If Your Amazon KDP Account Closed…

About this video

Dale explains what to do if an Amazon KDP account is closed, stressing he has no silver bullet because KDP has the final say. He distinguishes suspension — a temporary closure pending review of a discrepancy — from termination, where the account is closed and Amazon does not want to negotiate. Recent closure reasons he has learned of include duplicate content, especially repeatedly publishing no- and low-content books with the same interiors or plagiarizing others; reusing titles or author names that mimic successful books, even unintentionally, which automated systems flag; and false positives, where Amazon’s web crawlers find a book published elsewhere — originally a KDP Select issue, now also affecting Kindle Vella authors — even when pirates stole the work. Authors usually learn of closure by failing to log in or by email, and he warns not to ignore emails from KDP that carry deadlines. If suspended, stay calm, professional, flexible, and honest, ask KDP to clarify the precise reason, admit a possible mistake without finger-pointing, and expect reinstatement often within a few days, sometimes with books moved to draft. Things that do not work: emailing Jeff Bezos, finding a direct KDP phone line, or calling Amazon out on social media. He advises against the dicey workaround of opening a second KDP account to reach the Contact Us feature, since multiple accounts violate the terms of service. Options for terminated accounts include help from the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) for active members wrongfully terminated, and hiring a business attorney — reinstatement of a terminated account can take upwards of three to six months. He closes by advising authors to follow the terms of service, diversify beyond Amazon, and network with other authors.

Key takeaways

• A suspension is a temporary closure under review that often ends in reinstatement with a warning, while a termination is a permanent closure Amazon will not negotiate.
• Recent triggers include duplicate interiors in no- and low-content books, reusing titles or author names that mimic successful books, and false positives from web crawlers finding pirated copies elsewhere.
• If suspended, stay calm and honest, ask KDP to clarify the exact reason, and do not point fingers at other authors getting away with violations.
• Emailing Jeff Bezos, calling a direct KDP phone line, and social media callouts do not work, and opening a second KDP account to contact support violates the terms of service.
• For wrongful termination, ALLi membership can help active members, and a business attorney is a last resort — terminated accounts can take three to six months to reinstate, so diversifying beyond Amazon is essential.

Episode details: published March 8, 2022 · 8:17 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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