closed. The online interface we have access to is how contact is made to request help – that includes phone calls (which Amazon control by you requesting a call and them calling you). Once access to your account has been removed, your ability to query, challenge or even interact with Amazon is taken away. With a “normal” organisation, one might expect to be able to speak to a real person, or challenge decisions, but Amazon have structured themselves in such a way to make this almost impossible. And as per the email I received yesterday, they are now ghosting any emails I send them.

03/01 – Having been twittering pretty regularly and copying in @KDPAmazon, they have finally responded. Despite pointing them towards this timeline of events, which explains my account has been closed (so I can’t contact them by phone), and my emails are now being ghosted by Amazon KDP, as per their final email instruction to me that their decision was final and they would no longer engage (so I can’t contact them by email), @KDPAmazon’s advice has been:
“We recommend replying directly to this email [the one’s received by amazon about account closure] to resolve any problems.” And to “Please contact the content review team”. And that “Email continues to be the best mean to appeal the closure of your account and follow up on the status of your case.”

Alternatively, this publication from B&N might be more helpful!
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/amazon-kdp-account-closure-lexi-warrior/1143063244?ean=2940186748700