Support for Indie Authors discussion

If you missed it, Amazon apparently has changed supplies for their print books, because their book sizes have changed. And if, like me, you’re adding volumes to an already created series, you may be stuck with two different sizes in the same series, which looks anything but professional.

Several months ago, I created a softcover version of my YA book, and was pleasantly surprised to receive an email informing me that they had enrolled it into KDP Select. Normally, you have to be exclusive to Amazon, and none of my books are. But apparently, because the print version is exclusive, that was enough.

So, happy to take advantage of a good thing, I began creating softcover versions of my Sisterhood of the Ring series in 5” x 8” size, so as to get them included in KDP Select, too.

This time, though, there was no notification of inclusion, so I went to the Author Central help page and sent an inquiry. They usually respond in a day or so, but oddly, there was no reply.

Then, as I began entering the data for volume 4, I found that the available book sizes had changed. 5”x8” had been replaced by 5.5” x 8.5”. I would switch all the books already created to the new size, but once published, you cannot change the size. For those of you who use the 6” x 9” size, that remained the same.

Because a change in book size halfway through the series would seem unprofessional, I tried, again, to contact them, suggesting they un-publish the three already created paperback versions in the series, and asking again, about the KDP inclusion of my YA book.

I’m still waiting weeks later, after four tries to get their attention. And, there’s no phone help-desk connection.

I’ve mentioned this for two reasons: First, if I do get it resolved, and they will include my books in KDP select because of the softcover version, it’s something we can all take advantage of.

Second, is that because there is no guarantee that next week things won’t change again, if you’re about to create a softcover version of a novel, stay with the 6” x 9” book size—which they say is the most popular—since that seems a constant.

Jay wrote: "If you missed it, Amazon apparently has changed supplies for their print books, because their book sizes have changed. And if, like me, you’re adding volumes to an already created series, you may b..."

Interesting... Thanks for putting this out.

Yes, thanks again.

Jay wrote: "If you missed it, Amazon apparently has changed supplies for their print books, because their book sizes have changed. And if, like me, you’re adding volumes to an already created series, you may b..."

I'm confused Jay. KDP Select is exclusive to ebooks - there are no paperbacks in the program. If I were you, I'd dig deeper into this enrollment. You wouldn't want to be caught out by their ToS.

'm confused Jay. KDP Select is exclusive to ebooks - there are no paperbacks in the program. If I were you, I'd dig deeper into this enrollment.

Agreed, which is why I was surprised when they notified me that they'd included the kindle version in the select program. But they did, and if they're okay with it...

I would dig deeper, and I did ask for clarification...four times, so far. But they're no longer responding to the emails they have you type on their site. I suspect I'm seeing the result of asking a question of an artificial stupidity program that's worse then most.

Jay wrote: "'m confused Jay. KDP Select is exclusive to ebooks - there are no paperbacks in the program. If I were you, I'd dig deeper into this enrollment.

Agreed, which is why I was surprised when they not..."

Hard to say. But each of us are responsible for following the terms and conditions of KDP, and they are notorious for not pulling any punches when they drop the hammer on violators. Be careful.

Interesting stuff. It's unfortunate if 5x8 is no longer an option with their print on demand. All of my books are 5x8 but I had them professionally formatted (did not use KDP's paperback feature) so I wonder if you can still manually input those files/details to get a 5x8.

Marie Silk wrote: "Interesting stuff. It's unfortunate if 5x8 is no longer an option with their print on demand. All of my books are 5x8 but I had them professionally formatted (did not use KDP's paperback feature) s..."

Hi Marie! I'd think page size is strictly under their control. If you used 5x8 formatted files on a 5.5x8.5 print run it would definitely look off.

Marie Silk wrote: "Interesting stuff. It's unfortunate if 5x8 is no longer an option with their print on demand. All of my books are 5x8 but I had them professionally formatted (did not use KDP's paperback feature) s..."

Just checked now Marie and 5x8 is still offered by KDP according to their website.

Interesting. I began using the 6 x 9 format for my paperbacks years ago. Since I use a wide distributor (D2D) to create may books (except for the hardbacks which D2D doesn't yet offer) I haven't encountered an issue. I also began buying my own ISBNs because I wanted to remove as much as possible from Amazon's control as I could.

