Anybody else here get dumped by Amazon for their erotic stories?

[AmberSolis]

I've been reading stories on Literotica for probably five or six years. I'm a writer, in other genres, and I make a living at it. But wouldn't you know it, erotica has always been a secret passion. Last February, I started publishing on Amazon, under this name.
For a complete unknown, with no advertising, things were going very well. For six months I published 12 stories on their site. I was building up readership, getting reviews, fan mail, etc. Starting to make a dollar or two off it, as well!

In August of 2022, they changed their rules to include "no explicit depictions of sex," or words to that effect. And they dumped me! I made three appeals. I pointed out how there were many authors still publishing sexually explicit erotica, still, to this day! And it seemed arbitrary to single me out. And these were all stories that had been vetted by their own approval process.

Well, it's their circus. So, hasta la vista, baby.

I published my first story in Literotica, I think it went live on the 18th. And in three days it's got 12,000+ views, ratings by 180+ individuals, and more fan mail and comments than I ever saw on Amazon. I never saw anything like these numbers on Amazon.

Now I'm wondering: why did I ever bother with them, in the first place?

Am I the only one? I'm betting I'm not.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Now I'm wondering: why did I ever bother with them, in the first place?

Money.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Amazon will accept an erotic story, only to throw it out a few months later. In my experience, arguing with them gets you nowhere. So, instead I do the following:
- tone down the brief summary (basically removing all explicit sex and swearwords)
- replace the cover if it's too explicit
- check the entire text for trigger words that will alert their automatic vetting process (f.ex "rape") and replace those with others
- republish that story a few weeks/months later and hoping for the best (they probably have about a thousand people doing the vetting so personal taste seems to play a big part in getting your stories published or not)

That said, you can always publish the same story on Smashwords and Google Play.

As for comments and followers, Literotica is the best place, but I like to pay my bills too. And I like my stories to be published under my pen name and not by someone stealing it from Lit

 

[lovecraft68]

This has been going on since amazon went from being built by indy authors to then catering to the mainstream publishers and doing what they can to ban or just push indy's out, especially in their dirty little secret, erotica.

Years ago they banned anything with the words mom, dad, mommy sis etc in title and descriptions even though it was 'step incest" which they allow. They still allowed the content, but you couldn't be blatant, kind of wrap up the dirty stuff all nice and pretty.

Go search the words mom/daddy and others now and see how many titles come up because they're back to being lax in general, but as the OP learned if they just get a bug up their ass about you, you're gone even with literally thousands of books with the same content.

Kind of like this site is run.

But at some point they will do another major witch hunt and all the rule breakers will lose their accounts, but not after they made bank while the people who follow the rules scrape by with a fraction of what they used to make.

For those who don't know it, in their TOS amazon declares they allow no pornographic material. But have hundreds of thousands of erotic e-books and other adult items. So in theory they could wipe everything out even though they allowed it since day one.

Also, and I still think this is in the TOS somewhere, your book can be banned for offensive content. This is their definition of said content "If its offensive to you, then its likely offensive to us" very detailed guidelines there.

Also like here except a blocked story here doesn't cost you money

 

[lovecraft68]

That said, you can always publish the same story on Smashwords and Google Play.

Fun fact Google play will not allow the term Milf in a title or description because apparently at some point someone found out what it stood for and got all moral over it. Even amazon isn't that bad.

 

[CJLahrainn]

AmberSolis, was your entire account removed or do you mean the erotica has been dungeoned or removed?

 

[AmberSolis]

Money.

AmberSolis, was your entire account removed or do you mean the erotica has been dungeoned or removed?

Entire account removed, and I was permanently banned.

 

[KeithD]

I have over 250 works at Amazon (through publishers) and only had two tossed out by Amazon since 2006. Some of the older ones don't come up in listings unless you pursue them by title, though, which is a nuisance. Probably 200 of them include explicit sex.

All along I've had the attitude of get into the market while it's hot with the knowledge it won't last long. The market is no longer hot because it's become saturated with offerings, but, to my surprise, it's held longer than I anticipated--with sexual content one of the reasons I assumed it wouldn't last forever.

And the reason why you'd post to Amazon over doing so at Literotica? Money, of course (was this a trick question?). But you don't really have to do one or the other. I do both.

 

[CJLahrainn]

Entire account removed, and I was permanently banned.

