Kindle Books Deleted From My Library

[W.]

Hi: My project this weekend was organizing all of my Kindle books and all of my Audible books onto Goodreads. I discovered I have collected over 1000 Kindle books since 2009. But here’s what I also discovered today....a lot of the books I purchased (mostly ones in 2009 though haven’t looked further yet) are no longer available to me to download. The Navy Justice series by Don Brown, Brandilyn Collins’ books, Angel Experiment by James Patterson, Caliphate by Jack Stewart, all state I have purchased them, but they are no longer in my Kindle library. Granted in 2009 Kindle was a new thing and most of these books I got for free, but hmmmm. There are also many other lesser known titles that have completely disappeared from Amazon and my library. Is there some licensing small print that they can be pulled? Just wondering of others’ experiences. It’s not just one or two, I’m probably up to 50 books so far that have disappeared.

[CBRetriever]

the books can be pulled from Amazon, but with the exception of two books, they still remain able to be downloaded from the account which was used to purchase them.

Are you looking in your Content and Devices page on the Amazon website and seeing if you can download the books? Just because the product page no longer exists does not mean you no longer have access to download the books. I probably have the same number of books which are no longer listed on Amazon. I even had some go missing from the product pages there from last year because the books were licensed to a new publisher and the version i purchased had to be pulled (I can still download and read them) and re-listed by the new publisher with as different ASIN number.

Also, I've seen (over on Amazon's Kindle Help forum) a lot of people to which this has happened and in the majority of cases, they got a new email address and instead of changing it on the account on the website, changed it on their Devices and thus created a new account.

[W.]

Interesting. Thanks so much for your thoughts.

I have had the same Amazon account since the 1997 (yes I even have one of their first coffee mugs). I’ve moved, but have always updated my account.

The missing books seem to fall into three categories:

1. Purchased, but no longer in my account, and pulled from the Amazon/Goodreads link where you click on covers to add to Goodreads.

2. Purchased, but product page is missing, and I get to see all of the wonderful Amazon dogs in the missing product page holder. (Actually this eased the pain). The covers still come up to link as I try to transfer to Goodreads.

3. Purchased. Says it’s purchased on the book’s product page, but wants me to buy it again to read. Again, Goodreads offers the covers to link. (These hurt, as the prices are significant).

All three categories process the same way on the “content and devices” page. “No items found”. So books in any of the 3 categories do not come up on my Amazon digital content and devices page to transfer.

For research background info., I am cross-referencing all of my books between the ones I downloaded to Goodreads from clicking on covers to add, then going to my Amazon account purchase history by year, then the book’s product page. It’s taken a ton of time, but has perked my curiosity. I’m still on 2010, and I downloaded a ton of free books, but it now looks like close to 100 are missing so far. I haven’t kept count, but probably should have. I didn’t know this was going to consume my curiosity lol.

I’m guessing you are correct about changing publishers. The bigger authors still have product pages. Some of the other books were probably pulled when their publishing deals expired I’m guessing. And maybe the new Amazon publishing business has affected older books as well. Guessing.

Again, most of these giveaways were when Kindle was new, so my amazing finds were mostly free giveaways. I think the most expensive book I have missing so far was $2.50. Also, I’m at 1000 books, lol, so.....20 odd years of books. This whole project started as a way to weed out and eliminate books. But, it still hurts a bit to see some good ones get away.

Thanks again.

[W.]

So I guess my follow-up question is:

The books are nowhere on my content and devices page, so can I find a new asin number for them and still get them?

I’m assuming this may only work, if it does at all, for #2 and #3, where there is a new product page.

[W.]

I’ll also go to the other forum. Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t think this was a problem, just a permanent thing I had to accept.

[CBRetriever]

1, 2 & 3 are quite true of some of my books, but the Actions button [...] on my Content and Devices page still gives me the option to send the book to my devices. You do not need to go to the product page to send books.

clicking on the Actions [...] button gives you the following options:

Deliver to Default Device (or) Others <--------------------
Delete
Download & transfer via USB
Clear furthest page read
Read Now
Manage Family Library
Add to collections
Remove from collections

and that is how you can test to see if the books still download

[W.]

Okay. Then I’m sunk. None of these books appear on my content and devices page.

I have been using my purchase history and the product pages to find any points of access. There is no access on the “content and devices” page because they are no longer there.

Weird huh? Thanks for your insights.

[Miss M]

You really should talk to Amazon customer service about this. Even if the publisher changes/pulls their editions, whatever you originally purchased should always be in your account. Assuming no user error. Do you still have your confirmation emails? I keep all of mine in a separate email folder. When searching on content & devices it’s also worthwhile to try searching by both author and title.

[W.]

Thanks so much for your reply and concern.

Yep, all my purchases are logged in my Amazon account. That’s how I discovered the discrepancies.

Another reader has responded in the Amazon Kindle forums. He bought the same Don Brown books in 2009. He still has them, so it must be some glitch on my account.

After a lot of research it seems only purchases from 2009 and 2010 are affected. But some 100 or so books.

When I recover some patience, I will draw up a list and contact customer service.

Again, thanks.

[A Lynn]

FYI...you can search through your orders too, to prove that you bought the books and have Amazon re-establish the links. I think that sometimes, the links get corrupted or lost. Your library is part of a database, and over time, links between your purchase and the product page can get broken. I've definitely seen it too. When I know the titles, I contact Kindle Help and get the links re-established. They're typically pretty good about it.

[Dee]

i'm looking in my kindle library right now - the don brown books still appear in my archive (2 are showing with updates being available)

did you try using yoru device and searching your library that way?

[A Lynn]

Yep. That's I know that they're in my liberary. To prove it to Amazon, so that they re-establish the link to the product page, I find my digital orders :)

[Dee]

if they are on your device and searchable/downloadable - then they haven't disappeared....the product page changes frequently - that doesn't mean you no longer have access to the product - if a version with a new ASIN is released, there is a new product page - this is TBH much-a-do over nothing

[CBRetriever]

A Lynn wrote: "Yep. That's I know that they're in my liberary. To prove it to Amazon, so that they re-establish the link to the product page, I find my digital orders :)"

as I said 9either on this wesite or the Kindle help forum on Amazon), you don't need to be able to access or even open the product page to send the book to your Kindle. I have scads of books that no longer have a viable product page, but I can still use the Actions button [...] on the Content and Devices page to deliver the book to my kindle. Ditto for syncing my device to my account and using the Cloud/All tab to locate th book and download it

[A Lynn]

You are absolutely correct. I also love audio books--with the right author/narrator pairings. Frequently, the price is different if you already own the eBook, and that's when re-establishing the link to the product page and your order becomes most important ;)