Hi Caroline, I created many book covers using the Canva free elements combined to make my own design. I have watched several videos and am still unclear about whether I can still do this as to regards of ticking the copyright button when uploading a new book. Please can you make this clearer for myself and others?. I have a new book but to scared to upload it now. Thank you :)
Realize that all these book interiors can be purchased on Creative Fabrica. As for impersonating a celebrity, i.e., not the full name is a big No No, including their likeness. Great note about AI. As always fantastic and very informative video.
Can you please do a video covering exactly what is considered low content? Would a 24 page children’s poem, with 1 line per page, and full illustrations be considered low or medium content?
A low-content book has minimal or no content on the interior pages. Low-content books are generally repetitive, and designed to be filled in by the user. This typically include Notebooks, Planners, Diaries/Journals, Log books...24 page children's poen, with 1 line per page is not consider low or medium content book, but would be considered a really bad content book, that amazon will reject because, as Caroline mentioned, amazon wants the best content for their customers. So make a decend page numbers (there is a minimum page on KDP guidelines), see how many lines of a poem each page should contain, get a really nice cover, like put in some serious effort into making a highquality book, that you would love to purchase for yourself, if you have stumbled upon it, and upload it to amazon. Good luck with it. Also, don't use AI to generate content as it will backfire on you faster than you think.
@@sanjinmujkic7171 hi Sanjin, thank you for your answer. 24 pages is the minimum for KDP books and the reason it’s shorter is because it’s a French nursery rhyme. The content is not bad, it’s a rhyming story for kids. However, I appreciate your concern. I would also never use AI, but thank you for the tip!
@deezed6478 - Your book is definitely not Low Content. I've used this technique, and if the illustrations on each page are loved by the children reading the book, and the one sentence per page makes them want to keep reading, then your book will be purchased because it's colourful, fun and clever :-) Best of luck!
Thank you for this wonderful video. Just a note though: Minecraft is under a different sort of open license, allowing authors and creators of all kinds to use the brand to write books and create coloring books etc which are completely legitimate. This is why there’s such a huge number of Minecraft fiction authors who do so well and who are operating legally and in the open.
I've dealt with a great deal of copyright legal issues in fine art due to the fact that it is my field. Many pages for handwriting are highly likely free templates someone uploaded from a teaching website, etc. Did they use the exact same ones? Maybe.. But... There is nothing unique or interesting about handwriting templates. And botanical prints are many times opensource & 100% free. So again... Did someone copy the idea/ layout/ general concept... Maybe. But, is it illegal... If Amazon is banning people for using open source stuff that would be a massive grey area. Legally according to copyright law in the United States... If any piece of created art is at least 70% different than the original one cannot say it is copywritten. However, layouts and or instruction manuals are not art. The same rules do not apply due to the fact there are only so many ways one can explain handwriting, math & there are only so many layouts.
Hi Caroline, thank you for the great video as always. I have a quick question regarding KDP printing. Recently I published a book and when I ordered an author copy, the quality seemed to be below satisfactory. The pages are too thin and one can see the images of the other page side strongly. Did you ever have that experience and is it possible to opt for a better quality?
▼ Hey @Alex-ki1tl - yes this does happen sometimes. It's best to report it to Amazon a.s.a.p., as they use printing companies all over the world to fulfil their orders. ▼ Once you send them photos and explain why you're not happy with the book received, they will evaluate it, work out which company printed it, and may send a replacement for you. ▼ I've had this happen in the past :-)
I have my own design on my book. Everything is completed. I just don't know how to download my pages , front and back cover on Amazon from my drive. do you know how? Just asking...and thank yopu for letting me know as well.😊
I asked kdp support and they told me is ok to use for example : Harry Potter fan activity book. Are you sure the bot system they have are closing accounts? I see 2020 in some.books shared here that are doing great (11k bsr). So...
Are you sure it was an actual person that told you that and not a bot, because they are wrong. "Everything Harry Potter (including the name) is well protected with multiple trademarks that are owned by Warner Brothers Entertainment. The name itself was Trademarked in 1999. It just means they haven't been caught yet. So ..
For Minecraft, the publisher (Mojang) actually allows use of their IP as long as it's not presented as an offical Mojang product. They have specific guidelines for what is and isn't allowed.
