Example: Unpublish and delete a book

Withdraw a title from distribution (unpublish) versus permanently removing the book record (delete).

Unpublish (withdraw) a book — POST with optional empty JSON body; 204 on success.
Delete a book — DELETE with optional empty JSON body; 204 on success; 402 if the book cannot be deleted in its current state.

Replace YOUR_API_KEY and the path UUID. Use staging until you are ready for production.

When to use which

Unpublish — stop selling / withdraw from channels while keeping the record for fixes or re-publish later.
Delete — remove the book when your workflow allows; may fail with 402 if the backend rejects deletion for the current workflow state.

See also

Publish a book — final validation before stores; see Example: Ebook upload for the full publish step in context.

Unpublish

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.sandbox.dev.publishdrive.com/v2/distribution/books/b2c3d4e5-f6a7-8901-bcde-f12345678901/unpublish" \
  -H "apikey: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

Expect 204 with an empty body.

Delete

curl -sS -X DELETE "https://api.sandbox.dev.publishdrive.com/v2/distribution/books/b2c3d4e5-f6a7-8901-bcde-f12345678901" \
  -H "apikey: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

Expect 204 on success, or 402 / 404 with a Problem JSON body (see error responses on Delete a book) when applicable.

Example: Update a book

Partial PATCH updates — retitle an ebook, manage audiobook chapters, or adjust print-on-demand metadata.

Example: Upload API primer

Request presigned URLs, confirm bytes on storage, and attach files — compact curl reference with links to full format walkthroughs.

On this page

When to use which

See also

Unpublish

Delete

API: Unpublish a book

API: Delete a book