[MorningJoe]

What you're saying makes sense. It really does. I just hate that it has to be this way. I am very much the moth beating the light with its wings. I like where I am, I'm comfortable and see the light. I want to be closer, and when that light goes off, I freak out and hope it comes back on. I know it's a stupid way to look at things, but I abhor change.

I hope my post didn't come across as calling you (or anyone else) out, it was not my intent, I just wanted to warn people I really don't know. I was (and am) just speculating.

You have a lot of great points, and have given me a lot to think about. Thank you.

So I am one of the authors that published a couple of Daddy books in the past few weeks under a pen name. Possibly even one of the ones you listed in your post Here is the full story though. I submitted the entire series and half of the books were rejected. The ones that made it may have the word Daddy on the covers but they have absolutely nothing to do with PI in the content. The stories had very random connections to other peoples Daddy's or Daddy type figures but no relations actual or implied with the main character. One of the other books in the series does have PI and sells incredible well on other sites but I have tried rewriting it 3 times to get through Amazon and they have blocked it at every turn. Another book has to do with an encounter among consenting adults under the guise of a babysitting job and it has also been blocked 3 or 4 times.

So just know that even those of us that have gotten some through are getting banned pretty frequently and the stuff that is getting through is very tame and has no PI included. I have been extremely frustrated and can completely understand the pressure you are under. I am relatively recent in the genre as a whole. I was amazed at how well this sub-genre sold and enjoyed writing in it because of the interesting dynamics at play. Although I am bummed that I missed the opportunity that you early adopters have had I feel extremely lucky in that my catalog is smaller and spread out so I can absorb the blow a bit. I cannot imagine the stress and frustration that must come along with having your entire income wiped out by the random whims of a distributor with no clear rules about how to play the game. I think it is going to be tough to find another sub-genre that sells so reliably but I am currently on the hunt as I continue my rewrites

Good luck and trust me there is no favoritism going on best I can tell. My only advice is to reimagine some of your stories in a way that removes the relationship and try to resubmit. That is what I am trying to do right now, albeit not always very successfully.

 

[Guest]

I just thought of this, what if each author compiled an ebook catalog (w/links, cover, blurb, etc) of their work and put these catalogs up on AZon as permafree?

Readers searching for erotica will find your catalog and know exactly what you sell (kink) and where to buy it DIRECTLY. Plus you still benefit from AZon traffic but no one gets offended even if the catalog (with a tame/plain cover) turns up in unrelated searches.

That is a violation of the KDP terms and will get you banned. You can't "sell" products that simply redirect customers to another site. Amazon has a zero tolerance policy in this regards because of the rush of PLR crap that was uploaded early in KDP.

 

[Paranormal Piper]

It *seems* (please don't quote me) that "daddy" is a target on your book's back. Or front. lol. Perhaps change that up and clean up the description from any mention of daddy and put it back through? It has worked for titles I've put out (IE "Her Brothers" became "Settling the score" and passed through the filter) Again, I could be completely wrong, but it's something to try.

When they send you the "Your book's been blocked" email, you can respond and ask them to unblock so you can make your content compliant with Amazon's Tos and put it back up for review. They encourage this practice, so use it to your advantage, and good luck!

And that is the #1 problem with Amazon. Why is her work targeted but something like 'Daddy Was Deep Inside Me' was recently released on the Zon? As someone mentioned in an earlier comment, titles with Daddy are still being published, but some of use are being swatted down at the same time and being forced to mask what the content actually contains, which means PI-fans might overlook it.

It sux. Ban PI, don't ban it, filter it, don't filter it. At this point, I don't care what decision they make. I just wish they would apply it across the board.

 

[Honeybun]

And that is the #1 problem with Amazon. Why is her work targeted but something like 'Daddy Was Deep Inside Me' was recently released on the Zon? As someone mentioned in an earlier comment, titles with Daddy are still being published, but some of use are being swatted down at the same time and being forced to mask what the content actually contains, which means PI-fans might overlook it.

I share that same sentiment from a slightly different direction. So... I've got some titles with the name Daddy in them. What if I take the name Daddy out and call it The Substitute or My Substitute instead of Daddy Substitute. Someone comes along and says, hey, this looks interesting (the cover of the first one could be mistaken as not even erotica -- see the image below in my signature line). But, that person isn't even into PI and might not even be into erotica. They open the story and get a shock and go, 'oh how gross!!!' I want to entertain. I don't want to put unsuspecting people in an uncomfortable moment. How frustrating!