There is a name for copying work: it’s called plagiarism and copyright theft and is deeply illegal ❤. I’m a professional artist and it’s mind blowing how little people know about and understand about copyright❤.
What do you do if you're not sure if your book contains AI content? For example, if I bought something from Creative Fabrica and I don't know if it's AI or not.
▼ Hey there @themysticphoenix6583 - if you bought the content, and it does not say "created with AI", then you do not need to select the AI checkbox in KDP :-)
@@TeenaHughesOnline Are you sure? Could you please give me a rule for it? Amazon doesn’t ask - did you use paying or free AI tool. Amazon asks just about AI. She paid for it, good for her but still... she used AI.
Over three months later the copycat print handwriting book is still there and now has 54 global ratings with an average of 4.5 stars. Fortunately though it seems none of their other attempts at doing the same thing with their eight other similar books has worked, with just two global ratings between them. But as it's so trivial to spot it's a copy, I'm disappointed it's still there and making some sales.
It's pretty depressing how un-creative people can be. However, I don't think publishing illustrations of famous people without permission violates any laws, in most countries at least. Otherwise political charicatures would be impossible, especially those produced at short notice, like for daily newspapers. Not to mention that most politicians are pretty full of themselves to begin with and wouldn't like to see themselves charicatured at all! Even in the case of photographs, generally speaking the copyright belongs to the photographer, not the people photographed. Those sports photographers at major sports events don't all line up after the game asking the players if they would object to their photos being published; they just publish them in newspapers and sports magazines, and most players accept and even expect that as par for the course.
News is handled differently than making money from a commercial product. And using someone's likeness in a parody (say of a political figure in a political cartoon) is different than using Taylor Swift's likeness to sell a book. Taylor's product is Taylor and she owns the right to how her likeness is used. As far as sport teams and sports photography, rights to show the players and the team logos are generally given by allowing the photographers to the sporting event in the first place. The photographer can use the photos in magazines and newspapers to tell the story of the game, etc. But if they took their photos and made a calendar to sell, then they would be infringing on the trademarks (like the example of the KC coloring book shown in this video). Best bet is to consult an IP lawyer before doing anything involving a trademark or a person's likeness.
When it comes to creating a book teaching how to write letters there really is only one way to teach it so I simply would not create one of those books. AI can be used simply for research for a list of something which is not a big deal.
@@ActivityOne-vh8td Oh have they changed it again. I think they are fed up with people putting hundreds of low-content rubbish on and I don't blame them. one person on one of my Facebook groups wrote she puts one hundred on a day(before the change) There is no way they could be quality books
Hello, congratulations on the work. I have a question, can you help me? I published an ebook on Amazon Kindle worth $3.00 dollars. I can increase the value of the same ebook as follows: February 20th to $5.00; March 5th for $7.00; Mar 20th for $9.00 and Apr 5th for $12.00? Can I change the price values for the aforementioned ebook? Can Amazon punish me or suspend my account because of this?
Dear Caroline, I am considering to publish a book at Amazon about a modern Don Juan , (true original Romances. What do you think? ...Prof.Dr.Nasir Fazal Cambridge USA.
Isn't copying a layout illegal? Or again, could copying a small part of a layout created by an author and completely different from what we have seen up to that point cause problems if the author reported it to Amazon?
One thing that ive been blessed with is a varying number of talents (though theyre balanced with just as many flaws, Haha). I made painted and burned wood art for years as a teenager. Once my debut novel is finished, which should be very soon after editing it over and over, I'm planning to take several weeks in creating the cover with original artwork. Ive looked at a bunch of book covers, ive done super simple concept art to run by my family, friends, and beta readers, and I think I have my design. Now it's just going to take a little while to make it look professional and create a final cover draft
I’d like to suggest proofreading as part of any publishing process. Example: Your thumbnail for this video states, “Your Wasting Your Time.” This says the viewer owns “Wasting.” -*Your* is ownership of something. (Your shirt is blue.) -*You’re* is a combining of You Are. (You’re wearing a blue shirt.) Thus, you have a typo in your thumbnail. “You’re Wasting Your Time.” (As in, “You are wasting your time.”)
Nothing new, but always distressing how many pathetic, utterly despicable people there are who will try any sleazy or misleading strategy to make money. I just wonder if it's worth the loss of their own self-respect or, if that isn't a consequence, the abandonment of any moral values.