I'm sorry to hear that. Amazon treats writers like garbage, and I don't think that's a controversial opinion. There's a ton of stuff that violates Amazon's rules (murky as they are) that doesn't even get removed, let alone having the account suspended. I'd love that Amazon money, but Smashwords is a lot safer, especially for erotica. Maybe you can find a home there? It would be great if more writers went with SW, honestly, because growing a competitor is the only way to break Amazon's stranglehold on the independent ebook market.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm sorry to hear that. Amazon treats writers like garbage, and I don't think that's a controversial opinion. There's a ton of stuff that violates Amazon's rules (murky as they are) that doesn't even get removed, let alone having the account suspended. I'd love that Amazon money, but Smashwords is a lot safer, especially for erotica. Maybe you can find a home there? It would be great if more writers went with SW, honestly, because growing a competitor is the only way to break Amazon's stranglehold on the independent ebook market.

There was some concern with D2D buying Smashwords that they might start censoring erotica because they're all about kowtowing to Amazon. However, I was in contact with Mark Coker who informed me he is staying on the board and is also going to be running the smashwords store(name will change to D2D) and there will be no changes to concent there.

SW/D2D is 100% all about indy publishers and I agree more people need to publish there and stop wasting time on amazon unless they're lucky enough to be making decent money, because otherwise they're not worth the angst they cause.

 

[CJLahrainn]

There was some concern with D2D buying Smashwords that they might start censoring erotica because they're all about kowtowing to Amazon. However, I was in contact with Mark Coker who informed me he is staying on the board and is also going to be running the smashwords store(name will change to D2D) and there will be no changes to concent there.

Yep, I read your post.

I was concerned, and still am a bit, but not too much. While the taboo writers all go to SW, my stuff would probably be fine on Amazon, it's just not worth the worry, especially since I'm thinking of trying some non-erotic writing and want the Amazon market. What they need is for romance writers to start going wide, selling to every market, and not Amazon exclusive, but those KU page reads add up, apparently.

BTW, do you know if it's true that Kindle is going to start supporting epub? I've heard it is, and that might help a little.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yep, I read your post.

I was concerned, and still am a bit, but not too much. While the taboo writers all go to SW, my stuff would probably be fine on Amazon, it's just not worth the worry, especially since I'm thinking of trying some non-erotic writing and want the Amazon market. What they need is for romance writers to start going wide, selling to every market, and not Amazon exclusive, but those KU page reads add up, apparently.

BTW, do you know if it's true that Kindle is going to start supporting epub? I've heard it is, and that might help a little.

I haven't heard anything about that. I'd be surprised if they did seeing Mobi is exclusive to them. Despite being a PIA with content, they're super easy to upload too.
I never did the exclusive free programs, seems like most people don't make much money on them.

 

[Codoc24]

Yep, I read your post.

I was concerned, and still am a bit, but not too much. While the taboo writers all go to SW, my stuff would probably be fine on Amazon, it's just not worth the worry, especially since I'm thinking of trying some non-erotic writing and want the Amazon market. What they need is for romance writers to start going wide, selling to every market, and not Amazon exclusive, but those KU page reads add up, apparently.

BTW, do you know if it's true that Kindle is going to start supporting epub? I've heard it is, and that might help a little.

I use Atticus software to write with and it will export in epub format and the Kindle Preview app opens it just fine.

 

[gordo12]

BTW, do you know if it's true that Kindle is going to start supporting epub? I've heard it is, and that might help a little.

I read that somewhere and was concerned about whether or not my older kindle fire would be able to handle epub. Mobi is to be deprecated.

 

[CJLahrainn]

I read that somewhere and was concerned about whether or not my older kindle fire would be able to handle epub. Mobi is to be deprecated.

I just spent a little time reading about it, and it looks like if you have Mobi files in your library, they should work, though might lack some features. Apparently you can install epub reading software on a Kindle Fire: https://www.wikihow.com/Read-ePubs-on-Kindle-Fire

But now I'm wondering about my several generations old Paperwhite, which I think will be obsolete.

 

[lovecraft68]

I read that somewhere and was concerned about whether or not my older kindle fire would be able to handle epub. Mobi is to be deprecated.

