Kindle direct publishing customer service free#
While under KDP Select, an author can offer the book free for selective five days or discount it for up to seven days through a countdown deal, while still earning 70% royalties. Īmazon has the KDP Select publishing option that requires 100 percent exclusivity - e-book publishing under this option cannot be sold anywhere else, until the enrollment in KDP Select expires. After numerous commentators observed that Apple's popular App Store offers 70% of royalties to the publisher, Amazon began a program that offers 70% royalties to Kindle publishers who agree to certain conditions. The remaining 35% is split between the author and publisher. In a Deceminterview with The New York Times, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed that Amazon keeps 65% of the revenue from all e-book sales for the Kindle. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) was in open beta testing in late 2007 and the platform was promoted to established authors by e-mail and by advertisements at. Amazon has been promoting to its authors the capability of publishing both e-books and paperbacks through the same platform. In 2016, Amazon also added a paperback option, which uses print-on-demand technology with the goal of offering digital and print to self-publishers. These documents may be written in 44 languages. Amazon launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), originally called Digital Text Platform, for authors and publishers to independently publish their books directly to the Kindle Store.Īuthors can upload documents in several formats for delivery via KDP website and charge between $0.99 and $200.00 for their works. Today’s news reflects yet another step in our ongoing efforts to protect readers and authors from individuals who violate our terms of service and manipulate programs readers and authors rely on.Kindle Direct Publishing is 's e-book self-publishing platform launched in November 2007, concurrently with the first Amazon Kindle device. Amazon also wants to terminate the KDP operations of Thomas Glenn and is seeking triple amages in an amount “not to exceed $75,000.”Ī spokesperson for Amazon said that only "a small minority are engaging in this fraudulent activity. In the Hydra case, Amazon is requesting a permanent injunction prohibiting the firm from operating on its site and is seeking roughly $430,000 in damages.
Amazon is also seeking to permanently bar Rubio from using KDP. Amazon alleges this company "offers KDP publishers the ability to artificially inflate their ranking within Amazon Best Sellers."įor Nilmer Rubio, Amazon is calling for triple damages in an amount to be determined during arbitration. Despite this action, Amazon is complaining that the practice has not stopped.Īnother respondent named in the complaint is Thomas Glenn (aka Thomas Castillo or Thomas Glenn Castillo), who runs Free Book Service. Of the 956 reviews submitted for the 12 books, Amazon determined that 769 were “abusive” or fake, and were removed. Among other violations, Amazon alleges that Hydra created “fake reviews” for the Learning Academy’s 12 books. Amazon alleges Rubio approached KDP authors with a scheme to "use a multitude of Amazon accounts to artificially inflate the author’s numbers," in exchange for a kick-back of 40% of the revenue.Īmazon also cites Alexis Pablo Marrocco and the company Hydra Enterprises, which is responsible for books published by The Learning Academy.
Named in the complaint is Nilmer Rubio, who Amazon says attempted to manipulate Kindle Unlimited pages read, a system that tracks the number of pages read in books offered via its subscription reading service in order to determine author royalties. Amazon essentially charges that a handful of individuals worked to create fake reviews for their books and others' in addition to attempts to manipulate Amazon systems that count book sales and the royalties paid to authors via its subscription reading service.
Amazon alleges that five people used a number of prohibited strategies to manipulate customers reviews and worked to inflate sales and royalties.