{"id":132995,"date":"2024-01-23T20:44:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T01:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moonkissd.com\/?p=15642"},"modified":"2024-01-23T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T01:48:11","slug":"kdp-amazon-terminated-my-account-i-am-more-powerful-than-amazon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astrologyblogger.com\/?p=132995","title":{"rendered":"KDP\/Amazon Terminated My Account (I AM more powerful than Amazon)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I received an email from KDP that read: We are terminating your account effective immediately because we found that you have published titles with misleading content that have the potential to mislead or defraud our customers.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was working on a revision of my book\u00a0A Love Alchemist\u2019s Notebook: Magical Secrets for Drawing Your True Love Into Your Life<\/a>, <\/em>first published by Llewellyn in 2010. Then, it had earned an acclaimed starred review from\u00a0Publisher\u2019s Weekly.<\/em>\u00a0Since the rights reverted to me, I decided to re-release it. So I had to redesign the exterior (cover and back) and the interior- no small feat.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t believe the email from KDP was real; I was shocked!<\/p>\n

When I appealed, their cryptic response read that I violated their policies, and that they also didn\u2019t have to tell me what policies exactly I violated.\u00a0Wow.<\/em>\u00a0KDP had always been very helpful to me; their excellent customer service is well-known in self-publishing. This new approach was\u2026 different.<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

What I *think* happened? I didn\u2019t answer affirmatively to \u201cI used AI\u201d in the pre-publication survey.\u00a0It turned out to *not be a survey.<\/em><\/p>\n

I did use AI on my book cover.<\/p>\n

Similar to the way one creates a digital collage from clip art, fonts, photos, I used those, and some AI, too. I also modified the AI image.<\/p>\n

When KDP asked \u201cDid you use AI in your cover?\u201d thinking this question was a survey, I thought about how to answer this. Knowing that when you check a box, that information can be used against you, and I didn\u2019t want to be unfairly penalized by getting anywhere remotely near the same category as\u00a0those creating entire<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/a>books with AI<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>I decided to not offer them this information.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about AI, Artificial Intelligence, for a hot minute.<\/p>\n

People are divided. There are those who are eager for AI to solve all kinds of world problems. There are those who don\u2019t want to be replaced by robots, and are very afraid of this. Equally, many share a mix of both: We want the positive advancement of AI but without the changes it will require all of us to make in order to adapt. Meaning: Jobs will change. How we have been doing things will need to change because future technology will change those, too.<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

I do feel I was caught in the crossfire of our shifting times. Most of you know that\u00a0Pluto, the \u201cevolve or die\u201d planet entered the sign of Aquarius on January 20<\/strong>, where it will remain until 2043 (minus a brief retrograde back into Capricorn from\u00a09\/3-11\/19\/24). Aquarius rules technology, and futuristic, far-reaching shifts. Pluto brings renewing and transformative power to all things Aquarius, so asks us to adapt to changes – to evolve, or die.<\/p>\n

AI is here.<\/em><\/p>\n

Machine learning is happening in so many ways that it will blow your mind. You cannot stop the changing tide. Some people like that this is happening, many don\u2019t. Remember, we\u2019re all going to have to figure out how to use it so it works for us and not against us.<\/p>\n

Change is chaotic.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And, according to my husband who is a physicist, really fast change is really chaotic, and if change happens too quickly, before people are able to adapt to it, things can crumble, fall apart. Things stop making sense.<\/p>\n

I feel this is what is happening here: It\u2019s a little bit of chaos, right now, in the publishing world. Now I\u2019m tied into this particular collective unfolding.<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

Why did I use AI on my cover? Because I enjoy using it! Because I can!<\/p>\n

Why did I think this? Because:\u00a0AI is here, it\u2019s already being used in a variety of ways, and on KDP there\u2019s no policy against using it.\u00a0<\/em>Unlike Ingram Sparks publishing, who\u00a0explicitly\u00a0states that \u201cno AI can be used in published works\u201d, KDP\/Amazon does not have a defined stance against AI. Asking authors to honestly answer: “Do you use AI?” is their policy. A policy requiring us to answer a question about AI is not the same as taking a clear position on it.<\/p>\n

There is a lack of clarity, right now, around AI. Things are rapidly changing, and therefore in self-publishing and design, many are\u00a0too afraid to use AI<\/em>\u00a0in any capacity. Yet even\u00a0big publishing houses and names<\/a>\u00a0are starting to use it in their cover art, as are companies that sell stock photography and images.<\/p>\n

My graphic designer won\u2019t use AI unless someone asks her. She doesn\u2019t want to be held liable for any fallout. Because she has also seen authors shut down by KDP for using clip art purchased off the web, this has led her to believe that what KDP\/Amazon doesn\u2019t like is that they can\u2019t hold a copyright on AI created works. Since you cannot copyright anything that a machine creates, you will not own any images you use, and they can\u2019t either. This doesn\u2019t bother me. I know I don\u2019t own it. If my book cover is re-copied, to me that\u2019s no different from iStock or Getty Images being reused. If someone uses my words along with that cover, however, they are violating my copyright.<\/p>\n

As an artist, I have no issue with machine learning in regards to making art. But unlike me, there are many artists who feel AI is simply unfair. They feel that when a machine learns from their artwork they are being stolen from. Some fear being replaced entirely by machine learning.<\/p>\n

In the coming years, all of us will reach a choice point:<\/p>\n

You can choose either to go against the changing tide, or you will find a way to flow with it by deciding to learn how to use the changes to your advantage.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

Back to my book.<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever been so shocked by a thing that everything temporarily suspends and Soul-Knowing pours forth? Things become crystal clear?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also Aquarius, the water bearer: When water\/inspiration pours, it happens quickly. In that moment, that\u2019s what happened for me (natal Uranus, Aquarius\u2019 ruler, is on my ASC). Instantly, while staring at that account terminated email, I KNEW the following (I \u201cheard\u201d this):<\/p>\n