Kate Rothwell's Blog, page 22
March 26, 2012
Pssst--hey you! Want a book?
Listen, it's easy. Just email me or leave a comment below and you get a FREE copy of my latest book! Yes. It is that simple.
Now the drawback: I'll probably put you on my mailing list (unless you're there already). I shall probably look at you with big, sad eyes, hoping you
write a review, but I will not nag you.
And those two drawbacks aren't so bad. I only email you when I have a new book out. And you won't actually see my big, sad eyes. So it's worth it.
Warning: I don't have that many to give away, so let me know soon.
In 2310, Jazz White is
one of few surviving soldiers of a hated regime. Now "reprogrammed",
stripped of many of his memories and killing skills, Jazz is an outcast
until he's summoned by the government's elite time-travel agency and
told he must journey to the 1800s. His mission—to protect Eliza Wickman,
an English woman trapped in war-torn Spain. Once he arrives in the
dreadful place, it becomes clear he's been tricked. His real
mission—Jazz must father her child, who will prove important to the
future of civilization.Guilt-ridden by his deception, Jazz must keep
Eliza safe while he escorts her to England, all the while fighting his
attraction to her innocent eroticism. But an agent from his time has
other plans, and does his best to sabotage Jazz's efforts. As the
connection between him and Eliza grows, the agent could be the least of
Jazz's worries. His biggest fear is far more personal—what will happen
once Eliza learns the truth?
Now the drawback: I'll probably put you on my mailing list (unless you're there already). I shall probably look at you with big, sad eyes, hoping you
write a review, but I will not nag you.
And those two drawbacks aren't so bad. I only email you when I have a new book out. And you won't actually see my big, sad eyes. So it's worth it.
Warning: I don't have that many to give away, so let me know soon.
In 2310, Jazz White is
one of few surviving soldiers of a hated regime. Now "reprogrammed",
stripped of many of his memories and killing skills, Jazz is an outcast
until he's summoned by the government's elite time-travel agency and
told he must journey to the 1800s. His mission—to protect Eliza Wickman,
an English woman trapped in war-torn Spain. Once he arrives in the
dreadful place, it becomes clear he's been tricked. His real
mission—Jazz must father her child, who will prove important to the
future of civilization.Guilt-ridden by his deception, Jazz must keep
Eliza safe while he escorts her to England, all the while fighting his
attraction to her innocent eroticism. But an agent from his time has
other plans, and does his best to sabotage Jazz's efforts. As the
connection between him and Eliza grows, the agent could be the least of
Jazz's worries. His biggest fear is far more personal—what will happen
once Eliza learns the truth?
March 22, 2012
People have asked
hey Kate, have you heard back from Amazon? Has your pal Jon Fine figured out what happened? Any word yet?
What was that about?
Answer: No; not as far as I know; I've had no word yet.
I have no clue.
Okay, maybe I did get a clue, from astute person Jody Wallace, who pointed out that it was likely plagiarism-- again.
Will I spend time and energy going after this?
Now that the book is down, at last, a stake driven through its heart, I'm less frothing and upset. I got used to pirates, after all. Maybe I'll get used to plagiarists.
I hope not.
What was that about?
Answer: No; not as far as I know; I've had no word yet.
I have no clue.
Okay, maybe I did get a clue, from astute person Jody Wallace, who pointed out that it was likely plagiarism-- again.
Will I spend time and energy going after this?
Now that the book is down, at last, a stake driven through its heart, I'm less frothing and upset. I got used to pirates, after all. Maybe I'll get used to plagiarists.
I hope not.
March 21, 2012
Two of my books are up for awards!! Getting to be a final...
Two of my books are up for awards!! Getting to be a finalist is a very cool surprise--though the winning vote won't go for me (or rather us, since one is a BD/SD book, House of Mirrors). #1 reason: the competition has some good books in there. #2 both are the get-out-the-vote sort of awards and I'm not going to push for them, and is Bonnie.
We're both working on books, thank you, though nothing together at the moment.
Where are these contests you ask? House of Mirrors is at The Romance Review.
the other is at the Sammies and whoops! That one is closed. But I do have this nifty button from TRR. Pretty!
Since we're talking promofomoschmomo here's an article I wrote over at Heroes and Heartbreakers. In which I define qualities of Chick Lit and Young Adult and then decide who did it first. So yes, I'm a presence on the internet.
We're both working on books, thank you, though nothing together at the moment.
Where are these contests you ask? House of Mirrors is at The Romance Review.the other is at the Sammies and whoops! That one is closed. But I do have this nifty button from TRR. Pretty!
Since we're talking promofomoschmomo here's an article I wrote over at Heroes and Heartbreakers. In which I define qualities of Chick Lit and Young Adult and then decide who did it first. So yes, I'm a presence on the internet.
