So it was that, on November 8th 2022, Amazon KDP closed my account and unpublished all my books.
Their reasoning, as explained in the previous blog, seems to be based on the 2020s Pop Star Colouring Book that I tried to re-publish after it had been blocked. Possibly, had I left that one alone, my books would have carried on being published. But, it seems, that once they've closed your account, all your books disappear and they're gone.
The more painful things are a) that they keep any money they haven't paid you, which would be about £120 for October's sales (and, I think, I was awaiting September's sales too, I can never work out how long the back-dating process was) and £60 for the books I'd already sold in November, and b) that November was shaping up to be a good month. I was going to do quite well out of the run up to Christmas.
So, looking at the history of my Amazon KDP publishing, and in particular those colouring books, it could be said that, overall, they weren't the most profitable way of spending time anyway.
The Eurovision Colouring Book was, yes, having sold 229 copies. That earned over £500, so justified the best-part-of-a-week it took to produce.
But the others turn out to have been mostly labours of love. And, although I'm particularly proud of the Punk book and the 1960s book, they only sold 31 and 19 copies respectively, meaning I did all that work for sixty quid here and forty quid there. Had they stayed on sale on Amazon, they might have done the same again by the end of the year, which really doesn't amount to much.
My second best-selling book was the 1980s book, which sold just 187 copies after a year, so about £400 worth. Others sold about 20 copies each, and a couple sold less than 10.
Sadly my third best seller wasn't a colouring book, it was The Book Of Esther, which shifted 40 copies.
And my true labours of love, the works of which I'm genuinely proud, my graphic novels, sold probably poorest of all. Tales From The Bible had only sold 28 copies before the plug was pulled, Findlay Macbeth 11, Prince Of Denmark Street 6, and Midsummer Nights Dream Team 5. It turns out Amazon KDP didn't signify for sales of my "proper" work, which has sold much much more through its Kickstarter campaign, via orders from libraries (through Gardners) and at comic festivals.
As for the next big project, the crime novels, it would seem Heather will have to publish them. And she can look forward to reaping the vast fortune we're about to make (he says, very very optimistically!)
My graphic novels, the Shakespearian ones, can be found on Etsy. Tales From The Bible may see life as a self-published title again if I can find a short-run printer that compares in price to Amazon KDP. But as for the Pop Star Colouring Books? All I can say is that, if you own one, you have a very rare collectors' item classic. I hope you haven't scribbled all over it in felt tip pen!
(Kev F's graphic novels)
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy
Midsummer Nights Dream Team - Amazon - Etsy
2 comments:
Hope Amazon will reinstate your account. You are appealing, right? You can also try to publish your books on Lulu.
Thanks, I'm appealing, yes.
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