Amazon Strangle-Holds Hundreds of Authors

Black Friday Weekend Shattered

After a decade of operating under the same account, Amazon decided to close my publisher’s account today. The reason stated was multiple accounts, creating a violation of their terms, however, no proof of these so-called multiple accounts has been offered.

My publisher, Next Chapter Publications, reached out to its authors today with a plea for us to contact Amazon and demand reinstatement of their account, which was closed with no documentation presented other than the letter they emailed to Next Chapter, as shown above.

With close to 200 authors on its roster and, literally, thousands of titles available through Amazon, KDP and Audible, the impact on authors will be tremendous. Any hopes we may have had for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, which often represent a substantial percentage of annual income through royalties, are dashed.

Next Chapter Publications has repeatedly attempted to contact Amazon to try to resolve the issue, however, Amazon has made no official reply or statement. One customer service representative told my publisher today: ‘Sorry for the headache.’

The magnitude of the issue

Next Chapter is not alone. When I searched Twitter for related Tweets, I can see that many other…