Some of the scams:
1. in KU 1, where they paid for any book that a borrower read 10% of. Make the book so short that simply opening the book would trigger the payment.
Amazon countered with KU 2 where we get paid per page read.
2. publish a book that has 6000 or more [amazon ku] pages. Hire a 'click farm' to borrow your book and skip to the back, triggering full payment. A 'click farmer' might have many identities, all of which have a Kindle Unlimited account at Amazon. That 'farmer' will borrow the book on each account. If the payment per page is 1/2 a cent, each 'read through' will get the author $30. If the 'farmer' has 10 identities, he'll make the author $300 (less his commission). If the farm has 10 'farmers', the author gets $3000 (less commission). The 'book' will often have several novel-length books in it. The first is on the cover, the others are bonuses or just word salad.
3. (Relates to 2 above). Put several novels in one book, and then rotate them. In other words, Book one is called ABC and the novel ABC starts it, followed by the novel DEF, then GHI, etc. Then change the order and publish a second book with the novel DEF as the cover novel, followed by GHI etc, ending with ABC. Publish a third book with GHI as the cover and beginning novel. Now you have 10-6000 page books out there, and each 'farmer' will borrow all 10. The books themselves can be mostly garbage, unedited, uninteresting. The point is not to get sales, but borrows from the farmers.
Amazon countered by limiting the page count to 3000. Great. So now they limit the amount for a single borrow to $15.
4. Put up 3000 page books which have the same 4 or 5 paragraphs endlessly repeated. Hire the farmers again. I once found 40 of those books up -- and all in the top 100 'Movers and Shakers' list because of the borrows. I reported them to Amazon -- and a more frustrating 'chat' exchange, I've never had. I was shifted through 5 or 6 different persons. The books were taken down -- 'Good job, Doug,' you might think. Others promptly took their place, and I reported those, too -- by email this time, only to get the admonition that I should have gone through 'chat'.
There are more scams, but I'm tired of writing about them. There's a blog by David Gaughran. I recommend you go to it and read it.
These are some of the reasons many writers are disappointed and discouraged. Not only does Amazon allow KU to be scammed, reducing the amount legitimate authors get, but they're teaching their customers that books are worth essentially nothing ($10 per month for an unlimited supply). I find it very discouraging.
David Gaughran's blog:
On Friday, a book jumped to the #1 spot on Amazon, out of nowhere; it quickly became obvious that the author had used a clickfarm to gatecrash the charts.
The Kindle Store is officially broken.
This is not the first time this has happened and Amazon’s continued inaction is increasingly baffling. Last Sunday, a clickfarmed title also hit #1 in the Kindle Store. And Amazon took no action.
Over the last six weeks, one particularly brazen author has put four separate titles in the Top 10, and Amazon did nothing whatsoever. There are many such examples.
I wrote at the start of June about how scammers were taking over Amazon’s free charts. That post led to a phone conversation with KDP’s Executive Customer Relations.
Repeated assurances were given that the entire leadership team at Amazon was taking the scammer problem very seriously indeed. But it was also stressed that the problem wasn’t quite as bad as I was making out, and that this stuff never hits the charts and remains largely invisible to customers.
I explained in detail how none of those contentions were true, that readers are leaving angry reviews under these books, which regularly hit the charts, and further that KDP has singularly failed to act on 18 months-worth of complaints.
Amazon asked me to compile more information for them – and I did that with a report submitted on Wednesday.
Read the rest at:
Now, I'm going to try to break through my discouragement and get back to writing -- something I'm finding more and more difficult to do.
Live the joy, my friends.
PS: Here's my 'chat' with Amazon:
Me: I have discovered a group of books in the Amazon KU catalog which are scam books. They have the same paragraph or group of paragraphs repeated endlessly. There are several 'authors' and all use a selection of the same images for the covers. All are in the 'movers and shakers' list. A few of them use the names of actual authors, but most don't. they seem to have 5 books per account.
You are now connected to Taylor from Amazon.com
9:26 PM Taylor: Hello, my name is Taylor. I'm here to help you today.
