Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform is a Godsend to authors. Still, since Amazon is one of the world’s largest companies, bureaucracy is inevitable. Sometimes a simple solution that would take 5 minutes to fix with direct communication, can turn into a week long nightmare of back and forth emails, each one creating a new misunderstanding a requiring a fresh start. Bureaucracy is a form of evil, but thankfully Amazon still provides a helpful phone line so that authors can get direct help, by an individual that actually equipped with the tools to help you, with little to no fuss or waiting.

To get connected to a support agent who can add or remove your book from certain categories, check review status, add or remove books from your author page, and virtually any action that regular support can do except on the spot, follow these steps:

Visit the homepage for Author Central, and sign up. This is a separate account entirely from your regular Amazon KDP account, yet thankfully you can simply use your normal login to sign up.

Once signed in, click on the HELP button in the top right, just to the left of your name.

In the top left, there is a very large CONTACT US box. Click the button in that box, and select which subject your inquiry is most relevant to, if any.

After that, you will see the option to select contact method. Select phone. Wait time is usually <5mins.

Some minor caveats: You will need a US phone number, as they only do callbacks. You enter your number and they will call you usually within a few minutes. They are also only open during US business hours – 7am to 7pm Pacific Time, although that is subject to change at any time, so check if in doubt.

I hope this little article was of use to you. I only recently realised that a lot of authors didn’t know about this direct line of communication, so I’m happy to share. This entire website is built to offer free marketing and publishing tools to small and self-publishers, check us out if you’re just stopping by. 🙂