March 14, 2012
Short Story
This was published in "The Monocacy Valley Review" which hasn't existed for a very long time. It was my first paid fiction project.
BLURRING
"What I don't understand is why you said I was a mechanic,
for God sake. I hate to get my hands dirty. Why a mechanic?" David is
speaking quietly. Has he calmed down?
Janice shrugs. She doesn't think he'd pay much attention to
any answer she could give and, anyway, she isn't sure why she said a mechanic.
Perhaps because he looks like one: thick fingers on a slight, unathletic body.
She can imagine him wiping his glasses on a rag he's just pulled from his
coveralls, telling the customer that the distributors shot.
David and Janice are driving home from a party. They live
outside town. David insisted on getting a place for the garden because Janice
said she liked gardening. She was enthusiastic at first, reading the seed
packages, watching for the first green shoots. By the end of the summer,
though, the garden was a jungle of weeds and choked tomato plants. By winter,
David complained about the long commute into the university, and now Janice
wishes they lived closer in.
The trip is too long tonight. Janice is looking at the ground outside the car. Out the front window, it comes at
her stately and slow; at the side it whirls by. She's trying her best to ignore
David.
"Oh, Jan." He sounds sad and tired, but not
particularly upset. It is November, too cold to roll down the Chevy's windows
and lean out the way she wants to.
The party had been noisy, crowded and smelled of overheated bodies. Jugs and boxes of Gallo wine
were lined up on a rough wooden bench. Otherwise there was no furniture in sight.
"You didn't tell me it was going to be a student party,"
Janice shouted into David's ear, as they looked for a place to dump their
coats.
"We should go to any party we can," he shouted
back." At least until we get to know more people."
He waved and yelled to someone, a woman with long braids and
Nietzsche tee-shirt. "That's one of the people giving this," he told
Janice."A grad student. She's into German philosophers. Why don't you try to
meet some of these people?"
Janice patted his arm. She knew he was offering her this
party as he given her the garden, something for her to really do. Out at the
farmhouse sometimes she could be alone for days, seeing only David and the
women at the market. She made loaves of bread and ate them in front of the
television set. She enjoyed her near empty days; she'd getting a waitressing
job soon enough when they needed the money again. But David worried, and in the
evenings he watched her from his desk, looking for listlessness she supposed.
David introduced her to the woman with the braids, but she
couldn't hear the name through the noise. They smiled and nodded at each other
and then Janice shooed David and the woman off to dance.
Janice doesn't like dancing. She's certain she looks
ridiculous, a pudgy lumbering woman, a little too old for the wild music and
the swaying bodies around her. She watches David flap and stomp.
The first party he'd ever taken her to was full of people
like this. Some of the women wore loose, vivid dresses; all of the men wore the
uniform of blue jeans and T-shirts. That didn't vary from school to school.
At the first party, some of the students recognized her from
the restaurant. They'd come over to say hello; she'd been so pleased that they
remembered her name. Scholars were such quirky exotic creatures. She was almost a part of them then, not so old, standing
next her connection to brilliance, her own splendid David.
The music at this party seemed impossibly loud. David was absorbed in dance,
frantic high jumps. The room was thick with people dancing now. A couple
jostled her and waved apologetically. She wandered into a quieter room, a
brightly lit kitchen.
A group stood near the fridge; they seem to be telling jokes. It would
probably be easy to get in on the conversations, but she veered away when she heard one of punch-lines: "Martin Heidegger."
A small flushed woman wearing round glasses stood by the
drinks table. On her the glasses should be called spectacles; Janice was almost
surprised when the woman greeted her without a trace of an English accent.
"This one isn't half bad," she told Janice and pointed
to one of the green jugs. Janice had had enough cheap wine in her four
years as an assistant professor's wife. She smiled and said, "Well, no
thank you. I really can't."
The woman nodded but looked interested. Without thinking,
Janice added, "I'm expecting."
The woman clapped her hands as if this
were the best news she'd heard for months. Janice was just trying to work out a
good story for why the baby was never going to appear, in case the woman worked
with David, when the woman introduced herself. "My name is Phoebe. Do you
work at the university? I don't think I've seen you around."
"No, no," said Janice." I'm not working just now.
My husband is making enough to support both of us. A friend of his goes to the university." She waved her hand, half-pointing to the other room. "I'm
not sure what he...We're just here to see him."
And then the story of David as a mechanic came out. Janice
told Phoebe about the strange hours mechanic had to keep, about the late-night
phone calls. "My husband is very patient with these people. I know I
couldn't be."
Phoebe nodded vigorously, her glasses catching the light. "What
did you do before?" she asked. "If it's not too rude…"
Janice had been a waitress for years. She was good at it and
even enjoyed waiting tables, but waitressing sounded so dull. And a lot of
students seem to have tried out restaurant jobs.
"Well, I quit my job real early. I was an editor, you know
kind of freelance. I worried about the stress." Janice patted her stomach.
