[Annette_g]

I don't have kids, so I may be finding this a bit strange. It seems that people are worried that kids might accidentally stumble on erotic stuff on amazon or wherever. I am surprised that kids are on the internet on their own in the first place, that just seems really weird to me. I know it happens, my nieces and nephews have their own iPads etc. and the youngest is 7. A 7 year old browsing the web on their own? That's a bit scary to me, but my brother just laughs it off.

I don't know if anyone else has heard of this bookstore:
http://www.ebook-eros.com/

That might be one to consider if we can't have erotic stuff at zon anymore. Not sure what their guidelines are regarding PI.

 

[Duane Gundrum]

I don't have kids, so I may be finding this a bit strange. It seems that people are worried that kids might accidentally stumble on erotic stuff on amazon or wherever. I am surprised that kids are on the internet on their own in the first place, that just seems really weird to me. I know it happens, my nieces and nephews have their own iPads etc. and the youngest is 7. A 7 year old browsing the web on their own? That's a bit scary to me, but my brother just laughs it off.

I don't know if anyone else has heard of this bookstore:
http://www.ebook-eros.com/

That might be one to consider if we can't have erotic stuff at zon anymore. Not sure what their guidelines are regarding PI.

Ebook-eros funnels stuff directly from Smashwords, so it's one of those "you're opted in unless you decided against it" so people are already listed on that if they went through Smashwords. It just isn't a huge seller for most people yet.

 

[KaryE]

I can understand people being uncomfortable with their kids being able to find erotica on Amazon, but what about all the sex toys and machines? The pictures for those are pretty explicit and they can come up in random unrelated searches. Are they cracking down on those things too? Anyone know?

In my many years of using Amazon for everything from soup to nuts, I've never had a sex toy or other sexual paraphernalia turn up in an innocent search. Garden equipment, patio furniture, kitchen stuff, assorted hardware - nada. Books? Happens pretty frequently. Not every time, but I'd say maybe once in four.

 

[LBrent]

This reminds me of when Yahoo, Google, Alta Vista and DMoz were all fighting over marketshare as THE search engine of choice. Adult Webmasters were able to get nearly any website listed. Then suddenly it got really difficult to get listed.

It's as if the search engines used porn searchers to build their businesses then as they got more sucessful they pretended it had all been organic and that porn sites were unacceptable to them. 

Sound familiar?

 

[Guest]

A question -

If your books have been banned, will you receive your royalties?

Or will Amazon say sorry, you violated the terms of service.

 

[cherrie]

I've repackaged one book in the PI genre three times and it's been blocked each time. Yet I see several books that were published the same day that are as gross as My Big Black Daddy F#$ked me.  Oh come on!!!! how the hell can that get thru ? That was pubbed the 25th of this month.. and I saw book after book in that genre with titles that should have never gotten thru.. .. just do a search in A for PI and sort by: Publication day.. you will see newest PI titles that have been published..

Then I wonder, are they playing favorites.. ? Are different moderators all doing a different type of moderation? Hell, if we don't know, maybe the folks who work there don't know either.. maybe it's all too vague for everyone?

I think we need to let the dust settle.. see what comes of all of this..
It sux for sure tho

 

[Nathalie Hamidi]

I vote for creating new words to depict sexual acts, and using them in titles and blurbs.

FAFFED IN THE TUTU
(my next bestseller)

 

[RaeC]

If I had a guess, certain books catch the reviewer's eye, which causes that person to take a look at the author's entire listings and those of the titles' Also Boughts.  

I'm not even an erotica author (yet) but this really irks me since I can imagine a day coming when Amazon will respond, in a similarly inelegant manner, to customers who don't like those trashy self-pub romance, science fiction, and horror novels being listed with respectable trad pubs in an innocent search.

 

[Nihilist]

I had another book blocked by our friend Carlos F this morning. *sigh*

And here was I was excited to post my 40th book. Since the other book I have is still in review, I'm assuming it is only a matter of time before they block it too.

/end pity party

 

[RaeC]

I had another book blocked by our friend Carlos F this morning. *sigh*

And here was I was excited to post my 40th book. Since the other book I have is still in review, I'm assuming it is only a matter of time before they block it too.

/end pity party

What sub-genre, if I may ask?

 

[Guest]

Quote:
". . . creating new words to depict sexual acts"

In 1948 Norman Mailer faced Amazon type censorship with his book The Naked and the Dead.
He used the spelling "fug" it.

Noted wit Dorothy Parker contended that any writer worth his salt should know how to spell "f..k"

 

[Nihilist]

What sub-genre, if I may ask?

PI. It's my comfort zone. But I guess I need to find a new niche. And I'll write some new niche until they shut it down. lol. *shrug*

 

[Gone To Croatan]

In 1948 Norman Mailer faced Amazon type censorship with his book The Naked and the Dead.
He used the spelling "fug" it.

