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ETA: This has been fixed now! Thank you all for your help.
If you have Twitter, please help me out. I need as many people as possible to retweet this Tweet from my Zoe Chant account and @ Amazon.
There's a longer explanation in the link, but here's the short version. Zoe Chant is a group of authors writing under the same pen name. Amazon is aware of this, as are our fans. This is not illegal in any way. What's going on is that Amazon randomly banned the fifth book in a series by the same Zoe author, claiming she was not Zoe Chant and had no right to publish it. We sent them multiple forms of proof that she was Zoe Chant and it was an authorized Zoe Chant release, including a signed contract, a link to the book on our website, and an official copyright registration.
Amazon published the book, then yanked it two hours later and terminated the author's entire account on Amazon. It pulled ALL her books off Amazon, said she was permanently banned from ever publishing on Amazon again, and sent her a notice saying that they would keep all the money that had already been paid by readers of her books!
We have been unable to get through to anyone at Amazon who we can actually talk to. From the absolutely nonsensical content of the emails we have received, we believe that this entire thing may have been handled by an AI.
We are looking into all avenues of redress, but at the moment our best chance seems to be stirring up a social media shitstorm. Please help us do so by retweeting the Twitter link and/or posting on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and any other places known to Amazon. Tag Amazon and Zoe Chant.
Please no "I told you so" or "Well you shouldn't publish on Amazon" comments. We are not personally responsible for living in a world dominated by giant evil corporations.
If you have Twitter, please help me out. I need as many people as possible to retweet this Tweet from my Zoe Chant account and @ Amazon.
There's a longer explanation in the link, but here's the short version. Zoe Chant is a group of authors writing under the same pen name. Amazon is aware of this, as are our fans. This is not illegal in any way. What's going on is that Amazon randomly banned the fifth book in a series by the same Zoe author, claiming she was not Zoe Chant and had no right to publish it. We sent them multiple forms of proof that she was Zoe Chant and it was an authorized Zoe Chant release, including a signed contract, a link to the book on our website, and an official copyright registration.
Amazon published the book, then yanked it two hours later and terminated the author's entire account on Amazon. It pulled ALL her books off Amazon, said she was permanently banned from ever publishing on Amazon again, and sent her a notice saying that they would keep all the money that had already been paid by readers of her books!
We have been unable to get through to anyone at Amazon who we can actually talk to. From the absolutely nonsensical content of the emails we have received, we believe that this entire thing may have been handled by an AI.
We are looking into all avenues of redress, but at the moment our best chance seems to be stirring up a social media shitstorm. Please help us do so by retweeting the Twitter link and/or posting on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and any other places known to Amazon. Tag Amazon and Zoe Chant.
Please no "I told you so" or "Well you shouldn't publish on Amazon" comments. We are not personally responsible for living in a world dominated by giant evil corporations.
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(Does "keeping the money" mean keeping the money from the as-yet-unpaid royalties, or can they get back money they've already paid?)
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Signal boosted.
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Suggestions that a)they look at the work in question to see what it actually is and b) that possibly there is Some Confusion with work of similar title (of which there are menny) which does fit that description meet entire stonewalling.
Mind you, these are the people that queried copyright issues over use of phrases from The Song of Solomon in a clergyman character's internal monologue.
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Also now following that account.}P:)
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I don't have a twitter, but my sister does and I've forwarded her the info.
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You will probably be incensed to know that just right now I got a marketing email from Amazon trying to get me to buy a new book by Zoe Chant (an author I follow): "Winged Wolf Vet (Shifter Vets Book 3)". Because simply stealing all your royalties isn't enough ...
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Well, technically that book SHOULD get royalties. It's a different series than the ones they yanked.
But still: FUUUUUUCK THEM.
Do you know anyone else who might get on the case? Cory Doctorow? Scalzi?
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Can't retweet, but will signal boost here.
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