Phoebe beamed at her and told her that she was glad to meet
someone aware of dangers to prenatal health. "I'm a nutritionist,"
she told Janice.
"A nutritionist, how wonderful!" She could have guessed. Phoebe seemed like a scientist, neat fingernails, simple clothes. "What
do nutritionists do?"
Phoebe scratched the side of her neck."Oh, it's such a bore to
most people."
"No sir, tell me about it.
I'd love to be an expert about something so common and important as
food." Janice touched Phoebe's arm.
Phoebe explained how she worked testing bowls of cereal by
weighing them. She spoke so quietly, Janice had to lean forward to hear her.
Such a nice change from the other professors Janice knew, who spoke loudly
enough for the whole room to hear, speaking and gesturing as if giving a lecture
to a hall full of fascinated students, instead of talking to one slightly bored
acquaintance.
Phoebe was leaning against the table quite relaxed now,
telling about a girl who came to one of her nutrition classes carrying an
apron, when David appeared. He caught sight of them and galloped up, pink from
dancing. His pale hair was on end even more than usual. He did love dancing. "You've got a halo," Janice told him. "A halo of hair, Saint
David."
He stood by her, posing a little, with one hand on each of
her shoulders. "Ah, Phoebe, so you've met my wife."
Phoebe blurted, "I thought you said your husband was a
mechanic."
"A mechanic?" He let go of Janice's shoulders.
Phoebe was blushing now."I mean maybe not. Maybe she
didn't say that exactly. It's so loud in here. We are having a hard time
hearing."
Janice felt grateful. She wanted to thank her after David
walked away, but Phoebe was silent and wouldn't look up from her drink, cupping
it both hands. David came back with the coats, and Phoebe immediately wandered
off, waving to someone in the crowd the Janice couldn't see. David pushed her
coat at her and walked to the car.
**
They've driven a couple of blocks and are almost at the town's edge when he says. "What
else did you say?"
She considers exploding. Why does he suppose Janice said
anything? Phoebe told him she might have been wrong. But she's too
tired. He'll become angry, and after some tears, he'd weasel it out of her.
This is something they've lived through before.
"Oh, well, something about expecting a baby."
"A baby? And a mechanic? Why are they becoming so elaborate?"
He never referred to her lies by name.
This is the question she doesn't know
the answer to. Now she watches the houses and, outside the town, the trees blur
out of sight.
It is true; she's become reckless. Five years before, about
the time she met David in the restaurant, she would only change incidental
people, telling stories about someone she'd seen on the bus. Since they've been
married, she started to change the lives of people she knows, even their own
lives, changing her identity with almost every person she meets.
David didn't notice until he had to explain to his last
department head that he wasn't seriously ill, that his wife was mistaken. After
that he talked to Janice. Holding her in bed, his face in her hair, he asked
the questions urgently. She'd been unable to speak, choking on her tears.
David noticed more after that, and still Janice didn't stop.
The last time he found her telling a story was the spring before, during the
long drive through the cornfields, while they were moving here. He came out of
the bathroom of the diner as she was talking to a trucker about her life as a
missionary. She thought he was going to talk to her, but he just walked away
quickly. She hesitated tiny moment before trotting after him.
Sometimes she
asked herself what if he driven away then? What if David had been gone when she
went out to find him? But he hadn't driven away; he was standing by the car.
The sight of him, his round face drawn in, the perspiration sticking the shirt
to his thin back, made her run across the parking lot.
At last David is silent. She's drifting off when he
asks,"Why a department secretary? If you had to tell that stuff to
someone, I don't understand why it couldn't be a sales clerk or
something."
"Secretary," she says.
"Yeah. Why did you have to say all that to someone I
see every day? What do you think Phoebe's going to tell people?"
She punches his leg and laughs. David wants to know what is
so goddamn funny, but Janice just shakes her head. He turns his eyes back to
the road and drives too fast. Janice laughs until her insides feel gloriously
scrubbed and aching.
"You know," she says, "any one of
my stories could be true. I mean, I don't say anything about little green
men."
David slows down. He is chewing his lower lip, a sign that that
he is concentrating on listening. This is the first time she has brought the
subject up herself.
She giggles again. "Can you imagine if I did? The
National Enquirer would be knocking on our door."
He speaks so quietly she can barely hear. "So. You
just don't care, do you? You say stupid things, you get caught, and you look
stupid, and you don't care."
Janice looks over but he is silent now. Even in the dark,
she can see his face is blank.
" Well, Phoebe —" she begins.
David shakes his head."I'm tired. I don't want to talk
about it now." He speaks politely, as if to an annoying student.
He's squeezing and releasing the steering wheel, squeezing
and releasing and chewing his lip, not looking over at her.
Janice is glad he interrupted her.
