Is this the End of the Journey with Amazon KDP?

﷽

If you’ve ever built something slowly, book by book, page by page, you’ll understand how fragile it can feel when it suddenly shifts.

I published a few books (children’s books, journals and planners) through Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) under Ihsaan Home Academy. It felt like a great path forward for sharing educational Islamic books with Muslim families. Then everything changed recently.

Lost account and no support

I lost access to my account after not logging in for a while and getting a new phone number. So I couldn’t get get the verification code sent to me upon signing in.

I lost access to my account after not logging in for a while and getting a new phone number, which meant I couldn’t receive the verification code needed to sign in.

I contacted support multiple times over the course of a few months, but I didn’t get the help I needed. At one point, things seemed promising and I was told to create a new account and that my books could be transferred there. However, before anything was completed, my account was closed without my consent, and I lost access to all my books. I could no longer manage or update them.

I had initially agreed to closing the account in order to remove my books from Amazon and avoid duplicate listings once I reuploaded them under a new account. However, the final understanding was that transferring the books would be possible and the better solution.

Potentially blacklisted for asking for help

I tried calling support a few times, and the calls would drop immediately. They went through when I used a different number. Chat support also stopped working on my account, while it still worked on other people’s accounts. I’m not fully sure what that meant, but I did wonder if I had been restricted in some way.

Books still listed and one book still sold by Amazon

With the account now closed, my books are still listed, although they are unavailable for purchase. I was told there is no way to have them fully unlisted. The confusing part is that one of the books was still available for purchase. That meant any purchase made would not have gone to me.

After going through hoops, I finally managed to chat with someone at KDP. However, the response didn’t resolve anything, as I was repeatedly told that my book wasn’t published through KDP and that I should contact the publisher. The book was published by Ihsaan Home Academy through KDP and shipped by Amazon, which was also visible on the listing. The ISBN and ASIN were also from KDP.

I took screenshots of the book to email support. Interestingly, I was unable to take more recent screenshots because both the app and website prevented me from taking screenshots. That was definitely new.

Books no longer sold on KDP and new avenues to publishing

As of now, the book no longer appears to be available for purchase, which is a positive update. However, having my books still listed without access to manage them has discouraged me from continuing with KDP, so I will be transitioning to other platforms. Global distribution from other platforms may still result in some books being sold through Amazon, but they will not be sold through KDP going forward.

Just in case you see any books from Ihsaan Home Academy with “D. Umm-Sumayyah,” please do not purchase them. Make sure the author name is “Sakeenah Umm-Sumayyah” or simply Ihsaan Home Academy for clarity. If anything changes, I will update this post.

Right now, you can purchase Alhamdulillah for Everything and Fatima and Nabil Spend Ramadan and Eid in Mali by clicking on the book covers below.

Final thoughts

What surprised me most with KDP wasn’t the technical issue itself, but the feeling of disconnection from something I had built carefully over time and the lack of support when I needed it. I’ve learned from this experience and will be more careful with account security and publishing setup going forward, inshaa Allah.