9:27 PM Me: Wonderful. I'd prefer to send the message by email but this program doesn't seem to allow it.
9:28 PM Taylor: Let me transfer you to our Kindle specialist. Just a moment. They will be able to assist you further.
9:28 PM Me: Thank you.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to Mohd from Amazon.com
9:32 PM Mohd: Hello, my name is Mohd. Please give me a moment to review the previous correspondence.
9:33 PM A member of our Retail team will be the perfect person to help you with this. Let me connect you to a member of our Retail team. It will only take a moment.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to Shandean from Amazon.com
9:35 PM Shandean: Hello, my name is Shandean. Please give me a moment to review the previous correspondence.
9:36 PM I'm seeing these are Kindle books. Please hold while I have you transferred to our Kindle team.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to ShanmugaDass from Amazon.com
9:36 PM ShanmugaDass: Hello, my name is ShanmugaDass. Please give me a moment to review the previous correspondence.
9:39 PM Thank you for waiting.
I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you had with Kindle content.
9:40 PM We appreciate your bringing that Kindle content issue to our attention.
9:40 PM Me: There are 8 different authors, each with what appear to be 5 scam books. All are in the 'movers and shakers list"
9:41 PM ShanmugaDass: So in this case we will need to file a ticket, so A Kindle Specialist is the best person to help you with this. Please wait while I transfer this chat.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to Kamal from Amazon.com
9:41 PM Kamal: Hello my name is Kamal. I am a part of Amazon Kindle Technical Specialist team. I'll certainly try to help regarding your concern.
9:42 PM Me: I'd just like an email address where I can send the list of what appear to be scam books.
9:43 PM Kamal: Please allow me a minute.
9:49 PM I'm sorry to keep you waiting. It'll just be a moment longer.
9:52 PM Douglas, May I know did you purchased or borrowed the book under your amazon account?
9:53 PM Me: No, I neither purchased nor borrowed any of these books. I came across them (about 40) in the 'movers and shakers' list, and opened a few of each using "Look Inside".
9:54 PM They looked designed to take advantage of the Kindle Unlimited system.
9:55 PM Kamal: Thanks for your valuable concern Douglas,
In this case a member of our Concerned team will need to help you with this. Please hold while I transfer you. One of our Concerned Specialists will assist you shortly.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to Jesse from Amazon.com
9:56 PM Jesse: Hello, my name is Jesse and I'll be helping you today
9:56 PM Me: Wonderful
9:58 PM Jesse: I hope you are well. I'll do my best to help. So just to confirm, you'd like to report fraudulent Kindle books on our website?
9:58 PM Me: Books that I suspect are fraudulent, yes.
9:59 PM Jesse: I see. May I please have a few minutes to research this issue?
9:59 PM Me: Have at it.
10:04 PM Jesse: Thanks for waiting Douglas. I do appreciate your patience. So on the website, when you open the page of the book, if you scroll down further, you'll see a section "Feedback" , do you see that?
10:05 PM Me: Yes, and I did that for two of the books, but there are 40 of them.
10: 06 PM 5 each from 8 different "authors"
10:07 PM Jesse: I see. I will submit the feedback on your behalf then. This will get sent to the appropriate people within the company and we will investigate this issue
10:08 PM Me: Can I email a list of the suspected books/authors to someone? Note that three of the author names are the same as legitimate authors whom I doubt know anything about this.
10:09 PM Jesse: You can. Send it to cs-reply@amazon.com
10:09 PM Me: Thank you. I'll do that. Appreciate the help. Doug.
10:09 PM Jesse: Is there anything else I may do to help?
10:09 PM Me: Nope. That should do it. Thanks again.
10:10 PM Jesse: Thank you for contacting the Amazon Customer Service Chat Team, enjoy the rest the week ahead! Please don't forget to click on " End Chat "
Jesse from Amazon.com has left the conversation.
PS: Here's my 'chat' with Amazon:
Me: I have discovered a group of books in the Amazon KU catalog which are scam books. They have the same paragraph or group of paragraphs repeated endlessly. There are several 'authors' and all use a selection of the same images for the covers. All are in the 'movers and shakers' list. A few of them use the names of actual authors, but most don't. they seem to have 5 books per account.
