In case you don’t have time to read all of the detailed complaints at the links below, here are some snippets:

• Complaints about book sales not appearing on authors’ sales reports
• Books printed front to back
• Runny ink
• Splotchy book cover
• The text of one book printed in the middle of another one
• “Customer gave me a bad rating”
• “Amazon KDP issued 1099’s on which I had to pay IRS taxes but Refused to pay me.”
• “covers bend/curl and do not lay flat”
• “serious quality control problems with the printing of my book”
• “Why is the quality of print covers so poor?”
• “looked like someone handled it after eating fried chicken or potato chips, but the marks are permanent”
• Authors PAY for proofs…yet Amazon KDP prints “Not for Resale?” on the covers?!
• Major delays in printing/shipping books
• “I’ve called KDP numerous times and no one can give me any info other than ‘too bad.'”
• 55 copies of author’s book shipped in 55 packages!
• “I need to go somewhere my book will not be censored.”
• “I can’t say that I’m surprised by all the complaints.”
• “far more complicated than it should be”
• “horrified at the cover representation”
• “on the glossy versions: the surface peels away after a while”
• “covers weren’t centered and I almost lost the first line of text on the back cover”
• “So when is this going to end! I don’t want your paperback setup all I want is my manuscript the same way I left it on createspace??? So how about telling me how to do that and forget all this KDP crap that I’m not interested in!””
• “The whole setup process has costed me days of time and tons of money”
• “Amazon is also holding my books hostage and refuses to allow me to transfer them…”
• “They’re more talented in telling you what they can’t do than solving problems. Then when you ask to speak to a supervisor they break off all contact with you.”
• “it’s… crap.”
• “It’s their game, we’re just playing in it.”

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Thinking about publishing your book through Amazon KDP? You might want to think again after reading the quality, customer service, royalty reporting, and other complaints below. Our parent company, BookLocker.com, competes with Amazon KDP. However, we reject numerous manuscripts each year. When we do, we NEVER recommend authors use Amazon KDP.

Amazon KDP was previously called CreateSpace. Before that, it was BookSurge. No matter how many times they change their name, the complaints from authors continue to stack up. It’s been over a year since we posted an update and it doesn’t appear things have gotten any better at Amazon KDP.

Below are complaints written by Amazon KDP authors, and posted directly to Amazon’s KDP author discussion board on their site. Below those are complaints posted about Amazon KDP to other websites. These are definitely eye-opening! And, this is just a drop in the bucket. There are NUMEROUS complaints in Amazon’s system, and elsewhere, written by their own authors.

COMPLAINTS ABOUT INCORRECT SALES/ROYALTY REPORTING

Report page does not reflect purchase
“What do you do if you know a person who has bought, paid and received a paperback copy of your novel and it isn’t reflected in you reports page.”

Amazon confirms KDP paperback sales report is wrong for some
If they’re outsourcing the printing to another firm, their customers are still buying from Amazon so why don’t they give their authors correct numbers?

Sales for Jan 9-14 still not correct
“You just stated this was fixed and all sales for those days moved to our 1/15 sales but none of the sales numbers for any of those days has changed as of today.”

sales
“Why my (sic) sales report doesn’t show anything since the first report? I have had paperback sales since and it doesn’t show it.”

Why aren’t my sales showing on my report?
“I have a recently published book that I know has been sold (at least once) however the sales aren’t showing up on the report. Why is that happening?”

Disappointed – Sales Ranking/Group Purchases
“So when Amazon decides that group sales – at full retail price – do not qualify to be counted as sales, and the ladies buying these books as a group don’t deserve to be qualified as ‘verified purchases’, it’s… crap.”

SEVERE PRINTING/BINDING ERRORS!

Book Printed Back to Front
“I’ve printed a best-selling book but two people have complained that when they opened the book the interior was back to front. They have given it one star and two stars respectively and this is seriously affecting sales.”

Has anyone else had quality problems with Amazon printed paperbacks?
“I’ve had serious quality control problems with the printing of my book. Some copies are too short, some too long, on almost all copies the cover is improperly aligned when printed. In different orders, I’ve bought several hundred author copies, but the printing quality is hit and miss. I’ve contacted Amazon and they’ve sent other copies as replacement, but the problems are not corrected when I order new books. Every time I contact Amazon they ask for the same thing: pics, bar code etc. I send them as requested, but my issue is not resolved.”

