As a new member here, I'm curious to learn from everyone. What's one lesson about writing or publishing that you wish you had known before you started? I'm still learning every day, and I think conversations like this can help both new and experienced authors. Looking forward to reading your answers!

A few days ago, my KDP account was suspended for alleged review manipulation. Since I spent a lot of time searching for similar experiences while going through it, I thought I'd share what happened and how the situation was eventually resolved. On June 13, I received an email from Amazon stating that my KDP account had been suspended because they had detected attempts to manipulate customer reviews. The email asked for detailed information about any methods used to obtain reviews, third parties involved, customer accounts, documentation, and corrective actions. At that point, Amazon did not mention any specific book. The suspension was account-wide. Naturally, I panicked. Like many people would, I started looking for answers everywhere. I analyzed sales patterns, review history, previous account alerts, and every possible explanation I could think of. The more I searched, the more confused I became. During this process, @Adriano Ferrigno helped me in every step of the way. He reviewed the case, analyzed Amazon's responses, and drafted each appeal that was submitted. I provided the underlying information and documentation, while he helped organize everything into clear responses and guided me through the process as the case evolved. I submitted my first appeal along with supporting screenshots and explanations of the promotional methods I had used. A couple of days later, Amazon replied. They still did not provide much detail, but they finally identified a specific ASIN that was under review. I then sent additional information related to that title, including documentation and a more detailed explanation of the promotional activities connected to it. Amazon responded again with what was essentially the same request for information. At that point, I provided an even more structured response, answered every question as clearly as possible, attached supporting documents again, and explained the steps I would take going forward. On June 21, Amazon reinstated my KDP account.

I'm publishing my 8th title next month and this is the first time doing a delayed release. The book is done, cover, interior and KDP upload, all done. Now I wait, do some subtle marketing, wait. On the up side, I ordered proofs, found minor mistakes and was able to fix those. But the wait... I am hoping that I am able to build a little anticipation and experience some reward on the launch date but that is yet to be seen. Does anyone else have experience with delayed gratification on KDP? It's just so easy to publish that I never tried building pre-release tension or promotional campaigns. I'm a little nervous and also excited.

Finally got to creating my book cover. My first attempts where shot down dramatically, by my own daughter (designer) and my stepdaughter (artist). 😆 Of course I didn’t believe them at first, but then I found out that the critics' report from https://www.diybookcovers.com/ completely agreed with their opinions. Learnt a lesson (or two). ☺️ The picture is mine (Wat Arun temple in Bangkok). I have created it in Canva. Dimensions are as stipulated by Amazon KDP: 1600 width and 2560 height. I've run it through the website above several times and refined it with Gemini; this is version 9.b. 😗 Second pic shows the progression from really bad to where it is now. Feedback welcome.🙏

First time ever! 500 books sold this month Although the royalties are small, I still consider the learning curve as the important part