PSA: Barnes and Noble has made keywords and publisher names unsearchable on their site. I hate to be the bearer of bad news twice in a week, but here we go again. This time it’s the folks over at Barnes and Noble. I’ve had reports (that I’ve now verified) that erotic keywords are being severely restricted. A search for “menage” comes… Read More
Hachette Authors Cry Censorship – Welcome to My World!
Hachette authors are crying “censorship!” Ursula K. Le Guin has been quoted as saying, “We’re talking about censorship: deliberately making a book hard or impossible to get, ‘disappearing’ an author.” Welcome to my world, Ms. Le Guin. Were you among the authors who, years ago when Amazon started banning erotica, slapping on the adult filter, making it generally difficult to… Read More
Banned (Erotic) Book Week 2014
It’s “banned books week” so of course I’m going to talk about banned books. Specifically, banned erotic books, since, that genre happens to be my bread and butter. Recently, Michelle Keep wrote a scathing (and oh-so-accurate) commentary about Amazon’s hypocritical stance on erotica. They advertised “banned books” in a public email, but behind the scenes, they continue to suppress erotica… Read More
Corporate Censorship: Keeping Your Erotic Books Off Retailer Hit Lists
Not surprisingly, this is a topic I’ve talked about before, but I just wrote up a new guideline for my Excessica authors (now that we’re taking new submissions and starting to distribute boxed sets) and realized–the rules have changed again. So I thought I would create another post letting you all know what (unofficial) rules still seem in place and others… Read More
Porn Hunt 2013: Gossip Boys “Researching” Porn Real Hard
One of my all-time favorite movie scenes is from Doubt. [youtube id=”7OmBXWA0Rfc”] A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew— I know none of you have ever done this—that night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt…. Read More
Amazon at it Again – Blocking Pseudoincest and Monster Sex!
Amazon is at it again. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore when Amazon decides to change the rules of publishing erotica on their site, but there are days when I feel like my career in this genre is a little bit like playing Calvinball. (Anyone else remember Calvin and Hobbes?) The only rules are the ones Amazon makes up… Read More
Nanny State Gone Wild in the UK
Well it’s happened to our friends across the pond. The Prime Minister has made it official – pornography will be blocked by default on the Internet in the UK unless you choose to “opt in” to receive it. (And of course, if you do “opt in,” your name will be forwarded to a UK government agency in charge of overseeing citizens… Read More
Survival Tips for the Pornocalypse 2 (Erotica Readers Unite!)
Last week I wrote about Amazon’s latest push to get erotica out of the sight (and presumably out of the minds) of readers. But while this Pornocalypse continues, and I’ve given writers tips on how to survive Amazon’s jackboot on the throat of their genre, I now want to give erotica readers hope for their reading future! Look, I hate… Read More
Survival Tips for the Pornocalypse (Erotica Writers Get Armed and Ready!)
The Pornocalypse has begun. Amazon continues filtering erotica out of their All Department Search in large numbers. Don’t stick your head in the sand and think it’s going to all go away. By then, it may be too late. It’s time for you, as an erotica writer, to take action. (And erotica readers, if you stumbled across this, you too!)… Read More