 

[LBrent]

That is a violation of the KDP terms and will get you banned. You can't "sell" products that simply redirect customers to another site. Amazon has a zero tolerance policy in this regards because of the rush of PLR crap that was uploaded early in KDP.

Well, there goes my idea. Lol

Although the same thing could be done and "leaked" to torrent sites...

Anyway, I don't have anything self published or otherwise to get through any filters. I'm just trying to help.

 

[Honeybun]

If you appeal and tell them there is no actual pseudoincest involved they may unblock it. I've had them unfilter things for that reason.

I'll give it a try. Thanks, Selena!

UPDATE: I've written an email explaining the content as non-PI. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the ban will be lifted on Daddy Substitute 1. Given that they didn't automatically go down the series list (Daddy Substitute 2, Daddy Substitute 3, Daddy Substitute 4, etc.), I'm thinking that the objection might be more geared toward the content of the story. I feel that enough hours have passed that if they were going to target the series purely based on the name, they would have already begun to ban the other titles as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the email explaining that there is no actual PI in the story will do the trick.

 

[Guest]

Quote from daringnovelist (CAMILLE LAGUIRE)
". . .I think it would be great if there were a "plain brown wrapper" display. . ."

Exactly what I suggested on Page 5 of this thread. I said:

Perhaps we should return to the days of the "Plain Brown Wrapper"
The books would be titled Plain Brown Wrapper, Plain Brown Wrapper 2, Plain Brown Wrapper 3, etc.
Figure out how many pages Amazon would present in the preview. The only text on the preview pages would be "You must be an adult to read this book"

 

[Honeybun]

If they say no, they will at least tell you what the issue is (i.e. cover, blurb, content, etc) and you can change and appeal again.

Okay... feeling a little deflated. Here's the breakdown of them writing me.. then me writing them... and then them writing me.

MY INITIAL BAN NOTICE:
Hello,

We're contacting you regarding the following book(s) that you submitted for sale in our Kindle Store:

daddy Substitute 1 / 3104248

During our review process, we found that your book contains content that is in violation of our content guidelines. Our content guidelines apply to the book interior, as well as cover image, title and/or product descriptions. As a result, we will not be offering this book for sale.

Our content guidelines are published on the Kindle Direct Publishing website. To learn more, please see: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A1KT4ANX0RL55I

Best regards,

Kindle Direct Publishing
kdp.amazon.com

Best regards,
Dani Q.
Thank you.
Amazon.com

MY RESPONSE:
Good morning,

I wanted to contact you about the blocking of my title Daddy Substitute 1. As the cover is very tame as most erotica covers go, I'm thinking that the block has to do with either the title or the content to the story. If it is the title, please let me know and I will think of an alternative. As to the content, the content does not contain any pseudo-incest. The story captures the beginnings of a relationship between an 18 year old female student and a 29 year old male teacher. The female has a history in that her father had had some inappropriate plans for her but he died before anything ever came about. That part of the story is purely backstory and contains no descriptive elements. The only thing it does is let the audience know that the girl is confused about her relationship with men and lets them know that she has some daddy issues to work out with a slightly older man who is of no biological relationship. Going even beyond that, the
man she explores her daddy issues with did not raise her, has no position of authority in her home, and does not have any relationship with her mother. They only have a non-biological, student-teacher relationship where the daddy element is a part of their relationship in fantasy only.

I would greatly appreciate you taking another look at the story and reconsidering your decision. If you stand by your decision to block the title, please let me know what steps I can take on my end to adapt it to make it acceptable.

Thank you so much for your help. I am very willing to work with you to create a product acceptable for sale by Amazon's standards.

Sincerely,

THEIR RESPONSE TO MY INQUIRY:
Hello,

We're contacting you regarding the following book(s) that you submitted for sale in our Kindle Store:

3104248 Daddy Substitute 1 (Daddy Substitute Chronicles)

During our review process, we found that your book contains content that is in violation of our content guidelines. Our content guidelines apply to the book interior, as well as cover image, title and/or product descriptions. As a result, we will not be offering this book for sale.

Our content guidelines are published on the Kindle Direct Publishing website. To learn more, please see: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A1KT4ANX0RL55I

Best regards,
Leigh W.
Thank you.
Amazon.com

*****

This blows. Selena, maybe you got more of an interactive response because you're such a big name--which kudos if that's the case. If you've got it, use it. But, it's not looking like they are willing to work with me on narrowing down the problem.

