draft2digital issue

[Segilola]

I found out about draft2digital on here and decided to give it a go after I found smashwords to be too much trouble.

D2D did deliver in all the ways that SWs failed then my book Learn to count in Yoruba and English gets delisted because "I have some concerns regarding buyer complaints for your title. The content you've provided is content that is readily available online, for free. https://sites.google.com/site/learnyo...

This type of content is content our vendors have asked us to filter out of publication, as they consider content found easily online Public Domain. Content of the nature tends to lead to customer confusion, buyer complaints, and requests for refunds."

You can look inside my book here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019C98GZ0/r.... If you had a child that you wanted to teach to count, would you use the free website or my flashcard book?

On Amazon, when you search for learn to count, over 200 books show up http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_....

The same thing on BN, over 100 books with similar title http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/learn...

Have you heard of any buyer complaints before based on that fact? Isn't that the whole point of competition?

Is it just me or is that not the most ridiculous reason ever to delist a book? It's like a supermarket saying they would only stock one brand of white bread because customers would get confused.

I have written to them that their reason is not grounds for delisting my book and they have refused to reply.

Folks what do you think?

[W.]

They are doing this after having NO complaints?
Mysterious and opaque are the ways of the GREAT SW but this one smacks of discrimination.

[Owen]

This does sound not quite right. The policy you quoted could conceivably apply to much non-fiction and probably almost all “how-to” or teaching books. Everything from learning how to speak a language to solving calculus problems is available for free on line. Since Wikipedia has articles on almost everything, does this policy apply to any work that is also covered by such an article?

It is true that there is an on-going problem with people culling public-domain work and trying to sell it as their own, and it may be their policy is largely a result of this. But (to me) this smacks of one of those “bureaucratic” software issues, where a “machine” decision is being made based on flawed implementation of poorly thought-out policy, and it’s not worth D2D’s time to have actual humans involved.

I hope you get some more satisfactory response, but my personal expectation would not be high for that. You may have to find another outlet.

[Segilola]

Here's the reply I just got

Hi Segilola,

I am the Senior Customer Service Manager here at Draft2Digital. Before delisting any title through our service, I meet with our review team to ensure that all guidelines and compliance are met. During this meeting, it was agreed upon that based upon the file you've uploaded, your book has the potential to cause customer confusion and complaints. As such, we determined we would not be publishing this book through our service. This is based upon the content/formatting guidelines we've been provided by our vendors, as well as extensive conversations with our vendors review teams. We are tasked with blocking any books that we feel could cause issues on our vendors end. The decision to reject your book is not based upon rejections we've received about your book in particular, as your book had only been live for a very short about of time through our system, but are based upon rejections for other books that include similar content as your book does.

If you will please take a look at our Terms of Service, you will find the following:

Ebook Distribution Rights.
Ebook Rejection. We are entitled to determine what content we accept and distribute through the Program in our sole discretion.

So there you have it folks. I guess the big boys don't want competition from the small guys.

I won't be bothering with D2D any more. I would appreciate it if someone can recommend another service provider

[Owen]

You might take a look at Lulu. We have no direct experience with them, and the people we know who have used them, use them for print. But when we looked at them (it was quite some time ago), they did offer eBook distribution, and they seemed generally similar to Smashwords, but (in our limited experience) they were more responsive than Smashwords and seemed to be easier to deal with.

[Segilola]

Thanks for the info

[[deleted user]]

I put all my books on Lulu for ebook, paperback, and hardcover formats. The uploading is a little touchy; mess up on uploading the cover and you have to start all over again. For both paperback and hardcover you have to buy the proof before you can distribute beyond Lulu, and any time you make a change, it's taken down until you buy another proof--so be sure to get it right the first time. The good thing is, they distribute to Amazon, Ingrams, and other places, and for the Lulu website you can offer a massive discount and still make a decent royalty. The hardcovers are a little pricey, though, when you distribute elsewhere.

[Segilola]

Ah, useful info. Thanks