Patience is not my strongest virtue. In fact, some days I'm not particularly sure if it's in my wheelhouse at all. If there was ever one lesson that I am intended to work on for the rest of my days it would be this.
So, it probably will come as surprise to those that know me that I have very little patience for things that should be a someone straight-forward fix. Case in point, my Amazon Author account.
My first book was traditionally published in 2007 and from there I started my own Publishing Brand, Half Dog Publishing, for my non-traditionally published ebooks and paperbacks. Though I dabbled in other platforms, most of my books have gone through Amazon. There are other outlets out there that handle books they rarely get the attention and opportunity that Amazon offers. That being said, Amazon is the master at streamlining the process and limiting interaction. This is fantastic until you need help that doesn't fit into one of the selected categories that they offer help with on their site.
You see, I was an idiot. I admit the responsibility and take full credit for it. During the period of time when I was struggling and could not write I did the unthinkable. I deleted the email contact that went to my Amazon Author (KDP Dashboard, for those in the know). Thus, when I started writing again last fall I was still trying to figure out with the books I already had as Teagan and how to move forward from it. It wasn't until I tried to get into Teagan's books that I realized that I was now very much stuck. There was no backup verification for the account and they held many years of writing behind the protective wall of verification. It's all still there and after a month of trying to regain access, I'm afraid that the patience I mentioned is getting pretty thin.
As someone who has worked extensively with the public for many, many years I knew that the last thing I wanted to do was go into the situation with my guns blazing and be an all-out Karen. After all, I am the one to blame for deleting the email account. I tried first with Google to try and get the email back and since that didn't work I started on Amazon.
I am now up to 13 emails back and forth and I'm on my fifth or sixth representative. Every two steps forward mean a step back and while I'm making progress it is at the pace of a snail. Again, in this day and age, it would be easy to go full-blown on them, but I am the only person who truly has something to lose. They would be happy to sit back and watch those books sit there on their platform with little to no interaction. So for now, it's a stalemate.
The last email said to give them 4-5 days to get back to me. I sent one back reminding them that I had already been fully involved in this for much longer and pleaded for them to speed up the process. Only time will tell... and for now, I'm still working on that patience.
