In 2018 I self-published my first book (Gentle Introduction to Dependent Types with Idris) using Leanpub and KDP (Amazon CreateSpace at the time). I blogged about that here.
In this blog post, I will write about moving away from KDP and publishing with a more normal publisher.
Amazon KDP (and Leanpub) was great. It was a good learning experience for me: finding reviewers, finding someone to work on the cover, etc. Sales were going great, and everything was going good. Until one day, when I was not able to access my KDP account – it was deactivated. In an e-mail, they claimed:
I tried contacting back but received no response for several weeks. From a quick Google search, I found out that other folks also had the same issue and that Amazon is known for doing things like this – shutting down accounts randomly.
I immediately contacted my friends from Apress with which I already published two other books. Apress already had offered to publish my book back in 2019, which I didn’t accept back then, and I thought contacting them now would be a great opportunity to get my book republished. They agreed with my proposal and we signed a contract 🎉
What about KDP? Well, after a month, they responded that they reinstated my account, to which I responded that I am requesting the account be closed permanently.
Thanks, but no thanks 🙂
If you ever decide to publish with KDP, be aware that your books might disappear in a moment. Publishing with KDP is a great experience for the sake of learning, but it’s not something to do serious business with.
bor0's reflective blog 