Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jul 18, 2018 1:28:22 GMT
I thought it would be a good idea to have one thread where we list all the things that can get you banned/in trouble with amazon.
1. Double and Triple spacing each sentence or paragraph in your books to inflate the page count and get bigger KU payouts.
2. Uploading your KU books and selling them anywhere else.
3. Incentivizing readers to leave reviews for your book through any means other than, "please review my book it would mean a lot to me," or by giving them a free copy of the book you want them to review.
4. Giving people anything other than your book as an incentive to buy it. You can't enroll them in a giveaway, or give them a gift card, or cash, or anything else like that. Giving people bonuses for purchasing is a really common internet marketing tactic, but amazon doesn't allow it. You can give away bonuses in return for their email address, but not to purchase a book and not for a review.
5. Illegal Lotteries.
Pretty much only the US government is allowed to run a lottery, so if you run one like Chance Carter did, you'll not only run afoul of amazon but also US law. A lottery is a contest with 3 specific elements, you need all 3 for it to a lotto. Remove one and it's not illegal. The 3 elements are - Prize, Chance, and Consideration. The prize is whatever contest entrants could win. Chance means the chance to win is random and is not rewarded. And Consideration is what the entrant has to do in order to enter the contest. A lot of writers hold contests and sweepstakes where they offer amazon gift cards, or kindles, or diamonds as the prize. And the winner is usually a name pulled out of a hat. These contests are fine so long as there is no consideration to be entered. No one should have to buy your book, borrow your book in KU and flip all the way to the end, or leave a review, or sign up to your email list to enter.
I think asking them to like a post or retweet something to enter would be fine.
6. Using professional review services to review your books and pretend to be amazon customers.
7. Getting books blocked on amazon and re-uploading them/getting blocked a lot.
Erotica authors often face this problem because amazon doesn't allow a lot of types of erotica, yet, they are inconsistent with their enforcement. They don't allow incest or pseudo-incest (step-relations), or noncon/rape, etc, however, if you look for these types of books on amazon you'll often see many of them up there and selling well. So a lot of erotica writers have high risk tolerances and are willing to publish the risky stuff for the money. I offer no judgement on this. However, if amazon decides to enforce it's rules and blocks your books, don't sneakily re-upload them. Make the changes you need, email KDP, to let them know you made the changes and then re-upload. If you can't make the changes without ruining the story, then forget about it and write a new, safer one.
8. Using bots to page through your KU books for huge KU profits.
9. Using scammy promotion services. Lots of Im'ers see selling services to indie authors as their own personal goldmine. Always do your due diligence and ask around before using anyone's service. I'm going to be starting up a sub-forum, soon, where peeps can post their personal experiences with each current promotion service, so that when an author is looking to use someone new current info about it will be easier to find.
10. Book stuffing.
"If you're publishing multiple stories as one book, ensure the contents of your book are accurately reflected both in the title field and on the cover, by including terms such as "Boxed Set," "Bundle," "Collection," "Compilation," or "Series." Stories that are part of a series must be in sequential order within a book and collections of individual stories must have all stories listed in the metadata.
Collections of works and numbered series may include content you've previously published in your catalog. However, in order to provide an optimal customer experience, the same content may not be excessively reutilized across multiple books. We consider "excessive" any amount of content repetition that would create a poor shopping or reading experience."
kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200952510
"Bonus Content
If you choose to include bonus content (e.g., other stories, or previews of other books that are not part of your book’s title), it should be relevant to the customer and should not disrupt the reading experience. To meet these guidelines, we require placing additional content at the end of the book, and listing the bonus content in your book's table of contents.
To provide an optimal customer experience, bonus content should make up no more than around 10% of your book. If you would like to include multiple stories within your book, consider creating a collection of works. When selecting your book’s title, always make sure to follow the Metadata Guidelines.
Primary and bonus content must meet all program guidelines (e.g., bonus content in KDP Select titles must be exclusive). Translated content must be high quality and not machine generated. Disruptive links and promises of gifts or rewards are never allowed."
kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202018960
These are all I can think of now. If you've got any more, or have questions/comments/objection, please add to the thread.
