Attention All Kindle Publishers - Stop Doing This ASAP

About this video

Sean warns Kindle publishers against copying successful books to trick buyers. He says a service provider he recommends told him some of his referrals ordered books that reproduced a successful book’s exact title and a subtitle about 95% the same, with two people ordering in the same keyword. He uses ‘Emotional Intelligence 2.0’ as an example: the phrase is not trademarked, but copying it invites one-star reviews calling the book a predatory imitation, because buyers thought they were getting the original author’s book. He also criticises imitation pen names modelled on famous authors in the same topic, and keyword stuffing — e.g. dark psychology titles cramming in unrelated terms like manipulation, NLP, body language, stoicism, deep learning and mind control. He says such practices prompt Amazon/KDP to tighten content guidelines on misleading titles, affecting everyone, and that Amazon is also warning publishers of older books to change titles. His alternative is to take inspiration, use a generic keyword legitimately, but differentiate the subtitle, pen name and offer with a unique selling proposition, and play the long-term game rather than risk being banned.

Key takeaways

• Do not copy a successful book’s exact title and near-identical subtitle to trick buyers into thinking it is the original.
• A generic, non-trademarked keyword can be used in a title, but differentiate it — change the subtitle and add your own angle.
• Do not choose a pen name imitating a famous author in the same niche; having a pen name is fine, mimicking is misleading.
• Avoid keyword stuffing with unrelated terms crammed into titles, subtitles, series names or pen names.
• Misleading books invite bad reviews, KDP misleading-experience warnings, stricter rules for all publishers, and eventual bans.

Episode details: published May 27, 2020 · 12:01 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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