Robert Anton Wilson once replaced all the sexual terms in one of his books with the names of pro-censorship politicians.

 

[RaeC]

I really hope people can use the "Banned by Amazon" tag to sell a ton of books elsewhere.

 

[MegHarris]

It seems that people are worried that kids might accidentally stumble on erotic stuff on amazon or wherever. I am surprised that kids are on the internet on their own in the first place, that just seems really weird to me. I know it happens, my nieces and nephews have their own iPads etc. and the youngest is 7. A 7 year old browsing the web on their own? That's a bit scary to me, but my brother just laughs it off.

Totally agree with you there. I have kids, and I don't let them browse the internet alone till their mid-teen years, and even then we try to keep the lines of communication open so we can discuss anything they run across that is puzzling or upsetting to them. I'm not even a particularly protective mom; I am just very aware of what can be found on the internet. I worry less about an Amazon search than I do about fanfic or Tumblr or even YouTube. Little kids really shouldn't be running around unsupervised on the internet. But the fact remains that parents let them do it, and then when they suddenly discover what the kid has been looking at, they will freak out. They then go screaming to Amazon in protest. But even if the kids are supervised, some covers that can come up in an innocent search (or some hits on Google) can be an upsetting surprise to some parents, who don't always realize exactly what's out there.

 

[MsTee]

A few things:

1. There are other stores for authors to sell their work on. A quick list:

- Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com

- Excessica: http://www.excessica.com/books/

- All Romance Ebooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/

- Extasy Books: http://www.extasybooks.com/

- Soltice Publishing: http://store.solsticepublishing.com/solstice-at-night/

^ I'm not sure which ones allow self-pubbing, but there's a list. However, while they seem to have a sizeable list, I'm concerned by how dated (except All Romance Ebooks and Extasy Books) they all look. Could that be a problem why authors and readers aren't gravitating to them more? And I read on another forum that perhaps readers DON'T want to go to separate sites because by doing so, it is publicly confirming that they're after Erotica (smut!) whereas if they get their latest smut-fix on Amazon, they don't feel AS guilty (perhaps pretending that while looking for a new gardening hose, they ACCIDENTALLY came upon that tentacle billionaire vampire porny tale that's now on their Kindle ).

2. Author faithfulness

There have been suggestions (I've made one, too) that someone jump in and fill the gap for Erotica, but will authors be faithful to that store? What if after a year or so, Amazon decides, 'Ah f*#k it. We'll be open about selling smutty books!'? I've a suspicion authors will promptly abandon the store that filled the gap and move back to Amazon.

3. For authors wanting to sell their books on their own sites, it is incredibly simple:

- Prior to purchase of the book, inform the reader to create a 'Send to Kindle' email address for the Kindle reading device of choice (only applies to phones and e-readers, not PC)

- Upon purchase of the book, provide a box where the reader can supply their Send to Kindle email address

- Email the book to the reader. It will be available on the reader's device like a regular book.


^ No longer viable. This is why: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201124320

 

[Terrence OBrien]

I'm not even an erotica author (yet) but this really irks me since I can imagine a day coming when Amazon will respond, in a similarly inelegant manner, to customers who don't like those trashy self-pub romance, science fiction, and horror novels being listed with respectable trad pubs in an innocent search.

If Amazon determined that would better serve their consumer base and make more money, I suspect they would indeed respond.

 

[Annette_g]

Ebook-eros funnels stuff directly from Smashwords, so it's one of those "you're opted in unless you decided against it" so people are already listed on that if they went through Smashwords. It just isn't a huge seller for most people yet.

Ah, I was wondering why some of my books were on there, LOL! Now I know

 

[Skye Hunter]

So it seems like they're mostly banning things that can be obviously identified as the type of stuff they don't want to sell anymore(PI, Tentacle stuff, etc.). Is that right or has anyone had stuff banned that didn't have overly offensive covers and/or titles that identify the story as such(using daddy, mommy, sister, tentacle, etc. in titles/description)?

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

3. For authors wanting to sell their books on their own sites, it is incredibly simple:

- Prior to purchase of the book, inform the reader to create a 'Send to Kindle' email address for the Kindle reading device of choice (only applies to phones and e-readers, not PC)

- Upon purchase of the book, provide a box where the reader can supply their Send to Kindle email address

- Email the book to the reader. It will be available on the reader's device like a regular book.

To clarify--people don't have to create a "send to Kindle" address for their Kindles. An email address is automatically generated for each device registered to the account. What people would have to do before hand, though, is "whitelist" the email address the book is going to be mailed from. The reader would have to go to Manage Your Kindle > Personal Documents Settings > Approved Personal Document E-Mail List and add the email as an approved email-address. This is done as a spam-preventing measure.

Betsy

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