A couple months ago, I was reading something (you know how that is—whatever that was) and the article recommended checking my author pages on Amazon on other countries. Make sure they are correct and shiny.
So I did.
Canada. Japan. The UK.
All was okay until I saw my large print version of each book with a very odd description.
I write books. I write Christian Contemporary Fantasy.
But the title above every large print version of every fiction in The Great Escapee Series was, and I quote: “SportsX Womens Sexy See Through Smoothing Soft Plush Elegant Everyday Bras.”
Comes in Light Purple and in every size from 32B to 44A.
“Product Details About this Item
It is Chinese size and smaller than the USA size.
Please check the size carefully.
Description
Dear friend, thanks for coming to our store. The size is Chinese size, please select it carefully, thank you! High elasticity Breathability Comfortable and healthy.”
There’s even a review on the Canada site, and I quote: “2sizes too small Way too small”
Does this book come in black?
Recently, Jane Friedman discovered books probably generated by AI with her name on them on Amazon’s sites. Goodreads, too. Her blog here tells about her discovery. Her title says it all: “I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)” She called the fake books, “garbage books.”
She wrote on her blog, “And it falls on me, the author—the one with a reputation at stake—to get these misleading books removed from Amazon. I’m not even sure it’s possible. I don’t own the copyright to these junk books. I don’t exactly “own” my name either—lots of other people who are also legit authors share my name, after all. So on what grounds can I successfully demand this stop, at least in Amazon’s eyes? I’m not sure.”
My problem now with Amazon, is not as dire as Jane’s is. People will know mine is a book cover, right?
Amazon is the one that looks stupid. Sorry—not sorry.
At least Jane got the attention that she needed to shame Amazon to remove those “garbage books!” Read here.
This is the lame response that I have been getting from Amazon about my case and I know I do not have the clout that Jane has, but.
“Hello Bonnie,
Greetings from Amazon KDP Support! My name is Alexander, I am a supervisor at KDP and I will be assisting you today.
I completely understand your concern and I am sorry for the troubles this caused you.
I wanted to let you know that we're still working with the relevant team to resolve your concern. It's taking longer than usual to resolve this, and I'm very sorry about the delay.
We are still awaiting feedback from our technical team to resolve your concern, as soon as I receive feedback, I will inform you.
We'll reach out to you again with another update as soon as possible.
Thanks for your continued patience.
Thanks for using Amazon KDP,
Alexander
Kindle Direct Publishing
I have responded to many of them. They have sent me 14 emails regarding this problem and I have not seen anything change. Not one size. Not one color. Yes, I am making fun of it, but so far, that’s the only thing I can do!
Each email looked like they either copy and pasted it or resent it. It might even be written AI. I don’t care. I just want my book pages fixed.
8/29/23 Update: I sent them this: “This is not working. You are just copying the previous letter and sending it without doing anything.
This isn’t even a letter from a person.
Amazon is a fraud!
Please correct my books everywhere! I have checked and rechecked my data on KDP several times now and it is correct.
This is clearly a book cover and not a see through bra. You think this is funny? You are the one looking stupid! Correct this!!!!
Also, who gave Amazon permission to publish these Large Print versions of my books? I have only uploaded them to my website direct and to IngramSpark. What if I would take something of Amazon’s products and put it on my website and sold it like it was mine?
Amazon you need to wake up and do the right thing!!
Bonnie Lacy”
Their most recent reply follows. They have changed supervisors from Alexander to now, Aakanksha.
New letter: “Hello Bonnie,
we are still working with our technical team. It is taking longer than usual and we apologise for this delay.
We will get back to you as soon as we can share more information.
We thank you for your continued patience.
Thanks for using Amazon KDP,
Aakanksha
Kindle Direct Publishing
http://kdp.amazon.com“
Seems like it's been fixed on the Canada site. Not Japan. Not on the UK site.
Again, my issue is not like Jane's. Is mine any less insulting? No.
