Yesterday I was trying to figure out what to blog about today. Between working hard to finish the latest work in progress, dealing with some personal stuff and the usual NRP stuff, blogging was most definitely not the most important thing on my mind. Add in an unusual amount of troll activity on by Facebook wall as well as on my friends’ Facebook walls and blogs I follow and I knew I needed to find something that didn’t send me over the edge. That’s when I saw a link on Facebook that had me alternately shaking my head and thinking about the “whys” of it.
In a post titled “Self-Published Erotica is Being Singled Out For Sweeping Deletions From Major eBookstores“, The Digital Reader wrote about what appears to be a trend to remove certain titles from the catalogs of Amazon, Kobo, B&N and WH Smith. I’ll let you read the article but the basic gist of it is that these e-book stores are removing certain erotica titles which are all either self-published or small press published and are doing so without notice. Over on the KBoards site, in a thread going back to September, there are howls of protest about this that range from condemning Amazon for changing its terms of service to censorship. I’m not going to get into the technical argument of whether or not a non-governmental entity can actually censor someone.
However, with regard to the changing of Amazon’s terms of service, that’s the company’s prerogative. It is why you should always read the changes when you get notice of it — something that is required to be given. So that is also a non-argument, in my opinion.
But there is a problem that has been presented in what happened and the reasons for these stores to start pulling these titles. (I’ll get into the argument some have put forth about how it is the prelude to them removing all self-published titles shortly.) This problem has been exacerbated by the explosion in the number of self-published titles coming through the various e-book stores over the last few years. As could be expected, some of these titles are erotica. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to find that the number of erotica titles increased dramatically after the success of Fifty Shades of Gray. Nor would it surprise me to find out that these titles pushed the boundaries on a number of different levels, including being poorly written and being barely legal.
The real problem isn’t that these books exist. Nor is it that they may not be well-written or edited. The actual problem is two-fold. When you put an e-book up on most e-book platforms, you are asked for basic information: title, author, cover image, product description, copyright, pricing, territories where it is to be sold. What you aren’t asked is if it includes adult content. (Caveat here, Smashwords does ask this and does use that as a filter.)
The second part of the problem comes with how the author classifies and then tags the title. There is no guarantee an author is going to tag their erotica as erotica. Also, as with anything, there are varying degrees of erotica. Some can be well-written and hot but in a sensual way — not in a way that sends you running from the room screaming “EWWW!”. It can be nothing but “vanilla” sex or it can include BDSM. It can be consensual or non-consensual. I think you get my meaning. The problem is, the reader doesn’t know this if it isn’t classified and described very specifically.
But there is an underlying problem that goes beyond just the classification of a title. It is the tagging. You know what I’m talking about: those pesky words or phrases you are asked to put in that will be used as search terms for your title. For example, my novel Nocturnal Origins (an urban fantasy/police procedural) has tags of Dallas, murder, shapeshifter, police, werewolf, and a couple of others. So, if you were to type in “Dallas”, it would come up somewhere in a long list of other books with Dallas as a search term.
That’s all very innocent and no problem. But think about sitting down with your child and typing in the word “Daddy” and the search bringing up a list of titles that include books about underage sex, incest, etc. Add in then the cover images that would go with such titles and, well, you get some upset parents — especially if they discover these are the sorts of titles their kids are seeing when they aren’t around to supervise.
Now, does this justify removing en masse a bunch of titles that can be classed as erotica and only doing them with self-published titles? No, at least not in my opinion. However, I really think this is a tempest in a teacup. Historically, this has been the way Amazon, Kobo and the others have reacted when they’ve received a number of complaints (unfortunately, we don’t know what that magical number is). They react by pulling everything that might be “offensive” or against their terms of service and then they go back through and start returning titles for sale. It’s happened with everything from works that included parts of other works to other issues with erotica titles and more. Each and every time, the problem has been clarified and new procedures put into place.
And I think it will happen exactly this way again.
However, these different e-book stores have to do something to make sure these potentially objectionable titles aren’t available for easy access to minors. I say that not because I think we need to protect our little babies but because it will make life a lot easier for the retailers. A simple question about whether or not your book contains adult content — with that term clearly defined, including a list you can check to show what sort of content is included — like Smashwords currently has in place would help. Then those titles could be put behind a filter so their tags wouldn’t necessarily show up in a search for common terms like “daddy”.
And, no, that isn’t censorship. We so aren’t going to have that conversation here.
