Yep, it's me. "giggles"

I used to be Flights of Fantasy, but then I changed my name when I was going to be a full time short story writer. Now I on a "survival niche" kick.

But the story you helped me with has done really well. So far I've made $25.18. Which is more than I've made on the other 9 books since 2013. hahaha So thank you very muchly, couldn't have even done this well without you!

*She laughs instead of cries* Though it's not like I'm writing novels and spending thousands of dollars on editing and cover art. If I was doing those things and still doing this badly I'd have a right to cry, but since I do all my books for free, and they're short and quick to write, and obviously not very good, I don't really have a right to complain.

No reviews, as far as I know. I don't usually check since I never get any, and the books I have had reviews on, the reviews haven't made any difference.

*except for the one where I got a 1 star for being good, but too short, and then never seeing a single sale or borrow after, but I don't know if the two things are related or not. Could have just been timing. *

I'm so glad it worked out and you got a few sales off it. You should check Goodreads. That genre gets more attention there than Amazon I think. To be honest, you were really on the right track. You should try for another of these, I'll gladly help you knock it into shape once you've got the bones down!

 

I didn't see this back in June when it was posted but did a little research looking for others who have had similar problems. It seems there are lots of authors who are getting this stock letter and suddenly finding their Amazon income has dried up completely. Yet they all profess they did nothing wrong. Being of a devious nature I took a look at how this might work.
1. An unscrupulous person (who doesn't deserve the title 'author') produces several long books mostly filled with pages plagiarised from all over the place. They register these in KU.
2. They create multiple KU reader accounts using 'borrowed' credit card data, all of which are free for the first month.
3. Using the fake KU reader accounts they 'read' multiple copies of the bogus books. Probably in the past they just skipped to the last page - KU apparently recorded that as a full book read in the past but perhaps their Page Flip software has stopped that. Now they probably use some hardware and software combination to click and move on to the next page at short random intervals.
4. To make the fake KU reader accounts more believable they also 'read' genuine KU author books causing a momentary spike in that author's page count.
5. The unscrupulous person reaps the rewards in their KU payments.
6. Amazon eventually spot what is happening and close the KU author account and KU reader accounts but they also close the accounts of those authors who were used to make the fake KU readers seem more genuine. Hence lots of very unhappy genuine authors all of who don't have a clue what went wrong.
Until Amazon find some way of stopping this, KU seems a very risky program now to any author.

 

As a new author to Kindle, thank you for sharing this. You have my sympathy and I hope you can work this out well.
Barbara

 

Hmmm, are you who I think you are? I didn't realise you were on here too!

How have sales been on that story I helped you knock into shape? Had any reviews yet?

Yep, it's me. "giggles"

I used to be Flights of Fantasy, but then I changed my name when I was going to be a full time short story writer. Now I on a "survival niche" kick.

But the story you helped me with has done really well. So far I've made $25.18. Which is more than I've made on the other 9 books since 2013. hahaha So thank you very muchly, couldn't have even done this well without you!

*She laughs instead of cries* Though it's not like I'm writing novels and spending thousands of dollars on editing and cover art. If I was doing those things and still doing this badly I'd have a right to cry, but since I do all my books for free, and they're short and quick to write, and obviously not very good, I don't really have a right to complain.

No reviews, as far as I know. I don't usually check since I never get any, and the books I have had reviews on, the reviews haven't made any difference.

*except for the one where I got a 1 star for being good, but too short, and then never seeing a single sale or borrow after, but I don't know if the two things are related or not. Could have just been timing. *

 

I'm still a micro-fishy, and a shorts writer, so what works for me doesn't really apply to most writers on here - but I have un-enrolled everything from KU. I won't be free until Sep. But my newest erotica short I didn't put in KU at all and the money has been amazing! For me, anyway. $20, for most authors would prolly be considered not selling anything, but for me I feel incredibly rich, and I know had I stuck it in KU, those would all be reads and I'd have made like $2.00.

Hmmm, are you who I think you are? I didn't realise you were on here too!

How have sales been on that story I helped you knock into shape? Had any reviews yet?

 

My books are finally live in the Kindle store. I finally feel like I can relax! Ok! Off to write some words today!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So glad to hear this! I had been returning periodically to this thread just to see if/when this would happen. YAY! And I'm glad she took you out of KU when you asked as well.

 

When Amazon track down the accounts which generate fake borrows, what action can/will they take?

Are they able to / Do they ban 'readers' accounts in the same way they ban author accounts?  Presumably, those accounts have been paid for by someone/something.

 

My books are finally live in the Kindle store. I finally feel like I can relax! Ok! Off to write some words today!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Good to see this all got sorted and you got your account back Pauline. Don't blame you for leaving KU. I'm wondering whether to still stay in myself. But as far as visibility, it still helps with that. I still think being in KU is a genre specific choice. Some genres do better than others. Still going to hang in there with my titles in KU and keep writing more. More titles seem to do better.