So, you mean basically try to create the best, original, high quality product you can. Simples. The make-a-quick-buck dodgey brothers approach isn't sustainable long term.
I'm shocked anyone would do some of these things. That's terrible. Question, does Amazon own the copyright to your books? I'm new to this so I'm trying to learn how to do KDP the right way.
Yet, you found lots of examples that have not been banned by Amazon. They might not be selling, but that's true of nearly every self published book on Amazon.
Hi Caroline, I created many book covers using the Canva free elements combined to make my own design. I have watched several videos and am still unclear about whether I can still do this as to regards of ticking the copyright button when uploading a new book. Please can you make this clearer for myself and others?. I have a new book but to scared to upload it now. Thank you :)
In 2025 I’m going for KDP. I need income streams that I can work from home.❤this is very useful
hope you do well !
Hi Caroline, if i use ChatGPT to grammar check and clarify content, would my book be considered as AI generated? Great content btw.
Swiftie is trade marked by Taylor too 😅 her Team have actually went after people using her trademarks on Etsy in the past...
Realize that all these book interiors can be purchased on Creative Fabrica. As for impersonating a celebrity, i.e., not the full name is a big No No, including their likeness. Great note about AI. As always fantastic and very informative video.
Can you please do a video covering exactly what is considered low content? Would a 24 page children’s poem, with 1 line per page, and full illustrations be considered low or medium content?
A low-content book has minimal or no content on the interior pages. Low-content books are generally repetitive, and designed to be filled in by the user. This typically include Notebooks, Planners, Diaries/Journals, Log books...24 page children's poen, with 1 line per page is not consider low or medium content book, but would be considered a really bad content book, that amazon will reject because, as Caroline mentioned, amazon wants the best content for their customers. So make a decend page numbers (there is a minimum page on KDP guidelines), see how many lines of a poem each page should contain, get a really nice cover, like put in some serious effort into making a highquality book, that you would love to purchase for yourself, if you have stumbled upon it, and upload it to amazon. Good luck with it. Also, don't use AI to generate content as it will backfire on you faster than you think.
@@sanjinmujkic7171 hi Sanjin, thank you for your answer. 24 pages is the minimum for KDP books and the reason it’s shorter is because it’s a French nursery rhyme. The content is not bad, it’s a rhyming story for kids. However, I appreciate your concern. I would also never use AI, but thank you for the tip!
@deezed6478 - Your book is definitely not Low Content. I've used this technique, and if the illustrations on each page are loved by the children reading the book, and the one sentence per page makes them want to keep reading, then your book will be purchased because it's colourful, fun and clever :-) Best of luck!
Helpful; wouldn't have thought some of these. Thanks!
Wow... One of my Book is here you're talking about it
Great content. Thank you. Do you know if Canva for illustration is considered AI?
Thank you for this wonderful video. Just a note though: Minecraft is under a different sort of open license, allowing authors and creators of all kinds to use the brand to write books and create coloring books etc which are completely legitimate. This is why there’s such a huge number of Minecraft fiction authors who do so well and who are operating legally and in the open.
How do we check if an image/brand is open license? Thank you 😊
Thank you so much Caroline!
I've dealt with a great deal of copyright legal issues in fine art due to the fact that it is my field. Many pages for handwriting are highly likely free templates someone uploaded from a teaching website, etc. Did they use the exact same ones? Maybe.. But... There is nothing unique or interesting about handwriting templates. And botanical prints are many times opensource & 100% free. So again... Did someone copy the idea/ layout/ general concept... Maybe. But, is it illegal... If Amazon is banning people for using open source stuff that would be a massive grey area. Legally according to copyright law in the United States... If any piece of created art is at least 70% different than the original one cannot say it is copywritten. However, layouts and or instruction manuals are not art. The same rules do not apply due to the fact there are only so many ways one can explain handwriting, math & there are only so many layouts.
Your eyes and hair make a perfect match!
Hi Caroline, thank you for the great video as always. I have a quick question regarding KDP printing. Recently I published a book and when I ordered an author copy, the quality seemed to be below satisfactory. The pages are too thin and one can see the images of the other page side strongly. Did you ever have that experience and is it possible to opt for a better quality?
