I recently had to unpublish a book I had just self-published.
After unpublishing it, I republished it with new ISBNs (for the paperback and ebook). This was a pain-in-the-neck and an expense because of the new ISBNs.
There are a couple of reasons you may need to unpublish a book; mine was because of a mistake.
REASONS YOU MAY NEED TO UNPUBLISH A BOOK
1. You make a mistake when publishing your book.
In my case, I got the rights back to my books from the publisher as the company stopped selling my books. This meant I needed new ISBNs and a publishing name to self-publish. I had the publishing name but had to get more ISBNs.
I used Amazon KDP and when inputting the information, there’s a section that asks, “Was this book previously published?”
I made the mistake of clicking YES.
You might ask why this was a mistake. The traditional publisher previously published the book, right?
Well, once you have a new ISBN and publishing name, it’s no longer the same book. Lesson learned.
Okay, so what went wrong?
While my book published fine, the publishing date picked up the traditional publisher’s publishing date in 2020.
My book had new ISBNs and a new publisher name, but it had the OLD publishing dates.
There was only one way to correct this problem. I had to unpublish the book, get NEW ISBNs again, and republish; this time NOT clicking YES to being previously published.
I made this mistake on two books, but I decided to republish one book at a time.
I still have to republish The Case of the Slimy Goo.
Don’t do anything in haste. If you’re unsure of something, ask Amazon; they have great customer service.
2. Change of publishers.
If you get your rights back from a publisher, whether traditional or other (hybrid services or self-publishing services that use their ISBNs), and you intend to self-publish, you’ll need a NEW ISBN for each book format. But it’s important for the original version to be unpublished. You’ll need to have the original publisher do this on their end.
It’s essential that you discuss unpublishing with the original publisher.
3. You make significant changes to the book’s interior.
These changes may be related to the book’s content. You might add a chapter or more, remove chapters, do a major revision, and so on. Under these circumstances, you’ll need a new ISBN.
But you must unpublish the original before republishing with a new ISBN.
4. You make significant changes to the cover.
I’m in the process of republishing my chapter book “Walking Through Walls.” Along with revising the content somewhat, it has a completely different cover.
This is the original version:
This is the NEW cover:
Quite a difference!
This is the third book I got the rights back from the publisher.
I spoke with the publisher about their version being unpublished.
4. Substantial changes to the book’s title or subtitle
Here are a few examples of substantial changes that would warrant a new ISBN:
“Walking Through Walls” to “Wang Apprentices for the Eternals” “The Art of War” to “The Art of War: A New Perspective” “The Quick Brown Fox” to “The Quick Fox”
These alternative titles may lead the reader to think there is a significant change to the book’s narrative, focus, or interpretation, warranting a new ISBN.
Before you republish, again, you need to unpublish the original version.
PROBLEMS THAT ARISE WHEN UNPUBLISHING A BOOK
You would think that if you do everything right, you’ll be home free.
Well, that’s not the case. You can never get rid of the old print versions of your books. Published print books will remain on Amazon forever; they just won’t be available for new copies.
Reasons Why Amazon Won’t Delete Your Unpublished Books
-Amazon keeps a record of all books, even unpublished ones, within its KDP system. -The only option is to unpublish a book, which removes them from sale but doesn't delete them from the KDP system. -Even though unpublished, the book remains in your KDP dashboard, and its details are still accessible. (You can archive the unpublished book, so it won’t appear on your dashboard.) -Deleting unpublished books could lead to complications, such as losing access to draft files, or potentially causing issues if the book was ever intended to be published later. -Amazon third-party sellers can sell any copies of your book they can find even though you unpublished the book. Amazon gets a percentage of these sales. And you can’t do anything about it. Click the link to “Amazon third-party sellers” for more information on the unscrupulous sellers.
THE NEXT PROBLEM: YOUR AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE
All the books you’ve ever published, including the unpublished and archived ones, will be visible on your author page! And like your books, you cannot delete this page, ever.
Here is why this creates a problem.
My page has three rows. The first row has my ‘for sale’ books. The second row has unpublished books. The bottom row has a book that’s been unpublished for over six years and one of my ‘for sale’ books.
This is not only confusing for visitors and potential buyers, but one of my ‘for sale’ books comes after five unpublished books. UGH.
I spoke with Amazon and they told me to contact the Amazon Author Central customer service about this problem. So many things to do, so little time. But this is something I’ll have to make time for soon.
I'll do it after I unpublish “The Case of the Slimy Goo” and then republish it and after I self-publish the new version of “Walking Through Walls.”
No sense in contacting them when I still have changes to make.
THE FINAL PROBLEM: LOST REVIEWS
One more thing to consider when unpublishing a book is that it may result in losing reviews associated with the original version. But reviews are generally associated with the title rather than a specific edition, so they may still be available.
You’ll need to check to see if they are coming over. If not, try contacting Amazon.
I’d love to know if you have any unpublishing and republishing problems you’ve had to deal with. Hearing about them may hopefully help us avoid them.