Updating my blog post with your good news. Still wish the mystery of what third party promotion site might have messed things up was a little clearer. Even with a form letter, it still seems to point to this. Otherwords, they would have sent you another form letter. And it also seems to go along with what Amazon is purging right now, third party sites using the affiliate codes in their emails. Sometimes you have to read between the lines, even with a form letter.

 

This is a very common position and totally understandable because it's founded in fact. The real problem is the facts will never change for you while you're in Select, so it all becomes circular and self-fulfilling. It takes AGES to get any traction outside of Amazon. That is fact. But I am now 45% Amazon because I am outside too.

That's very true and it's something I've also considered. I do plan on eventually being wide again, but I want to be in a better place as far as sales and visibility on Amazon first. That way, when I go wide, I'll (hopefully) have more clout and can email say the KWL team and see if I can have some assistance.

Another issue is also the fact that most of the stuff I'm writing at the moment isn't exactly in hot, marketable genres. My Myth Hunter series is kind of difficult to classify. Vanguard might have better luck being a superhero series, but that's still a relatively young and niche genre in terms of prose fiction (neither Kobo nor iTunes even has a category for it). But I plan on launching some more marketable series in 2017 and if they rank really well in the first 90-180, I might consider putting them wide.

 

The lack of sales on the other platforms is just one reason I won't let this incident scare me out of pulling out of Select.

This is a very common position and totally understandable because it's founded in fact. The real problem is the facts will never change for you while you're in Select, so it all becomes circular and self-fulfilling. It takes AGES to get any traction outside of Amazon. That is fact. But I am now 45% Amazon because I am outside too.

Would I make more money in KU? Probably.

I know it's weird, but money isn't my only goal in life. I want stress free security, or as close as I can get, so I can write in peace. Wide goes a long way to providing that for me. In the end, all I can say is do both. Run KU on series that work the best, and put everything else wide to start that traction engine. It's really old and doesn't fire up on the first keyturn. It coughs and splutters along, but it will get you from A-B. It just takes longer.

 

Excellent! Coming out of deep lurkdom to say "whew" and so sorry this happened to you. Also to say I'm off to go buy some of your books right now!

Wow! Thanks

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I will only be able to see if going wide is best by going wide.

I have one book (smaller, shorter, cheaper) wide. It makes about as much (on its Draft2Digital earnings) as my other book (the bigger, more expensive one in KU) does for borrows. So what I'm thinking is, if the smaller cheaper book can earn about as many in sales (through D2D) as a more expensive book earns through borrows in KU, then that's a good sign that perhaps if the bigger more expensive book could make even more through D2D. Both books are non-fiction, and the sales have always been more than the borrows. Not that I'm discounting the borrows in helping ranking and so forth. If it doesn't work out, I'll go back to KU. But I don't make that much yet, so a few bucks more or less for three months isn't going to kill me. If I was risking thousands, I might pause.

We each have to look at our numbers and our unique situations and make decisions based on that. But I do think that going wide is more prudent, IF it is financially feasible, because we are vulnerable with Amazon. A false copyright claim or this hinky business with KU looms, and it's unnerving. It's not just about doing the work and earning your just rewards. It's all dependent on the whims of a big company who may or may not listen to you when you assure them that you're honestly not trying to scam them. Scary.

 

Okay. Sounds likes like a good decision then. I took your sentence

to mean that you were for some reason weighing other vendors against KU to make this decision. I just didn't think that was the right thing to be weighing. But absolutely if the choice is divide your income in half to play it safe vs stay in KU, then that's probably the wise choice. And if that is the way you came to the decision, then I totally agree.

I weigh everything when I make my decisions. When people talk about pulling out of KU, it's almost always in the context of also going wide, because pulling out of Select but remaining exclusive to Amazon gets you the worst of both worlds--you get neither the benefits of Select nor the benefits of being wide.

The lack of sales on the other platforms is just one reason I won't let this incident scare me out of pulling out of Select. Increased visibility and sales are two others. Of course performance on the other platforms is something to be considered when thinking about whether or not to pull out of Select, especially if you're leaving money on the table out of a fear that an isolated incident could happen to you.

I don't let fear make my decisions for me. Car accidents don't stop me from driving, shark attacks don't stop me from swimming in the ocean, and one person getting banned on Amazon won't stop me from using KDP Select to my advantage. If it happens, it happens. But I'm not going to leave money on the table based on that unlikely possibility.

 

It has nothing to do with the other stores. A large portion of my sales are directly related to enrollment in KDP Select, which mandates KU enrollment. Last month, about half my income was because of KU. I'm not going to leave money on the table over an isolated incident. So only being on Amazon but not enrolling in Select would make even less sense than going wide.

I've seen the evidence that exists. I've gone wide and it didn't work. KU is helping me boost my income and my visibility slowly but surely. Every month, I do a little bit better than the previous month. Throwing all that away because a few writers whose situations I don't know got banned out of the thousands who haven't is to me like refusing to swim in the ocean because someone got attacked by a shark.

Also, no further income from Amazon at all, ever? That's pretty hyperbolic given that Pauline just got through saying her books are back on Amazon.

Again, do what's best for your business and let everyone else do what's best for theirs.

