Monday, February 19, 2018

Content Validation at Create Space is Driving me Nuts!

Amazon Create Space is driving me crazy! Last year, Kindle was on my sh_t list for removing my titles, thinking I was two-timing them over at Barnes & Noble. That sh_t show was all due to Smashwords who did not remove Barnes & Noble after I unpublished with them months before.

It isn't easy being a publisher. I already spent hours today trying to get my novels' page numbers to start at Chapter 1 and not at the title page. If I was prone to tearing my hair out, I'd be bald tonight.
And this ongoing "war" with content validation over at Create Space is making me wonder what is going on over there at Amazon these days.
I have to think that new Bots were released to detect red flags this last month because I've had several print books with Create Space for years and recently I received notices that my print book had to be suppressed because of non-conformity.
For two books!
I got two emails. Nobody signed their name but that's not surprising.
Getting two "I'm in the doghouse" emails is very strange indeed considering that the only changes I've made recently is to update the covers of both books on Create Space, the Amazon site for print on demand books.

On Feb 11th, I got this email...

AMAZON

Hello kim,

Thank you for publishing with Amazon. 

During our review, we found that the search keywords for the following book(s) create inaccurate or overwhelming search results and impair the customer experience:

Title: The Dream Jumper's Secret: 
Author(s): Kim Hornsby (AUTHOR)
Title ID: 4878570

As a result we have removed the title from the publishing process.

Search keywords that are not accurate descriptors of your book’s central storyline or are completely unrelated to its content may be misleading to our customers and are unacceptable. 

Misleading search keywords such as reference to other authors, titles, promotions or sales rank result in confusion for customers as to why your work is included in search results. 

Please submit a request with the updated keywords to validation-request@createspace.com, our team will update this information for you. Once reviewed we will provide an update within 24 hours.

We appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,

The Content Validation Request Team


Then the next day I got this...

AMAZON


Hello kim,

Thank you for publishing with Amazon. 
I am contacting you regarding the following content: 

Title: The Dream Jumper's Pursuit: 
Author(s): Kim Hornsby (AUTHOR)
Title ID: 5626970

Copyright is important to us – we want to make sure that no author or other copyright holder has his or her books sold by anyone else. 
To publish your book, please respond with documentation confirming your publishing rights within four days

Acceptable documentation can include:

- If you are the author and you are republishing your book after your publication rights have been reverted to you, a signed reversion letter from your former publisher
- If you are the author and you are publishing under a pseudonym, please state that you have the rights of the content along with the pseudonym used.
- If you are the author and your content has not been published anywhere else, please state that you own the rights to the content you are publishing.

- If you are not the author, please provide documentation where the author confirms your rights to distribute the content, such as a signed contract between you and the author granting you the rights to publish the book in the territories, languages and formats you have selected or other similar documentation

Documentation we cannot accept includes:

- A statement by you that you have the publishing rights without verification by the author/copyright holder
- A copyright application for which registration has not been confirmed

If you publish books for which you do not hold the publishing rights, you may lose access to optional services or your account may be terminated. 

To learn more, please see: 

We appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely, 

The Content Validation Request Team 
This last one was almost funny seeing I did not fit into any of those categories and told them so.
 I am the author, Kim Hornsby, and have published this print book with you for years. I'm not sure what I did differently this time to lead you to wonder about my identity but I appreciate that you keep close track of this type of thing.
This email is the one I've used for the last few years and this series of books is self-published by me (Top Ten Press) and always has been. I own the rights to this work and always have.
Let me know if there is any other problem as I'd like to get The Dream Jumper's Pursuit back for sale on Create Space.
Thanks,
Kim

Kim Hornsby Novels

Then I got this...

AMAZON

 On Sunday, February 11, 2018, 7:14:44 PM PST, Content Validation Request <validation-request@createspace.com> wrote: 
Hello kim,

Thank you for publishing with Amazon. 

During our review, we found that the search keywords for the following book(s) create inaccurate or overwhelming search results and impair the customer experience:

Title: The Dream Jumper's Secret: 
Author(s): Kim Hornsby (AUTHOR)
Title ID: 4878570

As a result we have removed the title from the publishing process.

Search keywords that are not accurate descriptors of your book’s central storyline or are completely unrelated to its content may be misleading to our customers and are unacceptable. 

Misleading search keywords such as reference to other authors, titles, promotions or sales rank result in confusion for customers as to why your work is included in search results. 

Please submit a request with the updated keywords to validation-request@createspace.com, our team will update this information for you. Once reviewed we will provide an update within 24 hours.

We appreciate your understanding.


Sincerely,

The Content Validation Request Team

Twenty-four hours, huh? So I wrote this:

Hello: I have no idea what you are talking about. I can't even sign in to Create Space today to take a look. And today I got another email from Create Space saying that another one of my books was submitted by someone other than me. I'm not sure what's going on over there, but I don't even have keywords in my create space account, let alone inappropriate key words. 
Please clarify what you think I've done wrong in publishing with Create Space. All I did recently, after years of being on CS, was redo the cover. 
Thanks,
Kim Hornsby
Top Ten Press
Author of The Dream Jumper Series

And then this:

Hello Amazon Person at Create Space: What makes you think after years of being published here, that I am all of a sudden, not Kim Hornsby? I am baffled what triggered this email seeing I only was changing the book cover to republish the new cover.
I don't know what documentation would prove I'm Kim Hornsby unless you want me to send my driver's license. Let me know what you need. 
I'm very upset that 2 of my books have been unpublished this week, this one saying you'll give me 4 days but it's offline now, and The Dream Jumper's Secret is unpublished with no warning and no time to correspond to see what the problem is over there.

