Whether you’ve been following my recent post or not, you don’t want to make the same mistake I made. I didn’t know if I should update the original One Month, 20 Days, and a Wake Up book with the files of the 2nd edition or publish the 2nd as a separate book. I went on Amazon’s KDP Help pages for advice. Here’s what I found:

• Under the subject title “Upload your book content,” it states, “… if your changes are significant, you must publish your book as a new edition…”
• Under the subject title “Update your Manuscript,” it states, “… if it’s considered a new edition, you must publish it as a new book…”· 

Not wanting to create a problem with KDP, I followed their guideline and published my 2nd edition of One Month, 20 Days, and a Wake Up, as a new book. It had been my plan from the beginning to remove the original once the 2nd edition was live on Amazon.

Two areas I wanted to avoid. I had 44 reviews on the first edition, and I didn’t want to lose them. We know having reviews is crucial to successful sales. I also had invested months of monitoring and adjusting my sponsored ad campaign. Sponsored ads are the key to the Amazon algorithm system and getting your book’s visible placement enhanced.

With KDP Direct Publishing Community Q&A, I found that you could request your reviews moved to your subsequent editions. I also found that you could copy your keywords from your sponsored ad campaign and add them to your new campaign. In my ignorance, I thought my concerns were addressed, and there shouldn’t be a problem. WRONG.

What I hadn’t counted on were the Amazon system and customer service involvement and their numerous screwups. Once both my eBook and paperback went live, the next step was for the system to recognize they are the same book but different formats and link them. That procedure is automatic and accomplished within 24 hours after going live.

While I waited for them to link the eBook and paperback, I emailed KDP requesting that they move my reviews to the new book. I got a positive response from them, and they said they would complete it within 48 hours. After 24 hours, I checked, and indeed they listed my reviews with the new book. Great, I thought. Not so fast!

The system had linked my eBook and paperback, but when you clicked the link from the new eBook, you got the old paperback. You also had the reverse; new paperback to the old eBook. I sent them an email requesting a correction, and they did. When I check my sales page the next day, I found they had linked the new eBook and paperback. But my reviews had disappeared. What also disappeared was the sales page of my first edition with all the reviews.

In my next email, not wanting to be rude, I thanked them for handling the links. I brought to their attention that the 44 reviews I had disappeared from both formats. I nicely requested a correction. Since in the previous sales page change had included deleting the first edition, the response I received from customer service was they couldn’t find any reviews.

I believe by now, you understand what happened. Suffice to say, after four additional emails and two phone calls; I got the errors corrected. Had I uploaded my 2nd edition and replaced the original, I would have avoided the comedy of errors.

I agree that technically my 2nd edition, and the changes I made to the original, created a new book. Individuals who purchased the 1st edition had the right to be informed I had published the 2nd edition. Their guidelines weren’t wrong, but their system does not recognize 2nd editions of a book with the same title. It’s unable to disseminate the difference. Consequently, you must remove the original to publish the new version.

Whether right or wrong, if I ever do another significant change to an original manuscript, I’ll update the files and avoid the headaches. My question, how do authors who self-publish a series of books where the title is the same, but the subtitle is the identifier? Has anyone else experienced something similar, and how did you handle it?

Don’t be shy; leave me a comment.