She wonders if the party is David's last offering to her. Poor
David, who likes strong definitions, who likes people to be predictable (Janice
imagines this is because of the shadowy nature of his work) is married to a
woman who is a muddle to him. Even her form is melting. Once her figure was
clear; now she is a soft round shape. Her lines grow hazy.
They ride the last few minutes in silence. Janice leans
against the window, pretending to sleep. As they pull into the driveway, she is
nearly asleep. She sees Phoebe in a white lab coat. Phoebe's teaching a class.
Her handwriting on the board is round, Janice decides — Catholic schoolgirls'
neat. Somewhere in the room, Phoebe's put up pictures of happy children eating from
all four food groups. Janice often meets her there after class. She imagines
Phoebe telling her about amino acids as they walked slowly, arm-in-arm, across
campus to eat together in a vegetarian restaurant.
March 13, 2012
Dear Amazon.... It's me, Kate. AGAIN.
Hey, about that plagiarized book on your site? I wish you'd send me the money from sales of that book, but you did send me the plagiarists' address and suggest I track him down on my own to get my cash, that's something, I guess.
Now it's this new situation that has me perplexed. Someone took the profits from one of my books--a book that was not authorized for sale--and that someone is you.
This is from a book I tried to eliminate from your site, but, you told me no, the dashboard is forever. I can't take away anything, just take the book into the draft form and it'll never pop up on the sale page again. You promised!
SO imagine my confusion when The Rat Catcher, a book I'd said goodbye and buried forever, suddenly showed up with a BUY IT NOW button. I immediately went to my KDP board and hit the "unpublish button" I hit that baby a lot.
Nothing happened. The book stayed up there.
So I started writing letters. Here. Let me refresh your memory on this.
'User sent request while logged in as customer:
Topic: Remove a book - Other
Question/Feedback:
The rat catcher is my book and it's supposed to be in
draft form, not for sale, and draft is how it appears on my kindle publishing
page. Yet is now for sale.
It was down for a long time but suddenly has shown up
again. When I saw it a relatively low number, I asked you guys to remove it
from the list of my books. I got a response from you saying the book was gone,
but I can still find it and so can someone else, apparently. It has a new
review. PLEASE TAKE THE BOOK DOWN. http://amzn.com/B0076TTAKY
I can't do anything because it's not listed as anything
but draft-- it still has a buy button and it has had a fair number of sales.
Could you look into that please?
Thank you,
Kate Rothwell
=============
You sent me another form letter explaining how to take down the book. I know how to take it down. I tried. So I admit I got a little rude. I said I wanted the BOOK OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM. You answered with a non-form letter at last. Thanks for that!
===========
-----Original Message-----
From: Kindle Direct
Publishing
Hello,
At this time, it is not possible to completely remove an
unpublished book from the Bookshelf. I'm
sorry if this may cause you any inconvenience. However, I've changed the status
of your book to "Blocked" in your Bookshelf. If you prefer to make
corrections to this title and make it available for sale again, please write
back to us and we will change the status back to "Draft."
I hope this helps. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.
================
All Right. Fine. But now ..... what about the money?
So I wrote asking about that:
I can see that over the last few weeks of me trying to
get it out of the system, the title sold a few copies (the numbers went up and
down) where would I see those sales since it's not listed anywhere?
================
And yeah, that's right, I got a familiar answer, telling me to check my dashboard. This, by the way, is the third letter from you telling me to check my dashboard. Here is one, just for old time's sake.
-Original Message-----
From: Kindle Direct
Publishing [mailto:kdp-support@amazon.com]
Subject: Your Amazon KDP Inquiry
Hello Kate,
In order to check your sales reports, log into your KDP
account at https://kdp.amazon.com and
access the "Reports" section on the KDP Dashboard.
We have three types of reports available:
1. Month-to-date Unit Sales - transactions for the
current and prior month 2. Prior Six Weeks' Royalties - transactions for the
past six weeks (generated on Sundays) 3. Prior Months' Royalties - transactions
for the previous twelve months (generated by the 15th day of the month)
......[deleted because you know that form letter don't you? You've sent me quite a few]
I hope this is helpful. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.
==============
No. It is not helpful. I think I made it clear: there are no sales numbers for that book. Nothing. But then, wait a sec. WHOOPS!! THE BOOK IS LISTED WITH A BUY IT NOW BUTTON AGAIN!!!
WTF? I called Author Central and got a nice lady who couldn't help me -- KDP and Author Central are different divisions who don't seem to communicate much. There's no phone number for the technical side of things, and that's not a big surprise. You guys are obviously very busy.
=================
-----Original Message-----
To: 'kdp-support+A1S6A2822CEXZP@amazon.com'
Subject: RE: Your Amazon KDP Inquiry
No. You don't understand the question--I guess I didn't
make it clear. I know how to check my dashboard and sales logs. But this is a
book that was listed as "draft" and has been for months, maybe even
years. Therefore it is not showing up in reports. Yet I know that copies have
sold. Why do I know this? Because when I checked a few times over the last few
weeks, the book was listed as for sale, and the numbers for the book went fairly
low, as in copies were sold. Also because another, NEW review has shown up.
