I Spent 2 Hours in the KDP Community, It Got Ugly

About this video

(Based on the video’s Arabic caption track.) Roberts contrasts helpful indie authors in Facebook groups, forums and his own Discord with Amazon’s KDP Community forum, where he says reasonable questions about reviews, scams, piracy and account terminations draw sarcastic, dismissive or hostile replies, and he re-answers those posts himself. On reviews, he says selling about 200 copies with only two reviews is normal — commenters translate 100 to 300 sales into roughly one review on average — and even advance reader teams convert at about 30%. He warns never to solicit reviews in the forum, says Amazon may filter reviews over personal or financial ties or incentivization, and tells authors to prompt readers and leave the rest to Amazon. He confirms a supposed $299 KDP publishing/editing service is a scam because KDP charges no such fees, explains that third-party sellers legitimately listing an unpublished print book (in one post at $65, then $35) is not by itself piracy, and covers real piracy via a zip of about 35 ePubs: DRM is easily broken, DMCA notices are the main tool, and chasing offshore sites is usually whack-a-mole. He also covers misleadingly similar titles/covers, identity verification, and corrects a ’three books a day’ claim: KDP’s limit is 10 titles per format per week.

Key takeaways

• Low review counts are normal: Roberts says 100 to 300 sales commonly yield about one review, and even committed ARC teams convert at only about 30%.
• Never ask for reviews or feedback in the KDP Community forum; instead put a call to action in the book and do not contact KDP/Amazon about individual reviews.
• Any service claiming KDP affiliation and charging, in the post discussed, $299 for publishing/editing help is a scam — Roberts says KDP does not offer or charge for such services.
• For piracy, use DMCA takedown notices; Roberts counsels against expensive offshore legal action, noting one poster was quoted 5,000 UAE dirhams for a cease-and-desist and 10,000 dirhams for mediation, and that download counts do not equal lost sales.
• Verify rules before repeating them: KDP’s documented title-creation limit is 10 titles per book format per week, pen names are allowed, and after maxing identity-verification attempts publishers must wait 72 hours to retry.

Episode details: published August 25, 2026 · 37:33 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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