There is no longer an erotica category on Amazon

[lovecraft68]

I haven't published anything to amazon in about three months, went to upload something today and they changed the categories. Not only is there no longer a fiction category, but erotica was one of the sub categories there. There's tons of erotica on there, no one's books are being banned, but....are they no longer accepting new erotica or is there something I'm missing?

Okay...I see no way to delete a thread so I'll state 'never mind' They have changed it to Literature and Fiction and erotica is still under it. I scratched my one good eye ten days ago and when I use the drops my vision gets wonky and I didn't make it out right.

However, they have added a question on whether or not your cover or title contains explicit language....now if they ask, does that mean they're allowing that? They claim no in the past but we have all seen the "Fucking mom in the ass" titles that keep getting through and leading to witch hunts so...if they're asking and going to use a lie is a way to ban a book/author, its not a bad thing rather than sweep site wide and remove books that aren't an issue

Erotica now has a list of categories to pick from but its very limited. One is romantic erotica and I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be selecting that even if its hardcore nasty smut because there's not a lot of viable options

 

[AchtungNight]

It may be under another name. Look for stories with adult ratings or themes. If you want something that’s a quick fun read with lots of explicit sex in addition to fun plot, I recommend the works of Elliot Kay. If you’re into Sci fi or supernatural stuff. The Romance section probably has sex stuff too. As for stroke stories, I’m not sure where to find them.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I don't have much experience with kdp outside of other peoples. I would avoid explicit titles and covers, to keep mine from being removed or shadow banned and let the others be the genea pigs

 

[Ada Stuart]

Amazon are definitely trying to get rid of their erotic books. They have suddenly banned several of my titles and eventually they terminated my account too. Then, 1 month later, they reopened it, only to terminate it again two days ago.
And my best-selling title which is a typical dark erotic romance is suddenly considered to be porn. I'm just....what the fuck?
So, bottom line, they keep changing their rules for the worse so anyone entering in keeping their account on Amazon should remove all erotic content and stick with (boring) regency romance. That seems to be the only genre they accept these days

 

[MillieDynamite]

Erotica is still there. After you select the main category, you can click the erotic under it.

Your title's current categories

• Kindle Books › Romance › Erotica ↗

 

[yibala]

As has been mentioned, Amazon has been banning some books and is apparently marginalizing books that self-report as erotica so they don't come up in most searches. I haven't seen any official statement on this or even a synopsis that I would vouch for as entirely accurate, but it's clear from a number of authors' firsthand reports that some Amazon policy change occurred early this year that has resulted in KDP authors' books being dropped and their sales taking a dip. The reddit link below discusses it, but as far as I know most of what is mentioned in that thread about Smashwords/D2D disappearing or discontinuing erotica later this year is not accurate.

Of course, what is and isn't erotica according to Amazon adds to the haziness of the issue.

https://www.reddit.com/r/selfpublish/comments/13wkyzn

-Yib

 

[Codoc24]

A couple of weeks ago, Amazon blocked one of my books that I published in February. They sent me an email, and all they said was it violated their guidelines. Even though I asked them 4 or 5 times which guideline and where in my book was the violation, they just kept sending me the same form email stating the same thing. I think I know where the violation is, but there are so many books on Amazon that are much more hard-core than mine is. They're not consistent at all. Really pisses me off. So I moved the book to Draft2Digital, and now selling on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and a few others.

 

[lc69hunter]

I regularly correspond with several of the Erotic Authors on Amazon, and just downloaded a story published on 07/23/23. If you put a specific kink into the Amazon Kindle search bar, you will not only find the stories, but the authors.

 

[Ada Stuart]

A couple of weeks ago, Amazon blocked one of my books that I published in February. They sent me an email, and all they said was it violated their guidelines. Even though I asked them 4 or 5 times which guideline and where in my book was the violation, they just kept sending me the same form email stating the same thing. I think I know where the violation is, but there are so many books on Amazon that are much more hard-core than mine is. They're not consistent at all. Really pisses me off. So I moved the book to Draft2Digital, and now selling on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and a few others.

Sounds familiar. This happened to me too. They let you guess what you did wrong, until you've messed up enough times and then you're out. Strang thing though: they terminated my account just before pay-day. Makes me wonder if there is a pattern there... (they can't pay so they kick you out and let you back in when they can).

Anyway, speaking to their support is like banging your head against a brick wall. I think they are all bots or whatever. I've appealed the termination about four times now with no success. So, I'm trying the same route as you do: publishing anythere else but Amazon.