Monday, October 14, 2013

The Censorship Police Are At It Again!

THIS WILL BE QUICK AND DIRTY:

I have not yet been notified that CAPTIVE IN THE DARK or SEDUCED IN THE DARK will be removed from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but it's possible.

For the record, I do not believe in censorship. Though I realize Amazon and B&N are publicly traded companies and have the right to form their own policies, I also believe the relationship between large corporations and our government cannot be ignored. Censorship is a slippery slope.

PayPal tried to do something similar over a year ago by pressuring Smashwords to remove erotic titles from its catalog and the collective outcry from readers put a stop to it. I hope the same happens here.

I wrote a blog post about what happened with Smashwords if anyone is interested.

For the time being, I recommend backing up your books on your computer if you want to keep them. Additionally, since Smashwords has already been through this debacle and defeated it. I reccomend NEW readers to purchase from them. Use the link above to find the series page.

Best of luck to all my fellow indie erotica authors as we go through this shit again!

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24491723

UPDATE 1: B&N will refund removed books, but are removing titles. Not mine, but I know of at least one author who has had her books taken down (Bianca Sommerland). No word yet on Amazon refunds or if this affects US readers or just UK. The link was BBC.

From Bianca Sommerland (affected by censorship on Amazon): Hey, CJ! Thanks for the information, reading everything I can find. So far, my book is still on Amazon, but blocked on my dashboard and I was told they wouldn't sell it anymore. Starting when, I have no idea. Waiting for a reply about what's going on.








12 comments:

  1. This bothers me. I will share this with book loving friends.

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  2. Just read this on Facebook. This is so wrong on so many levels! They better not censor you!!!!

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  3. I have no clue how to back up books to my computer... that's a great idea!

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    1. Physically plug your Kindle in to your computer and go into your documents folder. You can copy your books to a file on your computer.

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  4. Thanks for the heads up! This really pisses me off. No one has the right to tell us what we can and cannot read.

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  5. Facebook'd - Tweeted - Petition signed - strongly worded emails to Amazon - this is BULL****. Let the readers decide what they want - don't make the choice for them.
    Good luck everyone -

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  6. I thought that it was just me, they have removed two of my books already.
    This is very troubling to say the least!

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  7. Thank you all for making yourselves heard on your social media. We all appreciate it! At this point, I do not believe my books will be pulled. It dawns on me I have contracts with Audible, an Amazon company and so that might have some weight. However, many readers are reporting missing books on their Kindles and that is NOT okay. I have not turned on my wireless for fear of watching titles disappear. There's so much conflicting information. I wish they'd make an official statement already.

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  8. To date, my books are still live and it appears tensions have subsided. The original news report was from the BBC (not a U.S. news organization) so I'm not sure if it only affected non U.S.

    I know a few readers WERE affected and were notified about refunds, but I never learned whether or not these were U.S. users. Regardless, I say again that things seem to have died down for now.

    An author friend of mine was told by Amazon that they will be ramping up their filtering to include age verification and content filtering. My guess is it will be more difficult to find erotic content via Amazon unless you are specifically looking for it. I believe it also means that indie authors who publish erotic content will face more scrutiny of their titles before they are published on Amazon or B&N.

    I still don't like it, but it beats things disappearing without warning.

    Thanks to everyone who signed the petition. I will keep you posted as things develop.

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  9. Hello have just finished last book (seriously haven't seen my family in a week) quite amazing, really well written and don't get me wrong love the dark erotic and certainly don't want any enforced guidance into what I can read .( I'm judged enough at home.) and I know the subject matter clearly didn't lend itself to any light comedy but could certainly feel from the third book that you have a a talent here too. Look forward to whatever comes next.

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  10. Good ol' US of A always trying to legislate morality! It's qutie easy to simply not select that over 18 button. I will have to write both on this issue...wonder why I haven't seen anything about it in mainstream media.

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