Amazon's Automatic Updating Service

Did you know that you can opt to receive updates automatically for some of your Kindle books? A new book version will be made available after they confirm that improvements were made to your Kindle book. I just found out about this tool and I think it's a great idea. Too bad it's still a bit buggy.

Case in point: The Priestess and the Ravenknight ebook I promoted at Amazon's KDP last autumn. After the first promotion, I decided to go over the ebook file again and revised it. I didn't make many changes, but I am happier with the newest version.  Then when I ran another 3-day free promotion at KDP, I wanted to download the newest version to my Android and Cloud Reader. The end result was that I got the same old version even though I deleted the copies I had on both readers. I tried it again and again, thinking it was just "operator error."  Well, it wasn't.

Fortunately, KDP has a good Help Chat Service at their site and I didn't have to wait long at all to get someone who fixed the problem. The rep had me remove the ebook from both my Android and Cloud Reader once more. Then I downloaded my ebook again and checked. This time the copy I got was the most current and best available. I don't know why the automatic updating tool did not work. I decided to check with a friend and had her check her copy and she also had problems with the automatic updating tool. In the end she ended up going the same route I did so a rep could reset and send her the latest copy of The Priestess and the Ravenknight.

It troubles me that after two free promotions, there may be readers out there that only have the old versions of my ebook. You should NOT have to pay for the newest copy even though the promotion days have ended. Please log into your Kindle account and go to Manage Your Kindle
and see if you have even opted for Automatic Updates. If you are opted in, you should see a message saying that you have an update. If you do as it says, you should get any new versions of ebooks that have been updated since your original purchase. Be careful if you use this service as it will remove any annotations or bookmarks you may have made in those Kindle ebooks.  

If you do not get the new update or if you are not even sure you did, I recommend you look up at the menu tool bar (once logged into Amazon.com) and click on HELP.  Look to the left column under TOPICS and click on KINDLE.  Under QUICK SOLUTIONS click on the button "Contact Us"  and scroll down the list of methods you want to use for contacting Amazon KDP.  You can use Phone, Email or Chat. I chose the chat option and got a rep almost instantly.  I explained the problem and she was able to guide me through the steps, which were the same ones I did before but this time she reset something on her end and made the update available to me. Once I verified I got the newest copies on my Cloud Reader and Android I thanked her and decided I should write you all today about this.

If you downloaded my ebook or have a library of Kindle ebooks, you may find the Automatic Update service useful in ensuring you have the best copy of your ebooks at hand. If you have any questions or problems with it, know that their Chat Reps are highly recommended and I will use them again for their fast and excellent help.

Happy Reading and Writing!