Just to confirm what Eldon said, I'm working on a paperback and literally just started the setup. 5x8 is in the list.

Yep, all my paperbacks are 5x8 and the new one, which I just saved as draft yesterday, is no different.

Valerie wrote: "Yep, all my paperbacks are 5x8 and the new one, which I just saved as draft yesterday, is no different."

They'll have to take my 5x8 books from my cold, dead hand! I've published two stand-alone books (one compilation and one anthology) in 6x9 only because they were too big for 5x8.

Gail wrote: "Interesting. I began using the 6 x 9 format for my paperbacks years ago. Since I use a wide distributor (D2D) to create may books (except for the hardbacks which D2D doesn't yet offer) I haven't en..."
I'm with your Gail. I very much distrust Amazon. They are all about profit and could care less for the people to made them the giant they are now that they have grown beyond the little company they were. I like D2D (who just bought Smashwords) who has good customer service, are still responsive to our needs and aren't trying to own the online market for everything from books to cheese.

Frank said: I'm working on a paperback and literally just started the setup. 5x8 is in the list.

You’re right. It’s back. But 5x8 had been removed, several weeks before I mentioned it, here. Apparently, enough people complained that they reinstated the size.

But… That helps me not at all. After three weeks of no response, and believing that the change was permanent, I now have three in the series that are 5x8 and three that are 5x9. That cannot be changed, and, they still haven't replied, or even acknowledged my communication—in spite of the fact that I submitted it via their “contact us” system.

That sucks! Who decides these things? Is it a committee or do they just flip a coin? I wish they would allow those of us who are writers to decide what we want for our books and leave it that way.

Jay wrote: "Frank said: I'm working on a paperback and literally just started the setup. 5x8 is in the list.

You’re right. It’s back. But 5x8 had been removed, several weeks before I mentioned it, here. Appa..."

I have been told that if people are loud on Twitter, eventually you here from them. Maybe take to there and call Amazon out? Various Romance authors have done this recently because of a glitch in their AI, and it would mark an account for the "ban" hammer. Each author has been re-instated, fyi. Since they and their fans were loud on Twitter about it.

Terri wrote: "Jay wrote: "Frank said: I'm working on a paperback and literally just started the setup. 5x8 is in the list.

You’re right. It’s back. But 5x8 had been removed, several weeks before I mentioned it,..."

The squeaky wheel I guess :)

Thanks for the post and discussion.
My first book of the series is 5x8, but because of the print cost, I emailed Amazon whether I could reformatt and get the cover resized to 5.5x8.5 (based on this post. perhaps I should go to 6x9). I'm waiting to hear from them.

P/S My cover designer is okay with it. But, of course, Amz is the final arbiter.

As for paperback sizes, in fairness to Amazon I think we should accept the decision could have been made for technical reasons, and there is not much authors can do about those. What happens if you ask Amazon to reformat the earlier ones so you can have a series the same size? You can't do anything about old productions, but maybe the suggestion of boxed sets is possible? As an aside, I have copies of series produced by major publishers that come in different sizes. It is not unique to Amazon, and they are merely doing what others have been doing for quite some time.

Ian wrote: "As for paperback sizes, in fairness to Amazon I think we should accept the decision could have been made for technical reasons, and there is not much authors can do about those. What happens if you..."

Also, in fairness to Amazon, 5x8 is a fairly popular and standard trim size. It's entirely possible they never removed it, but it vanished for a time due to a programming bug. Something they're known to have.

So I’ve learned several things about what happened to create the situation:

First, Amazon has a software bug that you need to be aware of.

Second, that their help-desk people are nice, friendly, but clueless.

What happened is that I accidentally pushed the create hardback button, filled in the required data on the first page, then saved it and went on to such things as picking paper color and page size. When I got to choosing the size I realized my mistake. I looked for a cancel button cancel, but there is no way to do that. So, I abandoned the hardback and began on a soft cover.

That went well. I uploaded the manuscript and cover, but when I used the book-viewer I found that good old Microsoft Word had decided to change my soft “section breaks” to those that jumped to the next page—resulting in several unwanted blank pages.

