A Blessing from Your Wee Bit of Irish Hostess

May you always have good books to read, good friends to laugh with, and good lovers to cuddle!

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Off-world babes. Jim Kirk would be in heaven.

Amazon Is Going Further to Hide Erotica...Even When You're Looking for It!

Well, if the weirdness with Red Phoenix's latest release, The Keeper Finds Her Mate (Keeper of the Pack #2), wasn't bad enough, Amazon is now hiding erotica books even when you're looking for them.

Late Wednesday night, I started poking around Amazon by entering my favorite authors or erotica writers I've met online. I got some interesting search results. If one or more of that author's books has been flagged with the dreaded ADULT label, those books won't show up, even you go to the Books>Kindle submenu. And it is more than one writer that this is happening to:

To get around the ADULT label, some authors, like Selena Kitt, are going through their library and changing covers and titles.

This is the original cover of Selena's book Connections and is still used on the Excessica storefront. Excessica is a cooperative of erotica authors headed by Selena.

By the time I downloaded the book from Amazon on July 25, 2012, Selena had to digitally add a bikini to the cover model, but the book was still listed as erotica.

(By the way, this is the cover that still appears on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.)

Jump forward to the Kernel Pornocalypse in October of 2013. Everything labeled as erotica was getting banned, regardless of how covered the models were.

So Selena tried a different tactic. Not only did she create a brand-new cover, she changed the category of the book. It is no longer in Erotica, but listed as New Adult.

In this case, a reasonable argument can be made that the story is New Adult. There's only one sex scene, and it's not all that graphic. Also, Selena would be the first to warn against misleading readers.

But to paraphrase a statement Kallypso Masters made on Facebook during the Red Phoenix incident earlier this week, just how many hoops do writers have to jump through?

And she's got a point.

How long will Amazon continue to pretend it's not selling erotica? And why are their rules so arbitrary?

DH commented that putting out a defined set of rules means people will twist them to get away with things. I responded that many of us are already gaming the system to get around Amazon's undefined rules that we are figuring out.

I guess the point of all this rambling is why does Amazon make it so hard to find things that readers do want to read. Is it worth pissing off readers by hiding things, or in Red Phoenix's case, refusing to put something up for sale without saying why, thereby unleashing hordes of furious fans?

And at what point are we writers going to piss off the readers by gaming the system, changing a blurb too far to where the readers feel betray?

Why the hell can't we just call a duck as duck?

Erotica Readers Rebel over Amazon's Vague Rules

Back in January, I talked about how erotica writers were adapting to the 2013 Pornocalypse.

Part of the problem has always been Amazon's guidelines.

Pornography

We don't accept pornography or offensive depictions of graphic sexual acts.

Offensive Content

What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect.

Since the guidelines are so vague, the actual criteria changes from month-to-month, leaving writers guessing about what sets off Amazon's version of the Stepford Wives. Erotica writers have banded together to deduce the triggers that send the Wives into a frenzy, and the guidelines put out by Selena Kitt and others erotica writers have been stable for all of three months.

Apparently, Amazon has new criteria that once again, they told no one about.

Yesterday, Red Phoenix's much awaited book, The Keeper Finds Her Mate (Keeper of the Wolves #2) was blocked on Amazon, even though it was already for sale on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Red posted the e-mail she received on her Facebook page in hopes that someone could figure out what it was that Amazon objected to:

During our review process, we found that your book contains content that is in violation of our content guidelines. Our content guidelines apply to the book interior, as well as cover image, title and/or product descriptions. As a result, we will not be offering this book for sale.

Several experienced erotica authors and readers looked at the public information. No naked boobs or butts on the cover. The wolf refers to the fact that the characters are werewolves, not that the book contains bestiality, exactly the same as the first book in the series.

Blurb
Layla took on the role as Keeper after her mother’s untimely death. She succeeded in her first Bonding Ritual, but is surprised by the forbidden act she must perform every full moon. A whole new future opens up when she is rescued from certain death by an unknown wolf. Will the strength of her bond with the four Alphas overcome the desire to deny her fate and start a new life with another?

Warning: 18+ This book contains scenes that some readers may find objectionable. 

A couple of folks thought maybe "forbidden," "mate," or "objectionable" might have added to Amazon's No-no List of Naughty Words.

But we'll never know for sure because Red's fans stepped in. And they were pissed!

Facebook statuses flew spreading the word of what Amazon had done to their favorite author. They sent furious e-mails to Amazon, then turned around and bought the book from the other retailers carrying it.

Red still hadn't figured out how to respond to Amazon when The Keeper Finds Her Mate suddenly went live at noon EDT today. While Amazon would never admit it, Red gives full credit to her legions of fans who demanded that her book be made available to them.

As of the writing of this post (it's just after 7PM CDT), Red is climbing the bestseller list:

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,163 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #26 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal > Werewolves & Shifters
  • #55 in Books > Romance > Paranormal

So what the hell was Amazon thinking by blocking this book? Or was someone in KDP getting a little too power-trippy?

Three Low-Key Tips for Discovery

A lot of writers will dismiss what I'm about to say. Americans are very big about doing something, but that something has to be BIG in and of itself.

