Banned for taking shortcuts? Well, Amazon will suspend any account if there are poor quality books on the market. Check out below to get some tips in your self-publishing journey.
I recently was informed by a friend of mine that their Amazon account was banned along with all of their books.
But before we get into that, check out my free Self-Publishing Secrets Checklist. It will help you get started on your self-publishing journey.
You might be wondering what they did? Well, the answer is very simple... they took a shortcut.
You see, they have piles of books and realized that they could sell those exact books in other markets if they were translated.
Check out this related article: Do I Need To Copyright My Self-Published Books?
Accounts Banned By Amazon
So, instead of hiring someone to do the translations and editing, they decided Google Translate was good enough!
Well, let's just say it wasn't.
Amazon, without any warning, immediately banned their account. Banned for taking shortcuts, for putting poor quality books on the market. Their suspension also included the books they had published in English.
Check out this related article: Why Did My KDP Account Close Without Any Notification?
You're Just Sharecropping
There are two huge lessons to take from this...
1. You are sharecropping when you are selling on someone else's platform. So, if you have apps on iTunes or books on Amazon, they have the right to kill your cash flow with the flick of a finger and there is very little you can do about it.
Check out this related article: 7 Tips From Successful Self-Published Authors
2. Be very careful with taking shortcuts. Sometimes, you don't get second chances to make up for previous mistakes and based upon how many products or services you have on the market, you may find yourself losing big fast! Don't go for the shorter route to prevent your account from getting banned for taking shortcuts.
~ Chris Baird
P.S. What shortcuts have taken in the past that you regret? Have you ever had an account banned for taking shortcuts or closed for any other reasons?