’tis Amazon malarky gave me an ulcer.

So what happen. Well, indie authors knows the pleasure to publish via the Amazon KDP. It is easy, it is handly it opens you up on the great market. It is also automatic soulless machine that treat you like guilty untill proven innocent. As I was writing our third book yesterday suddenly my email box pinqued and I saw the email all authors dread to see.

It has come to our attention that the following book(s) may include one or more images on your book’s cover for which you may not have the necessary rights:

Amazon KDP Team

And I lost my shit… because they made our ebook unavailable for the sale without the warning just snapping the fingers. I would understand the situation where I get an email asking me to prove the licence otherwise in 5 days they will make the book unavailable but no out of the blue ebook of AUTUMN CHAOS was out of the market.

One I calmed my racing heart and drunk enough Gaviscon to tame the raging sea I dug to the licence folder where I was holding everything including the copyright certificate from U.S. goverment. Everybody told you that you don’t need it when you start to look for the copyright advice that just by being an author you are protected.

Yeah … right. If you are an author shift your rear end pay few pennies and get certificate and get one because I’m pretty sure it saved me.

The thing is I have everything as legal as it can be. Invoices for services, acknowleage cover designer and licences for images. So I piled it all up and threw into Amazon quoting the licensing laws and all that jazz fretting because out main sales are in ebooks and loosing them we fall right down onto the bottom of the visibility.

24h later I got an email back. The ebook was restored and is back on sales, and our book positively verified it’s legitimacy both of writing and cover design. But I lost our good ranking position and now will have to dig the book out of the hole it droped because of day with no sales.

But despite almost exploding an ulcer I won this battle and my baby is back on the shelves, all because as a proper control freak Virgo I had all licences and copyright certification ready so if you every decide to go indie path keep all the papers safe. That is my advice to you.