Coffee heat rising

Amazon Publishing? Think Again!

Check this out:

This afternoon, what should land in the incoming email but this stalwart message from Amazon:

On Jul 10, 2023, at 4:44 PM, KDP Customer Support <support+5003n00002ihn8oAAA@kdp-support.amazon.com> wrote:
Hello,

We received a failure notification when attempting to pay your KDP royalties. To receive your payment, you’ll need to update your bank information in the following marketplaces:
Amazon.com,Amazon.com.au

To ensure we have the correct bank information on file, we’ve placed your royalties on hold while you update your information.

If you’ve corrected your bank information within the last three business days, you can disregard this email. We’ll attempt to pay your royalties using your updated bank information in the next payment cycle. You can check the KDP payment schedule here: https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/G200641050#schedule

For security purposes, you cannot edit your current account’s bank information. Follow these steps to delete the existing bank account and add a new one:

1. Sign in to http://kdp.amazon.com.
2. Click “Your Account” in the top-right corner of the page.
3. Choose the option on how you want to receive the one-time password (OTP).
4. Follow the instructions to complete the Two-Step Verification using your phone or an authenticator app.
5. After you receive the OTP, enter it and click “OK.”
6. Click “Getting Paid.”
7. If you have a bank account entered, delete it by clicking “Delete” under the account’s name.
8. Click “Add another bank account.”
9. Under “Tell us about your bank,” follow the prompts to add a new bank account.
10. You may see a message asking for a bank in a different location (Amazon does not support electronic payments everywhere).
11. Click “Add.” You’ll see a green checkmark showing your information has been updated.
12. Click “Save.”

To learn more about adding a bank account, check our Help:
https://kdp.amazon.com/help/topic/G200641050#add_bank

To check your payment status on the KDP report, visit https://kdp.amazon.com/reports-new

Regards,
The Kindle Direct Publishing team
© 1996-2023, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Amazon and Kindle are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. 410 Terry Avenue North Seattle, Washington 98109 US

Please note: This is a transactional message regarding your account. Your subscription preferences will continue to be honored for all future commercial e-mails from Kindle Direct Publishing.

 

Uh-HUH! Isn’t that innaresting?

Well, folks…my little bookoids have been posted on Amazon for YEARS. All told, they’ve generated…oh, I dunno, maybe $50 at the outside. Not because Amazon’s operatives can’t access my account: this vast wealth has steadfastly been direct-deposited.

As a matter of fact, I wrote off the “publishing” (hah!!) enterprise many months ago. “Years” may be the operative term. I’ve never received more than a few bucks from Amazon — as in “double-digit figures” — and not more than a couple of times. So frankly, I’ve pretty much dismissed the whole endeavor. The only reason the books  still reside on this website is that I’ve been too lazy to take them down. And, Dear Reader, you can access most of them here for free, simply by clicking on the images in the right-hand margin.

It’s getting late in the day now, and I’m tired from the heat and the other tasks I’ve had to do today. But tomorrow, I’ll remove book ads from the site as necessary, or rework them so that they refer wannabe buyers to me, not to Amazon. The truth of the matter is, if you have something to say that’s worth putting in print, you’re far, FAR better off to go through a real publishing house than to fart around with self-publishing — Amazon or otherwise. If a publisher doesn’t want to pick your idea up, it’s probably not worth the cost of typesetting, editing, publicizing, printing, and shipping.

Meanwhile…to KDP, I have this to say:

It would appear that KDP is VERY shady:  https://writersweekly.com/angela-desk/and-even-more-complaints-about-amazon-kdp-kindle-direct-publishin

I am not going to spend my time and work myself up into a state of computer-induced frustration because suddenly Amazon (or whoever you really are) decides to rip off the vast wealth my piddling little books generate.

None of my banking information has changed. If you can’t send me whatever vast fortune my work is producing, then kindly take it off your platform. If you don’t want to hear from my lawyers, please have the decency not to use this device to cheat me out of whatever royalties the things have brought in. And please note: your company would be well advised to let me know when you comply with this request.

Millicent V. Hay (Victoria Hay)
Hay Writing & Editing, Inc.
Phoenix, Arizona