I SHOULD OPEN BY STATING THAT Ceeteejackson.com IS THE SOLE AUTHORIZED HOME OF MY WRITING.

Excuse me while I vent!!!

What the hell is going on here? Has anyone else suffered this?

On 19th August I received an e-mail apparently from Amazon. It referred to a previous message which had found its way directly into my ‘spam’ folder. In this email, I was told:

‘ … to submit a valid government-issued ID (by 21st August – two days time) so we can confirm your identity. We recommend completing this action via mobile device for easier use. Once you verify your identity, you can continue using Kindle Direct Publishing publishing features.

If you do not complete your identity verification, we may take action on your account, such as restricting access to Kindle Direct Publishing publishing features or closing your account. For any questions, you can visit … ‘

There were then a couple of direct links I was encouraged to click on.

Just WHY I had to provide ID when I’d been registered with KDP for over ten years and self published five books, was not explained.

So anyway, this was in my ‘spam’ folder and I didn’t see it.

THE RESULT? THIS, (on 23rd August):

Hello,

We have terminated your KDP account because we were unable to verify your identity.

We are committed to providing a bookstore built on trust between authors, publishers, and readers, and we take prompt action when needed to ensure a positive experience.

As part of the account termination process:
• You can no longer access your KDP Account, Bookshelf, or Reports.
• We have removed your published books from the Amazon Store.
• You are not eligible to receive any outstanding royalties.
• You are not allowed to open a new KDP account.

For more information, view our Terms and Conditions: (a direct link was provided)

If you have any questions or believe your account was terminated in error, please reply to this email. To help us respond quickly, please send a single email.

Regards,
Amazon KDP

This has got to be a phishing scam, I thought. Surely.

I mean, apart from anything else, signing off a mega-heavy message like that with ‘Regards.’ Yeah, right. 🤔

BUT APPARENTLY NOT! Today when I went to my KDP for stats and reports, I see my account has been cancelled. Worse – all my books HAVE been removed from sale on Amazon!

To say I’m both puzzled and absolutely raging is an understatement! Especially as I have previously invested in their over-priced, under-delivering Amazon Ads scheme!

Of course, I’ve written to Amazon / KDP through the channels on their site, but I’m not holding out any hope for a quick and amicable resolution.

I think my writing days may be over!

(Sorry – I think I may have gone OTT on the exclamation marks today.) 😉🤣

UPDATE!

It wasn’t a scam. Or spam. It was the real deal! Amazon DOES do random checks on identification of authors using Kindle Direct Publishing. Who’d have thunk? 😉

I managed to sort it, with the help of my good pal AI – Had this happened a year or so back, I’d have been completely gubbed!

BUT – although my books are back on the Amazon shleves, the reviews and comments I’ve garnered over the years have been decimated. I’ve been told the y may sort themselves out over the coming days, so, fingers crossed.

Thanks for allowing me to let off some steam. Normal service, if you can all it that, will return shortly.

😀

______


Hi regular readers! Just a quick note: if you are reading this text on any site other than Ceeteejackson.com, it has been stolen by automated bots.
You can read more about how this digital piracy works on this post.