 

[Wansit]

Saw this on twitter: http://www.amazon.com/Ravished-Triceratops-Dinosaur-Erotica-ebook/dp/B00EZCQADA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380572122&sr=8-2&keywords=dinosaur+erotica

Can someone please explain how something like that got through the block/ban? I mean...it's clearly a no-no category but it's up this month. The title is even explicit.

 

[Daizie]

Okay... feeling a little deflated. Here's the breakdown of them writing me.. then me writing them... and then them writing me.

MY INITIAL BAN NOTICE:
Hello,

We're contacting you regarding the following book(s) that you submitted for sale in our Kindle Store:

daddy Substitute 1 / 3104248

During our review process, we found that your book contains content that is in violation of our content guidelines. Our content guidelines apply to the book interior, as well as cover image, title and/or product descriptions. As a result, we will not be offering this book for sale.

Our content guidelines are published on the Kindle Direct Publishing website. To learn more, please see: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A1KT4ANX0RL55I

Best regards,

Kindle Direct Publishing
kdp.amazon.com

Best regards,
Dani Q.
Thank you.
Amazon.com

MY RESPONSE:
Good morning,

I wanted to contact you about the blocking of my title Daddy Substitute 1. As the cover is very tame as most erotica covers go, I'm thinking that the block has to do with either the title or the content to the story. If it is the title, please let me know and I will think of an alternative. As to the content, the content does not contain any pseudo-incest. The story captures the beginnings of a relationship between an 18 year old female student and a 29 year old male teacher. The female has a history in that her father had had some inappropriate plans for her but he died before anything ever came about. That part of the story is purely backstory and contains no descriptive elements. The only thing it does is let the audience know that the girl is confused about her relationship with men and lets them know that she has some daddy issues to work out with a slightly older man who is of no biological relationship. Going even beyond that, the
man she explores her daddy issues with did not raise her, has no position of authority in her home, and does not have any relationship with her mother. They only have a non-biological, student-teacher relationship where the daddy element is a part of their relationship in fantasy only.

I would greatly appreciate you taking another look at the story and reconsidering your decision. If you stand by your decision to block the title, please let me know what steps I can take on my end to adapt it to make it acceptable.

Thank you so much for your help. I am very willing to work with you to create a product acceptable for sale by Amazon's standards.

Sincerely,

THEIR RESPONSE TO MY INQUIRY:
Hello,

We're contacting you regarding the following book(s) that you submitted for sale in our Kindle Store:

3104248 Daddy Substitute 1 (Daddy Substitute Chronicles)

During our review process, we found that your book contains content that is in violation of our content guidelines. Our content guidelines apply to the book interior, as well as cover image, title and/or product descriptions. As a result, we will not be offering this book for sale.

Our content guidelines are published on the Kindle Direct Publishing website. To learn more, please see: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A1KT4ANX0RL55I

Best regards,
Leigh W.
Thank you.
Amazon.com

*****

This blows. Selena, maybe you got more of an interactive response because you're such a big name--which kudos if that's the case. If you've got it, use it. But, it's not looking like they are willing to work with me on narrowing down the problem.

Did you use this email address: title-submission@amazon.com. People have had more success with that one. But it's really irritating when they won't even tell you specifically why they put a ban on your book. Having to guess is not fair.

I could see one of the other books in your series that has nudity, but this one is as tame as they come. You might want to try removing the "barely legal" from the description, also maybe "cock". They seem to have issue with graphic descriptions too, arbitrarily of course.

 

[Daizie]

From guidelines:

Offensive Content
What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect.

Could that be any more vague

 

[cinisajoy]

Saw this on twitter: http://www.amazon.com/Ravished-Triceratops-Dinosaur-Erotica-ebook/dp/B00EZCQADA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380572122&sr=8-2&keywords=dinosaur+erotica

Can someone please explain how something like that got through the block/ban? I mean...it's clearly a no-no category but it's up this month. The title is even explicit.

Clean cover, clean blurb, and title does not have trigger words like daddy, rape, kidnapped.

 

[daringnovelist]

Quote from daringnovelist (CAMILLE LAGUIRE)
". . .I think it would be great if there were a "plain brown wrapper" display. . ."

