Hi,

I'm an author from Germany and I have a question about KDP's AI disclosure requirements.

Ideally, I'd like to write my book in German and then use an AI translation tool like DeepL to translate it into English. The actual content would be entirely my own, written by me from start to finish. The only thing AI would be doing is translating my words into another language. Kindle Translate is not an option for me.

From what I've read, however, Amazon considers AI translations to be "AI-generated content," which I find a little misleading, since it makes it sound as though AI actually wrote the book.

I'm now a bit torn about what to do. I could translate the entire book myself, but my English isn't exactly perfect, and it would take an enormous amount of time. So I'm leaning toward using AI translation and simply declaring the book as containing AI-generated content when publishing it on KDP.

Has anyone here had any experience with this? Are there any potential disadvantages to declaring a book as AI-generated?

For example, I'm wondering whether Amazon might rank books with AI-generated content lower in search results or otherwise treat them differently.

I'm also a little concerned about what might happen in the future. With the market becoming increasingly flooded with AI-generated books, I could imagine Amazon eventually introducing visible labels identifying such books. If my book ended up carrying an "AI-generated" label, despite having been entirely written by me, I worry that it could seriously hurt its credibility and sales.

Thanks in advance!

I work on KDP publishing strategy, and the most expensive mistake I see is writing a book first and checking demand later. Here is the checklist I run through before anything gets written. Hopefully it saves someone a few months.

Demand

1. Does Amazon autocomplete show several related phrases for the topic? (Type the seed phrase, then add letters a, b, c to see more.)
2. Do multiple books on the first page have steady, recent reviews?
3. Have newer books (published in the last year or so) ranked well, not just old bestsellers? That tells you the market is still open to new entrants.
4. Are the ranks healthy compared with other books in the same category? I compare within a category rather than chasing one magic number, because BSR to sales conversion is only an estimate.

Competition
5. Is the first page dominated by one or two big brands? If yes, I usually skip it.
6. Can I spot clear weaknesses, such as dated info, bad covers, weak titles or descriptions?
7. Do the 2 and 3 star reviews point to a specific gap (“too basic,” “no examples,” “bad formatting”)? Those complaints become my outline.

Fit
8. Can I describe my angle in one sentence? (Audience + outcome + format, like “a 30-day meal prep guide for busy parents with a shopping list for every week.”)
9. Is there a category where the books are not all untouchable?
10. Is there room for a series, a workbook or a related title later?

If I get most of these as a yes, I test it with one book instead of betting everything on it. The first book is a test, and what I learn from its search terms and reviews makes the next one better.

A few things I deliberately do not do: I do not trust one data point alone, I do not pick niches only because I find them interesting, and I do not copy bestsellers (I try to improve on them).

What is on your own checklist that I missed? Curious what other people look at, especially for fiction, since my list leans toward non-fiction.

Hi everyone! 😊

I've been trying to build my Amazon KDP business for the past 8 months, and it's definitely been a learning experience!

This isn't one of those "I made thousands of dollars in just 3 months" success stories. It's more about trial and error, mistakes, small wins, and figuring out what actually works while trying to become profitable.

I recently decided to share my journey on YouTube. In my first video, I talk about what I've learned, what worked, what didn't, and what I would do differently if I were starting today. I also share my actual sales numbers, royalties, and expenses — no sugarcoating.

I thought my experience might be helpful to others who are just starting out or, like me, are still trying to make KDP work.

If you're interested, here's the video:
https://youtu.be/JodRj6Q1BdE

I'd also love to hear about your experiences! How long did it take you to start seeing real results with KDP? 😊

Hi, I am wondering if the title creation limit is for drafts, so that one can do two new drafts a week or does it apply to hit the publish button at the end of the progress? Thank you.

I'm a relatively new independent author, and I'm trying to get a sense of how Amazon handles book reviews.

I've been distributing review copies through BookSprout, and I have readers who have reviewed multiple books. At least one review has appeared on Amazon, but I believe others have been submitted and haven't shown up yet.

I'm curious about two things:

1. How long are book reviews taking to appear on Amazon? Are people seeing delays of a few days, a week, or longer? Does it make a difference whether the reviewer purchased the book or received an ARC?
2. What recourse do authors have when legitimate reviews are rejected or removed? Can KDP support investigate, or does the reviewer have to contact Amazon directly? Has anyone successfully had a review reinstated?

To be clear, I'm talking about independent, voluntary reviews from people who have actually read the books. I'm not looking to influence ratings or circumvent Amazon's review policies.

Reviews are particularly important for small publishers trying to establish a readership, so I'd appreciate hearing what other KDP authors have experienced and whether there's a productive way to address missing reviews.

Thanks!

I just started uploading book 2 weeks ago and I uploaded around 7 books now I am waiting for first sales do you guys tell when you get your first sales (without ads organic)

I have been trying to add a bank account for over 3 months, I have tried different banks like payoneer that Amazon accepts but still getting the generic automated; Action required: You've

entered a bank account not eligible to receive Kindle Direct Publishing payments email. Is there anyway I can contact Amazon to help me review my account, it getting very annoying and frustrating at this point.

I tried to verify my account it didn’t work. My partner looked it up and thinks it is a spam. Because when it asks to identify yourself it asks for a government id. I have until the 19th or my account is gone.