Not a problem, but it was late, so I knocked off for the night without releasing the book. And while I slept, the bug crept in.

In the morning, when I uploaded the new manuscript and looked at the viewer, the cover seemed to have shrunk. And when I looked at the book size, AMAZON had changed my selected cover size from 5x8 to 5.5x8.5, which is the size for the 5x8 page size in hardback. But not knowing why it had happened, and unable to change the size oof the page, I assumed an all-over change in allowable book size—the reason for this thread.

So the Amazon software, because it thought I had a hardcover in progress, imposed the hardback rules on my, as yet, unpublished softback cover, as well.

And that’s the bug. Apparently, because both a hardback and softcover were in progress at the same time, their cover software can only handle one of them.

That leads my engineering nature and quality-assurance background to ask: What kind of moron does not take into account that the person using the program they’re writing might make a mistake and want to cancel the operation? What kind of testing department misses something like that, and the cover size screwup? Obviously, their software was never reviewed by a competent quality-assurance department.

But it gets worse:

I managed to talk, directly, to the KDP help-desk. First, they said that it couldn’t have happened, and it must be my mistake. Then they suggested I un-publish that book and change the size, which doesn’t work, because, once published, the size may not be changed.

The final suggestion was to un-link the book from the series, create a new version in the smaller size, and link that. But a new book in the series of six would be listed as #7. When I mentioned that, the manager I was talking to said to unlink the existing paperback from the series, then link the new one in its place. But I’m fairly certain that if I do that, their software will unlink both that softback and, the Kindle version. And since I’ll not risk that, I’m stuck with the size change.

I also asked about them notifying me that a previous book had been automatically enrolled in the KDP Select program, when I hadn’t requested it, and, didn’t have the Kindle version that was exclusive to Amazon. He said that I must have “accidently enrolled it.”

So, like so many help desks, they have no path, or desire to report bugs.

Bottom line: Whatever you do, do not press that “create hardcover” button, because it’s not going to end well.

Jay wrote: "What kind of testing department misses something like that, and the cover size screwup? ..."

I think we are the testing department Jay LOL :)

Jay Said: " ...Then they suggested I un-publish that book and change the size, which doesn’t work, because, once published, the size may not be changed."

I didn't know one couldn't change a book size once published. I wrote to Amazon about switching from 5x8 to 5.5x8.5 and haven't received their reply.

Wanjiru wrote: "Jay Said: " ...Then they suggested I un-publish that book and change the size, which doesn’t work, because, once published, the size may not be changed."

I didn't know one couldn't change a book s..."

Not sure either Wanjiru, but I think you're unable to change trim size once published. If I'm not mistaken that forms part of the data associated with the ISBN number. You'd need a new number to change the size which means, republishing.

Eldon wrote: "Wanjiru wrote: "Jay Said: " ...Then they suggested I un-publish that book and change the size, which doesn’t work, because, once published, the size may not be changed."

I didn't know one couldn't..."

You are quite correct Jay. The following is what I received from Kdp

"...kindly remember that it's not possible to change the title and subtitle of your paperback once an ISBN has been assigned to it. The book information will be locked from that point forward. and the items listed below will be locked after publishing:

Trim size
Title
Subtitle
Primary author name
ISBN
Imprint name
Ink & paper type
Language
Edition
Publication date

If you want to update the of your book, please unpublish the current title and republish as a new submission with a new ISBN."

Jay, because you seem to have a key to the writing nooks and crannies, perhaps you can tell me what you think regarding the dilemma I face.
I'm writing a series and wanted all the books to be the same size.
I published the first book at size 5x8. It turned out at 424 pages which shot up the printing costs.
The main problem is that if I pub the rest of the books at that size, I may end up with a book of 500 pages.
So, I have decided to use a larger size
Now I wonder:
(1) Do I unpublish the current book, get the cover enlarged, and republish? This'd involve lots of changes: copyright office, LCCN who alread have the print copy, etc.
(2) Do I put up with higher printing costs for the first book (it seems as if it'll do quite well, especially in the print version) and mismatched book sizes?
Looking for insights.
Thanks.