IMPORTANT NOTICE
Welcome to the official website for Romantic Suspense Author Shelley Justice!
You may be experiencing problems with accessing my books on Amazon to purchase or download. I apologize for any inconvenience. Amazon and I have been in a battle about this since July 17, 2024, and I've waited to post anything about this until I knew what would happen. Today, July 22, 2024, I accept defeat. Score: Amazon 1, Shelley 0.
So I'm in the process of republishing everything I had released, and I will repost my next release up for preorder.
What this means is: (1) If you have previously read and reviewed my books, those reviews are now lost to me. I hope you will kindly repost your reviews if Amazon will allow. If you never posted a review, here's an awesome opportunity for you to do so and help a girl out. (2) Once you sync your kindle library, any copies you borrowed through Kindle Unlimited will disappear. If you purchased the books and had them downloaded to your kindle, I'm guessing they are still there. I have no way to confirm this, but I'm choosing to believe this is the case. (3) If you pre-ordered Legends: Luke, your pre-order has been canceled.
What happens now: I ask your patience as I work to get it all republished. It will take a little time, but I plan to have it done as soon as possible.
So what happened: For those who want to know the entire complicated story, here it is. Be prepared to be confused and frustrated. Be prepared to want to look up answers to try and help. Be prepared to want to tell me to hang in there and keep fighting. Since this happened, the ones I've shared the long story with have experienced all of this. It's been nice to have people in my corner who share my irritation that I'm essentially starting from scratch.
To start with, let me explain that my author account I use to publish my books is called Kindle Digital Publishing (KDP). It is separate from my Amazon.com retail account, except I had to use the same login to access both. This is an important detail to remember as I continue the story.
Some of you may not know that I lost my baby sister on February 29, 2024, to Lou Gehrig's disease. Like me, she was an avid reader who enjoyed hard copies of books. However, as the disease progressed, she was no longer able to hold a physical book, so I set up a profile for her on my Amazon retail account. That way I could set her up with kindle and Kindle Unlimited accounts for her to access books until she was no longer able to do that.
Fast forward to Wednesday, July 17. I realized I had forgotten to cancel my sister's profile and Amazon subscriptions after she passed away. So I logged in to do that. Except, because I was distracted and trying to multi-task, I ended up deleting my Amazon.com retail account instead of just my sister's profile. As a result, my KDP account was locked. I can't access it without the retail account I used to set it up. Because of this, KDP has unpublished my books. Last I checked, there are a few random paperbacks they happen to have in stock still available for purchase. But that's it. Nothing else.
I immediately went to work contacting Amazon and KDP to see what options I had to get everything restored. I went to an author group on Facebook that has been a great resource for me on how to navigate the publishing world. I followed all of the advice I was given by the group and by the 15 different customer service representatives I spoke with through Amazon and KDP. I even Googled potential solutions to see what I could find. I have weighed every contingency plan in case this couldn't be resolved. It's been 6 days of fighting to get everything restored. I exhausted my last option today (July 22). I'm done fighting. It's time to move forward.
I would love to be angry with Amazon about this, but in truth, the account deletion was my own doing. It was a mistake I made. Other authors have experienced this, but in their circumstances, it has been Amazon's error. They've still had to fight, but in the end, their results were likely different than mine.
All of the customer service representatives I've spoken with may have not been helpful, but they have been kind and respectful. I've spoken with entry level people and supervisors. I've been passed around to several different departments (and probably several different countries if I had to guess). I've lost my patience and my temper more than once. I have felt sick, anxious, depressed, concerned...you name it. I'm sure started to spread among the customer service department about the crazy author lady who is taking her frustration out on whoever is on the phone with her at the time.
So how do I feel now? At some point during this process, I realized this is not the end of the world for me. My writing supplements my income, but it is not my entire income. The pending royalties I have associated with my KDP account will still be distributed to me even though that account has been locked. What I would have earned for July has been disrupted, but I'll deal with that.
I've also had three readers to reach out and ask about my books and about an upcoming book signing I have in Knoxville. Truthfully, this has been the pick-me-up my heart needed. When I first published in 2020, I didn't have any readers, unless you counted my family and best friend. Now, I have readers who enjoy my books, who support what I do, and who encourage me to keep going.
What now? I am taking some time to notify my readers and followers what has happened. Then I will work to restore everything. I ask your patience as I get this done as soon as I can. Thank you for your continued support of me. I refuse to let this setback get me down any further. It's onward and upward for me!
