"A Taste of Tank Girl"
and the trials of self-publishing
Yesterday I announced on Facebook that Amazon was blocking our book “Cheap Ammo: The Poetry of Tank Girl” from sale, because of formatting issues. That book is now unpublished and unavailable on Amazon.
As much as I hate Amazon, its Kindle Publishing Direct (KDP) platform is probably the most useful tool for self published authors on the planet right now. Not only can an author instantly publish eBooks, but KDP’s print-on-demand plants (now in many countries) mean that hard copies of books don’t have to be shipped and distributed overseas - you press BUY, and the book is printed locally and shipped almost immediately. It sucks that it’s them, but they’ve nailed it. Other companies are in competition, but they are all playing catch-up with KDP and will be for some time.
Today I am told that our sampler book “A Taste of Tank Girl” is under review for similar formatting violations, and will more than likely be unpublished within a few days (I’m pretty sure I can revive this one in the future for a second edition). I’m not sure why they are picking on me right now; these books have been in print for several years with no problems or complaints.
Through all of this I have gleaned quite an extensive knowledge as to what you can and can’t get past KDP’s Guardian Robot Heads (are these assessors even real people?). In a weird way, I actually like all of the problems and restrictions they place in my way, it gives me a fucked-up structure to kick against. “You’ve gotta take the crunchy with the smooth,” as Billy Bragg once said. And necessity does indeed drive innovation.
Have any of you done battle with the beast that is KDP? Or have any other self-publishing tales of woe and destruction? I’d love to hear.
Meanwhile, the original edition of “A Taste of Tank Girl” still exists on Amazon, for a couple more day (or however long their review takes) at least -
“A Taste of Tank Girl” on AMAZON UK
“A Taste of Tank Girl” on AMAZON USA
and signed copies (with some lovely bonus items!) are still available in THE OFFICIAL TANK GIRL STORE while stocks last.
Be at one with the universe my friends,
Alan XXX
I'm very curious what these formatting errors are specifically? No wonder you are binging the war movies! You are most certainly at war right now.
Sounds like an invitation to double down on direct sales to me! (yes, I’m an indie author; no, I’m not doing direct sales yet except on Kickstarter). Good luck getting them back out there!