I was shocked, yet glad to see my book child was still alive when I saw Visions from Two Continents on Amazon Kindle. My publisher Thomson-Shore who originally placed the book on Amazon filled chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 25, 2019. They never contacted me concerning the bankruptcy, however when I called them upon my returned to the USA to order copies April 23rd, 2019  they told me my child was not available. They texted me, “Our Distribution center was shut down and the company filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The date of the closure was March 25th and all accounts were closed.”

What am I to do now?, I thought. I stared hard at the email, but there was hope, they said if I emailed an E. Smith, I could still get copies printed. A new company Sheridan had taken it over Thomson-Shore. When I contacted them I found no they could not honor my print on demand agreement. They could do a new estimate, which turned out way too high.

But it was still listed as an ebook? Reading Amazon’s fine print it said books might still be listed even if they were no longer available. Maybe it was just a ghost. I’d downloaded it earlier when Thomson-Shore was still viable so I asked a friend to is if the link was alive. She got the kindle app, paid $10.03 including tax and downloaded the book.

Who’s gotten that $10.03, or the small amount that should be given to the author?

I called the Amazon help number 866-321-8851. I listened to an accent I could barely understand. They sent me on to someone else since my question was about copyright. I waited and waited some more. I still couldn’t understand the next person. “Please email me the information on what to do”. I requested.

I read it and clicked on the link to report infringement of copywriter. I tried to fill out the form, but I didn’t know all the information so it refused to send. I called the same number for help again. I’d ask for a direct number before, but they said: “There is none.” So again I waited while I went through queue, after queue. With help I filled in some of the information, but the form still refused to go through. Finally, I was given an email address.

I copy pasted the form and sent it on. I was surprised to get an answer in an hour asking for the information I put in the form. I scrolled down the page, didn’t they get it? No, there was the form, but everything I’d written in it was blank

.

Once again I sat at the computer typing the copyright number and the Amazon ASIN number, the author, (me), etc. I  wasted almost my whole day on this.

In an hour the reply said, “Thank you for your message. The Kindle ASIN BO78T2JNHN has been removed from sale on Amazon.com. “

I breathed a sigh of relief at least my day wasn’t wasted.

Two days later I google searched “kindle Visions from Two Continents.” There it was  Kindle Price 9.99. The green bar on the bottom said: “Read Now”. So what did they do?

That was on  the 4th of July, a national holiday, no  helpline. Good, everyone needs a holiday.

My formatter, Andrea Reider says that it might take a couple more days. It did, the problem was sraightened out and it is now available on Kindle for 8.99 or on kindle unlimited.

This is posted as a warning to writers, it is just like raising kids, NOT EASY.