That said, the different e-book stores do have to worry about what they sell and the legality of it. This is especially true for those selling in multiple countries. Because of that, we may see periodic glitches as titles are pulled either by accident from all countries instead of just one or two countries due to legal issues or through a bit of overzealous precaution. But, it is more likely to happen because these stores use software “spiders” to search for certain words and terms and pull potentially questionable titles until real eyes can look them over. It is far from perfect but instead of taking to the internet to whine and gnash your teeth, contact the e-book retailer and find out what is going on and then find out what you can do to correct the situation. Don’t just rely on the e-mail you get telling you your title has been pulled for some none-too-specific reason.
On the KBoards and elsewhere, there is the renewed accusation that this is all part of some big conspiracy by Amazon, mainly, and the other retailers, to pull all self-published books from their virtual shelves. All I can say to that is, “get real”. I’m sorry, but Amazon and Jeff Bezos is anything but foolish. The KDP platform is a moneymaker for Amazon and it isn’t going to do away with an income stream that basically costs them nothing more than the price of transmission fees and hosting web pages. Okay, it is a little more than that, but not much.
Is it a problem when our titles are removed, even for a few days? Yes. Of course. Those titles are our income. So keep an eye on your titles, all of them, and make sure there are no problems. If there are, go to the source and keep pushing until you find out why they have been taken down. There are ways to contact Amazon and the others that don’t end with the generic notes you get in e-mail. With only one exception, NRP has never had any problem getting resolution within a few days of what the problem happens to be. That one exception is still taking place on a non-Amazon platform but I think I have an idea of what it might be and it is something to discuss with the bosses.
Finally, if you are an author of erotica titles that push the envelope, look for other platforms to sell you titles on besides the major players. I know of a number of erotica and m/m titles who sell much more on platforms like AllRomance than they do on Amazon or Kobo or B&N. Watch what you use as tags and be very careful that your cover images do not violate the terms of service for the various platforms.
In the meantime, I’ll be keeping my eye on what happens with this latest problem and, hopefully, by the time next week rolls around, solutions will be in place and this will be just another bad memory for those who have been affected.
Mad Genius Club 
38 responses to “The howls of protest rise again”
So this is not the week to attempt to pick up a copy of Oedipus Rex? 😉
Well, only if you want it from an indie ;-p
in modern format. Poor Eddie King. 😛
Now there’s a question… think you could sell the first Oedipus play as a “young adult” novel? You’d have to hide the cultural origins, but if properly sold it matches a lot of the grey goo I was assigned in school!
Good post Amanda. I did think the “oh no they’re going after all indies” stuff was overblown (not by you). It seems like the same old of “sellers have a real problem but mishandle the problem”.
That’s part of it, Paul. But part of the blame also falls on the authors who are abusing the tagging options to get around the rules. This really is a case where both sides bear some of the blame, imo.
The authors abusing the tagging options was IMO the problem but Amazon, etc weren’t dealing with the problem very well. So yes, blame for both sides.
This hits me personally because I’m about to put up a title that has sex in it. I asked Amazon for guidance — more than willing to adjust to standards. The reply was a boilerplate regurgitation of the published “standard” which says nothing. I researched my concern — not that erotica isn’t on Amazon; that would be ridiculous, but that erotica is not permitted in the KDP Select program. A very few moments’ research revealed that not only is erotica in the program, there are books whose main genre is erotica. (Mine is contemporary fantasy.)
Fast forward to today. What am I to do?
Well, for one, I’m going to email Jeff Bezos and ask.
Dear Jeff;
?
Sincerely, Mark.
Politically, I believe that The People have rights to free speech and freedom of the press and that constitutional restrictions on the government are not exclusive. That is, private actors are also bound to respect those rights. Just: good luck enforcing them when the government won’t recognize them untrammeled.
But that’s beside the point.
I also believe that children don’t belong on the Internet. If they can’t handle the content, keep ’em home. Parental discretion not only advised but required. If they CAN handle the content, then what’s all the pants-wetting about?
Also: you can’t walk into Amazon and lay down cash for a book. You have to pay with a credit card. To the best of my knowledge, you can’t get a credit card if you’re under 18 without a parent’s consent. That being the case, what’s all the pants-wetting about?
And finally: freedom of expression most certainly includes the freedom to turn away. Exercise it.
All that said, I also believe in truth in advertising. I would, for example, never attempt to stealthily inflict this novel of mine on Sarah, who has expressed a distaste for sex in literature. Fair enough. That’s her taste, she has every right to it, I’m bound to respect that. So I label the book: “Graphic and explicit sex acts. Adults only. Parental discretion advised.” Even though, in most perspectives, the sex is pretty whitebread.