Paperback – runny ink, splotchy book cover
“Through Amazon Prime, I ordered my friend’s book, which was recently published through Amazon KDP. I ordered 3 copies. 2 of the copies had runny ink streaking down on about 15 – 20 pages, and 1 had blotches on the matte cover, which looked like someone handled it after eating fried chicken or potato chips, but the marks are permanent, so maybe it was handled before the finishing surface was dry. 3 out of 3 of the books I purchased had flaws in their print quality.”

Printing error
“Amazon printing stuck another book in the middle of my book. The customer gave me a bad rating and accused me of ‘bait and switch’.”

Poor quality print covers
“Why is the quality of print covers so poor? The finish of the matte versions feel waxy – quite unlike trad published books. And on the glossy versions: the surface peels away after a while. Also, the covers bend/curl and do not lay flat.”

Standards KDP enforce on print houses used
This complaint details three orders from three different countries with three printing/binding errors.

Major PROOF COPY problem
“One of my clients ordered 2 proofs of his latest title after I uploaded it. We both were AMAZED to see, stamped across the cover image, a bar stating NOT FOR RESALE. Hold on, KDP. We authors PAY FULL PRICE for those copies and you have NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER to place your objectionable additions to our covers. My client is angry that he can’t give this as a gift because of your poor policy.”

RIDICULOUS SHIPPING DELAYS AND METHODS

Warning about relying on Amazon for book delivery for author copies
“If you are relying on Amazon to deliver your author copies, be forewarned. They can take a long time and can change the delivery date at their whim. And the famous CS which Amazon boasts about for everyone else, is not extended to authors.”

Serious problems with shipping of author copies
This complaint details poor packaging, damaged books, delivery reporting errors, and more.

Please help. Author copies won’t ship.
“Is anyone else experiencing major author copies delay? I ordered 8/26. They haven’t even shipped yet. I have no estimated delivery date anymore. I’ve called KDP numerous times and no one can give me any info other than ‘too bad.’ I really needed them by this Sat for an author debut I’d already paid for and booked.”

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND HEADACHES FOR AUTHORS

55 Books Ordered – 55 Individual Packages??? WTH???
“Seriously? I ordered 55 AUTHOR COPIES of my book and they sent me 55 SHIPPING CONFIRMATIONS EACH WITH A DIFFERENT TRACKING NUMBER!”

A COMMENT UNDER THAT POST STATES:
“My situation was similar but not quite as bad. I ordered 100 books and they arrived yesterday via the US Post Office in 25 packages – at least there were 4 books in each package. It took quite a while to open each cardboard package and now I have enough cardboard to almost fill my recycling can. Quality of the books was off too – covers weren’t centered and I almost lost the first line of text on the back cover.”

ORDERING DIFFICULTIES!

how to cancel
“How do I cancel my ebook with amazon. They are hiding my book from view as well as refusing legitimate reader reviews for no reason. I need to go somewhere my book will not be censored.”

Authors copies
“…every time I try to order Authors Copies, Amazon won’t allow me yet I can buy my books at full price! How is there no issue with me buying my own book at full price yet I can’t order authors copies. I have spent a considerable amount of time and money trying to resolve this but to no avail.”

Number of Author Copies reverts to 1 in shopping cart
“I am trying to place a quantity order of author copies of my book. I go to my bookshelf, select the quantity of copies and the marketplace and when I click ‘Submit Order’ the quantity changes to 1 in my shopping cart and I am not able to update it to multiple copies at the author copy price.”

my books are blocked
“Why are my books not available via http://amazon.com search. I myself have to buy my books for my customers.”

Ordering Author Copies but not treated professionally
“I found CreateSpace so much better and easier for ordering. With CS, I could order copies of any and all titles on a single invoice sheet. With KDP, I have to order individual titles separately…”

AMAZON KDP SYSTEM ERRORS

So, my first release since losing CreateSpace
“I can’t say that I’m surprised by all the complaints. Amazon is not in the business for making us successful. In fact, if we get too clever, they will put the kabosh in it to push their own agenda. (They did it to me.)”

Book description changed
“Six months ago I changed the blurb for all three of my books and all was fine. I just went in today and the blurb has been changed back to the old one on all three Kindle editions of my books. The paperbacks have kept the new one.”

Cover Creator issues
“Does anyone know if there are issues with this at the moment. I’m trying to upload a front cover image at the moment, just as I always have, and it’s not having any of it. I got frustrated and just tested it to make sure it was uploading other images – and it wouldn’t even upload a cover I have for another book which is already published by Kdp!! Everything comes back as Cover Creator Error, ‘We were unable to process one or more of your images. Please check that the image meets our guidelines and try again.'”

ODD
“I tried removing – one digit at a time, from the end – the code in the browser window for sales, before pressing ‘enter’ with the new, abbreviated code. Got all the way down to ‘reports-new’ before receiving a 404 error, which makes me think my report page is just a standard, generic reports page, rather than one showing my sales, which are zero.”

Why isn’t my book coming up when I enter the title?
“When I type in the title to two of my books and run a search in ‘books’ or ‘all’ they don’t show up. The only way to find them is to look up my name. At the very least people should be able to look up my book according to its title.”

Horrible representation!
“I just had a book go live, looked on Amazon and am horrified at the cover representation used. It’s dull, blurry and has lines through it – This looks nothing like the cover preview I approved.”

Book Cover Significantly Darkened
“When I uploaded my book cover, it was just like I wanted it. I used RGB and a high-dpi image. However, when I printed it out then the book cover came out darkened a lot, and one dark side looked almost completely black instead of medium-brown.”

CUSTOMER SERVICE COMPLAINTS

How to Contact KDP Brass?
“They’re more talented in telling you what they can’t do than solving problems. Then when you ask to speak to a supervisor they break off all contact with you. These people are not infallible — but if they make a mistake that causes you to lose sales — and then refuse to admit they caused the problem — who can you contact for relief?”

I knew this crap would happen!
“Now it’s on your site and I can’t get the copy of the book as it was on createspace which is what I’ve wanted from the beginning! I may not even stay with you if I can get my hands on my book like it was when it was on createspace??? So when is this going to end! I don’t want your paperback setup all I want is my manuscript the same way I left it on createspace??? So how about telling me how to do that and forget all this KDP crap that I’m not interested in!”

ARE FOREIGN AUTHORS NOW HAVING THEIR ROYALTIES REDUCED BY AMAZON’S BANK FEES?

Amazon’s bank charging wire transfer fees to authors and no help from customer service
“From Sept 2019, $25 AU was deducted from every wire transfer I received. I rang my bank as soon as this happened to check if they had started charging the fees and they said no. They said the fee is being deducted on the sender end ie by Amazon’s bank, Deutsche bank. I have stopped my payments and have been trying to resolve this with Amazon for two months now. Every time I talk to one of their service officers, they ask for substantiating information, I provide it, and they make helpful noises, even sending emails saying to give them more time so they can get to the bottom of it. Then two weeks later, I get a cut- and-paste email mansplaining taxes or wire transfers to me. It seems they just try to close off customer issues after a fortnight, regardless of whether they are resolved or not.”

AND, JUST A SMALL SAMPLE OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT AMAZON KDP APPEARING ON OTHER SITES

Amazon aka kdp Amazon issued 1099’s on which I had to pay IRS taxes but Refused to pay me.
“Amazon is also holding my books hostage and refuses to allow me to transfer them…”

The whole setup process has costed (sic) me…
“The whole setup process has costed me days of time and tons of money for my design artist. There is no help and it is far more complicated than it should be.”

Very disappointed with Amazon KDP
“I published a book on KDP, made some updates and ordered books. Ten books were delivered without the updates. Ten more books were delivered without the updates, after I was assured these would contain the updated version. I was told someone placed an order for 26 books (then the number changed to 28) then canceled. I was told I would not get the updated version until all of these 26-28 books were sold (by Amazon).”

Amazon no longer pay (sic) the royalties due!
“Be careful to publish on Amazon KDP. They no longer pay the royalties due and inventing non-existent delays and problems.”

Countdown Deal not working – new Authors are on their own – business and reputation damage comes free
“As great as the KDP idea might be, new authors are completely on their own. The more you put into it, the more of it is wasted time. Because nothing works. You just spread your data here and there, and sales… well, what sales?”

Horrible Customer service
“I attempted to purchase my own book through KDP on Tuesday. I selected one day shipping but the estimated delivery showed one week ! After calling KDP I was told that there was a delay in shipping and too bad. Sorry for your luck. I called customer service and was told the sane thing. ‘Sorry’. I ended up ordering my own book from myself through prime and got it shipped in 3 days.” (NOTE: Authors must pay the full list price on their books when ordering from Amazon.com directly rather than Amazon KDP.)

Amazon makes it easy to buy the wrong version of your favorite book
In a nutshell, Amazon KDP will publish/print just about anything and everything. Some libraries won’t even order books published by Amazon.“

More complaints about SLOW SHIPPING by Amazon KDP

Amazon.com — split shipments
“I am a self-published Australian author with KDP Amazon. I order my author copies in groups of 25. For some reason [unknown to me] my last three orders have been shipped in multiple packages. The worst being one pack of 19 plus SIX individual packs! As I have to pay for posting my books on to Australia… having the order split into more than one package makes the forwarding cost astronomically high.”

Why You Should NOT Be Self Publishing On Amazon 2019
This article details how some Amazon KDP authors have had their accounts instantly shut down…and they can’t collect their unpaid royalties! And, Amazon doesn’t always give authors details about why their account was terminated. “It’s their game, we’re just playing in it.”

MORE

• COMPLAINTS about Amazon KDP’s Shipping Delays – Why does it take 3 weeks to get a book from Amazon?!
• 10 THINGS YOU MUST KNOW about CreateSpace’s Death / “Merger” with KDP Print, and Why Some Authors are FURIOUS!
• Complaints About Amazon’s CreateSpace (now named KDP Print) – Part V
• CREATESPACE COMPLAINTS (now known as KDP Print) – PART IV
• CREATESPACE COMPLAINTS (now known as KDP Print) – PART IV
• MORE CREATESPACE COMPLAINTS (Part III)
• CREATESPACE COMPLAINTS – Part II
• CreateSpace Complaints
• Q – “I tried to publish my book through Amazon’s KDP Print (previously CreateSpace) but that has been a disaster. Can you publish it instead?”
• Are Money Launderers Using CreateSpace to Victimize Authors? And, is CreateSpace to Blame for Not Vetting Books?
• UH OH – PART II! What are Employees of CreateSpace and Lulu Saying About Those Companies?

Got questions about Print On Demand and Self-publishing? Ask Angela Hoy.

About The Author

Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the author of 19 books, and the co-owner of BookLocker.com (one of the original POD publishers that still gets books to market in less than a month), PubPreppers.com (print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish), and Abuzz Press (the publishing co-op that charges no setup fees).

Angela has lived and traveled across the U.S. with her kids in an RV, settled in a river-side home in Bradenton, FL, and lived on a 52 ft Irwin sailboat. Angela now resides on a mountaintop in Northwest Georgia, where she plans to spend the rest of her days bird watching, gardening, hiking, and taking in all of the amazing sunrises.

WritersWeekly.com - the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday.

BookLocker.com - According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is: "As close to perfection as you're going to find in the world of ebook and POD publishing. The ebook royalties are the highest I've ever seen, and the print royalties are better than average. BookLocker understands what new authors experience, and have put together a package that is the best in the business. You can't go wrong here. Plus, they're selective and won't publish any manuscript just because it's accompanied by a check. Also, the web site is well trafficked. If you can find a POD or epublisher with as much integrity and dedication to selling authors' books, but with lower POD publishing fees, please let me know."

Abuzz Press offers FAST and FREE book publication, but only accepts a small percentage of submissions, and only works with U.S. authors.

PubPreppers.com - "We Prep, You Publish!" Print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish. Offers formatting and design services only, and then provides simple instructions for authors on where to sign up to have the print and ebook editions printed/listed/sold. Cut out the middle man. Keep 100% of what bookstores pay for your book!

Angela's POD Secrets Revealed Series can be found HERE.

Have a POD Book with another publisher? See if BookLocker can give you a better deal. (BookLocker offers "disgruntled author discounts" to those who want to move from other POD services.)

See BookLocker's publishing packages HERE.

ANGELA ON TWITTER https://twitter.com/AngelaHoy

BOOKLOCKER ON FACEBOOK - Provides links to free excerpts!
https://www.facebook.com/booklockerbooks

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https://www.facebook.com/angela.hoy.750

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelahoy/

Angela is the creator of the Original 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
https://24hourshortstorycontest.com/

Read More Of Angela's Articles HERE

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