Amazon KDP Robbed This Author?!

About this video

Dale Roberts reads and reacts to brutally honest Trustpilot reviews of Amazon KDP. The first reviewer claims their account was unfairly terminated, with past-due royalties taken, over using ‘Taylor Swift’ in a title, arguing names can’t be copyrighted. Dale pushes back: Taylor Swift has filed dozens of trademarks on her name covering goods including stationery, notebooks, blank writing journals, and paper products like notepads and journals, so using her name on a book title is trademark infringement territory; interior mentions are a question for a lawyer. Another reviewer complains author copies arrived messed up — paperbacks without page numbers and one copy printed from an old template taken offline months earlier. Dale says he saw the same issue in his Book Rescue series: Amazon sometimes prints from stock on hand, so old versions ship; his remedy was to contact Amazon, which told him to destroy or donate the bad copy and sent a correct replacement. A third reviewer admits their original complaint was their own fault for not finding KDP’s review guidelines, which Dale notes are linked in the terms at the bottom of the dashboard, with more detail on the help pages and community forum. A reviewer named Tyandra Barnes complains of wrong books sent repeatedly over two years; Dale says print-on-demand mistakes happen at all platforms and launches must be planned with buffer time. A final reviewer claims KDP owes two years of royalties after account closure; Dale explains royalties are commonly blocked by missing tax or bank details, and that KDP’s terms reserve the right to withhold royalties when an account is terminated for violations. He agrees email support is poor and recommends phone or live support instead.

Key takeaways

• Using a celebrity name like Taylor Swift in a book title risks trademark trouble — Dale notes she holds dozens of trademarks covering notebooks, journals, and paper products.
• Author copies sometimes ship as old versions because Amazon prints from stock on hand; contact Amazon for a replacement rather than assuming malice.
• KDP’s terms reserve the right to withhold royalties after an account termination for violations, and missing tax or bank information is a common reason royalties never arrive.
• Print-on-demand errors happen at every platform; plan launches with buffer time for misprints and reshipping.
• Dale rates KDP email support poorly and advises using phone or live support, and reading the terms, help pages, and community forum for the rules.

Episode details: published November 25, 2023 · 13:26 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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