X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter (16 Oct 2022) - bad news

Greetings Dear Subscribers to X.HoYen's Author Newsletter.

16 Oct 2022 (last one was sent 10 Oct 2022 -- back issues are on the web site in the Newsletters section)

As promised, I do not inundate you with newsletters. But in this Fall’s run-up to MSD’s release, entries will be somewhat more frequent.

Bad News

As Rimmer (from "Red Dwarf") said in "Terrorform",

"not the answer I was looking for, but could be worse"

Amazon has inexplicably rejected the eBook format of MSD despite accepting the soft cover created on KDP *and* the hard cover created at IngramSpark. They claim it's been previously published, which is not the case.

I've iterated with them every day over the last five days, but keep getting the same rejection form letter insisting that I provide signed rights reversion declarations from the "previous publisher". But there is no previous publisher. They ask the impossible, and reject everything I send them. And they won't tell me where they think it was previously published.

I have only one avenue left to explore, which is obtaining the official copyright registration certificate. I provided them with the registration number (it's a closed/completed copyright registration), which they can use to see the registration at the copyright office web site, but apparently that wasn't enough. I'm hoping beyond hope that the official copyright cert will resolve this.

If my providing the official copyright certificate does not resolve this, then MSD's eBook format will be rejected by Amazon permanently. I have 5 more days to somehow provide them with the non-existent documents they want or otherwise penetrate the bureaucracy.

But there's ZERO chance of receiving that before tomorrow, because the copyright office is not open on the weekends.

Therefore, MSD will not release on the originally planned 17 Oct date. It's a Buttle-Tuttle-esque Halloween nightmare.

If Amazon does end up permanently rejecting publication of the eBook format for this insane, mythical "reason", there's zero chance of getting an interest-exposure snowball rolling. While a number of you are poised to buy paper copies, the rest of the world will not. It's all about the eBook, and Amazon has >90% of the market. So if this worst case scenario does happen, I will stop asking you to wait in order to get your orders on Amazon (to trigger the algorithm, in the original plan). Instead, if this happens, we'll declare release and everyone who has kindly waited won't have to wait any more and can use the purchase links already available in XHoYenAuthor.com/store or in GrandUnificationMonastery.com. I'll just have to pursue additional, more costly promo strategies if it comes to that.

But that perma-rejection hasn't happened yet, so I'm still begging you to wait.

Please stand by. I'll let you know what I know when I know it.

Thanks for sticking with me during this long (and frustrating) process!

Standard stuff
Please do share my URL with fellow realism-based sci fi fans, especially anyone who enjoyed Weir’s The Martian, Older’s Infomocracy, Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, Mandel’s Station Eleven, or Corey’s The Expanse. I'm convinced Minimum Safe Distance would appeal to the same audience, because I wrote it for me and *I'm* in that audience.
Thanks for your support!
XHY
https://XHoYenAuthor.com