Scams in Self Publishing Books on Amazon KDP

About this video

Dale Roberts warns that self-publishing scams often blur into overpriced services that deliver little value. He profiles Catherine Kopp, a 23-year-old middle-grade dystopian fantasy author who, as the creator recounts, paid over $1,200 to a vanity publisher, signed over her rights, and then had to pay more whenever she needed anything done. Traditional publishers, he stresses, do not charge upfront and may pay an advance. Roberts says he was himself duped buying a cheap third-party ISBN that did not work and could not have its imprint changed, arguing legitimate U.S. ISBNs come only from Bowker. He also recounts a subscriber who, as described, paid $11,000 for guaranteed Amazon bestseller status and initially got it only in free categories from free downloads; by contrast, Roberts says his brother topped categories after selling over 25 copies in the U.S. in one day at a deep discount, for laughable profit. He cites BookBub as a proven alternative charging, in his figures, $100 to $3,000 depending on price and category, with no guarantee. He closes with another vanity-press case and urges checking providers against watchdog resources.

Key takeaways

• Traditional publishers do not charge authors upfront; a publisher asking for a large upfront fee and taking control of rights is presented as a vanity-publisher red flag
• Buy ISBNs only from the official source for your country — Bowker in the U.S. — because third-party ISBNs may be illegitimate and non-transferable
• Amazon bestseller status can be achieved with relatively few discounted or free downloads and, in Roberts’s account, brings mainly bragging rights rather than sustained sales or media bookings
• Compare any bestseller or promotion quote against established services like BookBub, and treat a five-figure guaranteed-bestseller offer as a reason to walk away
• Cross-check service providers using the Alliance of Independent Authors watchdog lists and the Writer Beware blog before paying

Episode details: published July 24, 2023 · 12:00 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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