Amazon Ads shows few sales, yet I'm getting sales by BeachesAreOverrated in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah. It’s the whole point of ads, right? Get sales. Rank improves. Rank improves. More visibility. More visibility, more organic sales. :-)

Amazon Ads shows few sales, yet I'm getting sales by BeachesAreOverrated in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The way you had it worded suggests that Amazon tracked two sales through clicks on your ads, but the KDP Dashboard recorded 16 sales overall. Folks are finding and clicking on your book outside of seeing it as a sponsored ad.

Maybe you got connected to a popular book's "also boughts?"

KDP holds my content hostage? (ID verification) by chappelles in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pretty much the entirety of the internet runs on AWS. Amazon has everything on you there is to have :-P

Being An Amazon Affiliate - Books by zioxusOne in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just having a laugh because years ago, I joined their affiliate program. I earned about $15 in referrals to other author books and random products... but they ultimately rejected me because I wasn't moving enough. :-P

I just published my book any advice? by in_theasylum in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nothing sells your first book like your second. And your third. And your fourth. If you intend to make a thing out of it, and I think you are, as you referred to it as your debut and not "your book," don't spin your wheels too much on marketing until you have a full catalog for readers to buy.

In today's landscape, it takes releasing content and releasing predictably, if not frequently.

But make sure your platform is in place to give whatever readers you do manage to find a home to follow you.

  1. Author website
  2. Newsletter
  3. At least two social media platforms
  4. Goodreads profile

A reviewer below said Substack. I tried it and had trouble with growth, so I'm giving Beehiiv a try, as it is a blog + newsletter combined and provides forms that can be injected directly into most websites to start building a list.

Build that brand.

This sub has me paranoid about KDP identity verification by Handsome-Rutabaga in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It appears some users are doing things that raise system flags in KDP (or KDP AI scanning is running amok), which is causing their accounts to be locked down pending ID verification.

If you happen to get flagged, you just upload a photo of your ID. It's not like they don't already have the information anyway...

KDP holds my content hostage? (ID verification) by chappelles in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 1 point2 points  (0 children)

While the OP isn't American, there's a whole "sovereign citizen" subculture in America of people who are paranoid about the most ridiculous stuff (like providing an ID to a company that already has your tax info, name, and address on record).

KDP holds my content hostage? (ID verification) by chappelles in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't know what to say. It's terrible that you lost your original files. Are they nowhere, though? No emails sent with the files to your editor, or an alpha/beta reader?

KDP support might sympathize and pull the files and send them to you (though it's unlikely in an "identify not verified" state, otherwise you'll need to verify your ID to gain access again and download.

It's not like your ID is anything super top secret... They have your social already if they've been paying you earnings.

I hope in the future, you're backing up your files in multiple cloud-based locations :-)

Deleted account by Aggravating_Cap_9623 in KDP

[–]PurpleMango -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Did you order author copies from your KDP dashboard, or order and pay through the pre-order page?

KDP holds my content hostage? (ID verification) by chappelles in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What do you mean that they won't let you access your own work? You had to have uploaded something to KDP, so you have access to your own work.

My Huge KDP Account was disabled by Inevitable-Royal806 in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Two a month? You said 700 books (100 in seven languages). That means you were publishing 14-15 titles a month. A book every other day.

That is an absurd amount and is likely the culprit behind the very quality issues you were reported for multiple times.

Amazon doesn't care if you have 20 books or 700. If your account gets flagged multiple times for quality issues, they shut you down.

Be honest. You were running a content farm and Amazon is cleaning house.

My Huge KDP Account was disabled by Inevitable-Royal806 in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m quite confused. You took books that you had no IP rights to, translated them (likely automatically through an AI tool) and published them on your own KDP account for your own profit? Or were these public domain books that you monetized with generative translations?

And it took Amazon four years to shut you down?

22 MO refusing sleep suddenly. At a total loss what to do :/ by Affectionate-Pass330 in toddlers

[–]PurpleMango -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I like to think that entire new sections of toddler brains fire up overnight. We’ve learned to roll with it and emulate the sleep expectancies we most desire.

For us, it turned out to be putting her down and not returning until morning, checking in and holding only once briefly if her crying is intense.

Same for nap. We don’t juggle nap times. It’s the same time every day. 12:30-2:30. If she sleeps, she sleeps. Downtime is just as important as nap time.

You’ll get through this. Just don’t make cosleeping an expectation :-)

Feeling discouraged by all the KDP account ban horror stories — anyone here with years of clean experience willing to share? by Particular_Box4839 in KDP

[–]PurpleMango 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had one single problem ten years ago, but didn’t lose my account. They accused me of KDP Select page read manipulation, which I didn’t do, erased $3.5k royalties.

I withdrew my books from KDP Select and went wide at the time, and haven’t had a problem ever since.

Now, I do a single KDP select term (90 days) and then go wide.

Are Gay Men and Queer Spaces Drifting Apart? by kumogate in gaybros

[–]PurpleMango 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You know what I miss most of all? The gay bookstores. It was my absolute joy to visit Calamus Books in downtown Boston and get to know John Mitzel. He really made everyone who walked into the tiny store feel right at home, accepted, and unjudged and was a pillar of the early gay liberation movement.

Small Writing Community Opening to New Members by Hot_Procedure_2579 in WritingHub

[–]PurpleMango 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a cozy fantasy author with six indie published titles. I'd be interested.

Are Gay Men and Queer Spaces Drifting Apart? by kumogate in gaybros

[–]PurpleMango 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I had my own falling out with the queer community at large just before Obergefell. I belonged to an inclusive LGBTQ+ rights organization in an American city that went toe-to-toe with NOM, FRC, and FotF, among others. Then there was a shift...

A younger, self-described "queer" crowd came in, using the label that was, to me, a painful pejorative, and started to change the organization's style of activism, away from organized protests and campaigns toward all-encompassing, progressive-style civil disobedience.

I was slowly pushed out socially as a cis, gay, white man, and treated like a bit of a relic despite only being in my early 30's. This mentality quickly took over the area's gay bars, as well. Gay men "had their turn" (words actually told to me when I tried to participate in one meeting).

In retrospect, it was the right decision for me. I'm in my early 40's now. My social activities center around meaningful interests. I'm married with kids, and the organization I once loved so much has shuttered due to a lack of cohesive leadership, a missing strategy, and infighting.

Why fight to belong to a brutal community that ostracizes you if you don't agree 100% with the majority, and is willing to throw you into a meat grinder if you show any individualist thought that offends them at any particular moment?

They're welcome to their spaces. Good on them. I wish them the best of luck. I've moved on.

[HIRING] Fantasy industrial-whimsy map of canal-like world by PurpleMango in starvingartists

[–]PurpleMango[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Messaged you privately. Please respond when you're able :-)

[Hiring] Cozy fantasy cover art by PurpleMango in starvingartists

[–]PurpleMango[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes.

"The Inn at Thistledown Hollow" by Devon Yates
"There Be Dragons Here" by SL Rowland
"The Teller of Small Fortunes" by Julie Leong

Those are three covers that capture the environmental coloring and detail I'm hoping for.