I've Joined the Banned Book Club (And How I'm Fighting Back)

AI-Driven Algorithms are Ruining Lives

---

I woke up on a beautiful Saturday morning to an absolute shock:  an email from Amazon KDP telling me they had removed my latest book, Up in Flames, from sale. The reason? They had "detected attempts to manipulate reviews."

I have 24 reviews on this book. The last one was five months ago in January. What. The Actual. Fuck? 

Figuring it was just a mistake of some kind of AI-driven book-vetter, I didn't worry too much about it at the time. A real person would hear my plea, look into it, and help me. I told them I had done no such thing, showed off a little of my Amazon Community Guidelines knowledge for good measure, and kindly asked them to reinstate my book.

They refused.

Of course you realize, this means war.

---

I don't care how big the opponent is. I don't care how hot they think they are. I don't care if I go down in glorious battle; at least I'll know I tried and I gave it my all. Amazon is the biggest bad perhaps anyone can fight; and I'm fucking fighting.

I am not the only one affected by this right now. Threads is ablaze by a lot of authors suddenly getting their books - and sometimes their whole accounts - taken down for equally vague reasons as mine, if given any reason at all. Whatever update Amazon just did to their algorithm, it is ruining people's lives.

Books are a money-sink hobby for me, but for others? It's their livelihood. Amazon is playing with our livelihood, our reputation, our pride, our art, and refusing to give us more than a passing glance before crushing us under their boot. Amazon seems to have no interest in looking at facts when their Big Brother AI Algorithm believes you are the bad guy. I'm not even convinced that any one of the emails I received from them were from a real humans. 

Each time I get a new reply from them it seems to be a new excuse. First it was suspicious reviews. Then it was my book itself violated the Community Guidelines. Then it was about my account. Then, finally, it was about my book causing "poor customer experience".  If they can't even keep their story straight; if they can't even be bothered to look at their previous emails to keep their excuses on track, what makes you think they're actually looking at your book or situation at all?

I have been fighting back and forth with Amazon for three days. I have provided screenshots, I've provided information. I've asked multiple times for clarification and specific details about why they keep refusing to reinstate my book and NONE of my questions have been answered. Not a single one. I just get generic refusals to relist my book. 

---

I'm Done Playing Around

---

After three days of this, of banging my head against a brick wall that has no sympathy or integrity, it is becoming clear that this fight might be bigger than me. 

I have reached out to an author's union, of sorts, who has a reputation for helping indie authors get their books and accounts reinstated. It was a pretty penny to join up with them, but if it gets Up in Flames burning brightly on the Amazon storefront again, then it will be worth it. I will be taking copious notes on this journey of Fighting the Book Ban, so look forward to updates as they come in. I hope to have a glorious account of this badass organization and our triumphant victory in the near future. Fingers crossed. I'm sure they're swamped right now with people like me.

But for now, as I continue to wait in this nightmarish limbo for any sign of grace, I've been working on my backup plans.

You can't snuff out Up in Flames

---

I've been hard at work getting Up in Flames up and ready to go through Ingram Spark. They have all the same options that Amazon has:  ebooks, paperbacks, and hardbacks. Should I meet defeat, or if the battle carries on for far too long, then I'm ready to pull the trigger and get Up in Flames available again through Ingram Spark.

For the moment, though, I am hesitating on the trigger. Because here's the real deal. Amazon-printed books are just insanely more cost effective. To print books through Ingram Spark, it's going to cost me another $1 per book just to keep inventory on hand, and that's just the paperbacks. There are other options, like printing through Book Vault, but I need to do more research into the how and the cost of that. 

Plus, despite all its evils (and now my wrath), Amazon is the largest book retailer by a huge margin. You could forget about the audiences anywhere else and you'd still have like 90% of the readers of the world at your fingertips through Amazon. Most of my royalties online came from Kindle Unlimited. That and KDP giveaways is how I even stand a chance of getting out there.

Not to mention I have a really weird feeling about only having one of my poetry books on Amazon and not both; they are a thematic pair, they belong together and should be on the same platform.

And another thing! Ingram Spark is cool because it theoretically puts your book in the magical "catalogue" where libraries, school, and book stores order their books from. I'ma be real and transparent right now. It was always my goal to get all of my books on Ingram Spark for that exact purpose, to be available in libraries and such. But considering how expensive ISBNs are, and the fact that The Un-Life has had a total of like 6 whole sales in the 7 years since it's been available in the magical catalogue, and I make less than $1 on The Un-Life through Ingram Spark, it's just not a smart move right now financially to add more books to Ingram Spark if I can help it. 

But I will, if it comes to that. I'm ready.

My heart is breaking right now

---

The worst part of all of this is that it's a false accusation made, likely, by a heartless, hallucinating machine. It was a mistake that Amazon is refusing to admit to and refusing to take care of. I am suffering for no reason. All of us authors who have been affected by this shit-tier customer service are suffering for no reason. 

And it's bigger than Amazon. The most infuriating thing to me over this last year has been the amount of people that just don't care. The people that don't care about the homeless, or the hunger of children, or the horrors of war, or neighbors being stolen away in broad daylight, or the violence in our own streets, or the extreme squeeze of the cost of living, or the fucking planet being on fire. So long as it doesn't effect them, the big guys, the suits, the ones in charge - they don't care. 

And seeing Amazon not care, at all, about the indie authors that have helped to build up their platform has been really disheartening. I've been an author on Amazon for 7 years, and a customer for nearly two decades. I haven't made a blip or a peep in that time, not an ounce of ruckus. I have guided and taught other authors how to navigate their platform and give them business for years. And they don't care.

But you care. You've stuck it out with me. You've given me support when I needed it the most. I'm fighting this fight for you.

Thank you for being there. It means the world.

~Dana Lockhart