1. Double and Triple spacing each sentence or paragraph in your books to inflate the page count and get bigger KU payouts.
2. Uploading your KU books and selling them anywhere else.
3. Incentivizing readers to leave reviews for your book through any means other than, "please review my book it would mean a lot to me," or by giving them a free copy of the book you want them to review.
4. Giving people anything other than your book as an incentive to buy it. You can't enroll them in a giveaway, or give them a gift card, or cash, or anything else like that. Giving people bonuses for purchasing is a really common internet marketing tactic, but amazon doesn't allow it. You can give away bonuses in return for their email address, but not to purchase a book and not for a review.
5. Illegal Lotteries.
Pretty much only the US government is allowed to run a lottery, so if you run one like Chance Carter did, you'll not only run afoul of amazon but also US law. A lottery is a contest with 3 specific elements, you need all 3 for it to a lotto. Remove one and it's not illegal. The 3 elements are - Prize, Chance, and Consideration. The prize is whatever contest entrants could win. Chance means the chance to win is random and is not rewarded. And Consideration is what the entrant has to do in order to enter the contest. A lot of writers hold contests and sweepstakes where they offer amazon gift cards, or kindles, or diamonds as the prize. And the winner is usually a name pulled out of a hat. These contests are fine so long as there is no consideration to be entered. No one should have to buy your book, borrow your book in KU and flip all the way to the end, or leave a review, or sign up to your email list to enter.
I think asking them to like a post or retweet something to enter would be fine.
6. Using professional review services to review your books and pretend to be amazon customers.
7. Getting books blocked on amazon and re-uploading them/getting blocked a lot.
Erotica authors often face this problem because amazon doesn't allow a lot of types of erotica, yet, they are inconsistent with their enforcement. They don't allow incest or pseudo-incest (step-relations), or noncon/rape, etc, however, if you look for these types of books on amazon you'll often see many of them up there and selling well. So a lot of erotica writers have high risk tolerances and are willing to publish the risky stuff for the money. I offer no judgement on this. However, if amazon decides to enforce it's rules and blocks your books, don't sneakily re-upload them. Make the changes you need, email KDP, to let them know you made the changes and then re-upload. If you can't make the changes without ruining the story, then forget about it and write a new, safer one.
8. Using bots to page through your KU books for huge KU profits.
9. Using scammy promotion services. Lots of Im'ers see selling services to indie authors as their own personal goldmine. Always do your due diligence and ask around before using anyone's service. I'm going to be starting up a sub-forum, soon, where peeps can post their personal experiences with each current promotion service, so that when an author is looking to use someone new current info about it will be easier to find.
10. Book stuffing.
"If you're publishing multiple stories as one book, ensure the contents of your book are accurately reflected both in the title field and on the cover, by including terms such as "Boxed Set," "Bundle," "Collection," "Compilation," or "Series." Stories that are part of a series must be in sequential order within a book and collections of individual stories must have all stories listed in the metadata.
Collections of works and numbered series may include content you've previously published in your catalog. However, in order to provide an optimal customer experience, the same content may not be excessively reutilized across multiple books. We consider "excessive" any amount of content repetition that would create a poor shopping or reading experience."
kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200952510
"Bonus Content
If you choose to include bonus content (e.g., other stories, or previews of other books that are not part of your book’s title), it should be relevant to the customer and should not disrupt the reading experience. To meet these guidelines, we require placing additional content at the end of the book, and listing the bonus content in your book's table of contents.
To provide an optimal customer experience, bonus content should make up no more than around 10% of your book. If you would like to include multiple stories within your book, consider creating a collection of works. When selecting your book’s title, always make sure to follow the Metadata Guidelines.
Primary and bonus content must meet all program guidelines (e.g., bonus content in KDP Select titles must be exclusive). Translated content must be high quality and not machine generated. Disruptive links and promises of gifts or rewards are never allowed."
kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202018960
These are all I can think of now. If you've got any more, or have questions/comments/objection, please add to the thread.
