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Amazon KDP has released some major changes and updates that affect publishing low-content books today. (May 17, 2022) Amazon has finally officially acknowledged low content books, and defined them on their site as such:
“A low-content book has minimal or no content on the interior pages. These pages are generally repetitive and designed to be filled in by the user. Common examples include notebooks, planners, journals, and other similar works. This does not typically include activity/puzzle books or coloring books, generally do not feature repetitive content on each page.” Low-Content Books (amazon.com)
Over the past 4 + years, LCBs have exploded, and a sleu of people have started creating stationary-like books like journals, planners, workbooks, activity and puzzle books, and logbooks using KDPs print on demand publishing service. However, since KDP never meant their paperback books to be used in this way, they haven’t provided us with categories or guidelines specific to publishing our low content books. Until now.
This is good news, as Amazon is finally saying to us low-content book publishers, “Hey! We see you! We know you are out there, and we are going to give you some guidelines on how to use our platform to publish your books”. This is also bad news, as the guidelines they have laid out for us have taken away some of the KDP publishing rights given to other KDP authors.
It is my personal speculation that KDP has finally started placing restrictions on us because of the multitude of spammers that have come out of the wood-work to make mass quantities of poor quality books.
If you peruse the books category on any given day on Amazon, you will most likely come across these spam quality books in every book sub-category. You will know one when you see one.
Covers with broken English, incorrect grammar and spelling, conflicting color schemes, and really bad font combinations have somehow gotten through KDP reviews and approved for listings. Such a high volume of spam has kind of broke KDP and made for a low level of customer satisfaction, and just an overall bad shopping experience for customers.
So, let’s dive in and talk about some of the changes Amazon has made to their KDP platform surrounding low-content book publishing.
Discontinuation of Free Amazon Issued ISBN Numbers
Low-content books are no longer eligible for a free KDP ISBN. When you create a low-content book, you can either use your own ISBN or publish without an ISBN.
The main differences between publishing with your own ISBN and without an ISBN are the “Look Inside” feature and transparency codes. Books published without an ISBN are no longer eligible for these features.
The Low-Content Book Category
Amazon has assigned a category specifically for LCBs, and you are now required to check this box under category when publishing your book. If you fail to do this, Amazon states that your book will be rejected.
Barcodes and Transparency Codes
Like before, Amazon will continue to place a barcode on the back cover of your book, at the bottom right. Whether or not you use your own ISBN to publish, you will still get a barcode.
Transparency codes are not available for low-content books that are published without an ISBN. If you’d like to enable a Transparency code for your low-content book, you can buy your own ISBN from Bowker or through your local ISBN agency.
Items You Can and Cannot Update After Publishing
Many people were getting kind of excited because they thought maybe with not needing an ISBN, Amazon would allow your title and subtitle to be edited after you publish. However, that does not appear to be the case.
The following items cannot be changed after publishing:
- Title
- Subtitle
- Language
- Edition Number
- Primary Author
- Low-Content Check Box
- Age and Grade Range
- ISBN Choice
- Ink and Paper Type
- Trim Size
- Royalty Rate
The following items can be edited after your book goes live:
- Contributors
- Description
- Publishing Rights
- Keywords
- Territories
- Pricing
Series
This isn’t actually part of the new update that came out on May 17th, but I thought I would stick this on the list of things low-content books are not eligible for that other KDP authors are.
Amazon states that low-content books are not eligible to be included in any kind of series.
The Loss of “Look Inside”
Many low-content publishers are very concerned about not being eligible for the “Look Inside” feature any longer. Many of us relied on this to show our potential customer what the insides of our books look like.
However, at the moment, nothing has been said about our eligibility to utilize A+ Content, and we are hoping Amazon doesn’t take that away from us as well. A+ Content is actually a better way to show our potential customer the insides of our books because anyone, even mobile users, can see A+ Content. (The “Look Inside” feature isn’t available to mobile users…..one of the reasons I can’t stand going onto Amazon on my phone.)
Many changes are coming down the pike for low-content book publishing, and we can only hope that with the acknowledgement of LCBs, and the new guidelines and restrictions surrounding publishing them, Amazon will somehow also make a way for us to thrive on their platform. There is obviously a demand for journals, notebooks, planners, etc., and there are many of us who are very creative and can make and design very nice, high quality, low-content books. Hopefully, Amazon will realize the potential they have to make more money by helping us to help them.
Help us to make you more money, Amazon!
Let me know your thoughts about all the new changes Amazon KDP has made surrounding low-content books.
