I made an interesting discovery yesterday, and I thought I would share it in case it was as much as a surprise to the wider community as it was to me.
I don't know about anybody else, but when I first published my book on Amazon using the KDP system, I purchased a copy myself just to make sure it was working. This also allowed me the bragging rights to my naysayers to say 'look, someone bought my book!'.
Now, I was a little premature (no jokes please!) when I first published the book. I had just had the awesome cover art back from the designer but I was still waiting or the final edit to come back. Now, I had been through my book so many times, tinkering and adjusting bits, that in my arrogance I imagined that the editor would come back and say 'wow, perfect, I didn't change a thing!'. Of course, that wasn't the case and in fact there were bits on most pages that needed adjusting. There was also the issue of some feedback I had received of the internal artwork being difficult to read on certain devices, so I redid it all as well.
So, back to KDP. I uploaded the improved edited version (at the same time I made it available as a paperback - see, not a complete moron!), waited my 12 hours, and the new and improved version became available. Yesterday, whilst playing with my tablet, I clicked to open my book on the kindle app and found it was the old incorrect original version. Okay, I thought, delete it from the device and set it to download again. Downloaded the older incorrect version. Tried it on my kindle keyboard - same outcome. Tried it on my PC (had to install the kindle app) and yet again, it downloaded the old version.
Now, I understood that one of the benefits of digital publishing was the ability to make changes to the published works and make new improved versions of my books available. Amazon says as much on the KDP site. Now, I didn't necessarily expect my kindle to do this automatically, but surely if I download a book to a kindle device, I should get the most up to date version?
If I was downloading a piece of software or a video game, the same would be true, or it would check and download an appropriate patch to bring it up to date.
I contacted Amazon, and they very helpfully manually updated my account to download an updated version - see email excerpt below
Hello,
I'm following up on the recent phone conversation you had with one of my colleagues regarding your inability to download the updated content.
I've sent the updated version of your title, "Knightfall," to your Kindle library. To complete your download, please verify that your device is sufficiently charged and your wireless connection is enabled. To manually activate the download, select "Sync & Check for Items" from the Home screen menu. The same will apply if you’re using any other Kindle application, as well.
The previous version of your book will be automatically replaced by the updated version.
To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/contact-us
I hope this helps. Thanks for using Amazon KDP.
Regards,
So, great for me, but not for my other customers who have already downloaded my book and want the most up to date version. Did everyone already know this? Is it just accepted that 'you bought that version, that's what you get forever'? Or is it just a blip for my account and normally people get the most up to date version?
I don't know what I can do about it, if anything. I have had two reviews that mentioned the formatting and editing and I have commented on the review, offering an updated copy, but so far had no response.
Please comment and share your thoughts below, I would love to know about other peoples experiences of this.
Rob
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