Banned by Amazon? Here's an idea...

Your books have been removed or filtered by Amazon, the largest distributor of books in the world. This negatively impacts your sales and you are forced to try and figure out how to comply with their extremely ambiguous terms of service. After all, you are writing books about adults for adults. You’ve put warnings in your blurbs. You look at removal patterns, talk to your fellow authors and find, much to your chagrin, that there is no pattern to use as a template to guide you in your efforts to comply with these very ambiguous TOS.

Amazon will allow books that are basically instruction manuals on child abuse (Example: To Train Up A Child by Michael and Debi Pearl), erotic fiction put out by the Big Six mainstream publishers (Flowers in the Attic, works by Marquis deSade, 50 Shades of Grey, The Story of O, to name a few).

Feels like you just can’t win, right?

Not necessarily.

Think about this:

BANNED BY AMAZON!

TOO HOT FOR AMAZON!

PG-13 AMAZON VERSION. AUTHOR’S CUT AVAILABLE AT (insert other distributor)

Sound silly?

Sure it does, but guess what? Does anyone remember the controversy surrounding Catcher in the Rye, Valley of the Dolls, The Satanic Verses? Take a look at this list:

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/censorship/bannedbooksthatshapedamerica

I distinctly remember the outcry surrounding Valley of the Dolls which was a huge contributor to the book’s success. After all, ban a book and suddenly everyone wants a copy. Look at the phenomenon behind 50 Shades of Grey. “Mommy porn”, “Twilight rip-off”, yep, gotta get a copy…

Your book has been banned by Amazon. Wear this as a badge of honor. After all, you are definitely in good company. But consider this…why not use that as a marketing tool?

If you are a self-published author writing erotica or erotic romance, at some point, you will encounter the Amazon banhammer for either your cover, content or both. So, what do you do?

Veteran self-published authors are changing covers or looking at new designs for their covers so that they can still be sensual but get past the Amazon censor police. Some authors are mulling the idea of modifying content of already-published stories and trying to figure out what keywords will get their books flagged so that they can avoid these same keywords and still tell the story their characters dictate.

Hollywood may have the right idea. With movies, there are the theatrical release, the director’s cut, the unrated version, extended cut, etc. Now, if you’re going to buy a movie, are you going for the theatrical version, or are you going for the one that has all or most of the stuff that ended up on the editing room floor? Yep, me too.

So, let’s apply the same idea to self-published books. The author considers two versions – one for Amazon and one for other distributors who refuse to censor content because they, like the author, believe that the characters should tell the story and not the censor police. When marketing, stress that there are two versions of the book – the PG-13 version found on Amazon and the Author’s cut/full version/over-18-only versions available at (insert name of distributors).

Look, romance and erotic romance are the largest selling genre in the world with the largest reader base in the world. Each romance reader has friends, book clubs, Facebook pages, you name it. They already pimp their favorite authors, so this just adds a little spice to the mix.

Too much trouble, you say? Not necessarily. If the self-pub industry gets on the bandwagon, this just might work. Again, the proof is in the history. Look what happens when a book is banned.

Hmmmm…

In today’s electronic age, how difficult can it be to flag portions of a manuscript to be removed/modified to upload to Amazon? After all, some authors are designing two covers and two different blurbs for their books – one for Amazon (yeah, fruit as a cover for an erotic romance) and one for other distributors (cover model eye candy – nom!).

Okay, so you don’t want to mess with two versions of your books. Understandable. So, how about a tag line: TOO HOT FOR AMAZON. TOO RACY FOR AMAZON. And after your book has been banned by Amazon: BANNED BY AMAZON. Use big, bold letters or an asterisk in the title with the notation in tiny print on the back of the cover.

Back in the day, when I was in high school and Catcher in the Rye was given as a reading assignment, I’ll never forget the parental insanity that accompanied it. Yep, you guessed it…what book did everyone in the school suddenly want to read? Valley of the Dolls? Yep, even as young as I was at the time (13 or 14) I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Story of O? I remember my BFF kept her copy under her mattress and read it by flashlight. Joy of Sex? I was an adult and still wouldn’t put that on my bookshelf; it stayed in a locked box, in a drawer in my nightstand. And my book club talked about that one in whispers. Get the picture?

If your book is banned by Amazon, I’ll definitely want to read it and so will a lot of other folks. I guess we’re either just pervy or proud that we flipped the censors the “finger”.

Amazon and Censorship - The Battle Continues

When all the crap came down about books being pulled from Amazon and other distributors, I started trying to figure out what was going on and contacted several of my geek friends. As near as we can determine the various ebook distributors are using software that scans uploaded ebooks for various terms that may indicate abusive or offensive material. 

What are these words? No one knows and no one can get answers. I know this because my geek colleagues and I have tried to get those answers.

