The Rhine Maiden Series

I wanted to share this info for other authors publishing with Amazon KDP.

This is my first time trying to inform buyers of a book update. I searched the community boards and discovered that I had to email kdp-support@amazon.com and make a request. I received this email in return:

Hello Erin,

 We received your request to provide updated content to customers who purchased your book. In order to accurately describe the new updates, we need you to provide some more information.

 Please reply and provide us with details and specific examples of the corrections made for this version of your book. The more details that you provide, the better we will be able to accurately categorize and message your update for end customers. Once we receive these details, we will perform a review of your book and take appropriate action within four weeks. The possible results of our review are listed below. 

1. If the changes made to your content are considered critical, we’ll send an email to all customers who own the book to notify them of the update and improvements made. These customers will be able to choose to opt in to receive the update through the Manage Your Kindle page on Amazon.com. www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/manage

 2. If the changes made to your content are considered minor, we won’t be able to notify all customers by email, but we will activate their ability to update the content through the Manage Your Kindle page on Amazon.com.

 3. If the changes made to your content have caused unexpected critical issues with the book content, we’ll temporarily remove your book from sale. We’ll notify you of the issues found so you can fix them. Once the improvements are made, just let us know and we’ll then email customers as in case 1.

 Once our review is complete, we’ll email you to share the results and action taken.

 Thanks for using Amazon KDP.

I emailed them an example for each of the changes I had made: Formatting, Spelling, and Plot Changes, and am now waiting to see what happens next!

I just finished updating It Never Rhines but It Pours and uploaded it to Amazon and Smashwords.

There are just minor changes: formatting, spelling, and slight plot adjustment to match “Don’t Rhine on My Parade.”

If you purchased from Smashwords you can go to the book page and download the new version for free.

I’ve requested that Amazon send an email informing people of the changes and hopefully they will add an “Update” button for that book in the “Manage My Kindle” section. I’m not sure how long that will take, this is my first time trying this out!

I think I may have figured this out, so if you’re trying to get a book up on Amazon for free without joining KDP Select, here’s what I think I’ve learned:

This is my theory. Amazon does not price match with Smashwords. They price match with other retailers (B&N, Apple, Kobo etc.). So, your book has to pass Smashwords vetting and make it into their Premium Catalog so it can be shipped to those retailers and then be found by Amazon’s search engines.

So, basically, I jumped the gun by publishing with Amazon before my book made it past the reviewers at Smashwords. I’m still waiting to get approved by them, which means my book is not being sent out to other retailers, which means that Amazon will not price match it.

My advice now would be to publish first with Smashwords, wait until your book passes their review and makes it into their Premium Catalog, gets sent out to book stores, and then publish on Amazon. It should be price matched much faster that way. It’s just a theory, but I’m pretty sure it’s right.

Hopefully.

A kind reader has pointed out that I did not mention on this blog about the pricing for the re-written first book.  So, please, don’t purchase the book on Amazon until it drops to free. I can’t list a book for free on Amazon, they have to price match from other sellers, so I am listing “Don’t Rhine” for free on Smashwords and waiting for it to drop on Amazon. I know this is an awkward way to do it, but I really want to list the book for free and I have found that the bigger the price differential the faster they are to price match. For example, when I had my book listed for $.99 it took them two months to price match, but when I listed it at $2.99 it took a week.

That said, I have no guarantees that Amazon will indeed price match. If they won’t I will then lower the book to $.99 cents but keep it free on Smashwords.

If you wind up purchasing “Don’t Rhine” for $2.99 (I see on my author report that one person already has!), please let me know and I will send you a coupon for one of my books (your choice) for free (it will be a Smashwords coupon). I am really sorry for the confusion!

I know I said in my interview with Beyond the Fried that my next project was not going to be a Rhine Maiden book. Well, I’ve changed my mind. That interview got me thinking. There are quite a few things I wished I had done differently in my first book and I suddenly realized that I can change them! Sounds silly now, but I’ve thought about rewriting The Rhine Maiden in the past and been too overwhelmed by the idea. Now that I have six books under my belt, I think I am finally ready to start over again. Not just re-editing, but a complete rewrite.

The other night I sat down with my husband and made him read to me all the things that people mentioned they hated in the Amazon comments. I know, I’m a big baby. It was just gentler on my tender self-esteem to hear it instead of read it! I now have a list of things to fix, and I think these changes will make it a better book.

Since it will be significantly different from the original, I’m going to delete (gasp!) the The Rhine Maiden and publish a new book. It will still be “A Rhine Maiden Novel” but I’m going to give it a different title, and a new cover. I micro-managed my graphic artist on the first cover and, oddly enough,  it’s the cover I like the least. This time I’m going to stay out of her way. I will lose all my negative reviews that are talking about stuff that will no longer exist in the book. I will also be losing my positive ones, but since it’s almost half and half, I think this is the way to go.

The scary thing is that I will then have to re-edit all the subsequent books to make sure there are no “continuity” problems. The fun part is that I get to reinvent Piper’s beginning.  I feel that I have a better grasp on who she is now and rewriting the first book will only make her a stronger character.

My top five title ideas (for now):

1. Don’t Rhine on My Parade

2. Blame it on the Rhine

3. Out of the Rhine

4. Risk of Rhine

5. Listen to the Rhine

A good friend from college honored me by interviewing me for her blog! Check out the interview and her blog at Beyond the Fried.

“Food for Love” didn’t make it to the Semi-finals but I received a very positive review!

