Ruby JonesAug 8, 2023

Rubbish news, everyone!

After 2 years on sale with no objections, Oviposition has been removed from Amazon. They say is violates their ToS, but I can't see any way that's true.

They allow erotica and it's all my own work.

I've responded to ask what they think it violated, but don't know if that will make any difference.

I'm not sure there's much you folks can do to help me, but maybe consider buying one of my other books? #erotica #kdp #KindleDirectPublishing #Oviposition #Tentacles

Show threadErotic Mythology ✊Aug 8, 2023

@RubyJones Oh no, that fucking sucks! 😔
I had one of my books taken down overnight too. I wouldn't put much hope into getting a reply. I've tried so many times in the past finding out why a book was blocked and I never got a human to respond even a single time.

If you are looking for a new home for the story: Kobo has a subscription service similar to KU. Not sure about how shit the pay is. Smashwords also has a "pay what you want" option but only one single person ever paid for my shortie 😅

Show threadRuby JonesAug 8, 2023

@AimeeMaroux Thanks, I'll check out the Kobo.

It feels like they're doing a lot more random take downs lately - I've seen a lot of people complaining.

Show threadErotic Mythology ✊Aug 8, 2023
@RubyJones Amazon wants to cash in on the erotic content but without acknowledging they sell erotica, much less value the writers.
These smack-downs usually come after someone found erotica on Amazon and publicly complained about it.
Show threadRuby JonesAug 8, 2023

@AimeeMaroux They have bloody book categories for erotica - this is what makes me so mad. It was in the erotica category. It had a warning for non-con. I know for a fact they sell countless non-erotic books with non-con.

But they just replied to confirm that my content was in violation without saying why. I'm livid!

Show threadErotic Mythology ✊
@RubyJones Yeah, I know. The one of mine they removed was non-con too.
I'm not sure if they explicitly disallow it in their ToS but what is the most likely is that either someone flagged the book or they added something to the algorithm that determines if the book is on the index.
Smashwords does allow non-con, so it might be worth considering. It's not Amazon in terms of size but people do go there particularly to buy erotica.
Aug 8, 2023 at 7:38pmWeb
Show threadRuby JonesAug 8, 2023
@AimeeMaroux I've literally only had people buy from Smashwords if it's on sale. People *will* go there, but they seem to need incentive. I will try uploading it there, because why not, but I'm not well enough to do it right now.
Show threadErotic Mythology ✊Aug 8, 2023
@RubyJones One of the erotica writers I met on Twitter, Alana Church, sells exclusively on Smashwords and makes good money. But I think it's a different game than Amazon. Especially if you don't want to do a lot of marketing, Amazon and KU is nice because it gives a little even if you don't advertise.
I personally just got tired of Amazon's bullshit and pulled my books from KU but it's not an easy decision to make if KU makes up a significant part of a writer's income.
Show threadRuby JonesAug 8, 2023

@AimeeMaroux I just find most people I sell to strongly prefer Amazon, even when I offer options. Whereas I've only had one person say they would only buy if it wasn't on Amazon.

Maybe it's easier to just pull out of Amazon if you're more established, but for me it's absolutely clear that I would lose the vast majority of my sales.

Show threadErotic Mythology ✊Aug 8, 2023
@RubyJones Are we talking KU or Amazon in general? Because of course my books are still on Amazon (minus the one they blocked), excluding the platform entirely would be too harsh on me too!
But without KU I can publish the books on other platforms and I think it makes up for the KU money, though it did take a while.