In this exclusive article, I reveal how to avoid Amazon suspension. Suspended from Amazon Kindle? That’s right. If you’re selling eBooks on Amazon, there is a real possibility that your account will eventually be closed without warning and all of your books removed from sale. In the past week alone, Amazon has closed the accounts of several eBook authors without warning, wiping hundreds (and in some cases thousands) of eBooks off the market and causing those authors to lose their income.
Why Amazon Suspended My Book
Suspended From Amazon Kindle? The following is a short excerpt from my new report “How To Avoid Being Suspended From Amazon Kindle”…
The question is: How does this happen? The answer is simple – You break Amazon’s Terms of Service!
I can’t stress this enough: If you are selling eBooks on Amazon Kindle, then it is only a matter of time before your account will be closed down without warning if you break their Terms of Service.
Amazon.co.uk operates under the same Terms Of Service as Amazon.com, so this information is also relevant if you are selling eBooks on Amazon.co.uk or any other Amazon website in the world!
Read also, Amazon KDP Account Terminated! How to Recover Your Account
Most authors who have had their accounts closed without warning not only broke the Terms Of Service, but they broke one particular rule which is specifically designed to cause your account to be closed…
What’s This Rule?
The majority of Amazon Kindle authors break this rule on a daily basis without even knowing it.
The rule is: You must have full and exclusive rights to all the content in your book, including covers.
If you are publishing other people’s work without their express permission, then you are breaking this rule, period! If you are publishing content that you do not have full and exclusive rights to, then Amazon can close your account at any time without warning!
This includes content written by other people, copyrighted images that you did not create yourself, or even complete books that are being sold under the same ISBN number as one of your titles.
How to Avoid Amazon Suspension
Here’s what you need to do to avoid being suspended from Amazon Kindle:
#1: Make sure you have full and exclusive rights to all the content in your book, including covers.
This is the most important part. You MUST own all of the rights to your book, including covers.
If you do not have full and exclusive rights to your book, then you are breaking Amazon’s Terms Of Service.
If you don’t have full and exclusive rights to your book, then you can be absolutely certain that it will get taken down at some point because of the content being used within it!
Read also, Self-Publishing a Book: 18 Powerful Steps to Becoming a Best Seller Author
There are 3 ways that I know of to check if you have full and exclusive rights to all the content in your book…
- You wrote it yourself, or you have full and exclusive rights to publish it anywhere you want.
- The content was given to you by the author/artist/photographer / etc., that created it, with full and exclusive rights to publish it anywhere you want.
- You made sure that you met the minimum eligibility requirements to publish on Amazon.com and you verified your publishing rights with the content creator (this is the only way to be 100% certain).
#2: If you don’t own the copyright for any content in your book, then get written permission from the author or artist before publishing it.
This is just common sense. You cannot break the law, especially when you are publishing on Amazon.com.
If you want to make sure that you have full and exclusive rights to the content in your eBook, then here is exactly what you need to do…
Step 1: Find as many of the author’s / artist’s contact details as possible (usually email address) – make sure that you can contact them directly at any time in the future.
Step 2: Send them an email asking for written permission to use their work in your eBook. Be 100% certain that they understand exactly what you want and ask them if it is okay with them!
Step 3: Keep a copy of this request and any response emails they send you… proof of your communication with them about using their work in your book.
Step 4: If they decline, or do not answer within 2 weeks, then unfortunately this means that you will need to remove their work from your eBook before publishing it.
I cannot stress this enough! Without written permission from the author/artist/photographer / etc., you have no legal right to use their work in your eBook!
If you do not follow these two rules, then as far as Amazon.com is concerned, you are breaking the law and abusing their Terms Of Service.
This may lead to your account being closed, or even worse… You could be sued for copyright infringement (which could lead to you having to pay thousands of dollars in damages).
Read also, Writer’s Life: 15 Writer’s Challenges and How to Overcome Them
It is not worth the risk. Follow these two rules and you will be 100% safe!
7 Things You Should NEVER do when Selling Books on Amazon Kindle
#1: Never publish a book with stolen content!
In the publishing industry, it is known as “content scraping.” In other words, finding written works that have been published somewhere else on the Internet and republishing them in your eBook without permission or credit.
If you do this, no matter how much research you have done to make sure that you are legally able to publish your eBook on Amazon.com, then it will be taken down for copyright infringement (it really is as simple as that).
#2: Never cut corners with your cover… EVER!
If you don’t have the money to pay for a professional book cover design, then I strongly recommend trying out Fiverr or getting one of the crew at Gumroad to help you out.
If you don’t do this, then your book will look unprofessional and people won’t buy it!
#3: Never publish a book that does not have an eye-catching title or cover image!
Your cover is there to grab attention… don’t waste it! Make sure that your title and cover image are so good, they look like they were designed by a professional.
#4: Never promote an eBook that does not have at least 5 quality reviews on Amazon KDP
This is just common sense… if someone buys your book and it has only one review (maybe even a glowing five-star review), then they may be very hesitant to buy it.
Read also, Sale Like Crazy: How to Sell 1,000 Book Copies in 7 Days
Give your book’s sales page time to accumulate reviews. One or two reviews won’t cut it! Make sure that there are at least 5 reviews by the time you start promoting your book… ideally more than this.
#5: Never publish an eBook on Amazon Kindle that you are not willing to give away for free!
I know that this seems counter-intuitive but there is a really good reason why it is best to make your first book free. It’s all about building the readership of your author account…
The more books you have, the higher chance you have of selling your other books. And this is what we really want right? To make money from Kindle!
Don’t worry about making less money on each individual book sold… It all evens out in the end (trust me)!
#6: Never publish a non-fiction book that does not have at least some form of scientific research behind it!
If you’re writing about a subject that is true for everyone then this will be easier than if you’re writing about a specific situation…
But the point still stands. If your book is non-fiction and has no scientific research backing up at least some of its claims, then people will see it as nothing more than a cheap ploy for money (which it most likely is) and they will not buy it.
#7: Never publish a self-help book without an “action plan” to help your readers achieve their goals!
I’ve started using this with my own books recently and I have already seen a noticeable increase in sales! It’s really something that every author should consider including somewhere in their book. You can also try a free course from Udemy.
Final Thoughts
I hope that you have learned something from this article, and I sincerely wish you the best on your journey to making money with Kindle!
If you think that there are other first-time steps that everyone should take when publishing their first book then please don’t hesitate to share them in the comments below. Everyone will thank you for it, I promise.
