[68564]

I seriously doubt that authors went back and changed titles in an effort to deceive Kobo. Kobo accepted these titles and content as they were. And if he's saying something different, he's not telling the truth.

I have worked enough with the public to fully believe that some authors would try this. In fact, maybe I am jaded by my years in customer service and my time in tech support, but I would be SHOCKED to find out some authors are NOT doing this.

Overall bet most authors would not... but it only takes a small percent to wreck the show.

 

[brie.mcgill]

But that's a problem with the review process used on updates... not all self-published authors.

 

[CoraBuhlert]

Most of my self published stuff is longish shorts and novellas that have previously been published in anthologies, but not Black Lace ones. BL tend to hang on to rights. The rest of my self pubbed stuff is original material, with the exception of a republished Ellora's Cave novel. I was going to self publish some stuff I got rights back from Total-e-Bound... But I'm wishing I'd left them there now.

Thanks for the clarification, Portia. Nonetheless, the fact remains that W.H. Smith was happy to sell your Black Lace books in their physical stores, but refuse to sell your self-published erotica, even though you are still the same author.

As for damage to the W.H. Smith brand, you know in whose eyes the W.H. Smith brand is severely damaged? In mine. Now I spent a lot of money at W.H. Smith over the years. Just last month I was in the UK and spent approx. fifty GPB at W.H. Smith. I am their customer, just as much as those Daily Mail readers who clutch their pearls over some miscategorized taboo erotica e-books. And at the moment, I am so furious that it's unlikely I'll ever set foot in a Smith store again, let alone buy anything there. So they lost a customer over this. And I doubt I'm the only one, since - surprise, indie authors buy books, too. Never mind the people who wanted to use the W.H. Smith website and couldn't, the people who actually want to read Daddy erotica (cause if there wasn't demand, there wouldn't be so much of the stuff around). Do the customers W.H. Smith lost outweigh the ones they would have lost, if they hadn't chosen the nuclear option to deal with the erotica debacle? That's difficult to say. But you can't claim that W.H. Smith averted damage to their brand, cause in the eyes of some W.H. Smith is now synonymous with "censoring jerks".

Ditto for Kobo. Now I own a Kobo Glo, purchased last year, largely due to seeing a demonstration model in a display at a W.H. Smith store. However, for my next e-reader I will reconsider whether buying a Kobo reader again. As for the store, I don't need to buy e-books for my Kobo reader at the Kobo store. I can always sideload.

 

[68564]

But that's a problem with the review process used on updates... not all self-published authors.

I do not think there is a review process on updates. The times I pushed updates to Kobo they went through instantly.

But I agree, not all, nor even most.

 

[jnfr]

It's nice to know that books they deem okay will be back in the store, so they're not going after all indies indefinitely.

But it's also completely unclear how much censorship they're going to impose, for how long, and how they'll enforce it. So, not much of an interview as far as overall answers.

 

[Terrence OBrien]

But you can't claim that W.H. Smith averted damage to their brand, cause in the eyes of some W.H. Smith is now synonymous with "censoring jerks".

Agree. I have yet to see the claim made. They certainly sustained damage, and would have no matter what direction they took.

It appears Amazon, B&N, and Apple will be joining them in the ranks of censoring jerks. That should indicate a market opportunity for Smashwords. God Bless the Sideloaders.

 

[JRTomlin]

None of my novels would violate their guidelines, but this cements going forward my previous decision not to sell through them. There is no reason on earth why their process is so difficult and time consuming, much more so than other retailers which made me decide not to previously. Now take a look at the lying comments from their CEO Mike Serbinis who is actually accusing authors of publishing material and then going back to change it in order to "sneak" in material that wouldn't have been approved. I do not believe this for even a second and trying to blame authors for Kobo's own mishandling has me furious.

I will never do business with Kobo.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

None of my novels would violate their guidelines, but this cements going forward my previous decision not to sell through them. There is no reason on earth why their process is so difficult and time consuming, much more so than other retailers which made me decide not to previously. No take a look at the lying comments from their CEO Mike Serbinis who is actually accusing authors of publishing material and then going back to change it in order to "sneak" in material that wouldn't have been approved. I do not believe this for even a second and trying to blame authors for their own mishandling has me furious.

I will never do business with Kobo.

As soon as all my titles are back up, I plan on taking them down, all at once, just like Kobo did to me. Take a look at the covers in my siggy? Anything offensive there? Oh, yes, one woman is wearing a low cut dress. And there's an actual DOG on another cover. And how could I forget the horse? <shudder>

They have a right to decide what they want to sell on their website and I have a right to decide who can carry my books.

