Tag: amazon

Open letter to Kindle: Authors concerned about your use of AI

Your lack of response to authors’ queries about how our books are being processed by the AI is most concerning, especially in light of all these lawsuits.

Dear Kindle Direct Publishing,

I’ve been publishing to the Kindle store since 2012, when my debut novel Sade on the Wall was a quarterfinalist in your Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. I’ve published dozens of titles in your Kindle store since. I’m so grateful for the platform you provide indie authors and how it revolutionized self-publishing. However, I’m deeply concerned about how you’re implementing AI.

Many authors have expressed concerns about the beta Kindle summaries feature, provided by AI. A number of complaints have been filed about errors in the summaries and trope lists the AI generates for books. There is no way for authors to opt-out of this feature, nor is there any way for us to correct the errors.

Authors spend hours crafting summaries, descriptions, trope lists, and more to market our books. We’re required to input some of these things into our book’s metadata in KDP. I’m not sure why KDP decided it was necessary to roll out an AI tool to do this, inefficiently at that, when authors make these resources readily available in KDP and on our websites and social media. I’m also not sure why there’s no way for authors to opt-out (personally, I’d prefer if something like this was opt-in).

Furthermore, KDP has yet to explain how authors’ books are being used by the AI or update your TOS regarding this feature. My books are involved in lawsuits of multiple instances of AI companies using artists’ work to train their LLMs without knowledge or permission. I don’t consent to my work being used with or to train any AI. I want to ensure that my work isn’t used without license. Your lack of response to authors’ queries about how our books are being processed by the AI is most concerning, especially in light of all these lawsuits.

I’ve decided to pull all my titles from the Kindle store until these issues are addressed. I’d like to see KDP continue working directly with authors for marketing materials, rather than rely on AI. I’d like to see AI tools and features made opt-in and editable for authors. And I’d like to see your TOS updated to outline in clear, direct language how authors’ books are being used.

KDP was once an underdog, supporting authors who are also underdogs. I’d like to see this dynamic and relationship continue. I’m so grateful to the many other platforms available to authors for carrying on this spirit, and I hope that KDP will course-correct.

Thank you for the time we’ve had together, and thank you for hearing me out.

Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Barone

Photo by appshunter.io on Unsplash

Pulling my books from Kindle

Amazon won’t listen to authors’ concerns about their AI summaries tool for Kindle books, so we gotta make them listen.

My dear readers,

Recently, Amazon rolled out automatic AI summaries for Kindle books. They gave authors no way to opt-out of this or edit what the AI generates. They also have yet to update their terms of service, explaining how books will be processed by their AI and for what purposes. This is all problematic for several reasons.

AI doesn’t understand nuance or sarcasm or storytelling. Many authors have reported glaring errors in the AI’s summaries and trope lists, asking Amazon to let us opt-out or fix the mistakes, as well as asking how our books are being used with their AI—all these messages we’ve collectively sent have fallen on disorganized, deaf ears.

At the time, I decided to wait and see what Amazon did. The new feature was beta, after all, so it’s always best to focus on other things while they work out the kinks. Except… they didn’t. They haven’t given authors any sort of meaningful response. Their customer service reps seem to know next to nothing about this feature, and the company itself still hasn’t updated its TOS months later. This is concerning, since tech companies are stealing content to train their AI. It wouldn’t surprise me if Amazon is waiting to see how all the lawsuits shake out.

I’m not okay with my books being used to train AI, especially without my knowledge. I’m not okay with my books being incorrectly summarized by AI, with no way to revise errors or opt-out entirely. I’m also not okay with third-party book review sites scraping these erroneous summaries and using them as marketing materials. We’ve collectively dived headfirst into AI without much thought and certainly without baking in protections for artists—which artists have asked for from the jump. We certainly didn’t ask for these features, which are more like bugs.

Every book I wrote took months if not years of my life to write, and I put time, research, energy, and heart into every single one. I also spend hours crafting descriptions, summaries, trope lists, and other marketing materials that are readily available for Amazon’s use—right in their dashboard. It’s redundant and silly of Amazon to use AI for these materials. It makes me wonder whether they’re quietly working on AI-generated books, which would be a slap in the face of all authors who’ve dedicated years of our lives writing for Kindle.

It’s not enough for me to say I’m not okay with this. I have to walk my talk; I have to tell Amazon in no uncertain terms that this won’t fly. I believe that if enough authors pull our books, Amazon will finally listen to us.

Or maybe they won’t. Maybe they’ll keep pushing their AI onto authors and readers who don’t want it. That’s not my circus or my monkey.

Retailers need creators, not the other way around. There are other platforms we can sell our books on—places that support rather than push around authors.

That said, a lot of my readers are Kindle users. Amazon’s making it more and more difficult to sideload and backup ebooks, which is yet another way they monopolize the market. Reading should be easy and fun, especially now that we have so much technology available. That’s why I publish my books as widely as possible.