If I'm not mistaken isn't E-pub what Barnes and Nobel's Nook uses? Why would Amazon shift to that?
As for me, I don't have a kindle so my only concern would be is it going to affect publishing there, but I guess they'll just start grinding our docs into e-ub instead of mobi.

I think Calibre can convert any format to any other format.

 

[gordo12]

You're right. Not that I want a laborious process to read stories!

I think Calibre can convert any format to any other format.

"Once you’ve admired the list of books you just added to your heart’s content, you’ll probably want to read one. In order to do that you’ll have to convert the book to a format your reader understands. When first running calibre, the Welcome wizard starts and will set up calibre for your reader device. Conversion is a breeze. Just select the book you want to convert then click the “Convert books” button. Ignore all the options for now and click “OK”. The little icon in the bottom right corner will start spinning. Once it’s finished spinning, your converted book is ready. Click the “View” button to read the book.

If you want to read the book on your reader, connect the reader to the computer, wait till calibre detects it (10-20 seconds) and then click the “Send to device” button. Once the icon stops spinning again, disconnect your reader and read away! If you didn’t convert the book in the previous step, calibre will auto convert it to the format your reader device understands."

 

[gordo12]

PS. I noted that Calibre no longer accepts .doc last time I used it. It has to be docx.

 

[R. Richard]

I publish on Amazon and/or Smashwords. Don't ask why they banned you. Instead, ask what you need to do to comply with their rules. It might not work, but at least you tried. By the way, your short or long description need not really reflect the content of your story, keep it clean but coded such that the tony cognoscenti will at least try. Good luck.

 

[Emotional]

There is an important check box that says.
Does this book contain language, situations, or images inappropriate for children under 18 years of age?

If you clicked no, and it does that could be an issue.

 

[lovecraft68]

There is an important check box that says.
Does this book contain language, situations, or images inappropriate for children under 18 years of age?

If you clicked no, and it does that could be an issue.

I think if you pick erotica as a category it automatically sets the age for 18+ or at least I thought so.
But a trick used by hardcore erotica authors to skirt scrutiny is they put their book under romance not erotica and generally get away with it unless someone reports it.

 

[AmberSolis]

I always checked the box for erotic content. And every story started with a note saying this was an erotic fantasy for adults only.

And they didn't give me a chance to re-write. They went straight to permanent ban. What they pinned the whole thing on was "no graphic depictions of sex." A line that was not in the guidelines when I started with them.

And yet, their metaphorical shelves are packed with thousands of other erotic titles.

If I wanted to get treated so arbitrarily, I'd have just kept on with traditional publishers!

 

[Euphony]

If I'm not mistaken isn't E-pub what Barnes and Nobel's Nook uses? Why would Amazon shift to that?
As for me, I don't have a kindle so my only concern would be is it going to affect publishing there, but I guess they'll just start grinding our docs into e-ub instead of mobi.

I think Calibre can convert any format to any other format.

Ebook is pretty wide adopted. The Goliath that is Amazon kept mobi going and thriving when epub was more than okay.

I use a Kobo (technically KEpub to unlock every tiny feature but even picky me no longer bothers it's that unnecessary) and all manner of phones, tablets, and preferred apps across both, and prefer epub core.

Calibre *can* convert mobi to epub but it's garbage in/garbage out and lotta bad Amazon mobis (esp. older/early ebooks) out there and inexact results can happen even all systems go.

And azw is another format Amazon has in store.

Table of contents functionality loves to break and that's pretty critical when page numbers are often depreciated in ebooks.

Love Calibre but getting epub core is best practice. Calibre is more when you can't.

 

[SexualisPhantasia]

I publish on Amazon and/or Smashwords. Don't ask why they banned you. Instead, ask what you need to do to comply with their rules. It might not work, but at least you tried. By the way, your short or long description need not really reflect the content of your story, keep it clean but coded such that the tony cognoscenti will at least try. Good luck.

Have you had a lot of success in selling your books for down load?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Did anyone else see the announcement from Smashwords concerning the library distribution agreement with The Palace Project?"

There is specific mention of "Palace Marketplace accepts most categories of books except erotica."

How exactly is this identified? In the settings for a book on Smashwords, the phrase used to identify "adult content" is: "To protect minors from viewing inappropriate material, please let us know if this book contains language, situations or images inappropriate for children under 18 years of age."

The descriptions are ambiguous and leave room for a lot of interpretation.