The Dominator got banned after my BookBub sale, which bit BIG TIME because many who read and wanted to review probably didn’t because the link no longer worked. And the ranking boost I got from the sale should’ve helped me sell some full-price copies but of course that didn’t happen because the book got blocked.
I was pretty bummed even though I knew it was a possibility. When I saw ‘blocked’ on my dashboard, I assumed it was another content ban either because Amazon blocked it after a bot crawl saw stuff that flagged it or because maybe someone was targeting me. Many authors become targets for various reasons and I’d hoped that wasn’t the case. I submitted a support ticket and was told I’d hear back within 5 days.
A few hours later I got as strange automated email from them stating the book was blocked because of similarities to books or covers already published. So this had me wondering if it was because I delisted all the old editions when I republished. I did that because they told me to. When they banned Tommy’s book in 2023 they indicated I’d have to submit it as a new book for consideration. Because I re-covered it and resubmitted it as a new book I delisted all existing editions of all books in the series, sacrificing rankings and reviews and links, and so forth.
Funnily, when the unicorn coloring book snafu happened, Amazon made me a new edition of the paperback and transferred all the old reviews from the banned ebook edition over. So now I had lots of reviews on book 1 but no reviews on books 2, 3, or book 1.5. I shook my head and soldiered on.
The coloring book version is STILL up. I don’t know why they can’t delete it. I also don’t know if this weird edition with a cover that’s not mine is causing problems with the new legit edition or not.
After a week of being banned I got a congratulatory email telling me that my book passed their content review.
Considering all the work, all the back and forth, the expense, and the wind being hauled out of my sails at the end of an expensive, coveted BookBub promotion, I’m not feeling like congratulations are in order. It should maybe be apologies instead but alas…. at least it’s no longer banned.
On a side note, I don’t think I will ever make this book for sale or free again because touching the file in any way, shape, or form could lead to another banning.
But… if you do want to buy the book, it’s available on all major ebook platforms and the paperback is sold on Amazon.
TTFN.