by Bert Carson
When Amazon introduced its KDP Select (Kindle Direct Publishing Select) program I enrolled every book I had published through Amazon. In order to qualify I had to agree to make my books exclusively available on Amazon.

That was a no-brainer. I had them on B&N and Smashwords, and the only copies I'd sold there had been to me. I was so serious about my commitment to Kindle and KDP Select that I gave my Nook to a neighbor (and I haven't missed it).

I hadn't thought much about the KDP Select program until today, when I received an email from the KDP Administrative Computer. Here's the important part.

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We found the following book(s) you've published doesn’t meet the KDP Select content guidelines. Books enrolled in KDP Select must be exclusive to Amazon in digital format during the entirety of their enrollment in the program.

Fourth and Forever (ID: B004JN06B2) is available on: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fourth-and-forever-bert-carson/1029804675?ean=2940012631336

You may need to copy and paste the entire URL above into your web browser to see where we found your book. You can also do an online search for your book to discover where else it may be available.

In order for your book to remain in the KDP Select program, we'll need you to ensure that it is exclusive to Amazon within 5 days from the date of this email. If, after this 5-day period, your book is still not exclusive to Amazon, it will remain for sale in the Kindle Store, but will be removed from KDP Select. Upon its removal, it will no longer be eligible to earn a share of the KDP Select fund.

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Naturally, I figured Amazon had made a mistake, but I opened my long unused B&N Publishers Dashboard, spent fifteen minutes guessing my password, finally guessed right and opened it, and confirmed what I already knew -

I DO NOT HAVE ANY BOOKS PUBLISHED AT BARNES AND NOBLE.

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However, just for the heck of it, I went to the B&N Store and searched for Fourth and Forever - guess what I found. Fourth and Forever is listed in the B&N catalog.

Click Here To See It - However, if you'd like to buy a copy Click Here

Note - Fourth and Forever is $4.99 on B&N and I get nothing. It is it is $2.99 on Amazon and I'll get 70% - we'll both win if you purchase from Amazon.

So, after updating my address, and credit card info, I bought a copy.

Thank you for your order!

Your Order Number: 646508602

An email confirming the details of your order will be sent within 30 minutes.

Order Total: $5.46 has been paid by credit card.

Your item is available in your NOOK Library or Read Instantly.

I'm sure I won't get the commission, after all, I don't have any books published through Barnes and Noble. In fact, I've never gotten a penny from B&N, even when I did have books published with them. So here are some questions that come to my mind:

Where will the commission for that one sale go?
How many copies of Fourth and Forever has Barnes and Noble sold without telling me?
What about the commission on the 10,000 copies (my rough estimate) of the copies of Fourth and Forever they probably sold last year (It would be difficult for them to prove that isn't the number)?
Does the size of a company automatically convert their crimes into mistakes?

And, most important, will the people at Amazon kick me out of the KDP Select Program?

Time will tell - it always does.

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Southern Investigation

The real war starts when the battles are over.

Three Vietnam vets and the widow of a Vietnam vet know they have to stick together to survive the aftermath.

David, Shirley, and Tim grew up together on Lookout Mountain, in Northeast Alabama. Tim was killed in Vietnam. David, Robert, and Bill served together in Vietnam. They survived the experience, but barely. After the war, David and Shirley formed a lawn care company and called it Southern Lawn Service. Bill hated cutting grass so they revamped and renamed the company, becoming private investigators and calling their company Southern Investigation. Robert joined them a number of years later, just before Southern Investigation took on it's largest case - the rescue of fifteen American POWs who had been captured by a war lord and held in a remote area in the south of Vietnam.