Why can’t we get answers? Because the sysadmin or a committee will set the parameters for the search terms and this is based on their terms of service and personal opinions of what constitutes offensive material.  Subjective much?

What does that mean?  It means that any ebook containing words like “rape”, or phrases that may indicate nonconsent or dubious consent, or incestuous relationships, bondage, domination, submission, sadism, masochism, or any number of other words and phrases as determined by nebulous authorities will be pulled by the computer.

Yes, you read that right – some nameless, faceless individual guided by extremely ambiguous terms of service and guidelines, and their personal opinion inputs arbitrary words and phrases as search criteria, then turns the computer loose to pull ebooks because they have been determined to be pornography, abusive, offensive or just something a few zealots have determined is “undesirable”.

Yes, the implication is correct.  Adults are being told what they can and can’t read, even in the face of the US Constitution and the US Supreme Court rulings regarding pornography.  See the thumbnails of the cases cited here :

http://www.nap.edu/netsafekids/pp_li_pfa.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/porn/prosecuting/overview.html

Keep in mind, that no one has an argument with the ruling that adults have the right to restrict what children will be able to access, but I’m talking about what ADULTS can access and purchase.

Then there is the issue of interference with a person’s livelihood since writing is, in fact, a job.

As long as we’re discussing subjective criteria for undesirable, offensive material, then I’d like an answer to this question:  Why is the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy still for sale?

Amazon is, without qualification/argument, the largest book distributor in the world. Where goes Amazon, so go the rest of the lemmings.  So, as an author what can you do?  As a reader, what can you do?

Authors:

Email your Amazon contact and request SPECIFIC REASONS why they have removed your book(s). Do not settle for anything less than a very detailed explanation.  In many cases, when a human takes a look at the books, they are reinstated because there was really nothing wrong in the first place.  That doesn’t help you with your lost sales during the period when the book was blocked, but at least it’ll be back up and available for sale.

UK authors:  Until your new obscenity laws are challenged through your courts, you are pretty much SOL, but I would suggest that you do the same. Email and demand a detailed explanation of why your book(s) was/were removed/blocked.

Readers:

Now, here is where the real power lies – money. Our wallets have incredible power. I personally purchase close to 1000 (one thousand – and you did read that right) books PER YEAR. I have the receipts to prove it.  And my numbers sometimes don’t even come close to some other folks’ numbers. The point is, I’m not the only one who buys up in the high hundreds of books per year. Do the math and then think about that incredible amount of revenue.

Now you understand just where the power lies, right? So how do we use it?

We sit down and email Amazon AND we write to Jeff Bezos AND we pick up the phone and call Amazon’s global headquarters:

Jeffrey Bezos, CEO

Amazon Incorporated Headquarters

410 Terry Avenue North

Seattle, Washington USA    98109

Phone:  +1-206-266-1000

If you call, you want to speak to the VP in charge of customer relations.

When you write or call, do NOT get emotional.  Talk money.  Tell them how much you spend on books per year.  Tell them about the other products you order from Amazon. Tell them that you have no problem with switching over to some other ereader because there are free apps out there for the other readers available on the market, and there is file converter software like Calibre that can convert the proprietary files. Make no bones about the fact that you will go elsewhere to purchase the other products Amazon sells.  Make the point that Amazon is NOT the only game in town and you will take your business elsewhere. Not only that, you will encourage your friends on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and any other social networking media you use to do the same. And, oh, by the way, some of those friends out there are probably Amazon stockholders.  Jus’ sayin’…

Amazon will act like it really doesn’t make a difference to them, that they are sorry to see you go (remember, to them you are just one small fish in a big sea). The thing is, if enough people protest and boycott, Amazon will get the message and learn the same lesson just like PayPal did.

Remember:  When talking to big corporations, leave the emotion at the door or in your closet.  TALK NUMBERS. This is the only language they speak.

Speaking of numbers…Think about this:  Amazon Prime charges $79.00/year for membership. Yes, you do get a good bang for your buck.  BUT… if 10 Prime members cancel their membership, that’s lost revenue of $790.00 per year, if 1000 members cancel that’s $79,000/year.  If 100,000 members cancel because they will not sit still for this crap that is 7.9 MILLION per year in lost revenue.  Now, those numbers are not chump change to stockholders. And 100,000 possible dropped Prime memberships is not an impossible number thanks to the prevalence of various social media out there. Some of us use several social networking sites. 

One last thing, if they tell you that they are filtering results (which is what they tried to pull with me), insist that they give you instructions on how to turn off any filters. I’m still waiting on a reply to that question.

If you don’t act, one morning you’ll wake up and the zealots, corporations and lazy parents will have determined what you can and can’t read.  Is that really what you want? 

EDITED TO ADD FOLLOW-UP COMMENT:  There does seem to be a pattern after all. Attention authors:  Watch those titles.  Words like CAPTIVE, RAPE, DAUGHTER, DADDY, various animals, TAKEN, etc. will probably get your book flagged. Just remember, be sure to contact the distributor and demand a detailed explanation of why your book(s) was/were taken down.