ABNA Publishers Weekly Reviewer

Cordelia McKellen, a dunce in the kitchen amid her ostentatiously gourmand family, receives a “hideous” silver chafing dish from her late aunt Eleanor, who had been a famous chef. Following a discovery of the dish’s magical property — manifesting any food — the aunt’s will is read. Cordelia stands to inherit the entire estate, including restaurants, contingent on her founding and running a cooking business that turns a profit of at least one thousand dollars after six months. This would have been exciting for our protagonist had she possessed any talent or inclination to cook. With Charlene, a quirky, business-minded and misguided-in-love best friend, in tow, Cordelia begins to think they (and the magical chafing dish) just might be able to pull it off. Hilarity ensues. Add to this tale an extremely attractive new male neighbor in the apartment building (who hates Cordelia’s piano playing), several annoying interlopers, a smattering of danger and intrigue, and the book becomes a very satisfying read. Tempered with hilarious “recipes” following every chapter, which truly showcase Cordelia’s lack of interest in good food, the story moves quickly and wittily through her six-month ordeal. This book is fun and imaginative — and romantic, of course. Besides the juxtaposition of Cordelia and Char’s approach to romantic love, which borders on the transparent — as does one of the main conflicts of the book involving a food critic sardonically keeping tabs on Cordelia’s progress — the manuscript has pacing issues. Nevertheless, this book is highly entertaining and readers will overlook any flaws because this story is so enjoyable.

Here you go:

I love Amazon. I really, really do. I use their Gift List. I’m a Prime member. I’m an Amazon Mom. I do tons of shopping every year with them. They have great prices and wonderful customer service. When my son dropped my Kindle and cracked the case, Amazon replaced it free of charge! They really are a great company.

So, that’s why I don’t understand why they are hurting indie authors with their new review policy. A company that bends over backwards to be “the most customer-centric company on the planet,” is really hurting some of their customers! Why, Amazon?

Amazon is pulling positive reviews from self-published novels. Until I published “Food for Love,” I had no idea this was going on. A quick search on Google for “dissapearing Amazon reviews” led to tons of other indie authors who are experiencing the same problem. From what I can gather, there were some newspaper articles about un-ethical authors who were creating false accounts and posting 100+ positive reviews for their novels. In response, Amazon has cracked down on the review process, but here’s the catch–without changing their written guidelines, or informing people who write Customer Support what the new guidelines are.

The guidelines only state that no one with “financial interest, close personal relationship, or a competing product,” can leave a review. Obviously Amazon data-mines their customers, but that means if you have ever purchased an item off someone’s Wish List, then you can’t leave them a review. If you share an address or a credit card–same deal. And now, if you are an indie author, you can’t leave a review for another indie author. Some of the times. Only some of my reviews of other books have been pulled. Some are still up. I need to check more carefully but it seems that only my positive reviews have been pulled. The one star reviews are all still there.

Consipiracy theories abound. Some people think that Facebook is selling data to Amazon, so that if anyone is your “friend” or has “liked” your fan page they can’t leave a review. Some people claim that after multiple emails to Amazon asking what in the world the new policy really is, they’ve been told that if they complain again their novel will be pulled from the site and their account revoked.

I started finding out about all of this because my mother wanted to leave my book a review. She read it. She liked it. She wanted to share her opinion with other people. She was also really ticked off when her review was deleted without explanation and even called up Customer Support to talk with them. After multiple form responses, she finally reached a human being who told her that since she was related to me and thus had a “financial interest” she couldn’t leave a review.  Perhaps understandable, but puzzling since Amazon also claims that anyone can leave a review, even someone who has not purchased the item on Amazon (or perhaps anywhere else) and that it is the responsibility of the shopper to judge the value of each review. Thus, I can leave a negative review for a book I’ve never read (How many of us have run across those when reading reviews: “I didn’t read this book, but I really hate this author…”) but I can’t leave a positive review for someone I know because I am automatically “biased.”

Forgive my rant. This has been bugging me lately. “Food for Love” has 0 reviews, which is really hurting my sales. (7 – in case anyone’s counting). For an indie author like me, it’s not about the money, it’s about being read. And it’s about hearing back from people who enjoyed what you wrote. I’ve had multiple people tell me that they are leaving me a review, but the only ones I can follow through on (aka – bug) are ones that I know and are therefore not allowed to leave a review. I’m getting worried that my book has been blackballed in the computer system and that no reviews will ever be allowed through. Paranoid? Only if it’s not true.

I’m assuming that most people stopped reading at paragraph two of this post, which is fine. It’s cathartic to write about my frustration. But if you are one of the fabulous people who read to this point I have a huge favor to ask. If you read “Food for Love” and left a review, I would really love for you to write Amazon and ask them why your review was rejected and let me know what the answer was. If you haven’t read “Food for Love” please do! It’s currently $.99 at Amazon (I wouldn’t pay $2.99 for a book with no reviews, so I lowered the price). After you read it, please leave me a review and check back to see if it went through. I know it’s a huge favor to ask. All of us are way to busy to have time to mess around with something like this. But it’s a big deal to me and I would really appreciate it!

Also, I just had a thought for new indie authors who are just starting out with Amazon. I would suggest that you create a new Amazon account for your KDP account. New email, new address, new credit card. Nothing that is linked on the Web to any other account. Just a thought. It might save you this frustration later down the road… (if that is totally against Amazon policy I apoligize. I haven’t checked, I was just wishing that I had done that from the start.)

Food for Love – Amazon (Kindle version)

Food for Love – Smashwords (Kindle, Epub, PDF, RTF, LRF, PDB)