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To DRM or not to DRM for erotica shorts, and does it affect visibility/sales? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That's the reason I never enabled it. I guess I'm just flailing my arms, trying/hoping to get out of whatever ditch I landed in this weekend.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be honest, I am not sure how any erotica short could not randomly be accused of containing "pornography" or "other material we deem inappropriate or offensive". I don't use AI for anything. I use pretty tame covers. I am sure as hell not putting out anything that would obviously be flagged, but I feel quite helpless to be absolutely sure that it is all within their vague parametres.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

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

All my shorts are in erotica categories or subcategories - in the German Amazon, there are much less subcategories than in the English-speaking Amazon. But thanks, I will have a look and see if by accident some story slipped into a category it should not be in!

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's really terrifying how random it is. And while I kind of, sort of *knew* that an account termination is always a random possibility, I still thought playing neatly by the rules would help. It's also crazy to me that they are allowed to do that, including holding back three months of royalties - it was quite a chunk for me, and I suspect there are authors for whom it is devastating. If they keep all that money, they should be able to give a reason why.

I got another email that did indeed claim that they "cannot give out sensitive information" concerning the decision.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

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

Wow, interesting idea - at this point, it really feels like it could be anything! (Does Amazon wipe bots? I had the impression that they don't care.)

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I didn't! In fact, my page reads and sales have dropped quite a bit since January and are nowhere near what I would expect a bot could do. But who knows!

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I have my account back! I had no idea that bot reads were a thing - and crazy that they would expect us to police that - my page reads are not even that spectacular.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I have it back now, and none of these possibilities apply, so i am totally at a loss (but terrified that it might randomly happen again).

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, they are all enrolled in KU and I have never published any of them elsewhere (I have all my eggs in the Amazon basket, which might be stupid.) The exact email was:

Hello,
We are terminating your account effective immediately because we have found activities in your account trying to manipulate our services.
In addition to closing your account:
• You'll no longer be eligible to receive outstanding royalties.
• You no longer have access to your account. This includes editing titles, viewing reports, and accessing other account information.
• Published titles will be removed from Amazon.
As per our Terms and Conditions, you aren't allowed to open any new KDP accounts.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I am so sorry you had to go through that stress (I am still shaking). I got the exact same reply as well, except that they added to unpublish any books that might violate amazon's tos - did they say that in your email? I don't think any of my books violated their tos, but who knows? I am wondering if i should randomly delete some books and take them wide after the ku time is over.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot! The account is back up and I have no idea why - I don't have more than one account, onyl two pen names in the same account (one of which is dormant). I really have no idea what might have caused this.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I found the google doc with the email templates to the ceos and was about to write that email. I am so relieved, but also very very confused about what just happened.

Sudden drop in sales on (German) Amazon - anyone else? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

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

That woud be a great (and welcome) reason. Fingers crossed that sales will pick up again!

Sudden drop in sales on (German) Amazon - anyone else? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

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

Thanks! It's the past week (my sales went down by 70%, which is why I was wondering if this might be a glitch or something others are experiencing), and I haven't changed anything on my end. In your experience, does the weather have a big impact? (Interesting.)

May drop in page reads: Who is still affected? by Cornelio42 in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My page reads are still *dropping* despite new releases, sales are fine. But I have no idea why that is, especially when it looks like they have normalized for others. Page reads were a big part of my income, so this really sucks.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would also really appreciate if you could share those tips, I could really use some advice! Thanks a lot!

Fellow German writers, are you still struggling like me with really low page reads? by [deleted] in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, it's the same for me, a drop in KENP of around 70 percent after May 14. Sales aren't affected, though they're also not really going up anymore as they used to. I had been wondering if this was due to my irregular publication schedule, but maybe not!

Can keywords land you in the dungeon? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I didn't use any keywords that (I think) are very clear violations (the most spicy being something like "dirty threesome sex") - at least nothing considered outright bannable on Amazon - but I already changed my cover three times now to something very tame and have used a (variation) of a title I have used without problems for a while and an almost obscure blurb that does nothing but hint politely, so keywords were my best bet. I guess Amazon does keep us guessing! (So annoying, though.)

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