KDP Select & it's Rules

 

I recently received a notification from KDP indicating that one of my books is being sold on a third-party site, which violates the terms of the KDP Select Program. Since my book is currently enrolled in the 90-day KDP Select period, I am restricted from selling it elsewhere. 

(Blacked out the name of the title and the link for privacy reasons)

This situation was unintentional; I had simply forgotten to uncheck the renewal button for KDP Select program. I was fuming, I took the necessary steps to remove some of my eBooks from Google Play to comply with Kindle's policies. I have audiobooks for those titles on that platform, and according to their guidelines, this shouldn't be a major issue. Once the 90-day enrollment period ends, I intend to re-list the eBooks on Google Play, but I won’t be enrolling any of my titles in the KDP Select Program again. Moving forward, I plan to publish future eBooks on Google Play and Apple Books, and for any paperbacks, I’ll use IngramSpark, except for the Phoenix Files series, which includes the Lost in the Backrooms book, they will still be published on Amazon KDP. Overall, I believe it's crucial to make my titles available on multiple platforms for better exposure.

I’ve decided to remove my website link from my profile on the KDP Community Forum. I've noticed that some indie authors tend to compete and backstab each other, and I’m not interested in getting involved in that kind of drama. The less they know about my business, the better off I’ll be.

 I will add a link to a short video related to this topic. Please visit and comment, ty.

KDP SELECT PROGRAM: Should You or Shouldn't You Join

We All Make Mistakes

 

After all these years as an indie self-published author, I still find myself making mistakes. While browsing through the ebook of In the Company of Elves, I stumbled upon a little error in the table of contents. It's not a major issue, but I definitely need to fix it. 

The correct page number is 150, not 1502. None of us are flawless, and even the Indie Authors with top ratings have stumbled occasionally. Next week, I’ll be fixing that error. Additionally, I've updated Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart, adding three new chapters. Please note that it is no longer available in paperback; you can now find it exclusively as an ebook on Amazon and Google Play. I appreciate your support, so please check out the link in my profile. Thank you!

My Goal for This Year 2025

 

I'm planning to make a change to the Chandra’s Quest trilogy. In the next few months, I'm going to combine all four books into one big volume and re-publish it as a complete novel. This signifies yet another transformation in the trilogy, but this time it’s permanent. Although Book 4 has received just one rating and review, Chandra’s Quest (the first book) has garnered more feedback.

I'm aiming to wrap up and release, A Time Traveler’s Companion this year. It's going to be a pretty long read. I'll be putting it out in parts on Google Play, but for Amazon and Apple Books, it'll be available as a complete novel.

Last but not least, I'm planning to wrap up A Path Less Taken: The Phoenix Files vol. 2 this year. So I am going to be pretty busy this year regarding my literary works.

 

Cecile Garcia's Website

CG Heandez

Hardcover Books

Chapter 1 Excerpt from, In the Company of Elves

 

(An excerpt from the first chapter of In the Company of Elves)

As she walked along the path, she sang a tune from a song she heard on the radio:

“Hey, soul sister
Ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio, stereo
The way you move ain't fair, you know
Hey, soul sister.”

Melissa walked east from the patio towards the old oak tree and spotted a white rabbit sniffing along the wall’s bottom edge. She paused and gazed intently. Her brow furrowed, and a perplex look crossed her face. When she moved nearer to the rabbit, it glanced up at her and began to dig wildly, as if trying to burrow beneath the wall. “What is it doing and how did it get into the yard?" she mused.

“Hey little fellow, what are you doing here? Where did you come from?” The rabbit stopped and stared at her. Its nose twitched, and the rabbit went back to digging, determined to get to the other side. Melissa scratched her head. “You must be one of the neighbor’s pets. How curious,” she said. As she inspected the wall, she noticed a door obscured by vines.

 "Where did this door come from? I never noticed it before." The rabbit froze, its black eyes looked up at her. She leaned in closer and started pulling the vines off the door and uncovering it.

Her hands ended up with a few scratches, but what she found was amazing. Her eyes widened; her mouth dropped. “Wow, this door looks ancient,” she exclaimed and touched the door. An unsettling realization washed over her as she beheld the indiscernible writing etched across the upper edge.

“This is weird, maybe grandma didn’t know about this door, I guess,” she pondered.  “This door seems to be pretty old little fellow," she said as she looked down at the rabbit. The rabbit looked up at her and twitched its nose. Suddenly the rabbit scratched the door, as if it was trying to tell her to open it. She got the impression that it understood what she was saying, and she sensed intelligence behind those black eyes. Melissa spotted a lock on the ground, picked it up and looked at it carefully. “Wow, how weird!” she paused.

 “I wonder how old this is?” she said and sighed, “I guess someone must have unlocked the door. But who? This is truly a unique lock.” She had butterflies in her stomach and felt a little uneasy, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why. A wave of dread washed over her, but it was tangled up with a strong sense of curiosity. Melissa raised her eyes and stared at the door for a moment. It beckons her, coaxing her to open it. Something about it piqued her curiosity even more than normal. She gulped, "You know, I wonder what’s on the other side," she said out loud. One of the rabbit’s ears twitched as Melissa slowly opened the door.  

Linktree

Website

eBay

 

WTF: Kindle Removed Ratings, Why?

 

Two months ago, I received an email from KDP claiming that they supposedly detected accounts attempting to manipulate Kindle services by simulating reading or borrowing activity on my titles. So now here we are, they removed the 5-star ratings that a ‘verified’ buyer posted on some of my books! 

In the Company of Elves, Chandra’s Quest, (book 1) & Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart ARE NOT affected but the others were. As far as I’m concerned, a verified buyer is a verified buyer! If they purchased the book & rated it, it's valid. What's the problem?

 The problem is that when there is toxic jealousy involved, the person who is hating on you will do anything to hurt your chances of feeling impowered and happy over small or great accomplishments. They do things underhandly, and the worst part is that they will never admit that they’re jealous of you, even if you confront them. They will deny it big time. Now, I don’t know why KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) knocked off some of my 5-star ratings on some of my books, but I feel it is unfair and unjust. You’re wondering how one person can cause such a mess, well they can especially if that person complains and sends a red flag on you even though you have no idea what happened and you’re innocent. It's happened in the past to me but under different circumstances, not about my books.

Sure, KDP claims that there was an account trying to manipulate KDP services by simulating reading or borrowing my books, but I think it’s Bullshit. Chandra’s Quest, In the Company of Elves and Secret Diary of a Gypsy Heart are not affected, however Gypsy Heart did lose a one 5-star rating, probably because the rate came from the same person who downloaded that book and the others recently. Older rates and reviews are not affected.

 Nevertheless, it is unfair to remove what I feel came from a verified buyer, period! Haters will be Haters and Indie Authors who don’t have haters, are lucky.

Below I added a video I found on YouTube explaining what jealousy is and how it can affect your life, also I will add a link to my Author’s YouTube channel, please subscribe to my channel. 

Jealousy

My YouTube Channel

What is This?

Adding A New Book

I am writing a new book called The Other Side of Things. It is a compilation of blog entries I wrote in another blog which I use to personally vent, rant and rave about whatever topic I want to express an opinion on. Chandra’s Quest Book 2: Twisted Embers, will probably be uploaded on Kindle in two months.

NOTE: I will work on paperback versions of my books starting next year.

Have a nice Thanksgiving for those who celebrate it.

The Other Side of Things

Please support Indie authors, much appreciated. TY

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