I messed up and I’m (allegedly probably) not getting paid (in full) for the first week(s) of my Amazon book release!

I messed up and I'm (allegedly probably) not getting paid (in full) for the first week(s) of my Amazon book release, so I'm turning it into a promotional opportunity to try and salvage my release!Hey! Look! That's me! A dumbass, a fuck-up. This was totally preventable. I've been warned from the mistakes I made. Egg on my face.

Harr harr. Get your i-told-you-sos out of the way now.

Before I explain what happened, allow me to preface this by saying that this could be a wild misunderstanding and a crazy line-up of coincidences. Who knows! I can't be certain.

This is actually super hard to explain.

But I shall try! Let us start from the beginning.

Actually, it was probably quite cold. Tis the season.

ANYWAY! I finished editing my book, so it was finally time to format everything. I tried the Kindle Create software first, the one that's recommended, but I found its restrictions stifling. I didn't want to have my chapter titles in all caps. But I wanted the full chapter titles in the Table of Contents. That’s what I like and appreciate in my own reading, as it’s so much easier to navigate.

So I searched for a different software. A stronger software. A taller software…

I chose Word.

Eventually, anyway. Once I’ve seen… through enough youtube videos. Someone even mentioned that KPF files are larger, so you earn less from them because of a download fee, actually, so that’s one more reason to go for word. I finally found a tutorial easy enough for my pea-brain to understand, and then I went about this manual process of creating my ebook.

Someone comments to me on discord at this point that I shouldn’t use Word. But I wasn’t given an explanation, so I just kept it pushing.

I kept on pushing.

I made progress, and I really like what I’m seeing. I checked it on the programs Amazon gave to see how the ebook might look like, and it was just what I wanted.

Someone finally explains why this is a bad idea. Epubs made this way might not be correct, even if the Kindle Previewer shows that it is.

That worried me. But I was proud of my work at this point. It was almost done. Sunk-cost is a go!

I finished it anyway. I uploaded the manuscript. I checked it every way I could. I sent the file to myself so I could view it on my PC Kindle app. It was exactly how I wanted it to be.

I pressed on submit.

I waited, and then the book went live on Amazon.

Things were fine. And I did start earning money from it. It’s working just fine, really. Which probably sounds weird to you, because that contradicts the title.

Don’t worry. There’s still plenty I can and will mess up.

So, I buy my own book off Amazon, because you must always support yourself. I download it on the Kindle PC App… and then find the layout to be different from when I sent it to myself prior. Specifically, the line-height is different.

Uh-oh.

I mean, it’s not But it wasn’t what I expected! It’s different from what most other ebooks had, though some weren’t dissimilar. But I still wanted to fix it! Keep it to my original vision.

So looked it up. I was told that calibre wasn’t the best at making epubs, actually. Instead, I should use Sigil. I should delete all mentions of line-height in the epub’s code, because Amazon will automatically set that.

I… did just that.

(This is my Delete System 32 moment aaaaaaaaaa.)

I pushed the updates through.

I still got some decent sales for the next few days, but then it fell off a cliff and plummeted to Zero.

I’m pretty sure my remaining KU sales were from those who downloaded my book before the change, but I didn’t know this back then.

I just stared at my zero KENP (KU) reads, day after day, in abject despair. I was still getting outright orders at least, which was weird, I thought that KU reads should be much easier to get, but eh, I don’t know what’s going on.

Point is. No one was reading my book on KU. That sucks.

BUT THEN! Someone actually reading my book! I promoted it in the discord server for reccs that I was most active in, and someone talked about indeed having read some of my book!

I took a chance and asked if they read in KU. And they did!

So what’s going on then? I’m still at zero reads! What the fuck???

I investigated. I’ll… omit most of details because this post is already taking way too long.

Only a day or so later, I chose to contact customer support on KDP. They told me that those reads of my one reader should manifest by tomorrow, same time. (Almost midnight, because my sleep schedule is fucked. WOOOO!! I know you’re the same don’t lie.)

My main concern at this point was of course if the issue went deeper, and I’m not receiving the right updates to my KENP read. My hope was that we’ll be able to uncover some error, which will give me the reads I missed.

My KENP remained at zero the next day, and I contacted their support again. They told me that there’s no problem still, my KENP report is correct.

That’s when my brain finally connected the dots, and discovered the potential problem! What if my change to my manuscript is what led to this!?

I contacted support again, in short succession. I told them my theories. But then they confirmed that my manuscript is all fine, and I should just wait another day for the reads of that one reader to come up.

Okay. I did just that.

Still nothing. Straight zero KENP reads for days.

So around last midnight from today… hmmm, let’s say around 11PM my time Feb 2? Yeah, that sounds right.

That’s when I finally reverted my manuscript to a prior state. Well, sort of. I repacked it again. And then I updated my manuscript on KDP.

Guess what changed?

That’s right, KENP reads finally started ticking up again. For today, and yesterday(as of writing this. Additional Context: KU reads are calculated based on timezone). It’s not much, but I outright zero was a bit much!!

I missed the of the income for the of my release. I’m such an idiot.

To clarify the title, I getting paid for at least of my first week or so of release. Outright purchases of the book are unaffected. But I’m probably not getting most of what I earned from KU. Unless if this is just one big coincidence. Who knows!

Also, btw. I just contacted KDP support earlier again today to push this update of my book to those who have already downloaded it. That’s not automatic btw, if you update your manuscript. Even if they redownload it, they might still get the older version. I know because I’ve tried.

And lastly, I spoke about the KDP support a bunch here. I just want to say that they’ve been nice, and were helpful to the best of their abilities. This post isn’t about bashing the support team. They can’t solve everything, and their machines gave the all-green for my book. It could not detect the error that I caused. I am the Bug in the System, the Usurper. , , , .

Link to The Book: Reject Human, Become Demon.

(This post was copy/pasted from reddit btw, so this part won't make the most sense given that you're probably already reading that book.)

Here’s where I ask for some help. The lost earnings are bad, and they hurt, but I’m also worried about the algorithm hit. So maybe give the book a chance, or share it somewhere. It’s a book about a human who wants to become a demon, and I know I’m not the only one who’s lamented non-human MCs all pining to become human again. Not that that’s bad, but it’s a matter of taste for us monster lovers. WAIT NOT LIKE THA–

Really not like that. The book has no smut. Okay? Okay!

That might’ve been confusing. And I the one who to make the joke, but as a wise philosopher once said, “Because The Joke Was Right There.”

Also also! ADDITIONALLY! For those who might already be reading it on KU, can I ask that you redownload the files? That’s not really an automatic process, in my experience, even after they pushed the update. I still had to “remove download” then double-click the book again to get updates on my laptop.

Lastly, allow me to show you an edit that I made just for this whole situation:

The cover art was once again made by: FuwaFuru

The Title Art by: FijiOcean

I just edited it even heavier to go with this post, to illustrate some of my feelings, and as a representation of this whole situation.

That’s all. Thank you! I hope your week’s been better than mine. But at least I'm moving forward again. Cheers!