I would be DELIGHTED to have checkoffs such as you suggest. The question really is, “Why doesn’t Amazon already have such a filter?” Porn sites manage to filter out underage visitors (however effectively). Why can’t Amazon?
M
“Porn sites manage to filter out underage visitors”
More to the point, they do a pretty good job of using tagging to segment their market by tastes. Web sites that specialize in erotica generally have quite sophisticated tag systems…I don’t know how well such a thing could be done on a mainstream site like Amazon, but if they’re going to sell erotica at all, they really should take a look at what their competition in that space is doing.
I’ll confess I have issues with Amazon “category selections” and having only two categories, which excludes a ton of things that ARE ON THE SHELVES IN BOOKSTORES. Is that fantasy novel fantasy? Paranormal? do you tag it has having some sex? How? (It’s not the same as erotica.) You have a gay character as a main character in your story, but you don’t want to tag it as “fiction/gay” because the point is fantasy… etc… In some genres this is a big issue. For instance, my musketeer novels are “mystery/historical/alternate history/amateur sleuths.” Amateur sleuths doesn’t exist on Amazon. Only Women sleuths. This is insane. Also, I can’t tag it alternate history, though it is, and would interest anyone who reads it. oh, yeah, it also has sex, enough (I suppose) to annoy someone for whom mystery is Sherlock Holmes, but no one else, as it’s not DESCRIBED much less dwelt into. ETC.
Sarah, I have to agree. I want more categories for my books as well, especially now that Amazon is adding more and more sub-categories.
Reminds me of this song by Da Vinci’s Notebook. Girl on girl on girl on smurf.
M
I thought it was girl on girl on girl on guy on sheep?
The difference that I’ve seen between the tagging systems used by Amazon, BN, etc and some of the “specialty” stores is that the latter have a list of tags you choose from. You select which categories your title falls under and then the potential tags come up. Amazon and others aren’t as category specific and that lets authors use tags like “daddy” for books about incest, etc.
Mark, just because it has sex in it doesn’t make it erotica. The key is if the sex is the main driving point in the book or not. Even then, is it consensual or not and is it “deviant” or not. Yes, that’s an oversimplification but that’s really what it comes down to.
The issue really comes down to two things: does an online retailer have the right to choose what it sells and have some of those putting their goods up for sale tried to bypass the rules. The answer to both is “yes”.
As for your comment about children not being allowed on the internet, that’s not the point. For one thing, that’s never going to happen. Not when too many class assignments require internet access to get to the materials needed. For another, it is the new communication medium for their generation. So it really is nothing more than a non-issue in this discussion.
With regard to putting into place some sort of filter so erotica can be offered but the audience is vetted, for lack of a better term, before getting to it, it can be done. However, that filter is only going to work if the authors themselves don’t try to beat the system. Too many authors will not tag their books properly in an attempt to get around filters that are in place.
Because of this, and because of the lack of an adequate filter, these authors have made it difficult for the rest of us. Changes have to made at both ends of the spectrum.
All that said, don’t confuse a book that has sex in it as erotica. One doesn’t necessarily make it the other. Study the definitions and if you then feel your book is erotica and you are worried about what Amazon — and the other e-tailers will do because this isn’t just Amazon. It started with others before them — will do, then go to the e-tailers that specialize in erotica. There are a number of them.
You could pay with cash for an Amazon giftcard, and then use the giftcard to buy it.
But if your underage minor is going around the rules that far, your parents already have troubles!
I also believe that children don’t belong on the Internet. If they can’t handle the content, keep ‘em home. Parental discretion not only advised but required.
Presumably Amazon is interested in making money instead of supporting your personal viewpoint with their funds.
I run into this justification a lot when peoples’ behavior is restricted because they choose to enter an arena aimed at “all audiences” rather than “adult audiences.”
The internet is, in general, a public space– made up of lots and lots and lots of private spaces. The rights of those who own those spaces have priority over those who just want to make use of them.
Please excuse the length. This is of a major concern to me! I started writing a few years ago because of a compulsion to do so. The stories have grown into two series. Recently, the SFWA conflict drew me into seriously thinking about actually publishing my stories. Both stories begin with body modification. I learned the basics of writing from a erotic writing website. I think it was good teaching on creativity in expression. I can’t write erotica. Editing makes me feel like a voyeur and I delete the story at first edit. However, the adventure, romance stories which have almost no sexual references in, I did write had a beginning in maybe a PG level reference. I can’t drop it.
