background img

The New Stuff

Exclusive Publishing Rights Required for Ebooks on Amazon

Amazon has been on a roll lately with blocking, suspending and terminating Kindle accounts. Some with good reason, but others just going way overboard. Let me note, these rules do NOT apply to print editions of books, but specifically e-books. The reason is simple, it is faster to publish an ebook, so everyone has been. I received this email from Amazon yesterday demanding that I submit the following lines to them, though the book is not available on their kindle site except by me, but since you can get the book after hours of looking, elsewhere, it is now off limits. Thanks whiners who insist you KNOW where to get all your ebooks free. “I confirm that I will remove any content for which I do not have the exclusive publishing rights and that I will adhere to all terms in the Content Guidelines when submitting new content.” When you break it down, it boils down to this according to Amazon. ANYTHING that you can find for free including your blog posts may not be then turned around and made into an ebook. It doesn't matter if you add pages, but the fact that the posts were free and distribution encouraged, you may not sell them on Amazon. But wait, there is a work around if you sign up for their blog program where they set the price and give you some money (if you make any). So, bottom line, all the "ebook gurus" who have been selling you PLRS, evergreen ebooks for you to slap your name on, etc are off limits on Amazon. You may NOT use ANY content which is available freely online unless you translate it, illustrate it or annotate it. Or, as I would think, rewrite it enough that you can file a copyright on it which Amazon can then not argue with. I applaud Amazon for cleaning up the store, but it is clear they are not really going by their own guidelines and are just throwing everything out including the kitchen sink. Those who send that idiotic line in will get their account restored, and those who don't won't. It's that simple.