DEMANDING AN APOLOGY FROM WOMEN ACTION & THE MEDIA

(Please note:  In the text below are several words in ALL CAPS.  This is done for emphasis only. This is being posted on other sites using software that, in some cases, does not allow particular formatting.  I am not screaming or shouting.  I promise.)

In May, WAM (Women Action and the Media) began a campaign to stamp out sexist hate speech directed at women.  In and of itself, this was a noble undertaking and has brought that egregious practice into the light of day where it belongs.  What happened after that is also egregious in the extreme and this group did nothing to stop it and, in fact, encouraged it.  The result was nothing less than a stark repeat of one of history's darkest periods.

Thanks to WAM, the BDSM community became subject to what was nothing less than an outright pogrom, even a witch hunt.  In the ensuing days this group, while claiming to be an advocate of women and a bastion of free speech, violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (WAM is headquartered in the US) and knowingly - dare I even say this - with malice aforethought, actively worked to libel the community on Facebook, the largest social network in the world.

When called out by the BDSM community for WAM's incredibly ignorant, prejudicial, demonizing behavior, the group then backpedaled and, depending on your definition of the word, lied to cover their tracks.  To add insult to injury, they put out a statement saying that they had no problem with "consensual" BDSM and that it was Facebook's fault for taking down the pages.  This, even in the face of screenshots of the posts and resulting responses to posts that encouraged the witch hunt against the BDSM community.

One more time to get the point across:  If it is not consensual it is not, I repeat not, BDSM.   

WAM states clearly on their Facebook page with great pride that they forced the Washington Post to change their editorial policies after their interpretation of something written in an OPINION PIECE was deemed a sexist slur about Hillary Clinton.  Freedom of speech?  Freedom of thought?  Freedom of opinion?  Yes, even writers at the Post have the right to voice their opinion in writings clearly marked as such.  Here is the link to prove that this was, in fact, an OPINION PIECE dealing with a PUBLIC FIGURE. 

http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/media_justice/women_action_and_media_members0532

After appointing themselves the equivalent of the "thought police" AND using the threat of negative PR, WAM essentially forced Facebook to depublish over 100 (yes, that number is correct) pages started by the BDSM community to entertain and educate members of the community and those curious about the lifestyle.  NONE of these pages violated Facebook policy.  All were set for adults only (18 years old and over), some were even closed and/or secret to try and prevent minors from accessing the material.  This debacle mushroomed as a DIRECT RESULT of the actions or Women Action and the Media and WAM thinks they can lie, divert and misdirect their way out of it.

Not happening on my watch.

Women Action and the Media owes the BDSM community a thorough, humble apology along with a pledge to work to help restore those BDSM pages taken down as a result of their very misdirected campaign.

I call upon members of the BDSM community to stand up and demand this apology from Women Action and the Media and insist that it be given publicly, prominently and without ambiguity on their Facebook page, website, Twitter and any other social media they utilize. 

Please feel free to share this post. 

One last parting word:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984)

Ask yourself, if we (all of us, kink or vanilla) do not stop this now, who will WAM and other organizations of like mind come after next?

Facebook's War Against BDSM

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
 
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
 
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
 
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.
 

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984)

A group called Women, Action & the Media have started a campaign to combat violence against women.  This is outstanding in theory.  In practice, however, it is nothing less than a colossal clusterfuck.  To date, more than 90, yes 90+, pages started by members of the BDSM community have been taken down.  This does not count those taken down and then restored. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I have no doubt that the campaign has brought down some purveyors of hate speech directed at women, and that is a very good thing.  However, that same campaign has run amok and must be reined in and limits set. It has gone from a well-intentioned movement to outright censorship and violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

On June 18^th at approximately 4:30 p.m. an individual who shall remain nameless placed a post on WAM's Facebook wall (it is still there as of this writing) stating that women in abusive situations were there consensually because they were too scared to escape and seek help.  I could not believe that anyone educated enough to be able to type coherent words on a keyboard could be that stupid. 

WAM's little campaign and Facebook playing right into their hands is nothing new.  "Feminists" have been at war with the BDSM community for years.  While I haven't remained silent, I haven't stood up and stated unequivocally that I won't tolerate this BS any longer. 

To use Niemöller's poem as an analogy:  I am a woman, a collared submissive and very proud member of the BDSM community.  I'll be damned if I'm going to stand in the background any longer while others in the community are censored by the largest social network in the world in what amounts to discrimination and infringement on freedom of speech. 

I said to someone recently that this campaign reminded me of the temperance movement back in the late teens, early twenties last century.  I was wrong.  It's the late 1930s all over again.

They are coming for the BDSM community.  Are you going to sit silent until they come for you?