Will Your Book Be Pulled From Amazon?

Anyone who’s published e-books through Amazon knows that they like to change things now and then. Sometimes the changes make sense, other times… This week, I came across a blog by Penny from Author Marketing Experts, Inc. (I’m not familiar with this company) who reported that Amazon is pulling books because they don’t like the content of keywords and/or book descriptions.

It seems that Amazon used to encourage authors to use the names of other titles and authors in keywords and descriptions. Recently, someone decided that this practice is no longer acceptable. For this reason, one of Penny’s authors had her book removed from the virtual shelf without notification.

Incidentally, in a follow-up blog, Penny clarifies that keywords are not the same as tags. Tags are no longer used. Keywords are words associated with your book page; the back end page where you upload your e-book and add the book cover.

In the follow-up blog (you can find the link in the original blog), Penny reports that she’s been able to have the book reinstated. Penny also personally wrote to Jeff Bezos, after not having much luck with Author Central, and received a response on from a customer relations executive acting on Mr. Bezos’ behalf. It seems they weren’t aware of this practice and we looking into the matter.

So, whether more books will be pulled for this reason remains to be seen. Meanwhile, it might be a good idea to do your own investigating and to take a second look at your book’s description.

You can find Penny’s blog at http://www.amarketingexpert.com/amazon-making-big-changes-authors-beware/