LOL – True, true it IS a classic. It’s just a maddening double standard, I don’t deal well with those. I subscribe the George Carlin perspective on standards “One will do just fine”.

But you’re dead on, it’s all in how you market it I guess. We’ve become so used to being bullshitted at every turn that we don’t know how to cope when something presents itself honestly.

I don’t suppose they’ll be pull Game of Thrones off the shelves anytime soon either, more than enough incest, rape and violence in there to keep things rolling. “Oh but that’s okay because it’s in a ‘fantasy’ setting with dragons and magic…AND it’s making all this money!”, which is the hook isn’t it?…

Sorry, I’m ranting again – I sent a more coherent one off to Kobo as they seemed to be the most egregious offender. That was cathartic, not that I expect any form of satisfactory response from them but the venting helped temper the outrage.

With the packaging (circling back around) I guess it’s about what is technically correct. The best kind of correct. Technically, it IS a “personal massager” as that’s what it was originally designed to be…it just so happens that it’s an awesome vibrator as well (and likely sells more for that purpose than anything else). They can still feel “good and clean” about their image, while taking our money for it even though they know the real reason why it’s selling. No one’s giving them grief about it so why rock the boat?

…I’m gonna stop before I ramble into a comment that’s longer than your post 🙂

But it’s a classic!

See, the thing is, it’s all about the wrapping paper. Joshua and I were in the store today and saw a ‘personal massager’ and he said that’s what Amazon wants. I knew it was a vibrator. He knew it was a vibrator. But calling it a ‘personal massager’ is so much less crass.

So there won’t be any more virgins, there will be innocent people. There won’t be any more rapes, there will be uncertain desires. There won’t be any more incest, there will be close relationships.

Dress it up and you can get away with anything, just don’t tell readers what it really is.

I think this will also reduce the amount of writers and variety. There comes a point where eventually only the really dedicated will keep jumping through these hoops.

I personally love connecting with our fans, just because I genuinely enjoy talking with people, especially about our passions. And it just so happens our writing is a passion!

http://store.kobobooks.com/Search/Query?Query=%22Mein%20Kampf%22

http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mein%20kamph

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/mein-kampf?store=allproducts&keyword=mein+kampf

Excuse me, I have some angry emails to write…

I buy most of my books on Amazon and read on my Kindle or in my Cloud Reader.
I also have the Kindle APP on my PC and buy books on Smashwords and other sites E.G. Blushing Books or Pink Flamingo.
The second category goes into my ‘downloads’ folder where I open it with the APP.
Indie writers are going to have to, if they don’t already, promote themselves more than they do:
1) Have a website and/or join with other writers in blogging.
2) Write a newsletter. Be reachable by email/tweet.
3) Join Goodreads.

Thanks a lot! : )

Though I like the convenience of having my library connected to a single account, Amazon’s history of bluntly pulling purchased books off of selection is rather offputting. It’s the kind of thing that makes me like to shop elsewhere for that reason alone.

In the meantime though, most of our sales come from there so I’m glad the bulk of our work is untouched! Crossing my fingers.

Well unless things change, I know I personally couldn’t make a living off of writing without Amazon, and I suspect the same is true for most other indie authors. They make up 70% of our sales, and anecdotally I know that to be about the same for other authors we’re involved with.

I sincerely hope Amazon gets knocked down a few pegs and the sea of vendors to sell our books upon becomes more of an open and even playing field, because as is Amazon has a stranglehold on the market. A lot of careers will hinge on the whims of that company, on whether they wish to ban certain books, or even whether they care to up their fee.

Precisely. The only endgame for this kind of censorship is more inconvenience for readers, both those who want the content and don’t.

Like most instances of moral outrage, the results are self-defeating.