 

[dalya]

...
So...we unwashed self-published are submitting sweet romance and then coming back and changing it to taboo porn. Haha I don't think so. I seriously doubt that authors went back and changed titles in an effort to deceive Kobo. Kobo accepted these titles and content as they were. And if he's saying something different, he's not telling the truth.

I get that you're joking, but from what I've heard, that's exactly what happens. Where there are rules, there are gamers. Where there are beans to be harvested, people will find a way. Not saying my fellow indies all do that, but it only takes a few.

 

[Terrence OBrien]

They have a right to decide what they want to sell on their website and I have a right to decide who can carry my books.

And that is exactly how the free market works. Go for it.

 

[A. Rosaria]

I did like going through Kobo, but since this month I've been making zero sales where sales were steadily growing before.

They pulled my books from their UK store and who knows where more, while I write nothing remotely like erotica. I don't really see any reason anymore to continue with them and I believe more self-publishers should think hard about if they should trust them. Maybe we shouldn't consider them anymore as an valid alternative to amazon.

 

[Saul Tanpepper]

I guess I'm confused. We talk a lot about diversifying, and yet we run in the opposite direction at the drop of a hat? This isn't punishing Kobo, it's punishing yourself. I'm all for protesting what was unquestionably a terribly managed and insensitively executed knee-jerk reaction to a problem they had a hand in creating, but pulling your books from Kobo seems like a knee-jerk reaction.

I respect one's decision to tend one's business where and how they wish, but I've been getting the feeling from this and other threads that the reasons for pulling out of Kobo have less to do with legitimate business risks outweighing any benefits and more with anger.

 

[MeiLinMiranda]

I've said it before: I put my books anywhere I think a reader might stumble over them--and work like heck to get them to sign up for my newsletter so I can convert them to direct sales.

 

[JRTomlin]

I guess I'm confused. We talk a lot about diversifying, and yet we run in the opposite direction at the drop of a hat? This isn't punishing Kobo, it's punishing yourself. I'm all for protesting what was unquestionably a terribly managed and insensitively executed knee-jerk reaction to a problem they had a hand in creating, but pulling your books from Kobo seems like a knee-jerk reaction.

I respect one's decision to tend one's business where and how they wish, but I've been getting the feeling from this and other threads that the reasons for pulling out of Kobo have less to do with legitimate business risks outweighing any benefits and more with anger.

It isn't a matter of protesting. Not for me anyway.

They treated their suppliers, us, like crap. I don't choose to do business with a business that treats its suppliers like that. Some people, perhaps most, will feel differently. That's their choice. I have found in the past that Kobo has poor business practices, such as having a terrible dashboard and their mess ups with pricing a couple of years ago were infamous.

No, I do not consider that a knee-jerk reaction. I have had a poor opinion of Kobo for a long time and this confirms it. Diversification is good, but so is being picky about who you do business with.

 

[Guest]

I'm just happy it only happened with Kobo and not other retailers.  A couple weeks ago everyone was up in arms about how Amazon was doing the purge, but I'll tell you, it seems they did a much better job than these blokes.

 

[gonedark]

Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.

 

[portiadacosta]

Thanks for the clarification, Portia. Nonetheless, the fact remains that W.H. Smith was happy to sell your Black Lace books in their physical stores, but refuse to sell your self-published erotica, even though you are still the same author.

Oh, absolutely! Last August when my In Too Deep was reissued on the back of the Fifty Shades wave, my local WHS had a six foot high poster of it in their front window! And yet, as you so rightly point out, they've deemed my self published work - written with exactly same voice and to exactly the same heat level - to be inappropriate for sale in their digital store.

 

[AnitaDobs]

Just for clarification on the Kobo guidelines thing... they didn't provide clear guidelines before... at least no one I can find ever saw them (in view of erotica,) but now they do with a rehashed list of guidelines that has popped up like magic...

So, since the Chief exec has blamed authors (even though they have a supposed review process,) it now looks as if we didn't follow them, or they were totally incompetent in not enforcing them.

Even when they are trying to screw us, they do it badly.

Addition/Edit: Their 'Taboo' category kind of equals... well... taboo! P.I is taboo, bearing in mind they had cats for multiples and BDSM too. They asked for it, they got it.

 

[ShellyArbogast]

WHSmith can kick and scream all they like. Like all other major bookstores, they're going the way of the dinosaur.

Let them throw their fit while they still can.

Of course, that doesn't make their handling of the situation any less ridiculous. It's a shame that authors should have to suffer this sort of thing.

 

[Lydniz]

The comments in the Telegraph piece were a lot more intelligent and honest than the whingy spin spouted by the CEO.

I think that's because most of them are from people on here.