I know I said I wouldn’t be on today, but I’m getting something off my chest. This really has me pissed off. I signed up with KDP Select, so my book is supposed to be exclusive to Amazon Kindle. I can see people already going ‘oh no’. My book was taken off Smashwords with ease. Unfortunately:
It’s on freaking Barnes & Noble!
I never signed up with B&N, but it got put on through their partnership with Smashwords. I have no account with B&N, so I can’t remove it like from Smashwords. I’ve had to send both companies e-mails and pray they get it fixed within 5 days or I’m dropped from the KDP Select program. I’m definitely going to have to keep an eye on my email throughout the weekend. I might send a message to Amazon and tell them my situation to see if I can get a little sympathy or help.
One thing for certain: I’m never using Smashwords again. Abysmal sales I can handle. Putting me on another site without an easy option to get me off that site? Screw you for unintentionally screwing me, Smashwords.
Legends of Windemere 
So sorry… 😦
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I sent e-mails out to the three companies and hopefully something will be done by the time I get up to the convention area.
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Here’s crossing my fingers for you…
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That’s so frustrating! I hope they get it resolved quickly!
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Me too. Hopefully I hit the hotel and find that the e-mail is sitting there with ‘done’ message.
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I hope the rest of your day gets better. (But, since it was in BN, it gave me a chance to pick up your book in the platform I prefer over Kindle)
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Just don’t let Kindle know. I’m in enough trouble as it is over this. What angers me the most is that Smashwords was able to create this B&N page, but I have to jump through hoops to remove it. For Smashwords itself, I clicked ‘unpublish’ and it was gone within minutes. They shouldn’t set stuff up that can’t be easily taken down.
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Yeah, I thought the whole idea was that it was easy to change things on all of these sites. Like, including taking stuff down.
Sorry for your trouble, and I hope it’s fixed soon. Or better yet, now.
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I thought so too, but I think this is a wrinkle that Smashwords has to fix. Maybe somebody on there forgot or I had to contact them in the first place, but I didn’t know.
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Wow. Hope all is well.
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Thanks.
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Aaaaack! I hope this gets worked out for you really quickly, Charles. You certainly do not need this distraction this weekend.
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Thanks. I sent all the e-mails I could, so fingers are crossed. I’m sure Smashwords can easily go in and delete the book from their account. It would really suck if I bust my butt all weekend with this free sale and convention only to be kicked out of KDP Select on Tuesday.
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Charles, I know you’re upset but I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your sharing stuff like this with us. It’s valuable experience and information that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to unless I walked into it. So, Thank You!
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You’re welcome. I guess my advice on this one would be to make sure you’re off those sites before joining KDP Select. That’s the smarter thing to do. Just figured it would be an automatic.
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What a mess! I can understand your frustration
i hope you get it sorted out soon Charles!
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Thanks. Guess I should get off the computer and pack the car. Keep procrastinating to check my email for news on this.
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That sucks. Hopefully it was just an honest mistake on Smashwords’s part. Otherwise, they’re treading dangerously close to evil megacorporation status …
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Or at least angering Amazon. Just arrived and still no word. Also, my laptop doesn’t like the hotel’s wi-fi. Can’t win! On the lobby computer.
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Oh dear. I hope it will swiftly be fixed.
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Thanks. Me too.
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Seriously? Oh I had no idea they could even do that! That would outrage me! I hadn’t realized that was part of Smashwords, this could be an entire week of rants!
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Outrage lasted until I got beyond NYC. Then it was getting angry at the GPS for telling me to illegal u-turns on the freeway every 2 miles. I think it’s trying to kill me.
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GPC
Gotta punish Charles
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I call it Cyber-Magellan since the real one didn’t make it home alive. My wife has the rank of full Magellan. She did great this time though.
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Lol I have GPMS 🙂
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See, I haven’t tried to tackle the Smashwords giant yet (Though Kobo STILL has not published my book after like, four days worth of waiting). But now I don’t know if I will ever.
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If you ever plan on going with KDP Select for some free days and advertising help, you might want to hold off on Smashwords or make sure you clear things off B&N/Smashwords before going for KDP Select.
I just found out that Smashwords takes 72 hours to respond to emails, but they don’t include weekends in that count. So, they will get back to me the same day Amazon is supposed to drop me from the program because of this thing.
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I have thought about KDP select, as I have mentioned before, but the benefits don’t outweigh the sacrifices for me. I have my book listed on B&N and Amazon (and it will be on Kobo if the blasted people ever let it get past the “publishing stage”, I’m about to give up on them) but I have read a lot where the exclusivity hinders more than aids, and that it is promoted as Miracle Grow for authors when it does in fact hinder their profits and distribution options.
I hope your experience is different than those I have read, I’m going to keep up with your progress and if it works well for you, I might give it a stab myself.
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Smashwords can help you get on Kobo and the other non-Kindle readers. It’s a catch-all one.
I’ve met many authors who proved that the exclusivity would hinder their sales. That’s why I started with Kindle and Smashwords. As time went on, I found that Smashwords/Nook wasn’t selling no matter what I did. I was even on the premium for Smashwords and nothing happened. Before the current issue, I was going to sign back on with Smashwords once the 90-day KDP Select period was over. I think that’s something people forget, but 90 days is a long time. I’ve wondered if doing KDP can actually help with the others because you gain popularity and the other e-reader users start to want it.
I’ve been thinking about the entire situation. Mostly because the convention was slow. The use of KDP Select could very well be on a person-to-person basis. I had no luck with the non-Kindle readers, so I didn’t feel like I was giving anything up. My friend, Lawrence Kelter, makes a lot on Nook, so he doesn’t have a use for KDP Select.
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I would love to know his secrets! Nook has done no favours for me so far.
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He started with a full publisher and switched to self-publishing. He’s great at marketing with blogs and has a loyal fan base. That’s all I can think of. He has a couple books out, so made the fact that he has a series helps him. I think I asked he just said it was marketing and hard work. Though, my brain is a little fried right now.
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