Good new for erotica authors on Smashwords

[Buzzboy]

This will most definitely interfere with my creative process.

and my sales.

 

[lovecraft68]

Well, he's been more restrictive than Amazon for 13 or 14 months. Stories that he wants to be changed go through at Amazon with no issues. So, I'm not all that impressed with his interpretations. Though, he just doesn't generally alow wide distribution rather than not allowing it. Still, I'm not happy with him. If it goes through at amazon, how can he turn it down?

Ah, well I never select amazon as a distributer and won't. I list my own books there.

D2D was royally fucked by amazon years ago, had their account banned with no reason give, they finally got it back but they are super paranoid now. All my taboo stuff will only go on the SW site, the stuff that goes on premium under the original sw does not go to amazon.

But thanks, because I'll have to check and see if I need to start making sure they don't do it.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

So, necro-ing this one, sorry.

I had my "invitation to migrate" from Smashwords to Draft2Digital pop up on the Smashwords dashboard today.

Has anyone done this, yet? I'm cautious enough by temperament to read "early adopter" as "guinea pig," so I'd sure like to get feedback on this where I can.

I should probably log in, do that, and hopefull change my pen name. I would've figured by now, you pretty much had to do something like that.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Well, he's been more restrictive than Amazon for 13 or 14 months. Stories that he wants to be changed go through at Amazon with no issues. So, I'm not all that impressed with his interpretations. Though, he just doesn't generally alow wide distribution rather than not allowing it. Still, I'm not happy with him. If it goes through at amazon, how can he turn it down?

In my experience, Amazon doesn't vet your story before they accept it. Of course, they claim they do, but that's probably just checking the format and whatever they do.

So, they might accept your story at first, only to send you an email years later, telling you it's been blocked. And if you get several of those emails (because you have published a lot of similar titles) they will eventually close your account completely.

So, having the story rejected by Smashwords is a clear sign that you should be careful putting it on Amazon.

I made that mistake and now I'm losing a ton of money since Amazon was 75% of my income, so I guess I have to hold on to that day job

 

[MillieDynamite]

I've never had one sent back. One story has been there for four or five years and been rejected by SW twice years apart. I'm sorry, there was nothing the story that is a violation of the rules.

In my experience, Amazon doesn't vet your story before they accept it. Of course, they claim they do, but that's probably just checking the format and whatever they do.

So, they might accept your story at first, only to send you an email years later, telling you it's been blocked. And if you get several of those emails (because you have published a lot of similar titles) they will eventually close your account completely.

So, having the story rejected by Smashwords is a clear sign that you should be careful putting it on Amazon.

I made that mistake and now I'm losing a ton of money since Amazon was 75% of my income, so I guess I have to hold on to that day job

 

[Codoc24]

I started using D2D in August 2023 and have not had any problems. I actually like it better than Amazon. They aren't such sticklers about what they will and won't accept. Amazon banned one of my books in July 2023. It was a pretty tame story. Couldn't believe they blocked it. I removed one scene where a woman was having her tits fondled against her will, and Amazon approved it after that. I like D2D because it will distribute to B&N, Apple, Smashwords, Kobo and a few others. I have been a little surprised at how many sales I have made through Apple. If Amazon wasn't the big kid on the block, I wouldn't even bother with them. The others have a better royalty for the author than Amazon does. I would encourage anyone to give D2D a shot with at least one book to see if you like it or not.

 

[lovecraft68]

I started using D2D in August 2023 and have not had any problems. I actually like it better than Amazon. They aren't such sticklers about what they will and won't accept. Amazon banned one of my books in July 2023. It was a pretty tame story. Couldn't believe they blocked it. I removed one scene where a woman was having her tits fondled against her will, and Amazon approved it after that. I like D2D because it will distribute to B&N, Apple, Smashwords, Kobo and a few others. I have been a little surprised at how many sales I have made through Apple. If Amazon wasn't the big kid on the block, I wouldn't even bother with them. The others have a better royalty for the author than Amazon does. I would encourage anyone to give D2D a shot with at least one book to see if you like it or not.

D2D doesn't allow taboo or non con, but when the merge is final they will have boxes to check off for it, so you can submit that material through them, but only to the SW store.