How to NOT get approved by Amazon
Over the past couple of years Amazon has changed its standards for flash briefings and custom skills. there used to be a time where you could upload anything and it would just get approved automatically. This is not the case anymore and we’ve decided to explain the top reasons Amazon is not approving your flash briefing.
#1
The audio file you uploaded is not consistent with your description.
When we first started doing flash briefings you could create an audio file that simply said quote this is a test briefing we will be back soon with our regular show quote. But now Amazon actually wants to hear your actual content. what this means is you need to go ahead and create episode 1 of your flash briefing so that Amazon can make sure the description and actually what people are going to hear match.
Here’s an example:
Description:Welcome to the sound up now flash briefing. We discuss audio, technology and marketing in the world of audio as well different tips and tricks to help you create and share successful audio content.
And then the actual audio I would record would be something like:
Episode Audio:Today’s episode we will talk about how to market your Alexa flash briefing…
And then go on to the episode. You get the idea.
#2
Your Short Description and Long Description do NOT match.
About six months ago Amazon started to deny flash briefings that had a different short description then a long description. The best way to fix this is to put your first sentence or two from long description copy and paste it and make that your short description. Once you do that you should be good to go. Here’s an example:
Short:
This is the show where we talk about voice, tech and culture news.
Long
This is the show where we talk about voice, tech and culture news. Learn more on SoundUpNow.comFollow us @SoundUpNow
#3
You used a logo or Amazon product in your image
There have been a few that have gotten past this by getting the blessings of companies such as Daniel Hill did with Instagram. But when we submitted our flash briefing the first time we had an Amazon Echo device as a background image which Amazon did not like too much. So just keep this in mind when creating a flash briefing to try and be as original as possible with not only the image but your title as well.
Here’s one of our original promo images from back in the day… Amazon didn’t like it very much…
#4
Your feed does not contain any recent content
This really depends on the “Update Frequency” you choose. You MUST have recent audio files for Amazon to test.
Here’s a scenario:
It’s April 1st and you just started setting everything up. And you decided to choose “Weekly” for the update frequency and upload an audio file. But, you got busy and didn’t submit to amazon until the 8th. Well, now it’s been over a week and Amazon is going to get an error because there isn’t an audio file upload within the past 7 days.
This same scenario applies to daily and hourly… But don’t freak out! This is a really simple fix!
Just log into the dashboard, go to “My Sounds”, click the edit button on the episode you uploaded and change the date to today! Now your audio file is updated in the feed and ready for testing!
#5
Your preamble is not correct.
You must have your Preamble start with from or in as an example “From Audio News” – “In Audio News” .
You must make sure you have the from or in at the beginning of either one of these as of now this is the only way Amazon will approve it.