You are now connected to Taylor from Amazon.com
9:26 PM Taylor: Hello, my name is Taylor. I'm here to help you today.
9:27 PM Me: Wonderful. I'd prefer to send the message by email but this program doesn't seem to allow it.
9:28 PM Taylor: Let me transfer you to our Kindle specialist. Just a moment. They will be able to assist you further.
9:28 PM Me: Thank you.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to Mohd from Amazon.com
9:32 PM Mohd: Hello, my name is Mohd. Please give me a moment to review the previous correspondence.
9:33 PM A member of our Retail team will be the perfect person to help you with this. Let me connect you to a member of our Retail team. It will only take a moment.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to Shandean from Amazon.com
9:35 PM Shandean: Hello, my name is Shandean. Please give me a moment to review the previous correspondence.
9:36 PM I'm seeing these are Kindle books. Please hold while I have you transferred to our Kindle team.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to ShanmugaDass from Amazon.com
9:36 PM ShanmugaDass: Hello, my name is ShanmugaDass. Please give me a moment to review the previous correspondence.
9:39 PM Thank you for waiting.
I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you had with Kindle content.
9:40 PM We appreciate your bringing that Kindle content issue to our attention.
9:40 PM Me: There are 8 different authors, each with what appear to be 5 scam books. All are in the 'movers and shakers list"
9:41 PM ShanmugaDass: So in this case we will need to file a ticket, so A Kindle Specialist is the best person to help you with this. Please wait while I transfer this chat.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to Kamal from Amazon.com
9:41 PM Kamal: Hello my name is Kamal. I am a part of Amazon Kindle Technical Specialist team. I'll certainly try to help regarding your concern.
9:42 PM Me: I'd just like an email address where I can send the list of what appear to be scam books.
9:43 PM Kamal: Please allow me a minute.
9:49 PM I'm sorry to keep you waiting. It'll just be a moment longer.
9:52 PM Douglas, May I know did you purchased or borrowed the book under your amazon account?
9:53 PM Me: No, I neither purchased nor borrowed any of these books. I came across them (about 40) in the 'movers and shakers' list, and opened a few of each using "Look Inside".
9:54 PM They looked designed to take advantage of the Kindle Unlimited system.
9:55 PM Kamal: Thanks for your valuable concern Douglas,
In this case a member of our Concerned team will need to help you with this. Please hold while I transfer you. One of our Concerned Specialists will assist you shortly.
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.
You are now connected to Jesse from Amazon.com
9:56 PM Jesse: Hello, my name is Jesse and I'll be helping you today
9:56 PM Me: Wonderful
9:58 PM Jesse: I hope you are well. I'll do my best to help. So just to confirm, you'd like to report fraudulent Kindle books on our website?
9:58 PM Me: Books that I suspect are fraudulent, yes.
9:59 PM Jesse: I see. May I please have a few minutes to research this issue?
9:59 PM Me: Have at it.
10:04 PM Jesse: Thanks for waiting Douglas. I do appreciate your patience. So on the website, when you open the page of the book, if you scroll down further, you'll see a section "Feedback" , do you see that?
10:05 PM Me: Yes, and I did that for two of the books, but there are 40 of them.
10: 06 PM 5 each from 8 different "authors"
10:07 PM Jesse: I see. I will submit the feedback on your behalf then. This will get sent to the appropriate people within the company and we will investigate this issue
10:08 PM Me: Can I email a list of the suspected books/authors to someone? Note that three of the author names are the same as legitimate authors whom I doubt know anything about this.
10:09 PM Jesse: You can. Send it to cs-reply@amazon.com
10:09 PM Me: Thank you. I'll do that. Appreciate the help. Doug.
10:09 PM Jesse: Is there anything else I may do to help?
10:09 PM Me: Nope. That should do it. Thanks again.
10:10 PM Jesse: Thank you for contacting the Amazon Customer Service Chat Team, enjoy the rest the week ahead! Please don't forget to click on " End Chat "
Jesse from Amazon.com has left the conversation.