This action by the stores leaves me in a lost position. I can’t ignore tagging ‘body modification’ One main character is a tattoo artist/piercer. But the story doesn’t belong in the Erotic section.
I would not want to ‘self publish’ in Amazon’s ‘publish your book’ anyway. I have thought of NRP as a possible avenue. Breaking into Baen as an unknown is too laughable to consider. If I’m going to be rejected, I would rather have the two month notice from NRP than the one year or more from Baen.
I prefer to ask permission, instead of forgiveness.
So, my question is- would NRP give me assistance in selection of title and tagging? That is if they were willing to publish? I’ve read the submission page and know that I have to tag for the submission to NRP; but, what goes to the store comes from the publisher.
Right now we aren’t accepting new submissions unless it is by invitation (and I need to check to see if the site reflects this). However, for the books and short stories we publish, we take care of selecting the categories and doing the tagging. We will, on occasion, discuss it with the author but for consistency’s sake, we take care of it ourselves.
A couple weeks ago, there was a similar conversation on another forum about people getting pulled from Amazon. One of the people commented that she didn’t bother tagging her stuff as erotica. The only think I could think was that she was part of the problem.
Absolutely. And then they yell when they get caught breaking the rules. These are the ones making it harder on the rest of us.
I don’t know. I was going to tag some stuff as erotica, and I think SOMEONE told me no because “I don’t think you could write erotica if you wanted to.”
SOMEONE — me — did tell you that because what you were going to tag that wasn’t erotica. Silly Sarah 😉
The person who made the comment was absolutely incensed that her PI and Breeding the Babysitter stuff was pulled. It’s erotica, it’s only erotica, and tagging it as fantasy and contemporary romance won’t change that.
Now, paranormal romance with a little sex? or even a lot of sex? Not erotica. I can see the urge to tag it that way if you want it to stay within the bounds but seriously, not erotica.
Grumble. So I’ve been told. Oh, and don’t search, that’s not under any of the public names…
That person is the prime example of authors trying to game the system and then screwing it up for the rest of us. Wonder how loud she’ll scream if she tries to game it again and winds up getting her account blocked?
Hmmm, now I wonder if my latest will get pulled because of a scene in one story, the one that is why the blurb has “for mature readers” on it. *shrugs* Someone has to protests first, I guess, and then we’ll see. Although I suspect the complaints would be the lack of “trigger warning” rather than sexual content. (Which is probably fodder for a whole ‘nother discussion about labeling, reader sensitivities, and reader expectations.)
I’m not sure one scene would trigger it even if someone complained — except perhaps on BN since they have an active complaint link on product pages — or did. Haven’t checked recently.
It appears, although there’s still a large cloud of confusion in the air, that KOBO is pulling large numbers of indie books. Mine are still up, but the letter I got from KOBO says that they’ll be quarantining new material (and things that people complain about) until a better policy is developed and the works can be screened. *shrug*
I’ve had a book on Kobo stuck in limbo for a month almost — and I assume this is why even though it isn’t anywhere close to erotica. And yet, as Sarah noted elsewhere, if you submit to them through a 3rd party aggregator, the books go up without a problem.
Which is particularly funny, since I seem to recall a book a number of years ago that was basically a how-to manual for Pedophiles, and Amazon went to the wall protecting it until the uproar finally caused the publisher to pull it.
Yeah. I’d forgotten about that even though I blogged about it at the time. This really is one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations.
Thank you for the quick honest reply. I’m very new at this ‘business of writing’ and ask lots of dumb questions. You have been helpful.
robfornow, there are no dumb questions. Especially not about publishing right now. It is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up. Ask your questions and we will do our best to answer. Promise.
Authors do need to pay attention when tagging and categorizing their books, I know I have at least one book in my Kindle library tagged (or categorized, I don’t recall which) as erotica, that has ABSOLUTELY NO mention of sex in it. I’m not sure if the author writes erotica and tagged this book as that by mistake, if they thought tagging it as erotica might attract a wider audience, or if somebody just clicked the wrong button. But I know for myself I probably never would have picked it up if I had seen that tag at the time, and realistically it is basically a clean, somewhat juvenile collection of YA stories.
Who knows what the explanation is, bearcat, but that is a perfect example of the problems with tags. I have picked up books tagged erotica because I’ve checked the sample and liked the writing only to find they really weren’t erotica. And I think that is part of the problem. People are confused about what erotica is. I think that’s got to be the first thing done — a specific definition of what erotica is as opposed to some of the other categories.
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