ALSO, WHEN I GO TO THE PAGE, THE BOOK IS LISTED AS FOR SALE---AGAIN!! There is a buy it
now button, which wasn't there a few months ago. I keep TRYING to take it down,
pushing the "unpublish" button on the dashboard, but nothing happens
on the amazon page.
That's why I've contacted you guys, more than once, to take it
down.
Please. Follow the link at the bottom of this message and
take it down--and then (because I cannot see these figures on my kdp pages,
because the book is listed as a draft) tell me how many copies have sold over
the last few months.
Thank you,
Kate Rothwell
============================================
Silence. . . But it's only a day or two, so I won't get on your case for being a bad correspondent. And the book vanished again. That's good.
=============================
Connect with KDP and other Authors and Publishers:
Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KindleDirectPublishing
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/AmazonKDP
---- Original message: ----
Okay the book is no longer for sale. But during the time
it was, at least four books sold--I know this because people told me they
bought it. There is no record of those sales on my dashboard. How can I get the
money due to me?
I wouldn't push this but I recently lost sales due to a
plagiarist on Amazon so I'm turning into a penny-pinching money-grubber.
Kate
======================
-----Original Message-----
From: Kindle Direct
Publishing [mailto:kdp-support@amazon.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 7:10 AM
Subject: Your Amazon KDP Inquiry
Hello Kate,
I'm very sorry for the confusion this issue may have
caused.
I checked your sales reports and I can confirm that the
last copy of your book "The Rat Catcher" was sold in January 2011. [WHAT? That's about when someone told me it had popped up again--no wait, that was 1/2012. Sorry.]
In order for us to investigate this issue further, please
write back to us with more information, namely the order numbers and possibly
the names of the purchasers. [I bolded this. Because...WTF?]
We'd be glad to get to the bottom of this issue as soon
as possible. You may reply to us by visiting this page:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/contact-us
I hope this helps. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.
==========
HOLY CRAP! I'm supposed to find the sales YOU made? But what hurts even more, I'm back to the beginning again. You're sending me to the basic "contact us" button? After all we've been through together? Nooooo!! I feel like I did when I had to play Chutes and Ladders with my kids and ended up at the start spot after hours of playing.
=========
my response to you :
You're kidding, right? I'm supposed to track down and ask
a bunch of people I don't know for their sales information about my book?
Not going to happen. . . oh, but I did track down and asked the one person who wrote a review of
the story (a review that's lost and I'd like to put on the new edition of the
book, which is now called Someone to Cherish). Anyway she was nice enough to
emailed me her order number almost at once. This is an order from March 4.
I enclosed her number . .
============
That's where we left it. I eagerly await your next botchery of my books. I don't actually think you guys are Out To Get Us, but isn't it funny how you somehow end up with the money? Sorry my books don't sell better, but I imagine if you have enough people like me, you don't need us to hand over best sellers.
UPDATE: I'm in ranty mode, obviously. But, no, I don't think Amazon's out to get me or this is something they planned. It's just that when there's a screw up, they don't have the resources or systems in place to figure it out. So I'm apparently SOL.
I think that the funniest quote from PASIC conference was also the most true
Jon Fine (from Amazon): "What you don't see is that, behind the
scenes, books selling sites are held together with a lot of duct tape."
Mark Coker (from Smashwords and one of my fave people on the internet): "And string and bubblegum and pixie dust."
Now it's this new situation that has me perplexed. Someone took the profits from one of my books--a book that was not authorized for sale--and that someone is you.
This is from a book I tried to eliminate from your site, but, you told me no, the dashboard is forever. I can't take away anything, just take the book into the draft form and it'll never pop up on the sale page again. You promised!
SO imagine my confusion when The Rat Catcher, a book I'd said goodbye and buried forever, suddenly showed up with a BUY IT NOW button. I immediately went to my KDP board and hit the "unpublish button" I hit that baby a lot.
Nothing happened. The book stayed up there.
So I started writing letters. Here. Let me refresh your memory on this.
'User sent request while logged in as customer:
Topic: Remove a book - Other
Question/Feedback:
The rat catcher is my book and it's supposed to be in
draft form, not for sale, and draft is how it appears on my kindle publishing
page. Yet is now for sale.
It was down for a long time but suddenly has shown up
again. When I saw it a relatively low number, I asked you guys to remove it
from the list of my books. I got a response from you saying the book was gone,
but I can still find it and so can someone else, apparently. It has a new
review. PLEASE TAKE THE BOOK DOWN. http://amzn.com/B0076TTAKY
I can't do anything because it's not listed as anything
but draft-- it still has a buy button and it has had a fair number of sales.
