Samstag, 4. Februar 2017

How to NOT get your book blocked by Amazon

Especially for adult books Amazon likes to block a lot. Although they are making a lot of money with exactly those books they don't want to ruin their image and keep their hands clean.

Here are some rules to live by if you don't want to get your book blocked instantly or later on - be advised Amazon continuously changes their rules!

The Cover

The easiest way to get blocked is the cover. They are very, very picky about that one. Although the following things named might work for some authors, while your cover is getting blocked for it. It's up to you to decide whether to be safe than sorry, or take the risk!
Stay clear of:
  • nudity, as in exposed breasts, or ass (the system cannot differentiate one from the other),
  • bondage and any pictures that show bdsm too clearly,
  • weapons, such as knifes and guns,
  • anything showing or implying violence, especially blood, and most recently: too much red! A red in red cover alone might be already blocked,
Should your cover not have these triggers and still be blocked, there might be another reason!

Words

Some words in the title, blurb, or as keywords - especially in combination - are enough to get your title blocked, even more so in combination with keywords and/or the chosen genre. If your book belongs to the erotica or romance genre (unless with erotica/horror), you should not use the following words in your title and blurb combined (underlined words will always get you blocked, no matter where):
  • abuse in a sexual context,
  • beast, hound, wolf, or animal (unless in the paranormal genre),
  • bestiality
  • brother in a sexual context (step might work),
  • dub-con (dubious consent), 
  • family,
  • father, daddy, dad in a sexual context (step might work),
  • incest,
  • mother, mommy, mom in a sexual context  (step might work),
  • necrophilia,
  • non-con
  • forbidden,
  • rape
  • taboo (as keyword it will get you blocked immediately),
  • trigger,
  • underage
Should you have been very careful about all these things and your book still got blocked, even if you used some of the words, do never talk to the normal kdp support (kdp-support@amazon.com), but instead contact the second level support, who has more insight and is trained for your requests. Here is the magic email-address: title-submission@amazon.com. Tread with care and be friendly and they will be your friend.


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