▼ Hey @Alex-ki1tl - yes this does happen sometimes. It's best to report it to Amazon a.s.a.p., as they use printing companies all over the world to fulfil their orders.
▼ Once you send them photos and explain why you're not happy with the book received, they will evaluate it, work out which company printed it, and may send a replacement for you.
▼ I've had this happen in the past :-)
I like your teachings. But please I published 3 books last month but it was blocked so caroline how do I recover the book that are blocked by amazon
It is really hard ...as I didn't see them similar as a copy .
For me, they looked so different . 😅
I have my own design on my book. Everything is completed. I just don't know how to download my pages , front and back cover on Amazon from my drive. do you know how? Just asking...and thank yopu for letting me know as well.😊
I asked kdp support and they told me is ok to use for example : Harry Potter fan activity book.
Are you sure the bot system they have are closing accounts?
I see 2020 in some.books shared here that are doing great (11k bsr).
So...
Are you sure it was an actual person that told you that and not a bot, because they are wrong.
"Everything Harry Potter (including the name) is well protected with multiple trademarks that are owned by Warner Brothers Entertainment.
The name itself was Trademarked in 1999.
It just means they haven't been caught yet.
So ..
Great advice, thank you!
For Minecraft, the publisher (Mojang) actually allows use of their IP as long as it's not presented as an offical Mojang product. They have specific guidelines for what is and isn't allowed.
Interesting.
I have a coloring book on Amazon that need to be adjusted. The last four people I talk to couldn't or wouldn't fix it. Can I get real help.
I am interested in making a book with images of Marilyn Monroe. Do you know how/where to check if the images are copyrighted? Thank you
Monroe's estate holds the trademark to her likeness... you may be able to license it, however.
Can you use quotes from other people, as long as you reference the quotes?
Thank you very informative
There is a name for copying work: it’s called plagiarism and copyright theft and is deeply illegal ❤. I’m a professional artist and it’s mind blowing how little people know about and understand about copyright❤.
Thank You for this helpful video❤
What do you do if you're not sure if your book contains AI content? For example, if I bought something from Creative Fabrica and I don't know if it's AI or not.
▼ Hey there @themysticphoenix6583 - if you bought the content, and it does not say "created with AI", then you do not need to select the AI checkbox in KDP :-)
ok thank you. I'll have to go back and check them to see if it says that.@@TeenaHughesOnline
Have noticed there is also now a AI toggle button on Creative Fabrica. So if you only want to see designs that do not use AI you can turn them off.
@@TeenaHughesOnline Are you sure? Could you please give me a rule for it? Amazon doesn’t ask - did you use paying or free AI tool. Amazon asks just about AI. She paid for it, good for her but still... she used AI.
Great video!
Is creating cartoon themed book also a no no??E.g. Spider-Man themed colouring book.
Of course, it's copyrighted.
Over three months later the copycat print handwriting book is still there and now has 54 global ratings with an average of 4.5 stars. Fortunately though it seems none of their other attempts at doing the same thing with their eight other similar books has worked, with just two global ratings between them. But as it's so trivial to spot it's a copy, I'm disappointed it's still there and making some sales.
Let me make sure I understood you, so you can use the same title of another book, but nothing else correct?
On the trademark thing, I actually own a trademark. Do you think I will still have trouble if I use it?
If you own it then no, it's yours to use that's the point.
It's pretty depressing how un-creative people can be. However, I don't think publishing illustrations of famous people without permission violates any laws, in most countries at least. Otherwise political charicatures would be impossible, especially those produced at short notice, like for daily newspapers. Not to mention that most politicians are pretty full of themselves to begin with and wouldn't like to see themselves charicatured at all! Even in the case of photographs, generally speaking the copyright belongs to the photographer, not the people photographed. Those sports photographers at major sports events don't all line up after the game asking the players if they would object to their photos being published; they just publish them in newspapers and sports magazines, and most players accept and even expect that as par for the course.
News is handled differently than making money from a commercial product. And using someone's likeness in a parody (say of a political figure in a political cartoon) is different than using Taylor Swift's likeness to sell a book. Taylor's product is Taylor and she owns the right to how her likeness is used. As far as sport teams and sports photography, rights to show the players and the team logos are generally given by allowing the photographers to the sporting event in the first place. The photographer can use the photos in magazines and newspapers to tell the story of the game, etc. But if they took their photos and made a calendar to sell, then they would be infringing on the trademarks (like the example of the KC coloring book shown in this video). Best bet is to consult an IP lawyer before doing anything involving a trademark or a person's likeness.