Okay. Sounds likes like a good decision then. I took your sentence

Given that I make more in a month in KU than I made in four years on the other platforms combined, I'd say it's worth it

to mean that you were for some reason weighing other vendors against KU to make this decision. I just didn't think that was the right thing to be weighing. But absolutely if the choice is divide your income in half to play it safe vs stay in KU, then that's probably the wise choice. And if that is the way you came to the decision, then I totally agree.

 

I have around 30 titles and generate around 200,000 page reads per month give or take across all 30 titles so I'm keeping them in. My new releases tend to have more borrows and sales than the older ones but its all pretty consistent. This incident has been concerning but we are seeing ONE person that this has happened to and she now has her account back. Not like thousands of authors all had their accounts nuked over suspicious borrows. So I'm not panicking. I'm more concerned with what new thing Amazon will be doing on July 1st lol

 

It really has little to do with how weak or strong other venues are. Even if you don't put the book up for sale anywhere but Amazon, you still might consider avoiding KU so that your account doesn't get banned leaving you with *no* further income from Amazon at all, ever. The balance is between KU borrows and improved sales rank on one hand versus less danger of an undeserved ban on the other hand. You still may not view it as a big risk, but IMHO you should not be considering the other stores in this. If Amazon is king of the hill for you, then that arguably makes keeping your KDP account safe even more important, not less. But yes, so far this is a rare occurrence and staying in may make sense for you if you find KU to be a big help on top of the level of Amazon + other sales you'd get if you were wide.

It has nothing to do with the other stores. A large portion of my sales are directly related to enrollment in KDP Select, which mandates KU enrollment. Last month, about half my income was because of KU. I'm not going to leave money on the table over an isolated incident. So only being on Amazon but not enrolling in Select would make even less sense than going wide.

I've seen the evidence that exists. I've gone wide and it didn't work. KU is helping me boost my income and my visibility slowly but surely. Every month, I do a little bit better than the previous month. Throwing all that away because a few writers whose situations I don't know got banned out of the thousands who haven't is to me like refusing to swim in the ocean because someone got attacked by a shark.

Also, no further income from Amazon at all, ever? That's pretty hyperbolic given that Pauline just got through saying her books are back on Amazon.

Again, do what's best for your business and let everyone else do what's best for theirs.

 

My books are finally live in the Kindle store. I finally feel like I can relax! Ok! Off to write some words today!

Woo-hoo! I'm so glad!

 

Given that I make more in a month in KU than I made in four years on the other platforms combined, I'd say it's worth it. I'd like to be wide, but until the other platforms solve the discoverability problems on those platforms, I'm going to take the risk. Making a single sale every other month on the other platforms won't really cushion the blow in any significant way if Amazon shuts down my account.

Maybe if I were more convinced it were as big a risk as people are making it out to be, I would be more worried. But far as I've seen, this doesn't seem like a very common situation.

But that's me. Everyone has to decide what's best for their own business.

It really has little to do with how weak or strong other venues are. Even if you don't put the book up for sale anywhere but Amazon, you still might consider avoiding KU so that your account doesn't get banned leaving you with *no* further income from Amazon at all, ever. The balance is between KU borrows and improved sales rank on one hand versus less danger of an undeserved ban on the other hand. You still may not view it as a big risk, but IMHO you should not be considering the other stores in this. If Amazon is king of the hill for you, then that arguably makes keeping your KDP account safe even more important, not less. But yes, so far this is a rare occurrence and staying in may make sense for you if you find KU to be a big help on top of the level of Amazon + other sales you'd get if you were wide.

 

So glad!

 

My books are finally live in the Kindle store. I finally feel like I can relax! Ok! Off to write some words today!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

What do you think though? IS KU/KOLL worth the risk?

Given that I make more in a month in KU than I made in four years on the other platforms combined, I'd say it's worth it. I'd like to be wide, but until the other platforms solve the discoverability problems on those platforms, I'm going to take the risk. Making a single sale every other month on the other platforms won't really cushion the blow in any significant way if Amazon shuts down my account.

Maybe if I were more convinced it were as big a risk as people are making it out to be, I would be more worried. But far as I've seen, this doesn't seem like a very common situation.

But that's me. Everyone has to decide what's best for their own business.

 

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! For those curious, Amazon did not apologize or explain what happened. They simply stated that after their review they decided to reinstated my account with the warning that if this happens again they will close my account. I already in-ticked all the boxes on my KU books, and will get out of KU as soon as possible.

So glad to hear that you're reinstated even if you didn't get any answers.

 

When I contacted the executive rep that I talked to before, she said she put in a ticket to the title submission department for me. Also she says she's going to remove them from KU for me, too

Good news!

 

When I contacted the executive rep that I talked to before, she said she put in a ticket to the title submission department for me. Also she says she's going to remove them from KU for me, too


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I can't believe your books are STILL unavailable. WTH are Amazon playing at?

I'm still waiting on KDP. the bookshelf says they are live but they are not, and when I Changed the price on a couple to see if I needed to do something, it just goes into publishing for 24 hours then says live with unpublished updates. I contacted KDP about it, but it takes days for them to do anything before, so...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk