When Amazon Says You’re a Disappointment
And suddenly quitting feels like the sensible option
Yesterday, for the first Wednesday in months, I didn’t publish a piece on Vocal.
Believe me, I wanted to. I had it all written up and ready to go. I was going to share the news that I had officially become a published author.
I sat there looking at my Amazon Bookshelf, hitting refresh all day long. Finally, at 4 p.m., I hit that refresh button for the last time, and those angry, red, offensive capital letters glared back at me.
BLOCKED
Then below it:
Your title is unavailable for editing due to either a copyright restriction or blocked content. Check your email for more details.
Huh?
I would have loved to check my email, but I had some issues with keywords earlier in the week, and I’ve discovered it takes exactly four hours for the email to come through once they’ve flagged an issue in your Bookshelf.
Oh, and by the way, Amazon, thanks for not bringing up the major copyright issue the other day when you gave me the impression that I just needed to fix a few minor keywords and I’d be on my way.
Feeling deflated, it was time to pick up my son from daycare. The perfect way to end a terrible afternoon would have been to get a nice, big bear hug from my loving child.
As always, at pickup, he ran straight past me and into Dad’s arms. He went on happily saying, “That’s my Dada,” all the way home.
We got home and then spent an hour in terrible two land with tantrums, hitting and screaming before we finally put him to bed.
After that, I had just enough energy to sit and stare into space for an hour before my Amazon email finally arrived:
Based on our review, we won't be accepting your submission for publication because the book(s) might result in a disappointing customer experience.
There it was, the crappy icing on the terrible cake that had been my day. To my exhausted mum brain, Amazon was telling me my book wasn’t good enough for publication.
I emailed them straight back, asking for more information.
Is it not obvious that authors need that information to resolve the problem? You can’t just flag something as having a copyright issue, then say it might be disappointing to the customer, without telling the author why?
Do they not realise a dedicated person has poured hours into this project? They’ve used up everything they have left in them to get this book, a book that means the world to them, published. They need to know how they can fix the issue.
I got a reply almost straight away saying:
We received the information you submitted for the following book(s).
We need some additional time to review everything. We'll contact you again within 5 business days with more information.
Five business days. Great. I’ll just sit here for another week wondering if I’ll ever get this book published.
Once they get in touch with me, I’ll have to use my tiny snatches of spare time to fix the issue, go through the whole submission process again, and wait another 72 hours to find out what the next issue is.
In the meantime, my brain will continue wondering:
Am I good enough? It’s a common writer problem I’ve wrestled with throughout this whole process.
Is it all even worth the stress?
And if it ever does get published, will I even sell more than a few copies to just family and friends?
I’m not giving up just yet. But first, I’m going to sit in a dark room, watch a horror movie, and eat a block of chocolate.
Then we’ll see.
About the Creator
Sandy Gillman
I’m a mum to a toddler, just trying to get through the day. I like to write about the ups and downs of parenting. I’m not afraid to tell it like it is. I hope you’ll find something here to laugh, relate to, and maybe even learn from.
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Comments (38)
Aw! You poor dear! The good news is, you used the experience to gain a Top Story!🤩✅ I hope you get it all sorted out soon. Very frustrating! 😵💫 Great job on writing a book. I’m sorry, but Horror & I are incompatible, so I will have to wait for your humorous books!😬🤗
What a nightmare you're going through. I hope you hear something positive back soon. I know how difficult waiting can be.
Hey, Sandy, you're never going to give anyone a "disappointing customer experience." Don't give up just because of disappointing Amazon. You're way better than that.
"Disappointing customer experience"? Geez, that's what they're doling out to you, Sandy - big time. Hang in there! You got TS on this (congrats!) and Amazon gets a big fail on their disappointing customer service.
Oh my!!! I can only imagine how distraught this made you, Sandy! But don't give up! You'll get there, and when you do, it'll be that much sweeter for you <3
My gosh that was a horrible way to treat you.
Congratulations on Top story :) I hope all will be solved soon had bad experiences with many platforms in different area so i gave up these all virtual platforms but hopefully You will find your way through somehow ! Dont give up these all bots are no longer human made :) at least you have your work saved so you can choose plenty of possibilities to do it in my case they have deleted 15 years and two years of my print design and guidance so that was something i couldnt recover and i was in the process of healing heavy stuff so never count on virtual world its all as bubbly as it really is I think we should come back to writing with pen it could make a change hahaha but yes i know making a living from what we love should be possible for all I am wishing you all the Best and more luck in the Horse year !
congrats top story
You are good enough. AMAZON IS NOT THE ONLY ONE . LULU PUBLISHED BOOK, AS WELL. AMAZON IS RUN BY AI unfortunately 😒
Chocolate will definitely help. Thank you for sharing this, because it's important for other writers to see this nightmare. Hope the news gets better soon. ❤️
I'm so sorry Sandy; Amazon can be such a nightmare when you need to communicate them! Don't let the b*strds get you down - we're all rooting for you!
I feel for you, Sandy, and your sorrow comes through. Don't let them get you down. As you can see from all the comments and the Top Story recognition, we all love you and what you do.
I've had an entire publishing platform yanked from under me--one hundred books, most public domain titles I had been selling for extra money for years. Covering all viewpoints, philosophical, political, existential, spiritual, etc. I suppose my idea of 'free speech" was just a little too free. It took me years to build that imprint, and it was all instantly erased by an arbitrary decision from some low-grade I.Q. in about ten minutes. Crimethink https://customer-opinion.top/theSwamp/crimethink%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
What are they thinking???!!!??? Holy crap, I feel for you. I'm so sorry you're going through this mess. Way to stay on the positive side of it by focusing on the TS. Cheers. 💜
I am so sorry Sandy. I can't imagine how many hours have went into that. I hope they give you a more forward answer soon ( hopefully in less than 5 business days ) and then can explain what could possibly be so wrong. And also a disappointing customer experience???? When someone buys and reads a books - they will enjoy some more than others, that is simply what happens when you purchase and read a book. How ridiculous. I'm so sorry :(
Don't give up. Your stories are fantastic. I'm sure many writers have also suffered the disappointing rejection before success. Hang in there.
That’s really weird. The first round must have been an AI check and the five days should be human, I guess. Just wait, Sandy. There must be something silly the non-intelligent ai picked. The text below “blocked” sounds automated. I wouldn’t worry. Everyone has automated responses now. For your peace of mind, you are more than enough. I’ve told you how good and funny and clever your writer is. It was an honest reader’s observation. I’m pretty sure you’ll laugh about this in the future. Just wait and demand that a human revises your case and reads your book. You’re good, Sandy. That’s all you need to know. Lots of hugs. Everything will be alright and your book soon on your shelf. 🤗💗💕🌸💐
You are beyond good enough! I'd love to read your book. Hang in there!
Wow, how rude!
Woah, Amazon deciding what is a "disappointing" customer experience? /Amazon/ ??? They wouldn't know irony if it bit them, and it's practically gnawed off their leg already. Hope you're on the other side of that awful day now. Today has to be better.
WTF?!?!?! Idiots... this is so annoying. Especially with all the crap I read because of stupid booktok (IKR why did I even jump on the wagon...), at least let the reader decide if something is disappointing for them. I'm pretty sure your writing is 100x better than those over-hyped books I read. Don't give up on this! 💗 They can have all the stupid reasons, but don't let them discourage you. Once I tried to self-publish my novel on Google books and they blocked my entire account because according to them I can't even prove if I wrote it... but they didn't tell me how to prove it. You're going to find a way to publish it.
Congrats on your top story, too! I got so caught up in yakking that I forgot to say it!💗😊
No, Sandy, do not give up! I have published a handful of children's books on Amazon, and let me tell you that they do NOT always get things right. Is it annoying? Hell, yes, but trust me when I tell you that your writing is well beyond good enough. A five-day wait is frustrating, but I believe you will resolve whatever issue is looming, likely an AI thing. I am currently working on my debut poetry collection, set for release this year. I will not allow Amazon's publishing process to weigh me down. Please stick with it and keep your chin up. You can always email me, if you like, if you need another set of eyes.
So sorry to hear this - a couple of thoughts. There is another book on Amazon of 10 horror stories with the same title https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Your-Mind-Stories-Before-ebook/dp/B0BY7DDH2K, so that could be the problem. Plus, where did you create the cover? There has been an issue with people using Canva, as apparently, even if you have a Pro account, you don't hold the copyright to images, so Amazon may not accept them.