Amazon KDP Needs to Allow Team Members to Access Author Accounts

Dear Mr. Bezos and Mr. Jassy:

Amazon KDP is one of the greatest tools available for authors. It provides a path to publication and distribution that is not available from any other source.

Many KDP authors are knowledgeable and skilled in what it takes to produce a quality book, but many are not. Of those who are not, the savvy ones turn to consultants like me who will help them write, edit, produce, and publish a good book that will be a positive customer experience.

Over the years, I have assisted a wide range of clients with publishing books on KDP—entrepreneurs, executives, evangelists, novelists, children’s authors, and memoirists. They trusted me with access to their KDP accounts so I could manage the process for them.

While I understand the increasing need for account security, in recent years KDP has made it challenging to nearly impossible for a publishing expert to serve their clients.

Think about it, Mr. Bezos and Mr. Jassy: You are both busy executives. Let’s say you want to write a book. You engage me to ghostwrite and publish it for you. I do an awesome job for you and you are eager to get your book on the market. But when we have the book ready to upload to Amazon, I can’t access your account from my computer. I must interrupt your business and get you to go through the multi-step authentication process so that I can do the work you are paying me to do.

Yes, I’ve had to do that with my business clients, and it’s frustrating for everyone.

Amazon prides itself on being customer-centric and does it extraordinarily well. But in this area, Amazon fails big time.

It would be a simple matter for Amazon KDP to allow authorized users to be added to KDP author accounts with separate login credentials. The author (primary account holder) would be responsible for what the authorized users do and can revoke their credentials at any time.

I’m sure there’s someone on the Amazon KDP team who could figure out the necessary technology to add authorized users to KDP accounts and get it launched in a couple of days.

The result would not only improve the user experience of KDP authors and their support teams, it would also improve the user experience of readers by giving them quicker access to better quality books.

Based on my interactions with other authors and industry professionals, I can confidently say that I speak on behalf of thousands of other publishing consultants, virtual assistants, and related service providers.

I’d love to hear from you, Mr. Bezos and Mr. Jassy. But I know you’re busy. So instead, how about delighting me by letting me see an Amazon KDP announcement that KDP authors can add authorized users to their accounts?

Sincerely,

Jacquelyn Lynn