Could you look into that please?
Thank you,
Kate Rothwell
=============
You sent me another form letter explaining how to take down the book. I know how to take it down. I tried. So I admit I got a little rude. I said I wanted the BOOK OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM. You answered with a non-form letter at last. Thanks for that!
===========
-----Original Message-----
From: Kindle Direct
Publishing
Hello,
At this time, it is not possible to completely remove an
unpublished book from the Bookshelf. I'm
sorry if this may cause you any inconvenience. However, I've changed the status
of your book to "Blocked" in your Bookshelf. If you prefer to make
corrections to this title and make it available for sale again, please write
back to us and we will change the status back to "Draft."
I hope this helps. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.
================
All Right. Fine. But now ..... what about the money?
So I wrote asking about that:
I can see that over the last few weeks of me trying to
get it out of the system, the title sold a few copies (the numbers went up and
down) where would I see those sales since it's not listed anywhere?
================
And yeah, that's right, I got a familiar answer, telling me to check my dashboard. This, by the way, is the third letter from you telling me to check my dashboard. Here is one, just for old time's sake.
-Original Message-----
From: Kindle Direct
Publishing [mailto:kdp-support@amazon.com]
Subject: Your Amazon KDP Inquiry
Hello Kate,
In order to check your sales reports, log into your KDP
account at https://kdp.amazon.com and
access the "Reports" section on the KDP Dashboard.
We have three types of reports available:
1. Month-to-date Unit Sales - transactions for the
current and prior month 2. Prior Six Weeks' Royalties - transactions for the
past six weeks (generated on Sundays) 3. Prior Months' Royalties - transactions
for the previous twelve months (generated by the 15th day of the month)
......[deleted because you know that form letter don't you? You've sent me quite a few]
I hope this is helpful. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.
==============
No. It is not helpful. I think I made it clear: there are no sales numbers for that book. Nothing. But then, wait a sec. WHOOPS!! THE BOOK IS LISTED WITH A BUY IT NOW BUTTON AGAIN!!!
WTF? I called Author Central and got a nice lady who couldn't help me -- KDP and Author Central are different divisions who don't seem to communicate much. There's no phone number for the technical side of things, and that's not a big surprise. You guys are obviously very busy.
=================
-----Original Message-----
To: 'kdp-support+A1S6A2822CEXZP@amazon.com'
Subject: RE: Your Amazon KDP Inquiry
No. You don't understand the question--I guess I didn't
make it clear. I know how to check my dashboard and sales logs. But this is a
book that was listed as "draft" and has been for months, maybe even
years. Therefore it is not showing up in reports. Yet I know that copies have
sold. Why do I know this? Because when I checked a few times over the last few
weeks, the book was listed as for sale, and the numbers for the book went fairly
low, as in copies were sold. Also because another, NEW review has shown up.
ALSO, WHEN I GO TO THE PAGE, THE BOOK IS LISTED AS FOR SALE---AGAIN!! There is a buy it
now button, which wasn't there a few months ago. I keep TRYING to take it down,
pushing the "unpublish" button on the dashboard, but nothing happens
on the amazon page.
That's why I've contacted you guys, more than once, to take it
down.
Please. Follow the link at the bottom of this message and
take it down--and then (because I cannot see these figures on my kdp pages,
because the book is listed as a draft) tell me how many copies have sold over
the last few months.
Thank you,
Kate Rothwell
============================================
Silence. . . But it's only a day or two, so I won't get on your case for being a bad correspondent. And the book vanished again. That's good.
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---- Original message: ----
Okay the book is no longer for sale. But during the time
it was, at least four books sold--I know this because people told me they
bought it. There is no record of those sales on my dashboard. How can I get the
money due to me?
I wouldn't push this but I recently lost sales due to a
plagiarist on Amazon so I'm turning into a penny-pinching money-grubber.
Kate
======================
-----Original Message-----
From: Kindle Direct
Publishing [mailto:kdp-support@amazon.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 7:10 AM
Subject: Your Amazon KDP Inquiry
Hello Kate,
I'm very sorry for the confusion this issue may have
caused.
I checked your sales reports and I can confirm that the
last copy of your book "The Rat Catcher" was sold in January 2011. [WHAT? That's about when someone told me it had popped up again--no wait, that was 1/2012. Sorry.]
In order for us to investigate this issue further, please
write back to us with more information, namely the order numbers and possibly
the names of the purchasers. [I bolded this. Because...WTF?]
We'd be glad to get to the bottom of this issue as soon
as possible. You may reply to us by visiting this page:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/contact-us
I hope this helps. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.
==========
HOLY CRAP! I'm supposed to find the sales YOU made? But what hurts even more, I'm back to the beginning again. You're sending me to the basic "contact us" button? After all we've been through together? Nooooo!! I feel like I did when I had to play Chutes and Ladders with my kids and ended up at the start spot after hours of playing.
