Problems with Amazon's "Search Inside the Book" submissions

I want to talk about my experience submitting my book to Amazon's Search Inside the Book program and see if others are having similar problems.

In November, I completed the application for Search Inside on Amazon's Web site. After a few days, I received their OK for my title via e-mail, and airmailed them a copy in mid-November. Then nothing.

A week ago, I replied to the Search-Inside approval e-mail, noting that the package tracking showed they received my book in mid-November, and could they tell me when my book would appear?

Today Amazon replied, saying, "... it looks as if we did indeed receive this book at our warehouse back in November. However, it has been sitting there awaiting approval status, so I went ahead and approved the title for our program, and am hoping that this expedites the process of getting it scanned."

Huh? They approved it in November, and asked me to send a copy! I enclosed a copy of their approval message with the book.

I know many people aren't fans of Search Inside the Book, but I think it can really boost certain types of books. Mine is a niche how-to book, and my hunch is that anyone who visits its product page on Amazon is much more likely to buy it if they can read the table of contents, index, and a few pages of content.

I published the book through Lightning Source, and I've had other problems on Amazon. For example, a couple of months ago, the image of my book's cover was deleted, and it took me about three weeks of constantly e-mailing Amazon and LSI to get it back on. I still don't know why the cover was deleted, who deleted it, or how it got back on.

I'm wondering if Amazon is deliberately dragging its feet (or even creating problems) with people who self-publish through providers other than BookSurge. I've heard this theory from a few people.

Google had no problems adding my title to its Book Search, and they aren't even making money on it, Amazon is. Due to a variety of factors (including my book's content and target audience), I know most of my potential buyers are on Amazon. So I am irritated, to put it mildly, with the possibility Amazon is throwing up roadblocks to my book being sold there.

Has anybody else had these types of problems?