How Do I Unpublish A Book On Amazon KDP? Is It Safe?

About this video

Dale L. Roberts explains how to unpublish a book on Amazon KDP and whether it is safe. He says unpublishing with good intentions is safe and common, for example to release a newer edition, to tweak a publication, or to republish under your own ISBN and imprint after selling or regaining rights instead of keeping Amazon’s imprint. He advises contacting KDP for clarification in rights cases. He warns against an old scam of repeatedly unpublishing and republishing to game the Amazon algorithm, including removing a book because of bad reviews or a falling rank, which can get publishers in trouble. To unpublish an ebook, log in, hover over the three dots to the right of the listing, and click unpublish ebook, then confirm the warning. If enrolled in KDP Select, the exclusivity obligation for the remainder of the current 90-day enrollment still applies regardless of publishing status. Otherwise, confirming makes the ebook unavailable to buy and unsearchable until republished. The work itself cannot be deleted and stays in the KDP dashboard forever. Print books follow the same three-dots steps, but because physical copies can be resold, the product detail page stays live forever; Amazon stops printing copies to fulfill orders, though third parties may still sell copies.

Key takeaways

• Unpublishing on KDP is safe when done for legitimate reasons such as releasing a new edition or republishing under your own ISBN/imprint
• Repeatedly unpublishing and republishing to game the algorithm, escape bad reviews, or fix a tanking rank is a scam tactic that can cause trouble
• Ebook unpublishing is done via the three dots next to the listing; KDP Select titles must still honor exclusivity for the remainder of their 90-day term
• Unpublished books cannot be deleted — the content remains in your KDP dashboard forever
• For print books, Amazon stops printing new copies but the detail page stays live in perpetuity because third parties may resell physical copies

Episode details: published March 29, 2020 · 5:13 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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