It’s an indie author’s marketplace when it comes to publishing eBooks and also new emerging publishers (like MetaPlume) are taking full advantage of the publishing platforms afforded by the likes of Smashwords and Amazon. There’s a freedom to e-publishing which is a refreshing change from the impenetrable ivory towers of the print publishing world in the past. Authors and new publishers have more control than they ever did.
But wait.
When Amazon is behind in their review process and you’ve been waiting for two weeks for a book to become available in their store, you realize that Amazon has become the new ivory tower.
Amazon has sent two “we apologize for the delay” emails in the past two weeks. The actual wording is:
Thanks for using Amazon KDP! Based on recent high risk publishing activity, we may need up to 7 business days to review your submission(s) currently in review status on your bookshelf. During this review period you are welcome to submit additional books for review, but publishing may be delayed until this review is complete.
Authors and e-publishers around the globe are waiting …
The way I read into this is that they’ve been getting more eBooks uploaded lately that break copyright and they are therefore having to spend more time confirming the validity of each publication before they are approved and listed on the Amazon Kindle store. I have two questions for Amazon:
1) Could you please look into assigning a “trusted” status to publishers who have many titles published with you already that have never had an issue, and
2) Can you put on more staff in order to keep up with demand!? Pretty please?