Very upsetting,.
Kim Hornsby
Top Ten Press.

My books were not for sale on Amazon as print for almost a week.

Hello Amazon: This is very confusing. When you say keywords, what do you mean. I don't think CreateSpace gives a chance to add keywords. As far as I know no keywords are attached to this print publication. 
Please check this matter because the longer my book is not available on CreateSpace, the more angry I get about missing sales. 
I've had this book published on Create Space for years and the only thing that changed this week was a different front cover. 
PLEASE FIX or advise me as to what you are talking about!
Here is a screenshot of my Kindle Direct Publishing Keywords for this book, none of which are inappropriate.

Then I got this ..

AMAZON

Hello kim

Thank you for your response. 

We’ve reviewed the information provided and we are happy to inform you that your book will now continue to the File Review process.     
   
The File Review process ensures that your files were created according to our submission guidelines and can take up to 24 hours to complete.  

Once your files pass File Review, you can either view a digital proof or order a printed proof copy of your title. After the proof is received and you're satisfied with it, you will be able to approve your proof for sale once it leaves our manufacturing facility.   

We appreciate your cooperation in this matter and thank you for publishing with CreateSpace.

Regards,

CreateSpace Validation Request Team

I am now able to re-publish The Dream Jumper's Secret after a week of emails back and forth.

Then they shed some light on the subject with this:

AMAZON

On Saturday, February 17, 2018, 11:43:47 AM PST, The Content Validation Request Team <validation-request@createspace.com> wrote:


Hello kim,

Your keywords for the related title are: Romantic Suspense, Thriller, Paranormal Romance, Award Winning, women's Fiction 

Misleading search keywords such as reference to other authors, titles, promotions or sales rank result in confusion for customers as to why your work is included in search results. 

Please submit a request with the updated keywords to validation-request@createspace.com, our team will update this information for you. Once reviewed we will provide an update within 24 hours.

We appreciate your understanding.

Regards,


CreateSpace Validation Request Team

So I wrote this...

--------------- Original Message ---------------
From: Kim Hornsby [kimhornsby@yahoo.com]
Sent: 2/14/2018 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: CreateSpace - Content Validation Request

Hello Amazon: This is very confusing. When you say keywords, what do you mean. I don't think CreateSpace gives a chance to add keywords. As far as I know no keywords are attached to this print publication. Please check this matter because the longer my book is not available on CreateSpace, the more angry I get about missing sales. I've had this book published on Create Space for years and the only thing that changed this week was a different front cover. PLEASE FIX or advise me as to what you are talking about!Here is a screenshot of my Kindle Direct Publishing Keywords for this book, none of which are inappropriate.
Keywords
Enter up to 7 search keywords that describe your book. How do I choose keywords?Your Keywords (Optional)

Kim HornsbyTop Ten Press
Kim Hornsby Novels
www.bit.ly/kimamzn 

The one that apparently has inappropriate keywords, is still suppressed on Create Space. And I can't touch it or publish that book.

I wrote this on day 7

I've had this book for sale for years, like this, but I'm assuming award-winning is the key word you don't like. Here are the new key words. I'm sorry it took over a week for you to get back to me.


Romantic Suspense, Thriller, Paranormal Romance, Supernatural Suspense, Suspense

Thank you.
Kim Hornsby 

When nothing happened to get the book back up on Create Space, I wrote to them:

Thank you for your attention.
During my review of this situation, I've found this assessment to be very frustrating because I have not changed my keywords for this title in years. And yet, now you find my keywords aren't acceptable.
I am not sure what is wrong in my keywords, except maybe Amazon doesn't like the word Award Winning. I'm not sure what is going on here except Amazon is preventing me from selling books for WEEKS on end.
Please change my keywords to this:
Romantic Suspense, Thriller, Paranormal Romance, Suspense, Women's Fiction Suspense 


And now, let this strange new claim come to a close so I can sell books again.
Please.

Thank you,
Kim Hornsby
Top Ten Press

I'll let you know when they get the book up and running again. If you are having the same problem with Content Validation, I suggest you keep emailing. If you have a better suggestion, please let me know in the comments here. 

Kim


UPDATE
This problem was resolved when they suddenly published everything again with no additional email or apology, after 3 weeks of being SUPPRESSED.
Lesson Learned: Do not put BESTSELLER in your key words even if the book is a world-wide phenomena.
Good Luck to everyone struggling with this!
Kim

KIM HORNSBY is an Amazon Bestselling Author best known for The Dream Jumper Series, which is optioned for film, with over 400 reviews on Amazon at 4.5 stars.
Sign up for her newsletter to keep posted on news and freebies and contests or follow her on Amazon.

www.bit,ly/kimamzn
www.bit.ly/KimHNews

4 comments:

  1. I was starting to wonder if I was the only one. CreateSpace is driving me insane. I keep getting messages like this. They suppress my titles. I give in to their demands for categories, etc. and tell them I made changes. They approve it. Then I get another email. It's surpassed again. This time they think I'm giving my titles away for free somewhere on the Internet and want me to prove that I'm not. Are you serious? I'm trying to SELL books. It happened again today. Pulling my hair out again and not being very cool-headed in my emails to the Content Validation gods.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was upset too. I'm wondering if KDP print option is the way to go now.

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  2. I can join your club. I responded to their 'request' proving who I am (two authors in fact) with documentary evidence on the same day (23 May) and see that the paperback is still not available. And of course no acknowledgement of my reply to them. Their approach is simply shoddy to the customer.

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    Replies
    1. Agreed. I'm trying the print option after you publish on KDP now, see if that works better although it's all owned by Amazon.

      Delete