You published your book, and then something changed. You fell out of love with the story, you changed genres, or someone said your book stinks. Whatever the reason, you want to remove your book from Amazon.
But can you?
In a word, no.
Why You Can’t Remove Your Book from Amazon
Once your book goes live on Amazon, it’s there to stay. it doesn’t matter whether you use IngramSpark or Amazon KDP to print and distribute your book. Once your book hits Amazon, there are no take backs.
Of course, you can unpublish your book. When you do that, you prevent IngramSpark or Amazon KDP from printing any copies moving forward. However, this isn’t a fool-proof solution. Why?
- Your listing will remain on Amazon indefinitely. If Amazon sticks around forever, so will your book listing. That listing will eventually label your book as out of stock or out of print. But the listing remains, despite your desire to remove your book.
- Any copies of your book previously printed can still be sold. If a reseller buys your book to sell, that reseller can resell those books until all copies are sold. Also, people who buy your book from resellers can create an Amazon Vendor account and sell your book also. If your book goes out of print and becomes a collector’s commodity, one of your readers could become filthy rich! The only way to make sure your book is not in circulation is to find and destroy every copy.
What to Do if You Want to Hide Your Book
Currently, it’s impossible to remove your book listing from Amazon. Instead of stressing, work on your next book. Make it better than the first. Then write another book that’s better than the first. Keep writing, and you’ll have so many books out there no one will notice the book that’s no longer in print.