I’m in the process of re-launching my shop, which will carry ebook editions of my books in all formats (including Kindle). I’m also always expanding into new-to-me platforms.

In the meantime, I’ll start pulling my books from the Kindle store next week, updating here as I go. If there’s a book you’ve been eyeing, I’d grab it now if you don’t want to wait for me to roll out my new shop. (At the time of this writing, AI summaries don’t affect paperbacks, so those editions will remain available in the Amazon store for now.)

I really appreciate your understanding and patience during this process. It’s just another bump in my little author journey, and we will get through it. After all, I was writing and publishing before Amazon, and I’ll be writing and publishing after Amazon, too.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out! You can email me privately, or reply to this to add your public comments.

As always, I wish you happy reading!

Photo by Perfecto Capucine on Unsplash

5 ways Canadian readers can boycott and still support American authors

In support of Canadian readers boycotting U.S.-made books and authors, I’ve put together a list of ways you can still support your favorite American authors.

🇨🇦 Buy Canadian. Boycott U.S. 🇨🇦
Yes, even the books!

It’s getting a bit ugly in some bookish spaces online, so before any of that ugliness comes here—not that any of my readers even act like that—I want to say something.

It’s good and right that Canadians are boycotting U.S.-made products and services. They have to, because of Trump’s insane tariffs. I’m American and adore my Canadian friends, readers, colleagues, associates, and publisher. That will never change! I don’t take Canadian boycotts personally because they aren’t personal attacks on me.

Authors, please don’t be angry with readers for your sales dropping. There are a few elements at play, here (one of those is Amazon’s sudden move to prevent readers from downloading ebooks they’ve purchased on their Kindle to their computer). People are speaking out with their dollars, and we should be supporting that; everyone wins when we support each other. (Amazon’s abuse of authors is something we need to talk about, but not today.)

I don’t want to get all soapbox-y, but we really do need to stick together and work cooperatively.

Here are some ways Canadian readers can still support their favorite American authors without spending a dime!

Join authors’ email lists ✍🏼

I’m genuinely surprised every time a reader doesn’t know I have a newsletter. I feel like I’m always pushing it, sometimes obnoxiously so, haha. Most authors have a newsletter (and if you don’t, you should). Joining an author’s email list lets them know you’re a fan, and doesn’t cost you a dime (it actually costs us). It’s also a great way to ensure that no stupid social media algorithm will keep you out of the loop.

My newsletter is free, and I typically send one every month. You’ll also get exclusive goodies and instant access to my serialized books.

Like, comment on, and share authors’ social media posts 💬

I’ve been serializing my River Reapers MC dark romance books here on my website, which doesn’t cost anything to read. If you’re a Canadian reader boycotting U.S. authors, liking, commenting on, and sharing those chapters is still a great way to support me. It’d actually help me out quite a bit, as it helps other people discover my website.

Even if authors aren’t doing anything like that, they’re usually posting on their socials, and engaging with those posts in any way is a huge help. Just like traffic, likes, comments, and shares helps people discover author websites, your interactions on social media help other people discover those author pages.

Email authors ✉️

Emailing an author out of the blue might feel awkward, but authors love to hear from readers! When I get an email from any reader, it always makes me smile. You don’t have to write a long letter or explain that you’re boycotting or tell us how much you love our books. You can simply say hi. It’s really encouraging to know there’s someone out there.

Post a review or rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For indie authors especially, a book’s reviews and average rating are everything. If you’ve read an author’s work in the past, and didn’t get to leave a review, now’s a great time to throw down a quick 1-5 star rating. If you’ve got the time, write a couple sentences about what you enjoyed.

If you haven’t read the book yet, ask the author about their ARC team. I did a short-term review program for readers who weren’t able to buy my books for whatever reason, and I’ve been thinking about opening that list back up again. It was such a win/win.

Borrow books from the library 📖

This can be a bit tricky, since libraries have to purchase both print and ebook licenses, and if the publisher or author is American, Canadians may not want to borrow. If the library already has the book or ebook in circulation, though, it’s your tax dollars already spent, so you might as well make use of it.

A note on print-on-demand (POD) 🖨

In the same vein, purchasing indie ebooks in Canada gets really tricky. Although POD services like IngramSpark will ship to Canada, they don’t have printing facilities there (I asked).

Good news for Aussies, though! If you purchase one of my books in Australia, it’ll be printed in Australia. Same goes for American readers who like supporting U.S. businesses (Ingram Content is an American company operating out of Tennesee).

KDP does not have any printing facilities in Canada or any countries outside the U.S., as far as I know. I don’t use them, so if someone could get me a definitive answer, I’d really appreciate it!

I support all readers (and people) who are boycotting. It’s not easy, and it’s so important. We all need to do our part if we want to enjoy the world we live in and make it better for the future. I really hope these tips help.

Happy boycotting, and happy reading! 🖤

Photo by Nong on Unsplash