You may be experiencing problems with accessing my books on Amazon to purchase or download. I apologize for any inconvenience. Amazon and I have been in a battle about this since July 17, 2024, and I've waited to post anything about this until I knew what would happen. Today, July 22, 2024, I accept defeat. Score: Amazon 1, Shelley 0.
So I'm in the process of republishing everything I had released, and I will repost my next release up for preorder.
What this means is: (1) If you have previously read and reviewed my books, those reviews are now lost to me. I hope you will kindly repost your reviews if Amazon will allow. If you never posted a review, here's an awesome opportunity for you to do so and help a girl out. (2) Once you sync your kindle library, any copies you borrowed through Kindle Unlimited will disappear. If you purchased the books and had them downloaded to your kindle, I'm guessing they are still there. I have no way to confirm this, but I'm choosing to believe this is the case. (3) If you pre-ordered Legends: Luke, your pre-order has been canceled.
What happens now: I ask your patience as I work to get it all republished. It will take a little time, but I plan to have it done as soon as possible.
So what happened: For those who want to know the entire complicated story, here it is. Be prepared to be confused and frustrated. Be prepared to want to look up answers to try and help. Be prepared to want to tell me to hang in there and keep fighting. Since this happened, the ones I've shared the long story with have experienced all of this. It's been nice to have people in my corner who share my irritation that I'm essentially starting from scratch.
To start with, let me explain that my author account I use to publish my books is called Kindle Digital Publishing (KDP). It is separate from my Amazon.com retail account, except I had to use the same login to access both. This is an important detail to remember as I continue the story.
Some of you may not know that I lost my baby sister on February 29, 2024, to Lou Gehrig's disease. Like me, she was an avid reader who enjoyed hard copies of books. However, as the disease progressed, she was no longer able to hold a physical book, so I set up a profile for her on my Amazon retail account. That way I could set her up with kindle and Kindle Unlimited accounts for her to access books until she was no longer able to do that.
Fast forward to Wednesday, July 17. I realized I had forgotten to cancel my sister's profile and Amazon subscriptions after she passed away. So I logged in to do that. Except, because I was distracted and trying to multi-task, I ended up deleting my Amazon.com retail account instead of just my sister's profile. As a result, my KDP account was locked. I can't access it without the retail account I used to set it up. Because of this, KDP has unpublished my books. Last I checked, there are a few random paperbacks they happen to have in stock still available for purchase. But that's it. Nothing else.
I immediately went to work contacting Amazon and KDP to see what options I had to get everything restored. I went to an author group on Facebook that has been a great resource for me on how to navigate the publishing world. I followed all of the advice I was given by the group and by the 15 different customer service representatives I spoke with through Amazon and KDP. I even Googled potential solutions to see what I could find. I have weighed every contingency plan in case this couldn't be resolved. It's been 6 days of fighting to get everything restored. I exhausted my last option today (July 22). I'm done fighting. It's time to move forward.
I would love to be angry with Amazon about this, but in truth, the account deletion was my own doing. It was a mistake I made. Other authors have experienced this, but in their circumstances, it has been Amazon's error. They've still had to fight, but in the end, their results were likely different than mine.
All of the customer service representatives I've spoken with may have not been helpful, but they have been kind and respectful. I've spoken with entry level people and supervisors. I've been passed around to several different departments (and probably several different countries if I had to guess). I've lost my patience and my temper more than once. I have felt sick, anxious, depressed, concerned...you name it. I'm sure started to spread among the customer service department about the crazy author lady who is taking her frustration out on whoever is on the phone with her at the time.
So how do I feel now? At some point during this process, I realized this is not the end of the world for me. My writing supplements my income, but it is not my entire income. The pending royalties I have associated with my KDP account will still be distributed to me even though that account has been locked. What I would have earned for July has been disrupted, but I'll deal with that.
I've also had three readers to reach out and ask about my books and about an upcoming book signing I have in Knoxville. Truthfully, this has been the pick-me-up my heart needed. When I first published in 2020, I didn't have any readers, unless you counted my family and best friend. Now, I have readers who enjoy my books, who support what I do, and who encourage me to keep going.
What now? I am taking some time to notify my readers and followers what has happened. Then I will work to restore everything. I ask your patience as I get this done as soon as I can. Thank you for your continued support of me. I refuse to let this setback get me down any further. It's onward and upward for me!