=========
my response to you :
You're kidding, right? I'm supposed to track down and ask
a bunch of people I don't know for their sales information about my book?
Not going to happen. . . oh, but I did track down and asked the one person who wrote a review of
the story (a review that's lost and I'd like to put on the new edition of the
book, which is now called Someone to Cherish). Anyway she was nice enough to
emailed me her order number almost at once. This is an order from March 4.
I enclosed her number . .
============
That's where we left it. I eagerly await your next botchery of my books. I don't actually think you guys are Out To Get Us, but isn't it funny how you somehow end up with the money? Sorry my books don't sell better, but I imagine if you have enough people like me, you don't need us to hand over best sellers.
UPDATE: I'm in ranty mode, obviously. But, no, I don't think Amazon's out to get me or this is something they planned. It's just that when there's a screw up, they don't have the resources or systems in place to figure it out. So I'm apparently SOL.
I think that the funniest quote from PASIC conference was also the most true
Jon Fine (from Amazon): "What you don't see is that, behind the
scenes, books selling sites are held together with a lot of duct tape."
Mark Coker (from Smashwords and one of my fave people on the internet): "And string and bubblegum and pixie dust."
March 12, 2012
Metadata! Discoverability! Flux! Synergy!
I'm blogging somewhere else today.
I wrote about Tagging Books and I hope you notice that I managed to use the buzz words "metadata" and "discoverability" Made me feel cutting edge.Of course that won't last, thank God. I hate even watching the buffalo herd of Publishing thundering along the Plains of Industry toward the Cliffs of Insanity where the timid Writers try to nab a few as they all Tumble To the Sea of Obscurity and Dusty Remainders.
Speaking of extinction and brainless beasts. . . Naw. Never mind.
Trying to be a good, on-top-of-my-trade writer, I went to RWA last summer and then this meeting last weekend and even in that short time--eight months, maybe? The world has shifted even more toward the ebook.
As one person on some panel said, "We could see changes were coming. We was only off by how fast they've been." He said he'd expected the world to be different in a matter of five years. "Try five months."
One interesting thing I haven't seen regurgitated elsewhere: the people who buy 99 cent ebooks are the ones who used to go through used book stores.
I guess that means the people who grab free books with no intention to read them are the ones who do curb shopping and grab anything that doesn't look a dog peed on it. That would have been us before our town cut down on bulk trash day.
That's not quite true. Free books are why I NOW have to shell out the big bucks for Naomi Novik, Patricia Briggs and a few others who lured me in with freebies. So maybe free books are often more like putting crack samples curbside instead of fugly old couches.
I wrote about Tagging Books and I hope you notice that I managed to use the buzz words "metadata" and "discoverability" Made me feel cutting edge.Of course that won't last, thank God. I hate even watching the buffalo herd of Publishing thundering along the Plains of Industry toward the Cliffs of Insanity where the timid Writers try to nab a few as they all Tumble To the Sea of Obscurity and Dusty Remainders.
Speaking of extinction and brainless beasts. . . Naw. Never mind.
Trying to be a good, on-top-of-my-trade writer, I went to RWA last summer and then this meeting last weekend and even in that short time--eight months, maybe? The world has shifted even more toward the ebook.
As one person on some panel said, "We could see changes were coming. We was only off by how fast they've been." He said he'd expected the world to be different in a matter of five years. "Try five months."
One interesting thing I haven't seen regurgitated elsewhere: the people who buy 99 cent ebooks are the ones who used to go through used book stores.
I guess that means the people who grab free books with no intention to read them are the ones who do curb shopping and grab anything that doesn't look a dog peed on it. That would have been us before our town cut down on bulk trash day.
That's not quite true. Free books are why I NOW have to shell out the big bucks for Naomi Novik, Patricia Briggs and a few others who lured me in with freebies. So maybe free books are often more like putting crack samples curbside instead of fugly old couches.
March 8, 2012
Happy New Release Day to Meeeee
A new Summer Devon book is out today!
I wrote this a long time ago, just after I wrote Somebody To Love.
A couple of New York editors liked it, but after a lot of consideration (on both their parts) took passes because they couldn't think of where it would go in the bookstore. Regency set romance? Time travel? Or at least that's the reason I got for the rejections.
So now it lives where bookshelves aren't as important.
Let's lift the blurb from the site, shall we?
Blush sensuality level: This is a sensual romance (may have explicit love scenes, but not erotic in frequency or type).
In 2310,
Jazz White is one of few surviving soldiers of a hated regime. Now
"reprogrammed", stripped of many of his memories and killing skills,
Jazz is an outcast until he's summoned by the government's elite
time-travel agency and told he must journey to the 1800s. His mission—to
protect Eliza Wickman, an English woman trapped in war-torn Spain. Once
he arrives in the dreadful place, it becomes clear he's been tricked.