When it comes to creating a book teaching how to write letters there really is only one way to teach it so I simply would not create one of those books. AI can be used simply for research for a list of something which is not a big deal.
Interesting but I would just like to point out that now KDP only let you upload 4 books per day
only 3 right ?
@@ActivityOne-vh8td Oh have they changed it again. I think they are fed up with people putting hundreds of low-content rubbish on and I don't blame them. one person on one of my Facebook groups wrote she puts one hundred on a day(before the change) There is no way they could be quality books
Hello, congratulations on the work. I have a question, can you help me?
I published an ebook on Amazon Kindle worth $3.00 dollars. I can increase the value of the same ebook as follows: February 20th to $5.00; March 5th for $7.00; Mar 20th for $9.00 and Apr 5th for $12.00? Can I change the price values for the aforementioned ebook? Can Amazon punish me or suspend my account because of this?
❤❤❤
Dear Caroline,
I am considering to publish a book at Amazon about a modern Don Juan , (true original Romances.
What do you think?
...Prof.Dr.Nasir Fazal Cambridge USA.
when you say you cant use trademarks, you cant use your own trademarks??
Are you joking or really asking? Thats the whole point of trademarks. Owner can use it and others can't.
Isn't copying a layout illegal?
Or again, could copying a small part of a layout created by an author and completely different from what we have seen up to that point cause problems if the author reported it to Amazon?
I was wondering if her use of "your" was deliberate.
One thing that ive been blessed with is a varying number of talents (though theyre balanced with just as many flaws, Haha). I made painted and burned wood art for years as a teenager.
Once my debut novel is finished, which should be very soon after editing it over and over, I'm planning to take several weeks in creating the cover with original artwork.
Ive looked at a bunch of book covers, ive done super simple concept art to run by my family, friends, and beta readers, and I think I have my design.
Now it's just going to take a little while to make it look professional and create a final cover draft
I’d like to suggest proofreading as part of any publishing process.
Example: Your thumbnail for this video states, “Your Wasting Your Time.”
This says the viewer owns “Wasting.”
-*Your* is ownership of something. (Your shirt is blue.)
-*You’re* is a combining of You Are. (You’re wearing a blue shirt.)
Thus, you have a typo in your thumbnail.
“You’re Wasting Your Time.”
(As in, “You are wasting your time.”)
I think she knows English language. Typos happen. there is no need for an English language lesson.
Nothing new, but always distressing how many pathetic, utterly despicable people there are who will try any sleazy or misleading strategy to make money. I just wonder if it's worth the loss of their own self-respect or, if that isn't a consequence, the abandonment of any moral values.
Where do you recommend looking for Ghost writers?
i dont even listen to her music, but even i know that she has swifties trademarked
.
Agree, awful music did you also know She is a PsyOp - Owned by BlackRock so they will be all over copy issues :) Look it up yourself...
Please don't add this comment. I noticed that you wrote " " Your wasting your time" It should be 'You're wasting your time"
Not true about your unique statement. Just communicate withAI, and it can make anything unique.
So, you mean basically try to create the best, original, high quality product you can. Simples. The make-a-quick-buck dodgey brothers approach isn't sustainable long term.
I'm shocked anyone would do some of these things. That's terrible. Question, does Amazon own the copyright to your books? I'm new to this so I'm trying to learn how to do KDP the right way.
No they don't.
Hi' I m from India. I have publish book paperback all over world , How show on market place on kdp. I have research , Keywords, title, description.
How can these plagiarized works be permitted on KDP? Disgusting behaviour 🤮
Yet, you found lots of examples that have not been banned by Amazon. They might not be selling, but that's true of nearly every self published book on Amazon.
Just say no to 'capy cot' books.
👍😎
These things are so obvious. Most of us don''t have the reasoning of a 2 y/o.
Then why are there so many examples for her to show? I see it all the time as well.
This is excellent . . . but should have been done and dusted in a couple of minutes. Dreadfully repetitive. Far too long.