Proving Copyright to Amazon on a brand new book?

Yo have to be more specific. I've gotten these emails, and they tend to tell you EXACTLY what you need to do. Sometimes, it is just a matter of signing into your account and re-confirming the check box where you confirm that you are the owner. Sometimes it is replying to the email that you are the copyright owner. A couple of times, I needed to send them copies of signed releases I had from other authors...but that was for an anthology that I published.

Just read the email and follow the instructions. You should be fine.

That's the problem. They are pretty general in what they are asking for. I did respond and confirm that I am the copyright owner, but no response from them yet and no approval. This is what the email said: "To confirm your rights to distribute the book(s) listed above, please provide any documentation or other evidence that proves you have retained rights for these book(s)."

If I wrote it on my computer, I'm not sure what other evidence I could provide except for the book itself...

Rachel Hanna said:

That's the problem. They are pretty general in what they are asking for. I did respond and confirm that I am the copyright owner, but no response from them yet and no approval. This is what the email said: "To confirm your rights to distribute the book(s) listed above, please provide any documentation or other evidence that proves you have retained rights for these book(s)."

If I wrote it on my computer, I'm not sure what other evidence I could provide except for the book itself...

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Are we talking about "The Shadow Shifter." I noticed that is the only book in your signature with a different name. Is it a pen name? I bet that is what flagged you.

Assuming it is a pen name, simply respond that it is a pen name and you should be fine.

No, the Shadow Shifter is one of my husband's books. This is one of my Rachel Hanna books, so nothing new at all....

Yes, I'd assume Julie hit on the right issue. The only time I've ever gotten one of those notes from Amazon was when I uploaded an anthology. Basically they wanted to be sure I had the right to publish/distribute stories from a bunch of authors besides myself. I simply sent them the agreements I had in writing from my co-authors and that satisfied them.

In your case, since it's a different name than your other books, they likely are questioning whether or not you have the right to publish/distribute The Shadow Shifter. All you have to say is that it's a pen name and that you are the copyright holder.

Done.

What Julie said, plus, be patient.  There's a 24-48 hour turn around when you correspond with Amazon.  You won't get instant responses and if you get impatient and keep shooting off emails, you'll just end up with a confusing bunch of crisscrossing stuff.

Rachel Hanna said:

No, the Shadow Shifter is one of my husband's books. This is one of my Rachel Hanna books, so nothing new at all....

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There are two things that could have triggered it. I suspect the existence of two authors on the same account is what triggered the bot that sent the email. Amazon's system is completely automated and the bots aren't exactly all that smart. Or, if your title is the same as a pre-existing book, the bot might have confused the two.

Send them an email and ask them what they want. Once you can talk to a person, they are generally pretty helpful and should tell you what they want. Most likely, they will just tell you to reconfirm the book or send them an email saying that you are the author.

I suspect the existence of two authors on the same account is what triggered the bot that sent the email. Amazon's system is completely automated and the bots aren't exactly all that smart. Or, if your title is the same as a pre-existing book, the bot might have confused the two.

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I've never had a problem with pen names. I suspect that the title is the same as a pre-existing book. I am sure the bots check this, and they are easily confused-- at one point my m/m erotic romance Submission got (quite unfortunately) linked to a paperback Christian book of the same title. The bots aren't bright.

Watch it, Julie.  Someone is bound to drop the "N" word about you now.  Someone is surely going to say how nice you are.

I've responded (as of last night) stating that I am the creator/copyright holder, so I am waiting at this point. Just wanted to see if there was anything else I needed to do. I've been publishing with Amazon (under several pen names in non-fiction and fiction) since 2011, so this is strange for me to get given that this will be my 6th Rachel Hanna book.... The Shadow Shifter one is not related to this at all. That's one of three books in my husband's series that I was just promoting in my sig (which will change once this book is approved).

I doubt it's a name issue either as the name is "Broken:Secrets in Madison Falls". That would be highly unlikely to be the same as another book....

Judi Coltman said:

Watch it, *****. Someone is bound to drop the "N" word about you now. Someone is surely going to say how nice you are.

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How dare you! Why...why...why would you even say such a thing? Now I have to go make a puppy cry or something...

Have you ever emailed it to anyone? An editor or beta reader? It's possible a date stamp on those might help, but I'm not really sure. Just throwing out suggestions. Good luck!

Yes, I have. In fact, my editor had just returned it to me that morning. I guess if they ask for more info, then I can send them that, pictures of my Facebook page announcing the book as I worked on it, my blog post about it.....

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:

A couple of times, I needed to send them copies of signed releases I had from other authors...but that was for an anthology that I published.

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They tried that one me. I gave them the option of 64 pages of contracts with everything but a signature and a story title redacted on the pages or questioned if an email confirmation from the editor be sufficient. They settled for the email confirmation. Of course that was for an ebook version of a title we already had in print, I don't know if they'd be harder if it was ebook only.

I've never heard of anyone actually being told they needed to produce anything. I get the impression Amazon figures if they inquire the cockroaches will scatter if its actually pirated.

Katie Elle said:

I've never heard of anyone actually being told they needed to produce anything. I get the impression Amazon figures if they inquire the cockroaches will scatter if its actually pirated.

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In my case, the issue was that a couple of the authors had also self-published the stories individually, so Amazon was doing it's due diligence in that regard. It was no big deal for me to send them the signature pages because I have them all in electronic format anyway. Unless you are acting as a publisher (i.e. publishing other people's stuff besides your own) generally they aren't going to be looking for documentation.

Am I the only geek who applied through the US copyright office and gave them copies of my book?  That would give you something for things like this I guess.  Not that it has helped me with pirates...at all.    Oh well.  I hope the others are right and Amazon is just being ridiculous.  If not, applying for copyright was cheap and you are covered legally as soon as you make the application.

KDP is driving me to drink today. So, I reply to the email stating that I wrote the book and own the copyright. I also attached 4 screenshots - one of my FB fan page where I had been announcing the book for weeks, one of my blog post announcing it, one of my Scrivener project showing all of the chapters and one of my correspondence with my editor.

So what does Amazon do with that information? NOTHING. They re-send the very same email, ignoring the one pasted below it, and tell me they need the same information I just provided. UGH!!