Why?

Because the myth is that you have to do something big to get big results.

It doesn't take big actions to get attention for you and your books. A lot of little things add up.

1) Comment on other writers' blogs.

Why? For one thing, you'll get to know folks who are in the same position you are. The camaraderie helps get through the trials and tribulations of the career. For a second, you'll have cross-pollination when your readers and theirs see that you're friends.

2) Interact with your readers.

It's always a thrill getting that first personal contact from a reader, whether it be by e-mail, snail mail, FB or tweet. Always acknowledge the contact. The personal touch will go a lot further than you realize. You've made the reader feel special, and they are more likely to recommend you to friends because you took the time to write back.

Caveat: Don't respond to non-direct communication, i.e. reviews. It makes some readers very uncomfortable, and you may inadvertently launch a flaming on yourself.

3) Keep writing.

This is the one every new writer forgets. If someone likes your first book, they will want to read your next. If you haven't written it, they have nothing to buy. And if they have to wait too long, they will forget about you.

So keep writing!

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Since ABC cancelled Killer Women, here's some alternates for you.

I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing...

Over at The Passive Voice, indie authors discuss trends and data and writing and readers. Normally, we find all sorts of interesting tidbits that help to clarify our career decisions, trigger story ideas in underserved genres and generally give us a better understanding of the exploding universe that is the publishing industry.

But lately, there's been an odd little comment that pops up with great  regularity whenever a new idea is presented.

"What's in this for me?"

Needless to say, Annoyed Writer has said this. But others have that well...I thought they knew better.

What is it with the need for instant gratification in our culture? Why does someone else have give these people a step-by-step instruction manual on how to interpret data that MAY help their individual case? Who do they think they are to demand such things in the first place?

What it really comes down to is these people have no faith in their own talent. Why doesn't someone GIVE them the Magic Formula (TM)? Why work harder when all they have to do is find that blasted Magic Formula (TM)? Because they KNOW people are deliberately hiding it from them!

And even when they don't believe in the Magic Formula (TM), then the reason they aren't raking in the money has to be because other writers are holding them back! They moan that all the other writers and all the other genres should just GO AWAY! If the field was totally clear, then EVERYONE would buy their books!

Um, no, kids. It doesn't work like that. The reason the BHPs have been seeing slow, steady losses over the last decade is because they weren't giving readers the stories that they wanted.

Yes, revenue is dropping, mainly because the middleman is being cut out of the deal which means lower prices for consumers. Reading and unit sales are rising. More of the revenue is going to writer pockets. It's a win-win situation for both readers (more variety) and writers (more money).

However, if you're new to the indie game, it takes time to build a backlist. It takes time to build a fanbase. It takes time to market your stories. Some writers think they were promised a rose garden with 20's and 50's hanging on the thorrny branches.

Please show me who promised y'all this because I sure as hell didn't. And I want one of these magical rose bushes.

I also want a lightsabre and the U.S.S. Enterprise-D while you're at it.

In the meantime, only you can make your career decisions. I can't. No one can, but you.

Have faith in yourself. Have fun. And if something doesn't work, then the lovely thing about indie publishing is that you can change it.

When Will I Be Good Enough?

A friend commented in an e-mail about how intense my blogs were last week. I had to think about my reactions to the subject matter, and I believe I figured out the commonality.

"You're not good enough."

Even though only one particular incident was aimed directly at me, that was the gist for most of the people I mentioned in last weeks' posts. I've heard this refrain my entire life, and it still pisses me off.

I wasn't good enough for my mother. Why couldn't I be athletic like my sister and brother? Why couldn't I be a pretty cheerleader like my cousin Stephanie? Why couldn't I stop embarrassing my mother by speaking my mind?

It continued through school, but now my peers and teachers piled on. Why was I such a nerd getting straight A's? Why couldn't I get a boyfriend? Why couldn't I dress right?

And it carried through my adult years. I wasn't good enough because I refused to sleep with a boss. I wasn't good enough because I wasn't employed at a big law firm. I wasn't good enough because I wouldn't work for free.

When I started writing, the rejections and the angst only added to the miasma of insecurity. Ironically, what helped, really, really helped, was indie publishing. Trusting my voice. Trusting my talent. Trusting myself.

The put-downs haven't gone away.

I had an indie writer bitch me out for congratulating another writer who was ecstatic about signing with a publisher. It's not my life; it's not my career. If this particular person was happy with her decision, then I would support her.

I also had a trad published writer tell me that since I had made a trad sale last year, then maybe now I could get an agent. There's something wonderful in having a little self-confidence. I simply asked her why I needed one if I could make my own sales.

It took me nearly fifty years to learn not to let people make me feel inferior. Sometimes, I think I would have learned that lesson a lot sooner if  had someone in my life had been willing to stick up for me.

So yes, that's why I get passionate when I see someone bullied or put  down. I know what it feels like, and I want the recipient of such treatment to know they're are not alone.

Educating Snow - BAMF Girls Club Ep. 15

Snow White's in for an education when she joins the BAMF Girls House!

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Sharon Stone should have been #1. Just sayin'.