Exactly what I suggested on Page 5 of this thread. I said:

Perhaps we should return to the days of the "Plain Brown Wrapper"
The books would be titled Plain Brown Wrapper, Plain Brown Wrapper 2, Plain Brown Wrapper 3, etc.
Figure out how many pages Amazon would present in the preview. The only text on the preview pages would be "You must be an adult to read this book"

Yeah, except I wasn't proposing that. The book titles would be listed (and yes, people might have to modify some of their titles) but no covers or explicit material shown. The key is that it is completely clear what is behind that wrapper, but no actual shocking material is shown. There would be no point in just having a blank item with no title but "you must be an adult to view this" because people who would click on that, would also actually look for the erotica they like. This would be a way to get in front of people who might be interested (but wouldn't search) without shocking them.

Of course, the idea version of that would require more than just blocking covers. A truly ideal version would do something that Amazon doesn't do in search -- it would list a general sub-genre. "Pseudo-Incest" might still offend, but "Taboo Erotica" should be plenty to signal the curious person to click, and the not-curious person to stay away.

But that's not going to happen unless Amazon sees it as a major gain for all its customers. And if so, they're going to test systems surrounding it for 10 years before rolling it out anyway. (Without telling anyone.)

Camille

 

[brie.mcgill]

To Ada,

Emailing KDP Support is a bit of a grab bag.

When I wasn't getting help on another matter, I kept emailing (politely, but kept it clear and concise, which your letter is). Third time, I got through to someone who understood my question (rather than receiving a nonsensical canned response that didn't address the situation) and they were completely helpful.

It wasn't about a banned book, but sometimes it's the luck of the draw with who you get. Might be worth it to try again.

Even in attempting to continue a conversation, an extended exchange of email never contains a response from the same rep twice, in my experience.

 

[Honeybun]

To Ada,

Emailing KDP Support is a bit of a grab bag.

When I wasn't getting help on another matter, I kept emailing (politely, but kept it clear and concise, which your letter is). Third time, I got through to someone who understood my question (rather than receiving a nonsensical canned response that didn't address the situation) and they were completely helpful.

It wasn't about a banned book, but sometimes it's the luck of the draw with who you get. Might be worth it to try again.

Even in attempting to continue a conversation, an extended exchange of email never contains a response from the same rep twice, in my experience.

I'll give it another try. Maybe I'll get lucky.

 

[MorningJoe]

  GRRRRRRRR  After scrubbing deeply with bleach and steel wool 3 of my stories were again blocked!  This is getting a bit old.  The funny thing is that now after the cleaning these pieces are the tamest things I have available to submit.  I guess it is about time to start trying the title submission email. 

I started seeing the threads from fellow authors looking to branch out into different genres and I don't blame them.  Trying to write 8-10 hours a day is getting a little tougher when I now worry if any of my hard work will even see the light of day.  Right now I have at least 120 hours worth of work tied up in "Blocked Limbo". 

The available solutions have already been stated but I felt like venting and thought this would be a good place to do it.  I hope everyone else is having better luck.

 

[brie.mcgill]

there are 2 very brief sexual abuse scenes (both girls are over 1 and it's not graphic.

Does this mean Amazon is scanning content? Or was it possible that anyone could have flagged the book?

 

[Speaker-To-Animals]

It's not just erotica being scrutinized! I put my (New Adult/Suspense) book on sale for a blog tour. I have been working with D2D to try to change the price back for over a week. I found out today it's being 'reviewed.' It is a coming-of-age story and there are 2 very brief sexual abuse scenes (both girls are over 1 and it's not graphic. I am floored its under review! Until they decide one way or the other, it's apparently still for sale, but frozen at the .99 price.

It might be the cover. You can see a flash of the underside of her leg and edge of her butt. You also have mother, daughter, twins, and raped in the blurb and given the current insanity at Amazon, that might have triggered an automated review.

 

[HarryK]

Saw this on twitter: http://www.amazon.com/Ravished-Triceratops-Dinosaur-Erotica-ebook/dp/B00EZCQADA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380572122&sr=8-2&keywords=dinosaur+erotica

Can someone please explain how something like that got through the block/ban? I mean...it's clearly a no-no category but it's up this month. The title is even explicit.

Sonuvabeech! 15 pages, $2.99, and 21,000 sales rank? Screw it, I'm gonna start writing billionaire dinosuar tentacle porn...

(Not to trivialize the OP or anyone else that has had their books banned. Sorry to hear that.)

 

[Willo]

I am working on getting an erotica store together that will be all-inclusive, allow self-pubbed authors and publishers too, and we won't be banning anything unless it's illegal (i.e. underage sex) It's been in the works for months (going sooooo slow *sigh*) but it will at least be a place erotica writers can put their "banned" work on sale!

This is very good news. With even new adult authors "in review," the need for a strong alternative is growing...