His real mission—Jazz must father her child, who will prove important to
the future of civilization.
Guilt-ridden
by his deception, Jazz must keep Eliza safe while he escorts her to
England, all the while fighting his attraction to her innocent
eroticism. But an agent from his time has other plans, and does his best
to sabotage Jazz's efforts. As the connection between him and Eliza
grows, the agent could be the least of Jazz's worries. His biggest fear
is far more personal—what will happen once Eliza learns the truth?
I wrote this a long time ago, just after I wrote Somebody To Love.
A couple of New York editors liked it, but after a lot of consideration (on both their parts) took passes because they couldn't think of where it would go in the bookstore. Regency set romance? Time travel? Or at least that's the reason I got for the rejections.
So now it lives where bookshelves aren't as important.
Let's lift the blurb from the site, shall we?
Blush sensuality level: This is a sensual romance (may have explicit love scenes, but not erotic in frequency or type).
In 2310,
Jazz White is one of few surviving soldiers of a hated regime. Now
"reprogrammed", stripped of many of his memories and killing skills,
Jazz is an outcast until he's summoned by the government's elite
time-travel agency and told he must journey to the 1800s. His mission—to
protect Eliza Wickman, an English woman trapped in war-torn Spain. Once
he arrives in the dreadful place, it becomes clear he's been tricked.
His real mission—Jazz must father her child, who will prove important to
the future of civilization.
Guilt-ridden
by his deception, Jazz must keep Eliza safe while he escorts her to
England, all the while fighting his attraction to her innocent
eroticism. But an agent from his time has other plans, and does his best
to sabotage Jazz's efforts. As the connection between him and Eliza
grows, the agent could be the least of Jazz's worries. His biggest fear
is far more personal—what will happen once Eliza learns the truth?
March 5, 2012
SBD two things ruined by people I love
The best part of this ruination is neither gave away plot points. They managed to destroy an entire novel or production with one sentence.
THING ONE:
Watching Dr. Zhivago with Gretchen. Beautiful snowy scenes. That music. We're talking atmosphere deluxe. Gretchen leans over and says: "Look, it's a set because you can't see their breath." This was years ago and it's all I really remember the movie--well, except that music and that's a major earworm.
THING TWO:
Listening to a book on tape. It's a mystery called A Crack in Everything. I mention to Mike that I'm liking it. He says. "I remember that. Let me look up the review." (he does short reviews of every audio book he listens too. He is like that. You should see his graphs on our utilities or gas consumption in cars)
"Oh, yeah. I wrote 'hobo bag, hobo bag, hobo bag.' The character mentions her damn hobo bag every few minutes."
He's right. And now I listen for "hobo bag" instead of paying attention to the book.
I can only hope that I've managed to destroy an entire book or movie with a single sentence. Because wow. the heady power of an observation!
THING ONE:
Watching Dr. Zhivago with Gretchen. Beautiful snowy scenes. That music. We're talking atmosphere deluxe. Gretchen leans over and says: "Look, it's a set because you can't see their breath." This was years ago and it's all I really remember the movie--well, except that music and that's a major earworm.
THING TWO:
Listening to a book on tape. It's a mystery called A Crack in Everything. I mention to Mike that I'm liking it. He says. "I remember that. Let me look up the review." (he does short reviews of every audio book he listens too. He is like that. You should see his graphs on our utilities or gas consumption in cars)
"Oh, yeah. I wrote 'hobo bag, hobo bag, hobo bag.' The character mentions her damn hobo bag every few minutes."
He's right. And now I listen for "hobo bag" instead of paying attention to the book.
I can only hope that I've managed to destroy an entire book or movie with a single sentence. Because wow. the heady power of an observation!
March 1, 2012
vote for me!
It's sort of a contest for a YA read. There's no chance in heck I'll win, but I don't want my numbers to look pathetic. Could you maybe vote for Thank You Mrs. M? Maybe? Please?
By the way, if you're self-pubbed or small-press pubbed romance author, you might want to look into that book-club and its monthly genres. OR if you like reading books. I hadn't heard of these other books.
(except Laurie's book. If you don't vote for mine, pick hers.)
By the way, if you're self-pubbed or small-press pubbed romance author, you might want to look into that book-club and its monthly genres. OR if you like reading books. I hadn't heard of these other books.
(except Laurie's book. If you don't vote for mine, pick hers.)
February 27, 2012
awwww
Yes. This picture will some day be seen as important/iconical as that end of WW2 picture of the sailor in Times Square kissing the nurse. It makes me all happy to see it.
The guys are lovely; the moment entirely sweet. And anyone who could loathe same-sex love after seeing this is surely not entirely human.
But
But
Listen. It's only because I saw the photos on the same day. Yeah, that's why these two photos are linked in my brain.
Now they're linked in yours too.
No need to thank me.
