A Call to Action - Help Defeat Censorship!!

I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this again, but I am.  Authors got word from Smashwords that Mark Coker is actively working with PayPal and credit card companies to work out a solution to the book banning that has been going on for the last week and a half.  He is not optimistic that a complete solution can be attained, but he is trying.

He asked that authors and readers realize this is not only PayPal, but credit card companies too.  Here are his exact words:

"Over the weekend, many Smashwords authors and publishers demanded we abandon PayPal and find a new payment processor. It's not so simple, and it doesn't solve the greater problem hanging over everyone's head. PayPal is trying to implement the requirements of credit card companies, banks and credit unions. This is where it's all originating. These same requirements will eventually rain down upon every other payment processor. PayPal is trying to maintain their relationships with the credit card companies and banks, just as we want to maintain our relationship with PayPal. People who argue PayPal is the evil villain and we should drop them are missing the bigger picture. Should we give up on accepting credit cards forever? The answer is no. This goes beyond PayPal. Imagine the implications if credit card companies start going after the major ebook retailers who sell erotica?"

Ominous!  A complete ban of legal content across all retailers.  This could go for traditional books and mainstream subjects.  Many books contain the banned subjects and many could be argued that it is for titillation.  Isn't a rape in a mystery novel for enjoyment?  Isn't that incest in your favorite romance novel titillating? 

Mark also goes on to say:

"What can you do to move things forward? First, direct your attention where it matters most. Contact your credit card company or congressperson and tell them you want financial services companies out of the business of censoring what writers and readers are free to imagine with fiction. Blog about it. Tweet about it. Contact your favorite blogger and encourage them to raise awareness. Start petitions and tell financial institutions you want their censors out of your head. Contact the media. The media, with your urging, has the power to shine a bright light on the dangerous slippery slope of censorship by financial institutions."

Here's the whole press release

Do your part to protect your right to read what you want to read.  If you are uncomfortable saying you read erotica, that's OK.  This is a free speech issue all citizens should care about.  I've included links to some news articles that will help you spread the word.  Link to these on your blog, tweet the URL or like them on Facebook.  Send your Congressional delegation an e-mail and ask them to stop this corporate censorship.  They may be as fearful as you are to support the subjects at the core of this debate, but they will sympathize with the free speech and corporate abuse of power aspects.  Just keep it general and they will listen.  The more of us that speak out, the more likely it will stop.

Read, tweet, like and blog about these articles:
The Consumerist: PayPal Tells E-Book Distributor To Remove Sexually Taboo Titles
ZDNet: PayPal Strong-Arms Indie Ebook Publishers Over Erotic Content
Huffington Post: PayPal Takes Controversial Stance Against Sex

To contact your Congressional delegation go here.

Smashwords Falls Victim to PayPal

I guess we knew it was bound to happen.  Mark Coker of Smashwords just dropped the bomb, not minutes ago.  PayPal has censored Smashwords.  First off let me hand it to Mark.  He handled this ten times better than All Romance eBooks and infinitely better than BookStrand who basically threw us indies under the bus, insinuating we took over their store and were uploading nothing but rape, underage and incest books while they are desperately trying to defend their own titles that violate their new TOS.

Mark was honest, supported erotica and called his decision "imperfect."  From Marks email:

"We think our authors should be allowed to publish erotica.  Erotica, despite the attacks it faces from moralists, is a category worthy of protection.  Erotica allows readers to safely explore aspects of sexuality that they might never want to explore in the real world.

The moralists forget that we humans are all sexual creatures, and the biggest sex organ is the brain.  If it were not the case, none of us would be here. Erotica authors are facing discrimination, plain and simple.  Topics that are perfectly acceptable in mainstream fiction are verboten in erotica.  That’s not fair.  Our decisions today are imperfect."

See the whole thing here.

PayPal is the culprit here and unfortunately retailers have little choice.  PayPal plays hard ball and if things aren't done the way they like, they can close their account and freeze funds for up to 180 days.  PayPal is a virtual monopoly and they manage to remain largely unregulated.  Smashwords was built around PayPal's payment processing engine.  Imagine if your bank closed your account and seized your money if you bought a sex toy or a Playboy with your ATM?  I am not a big fan of  government regulation, but what PayPal is doing borders on blackmail.

Call your Senator or Representative?  They are unlikely to stand up for step-cest.  PayPal knows that while many people find their behavior reprehensible few are willing to take a stand to defend fictional accounts of sex between step relations or "barely legal" sex.  This is why PayPal is dangerous.  I've heard they may consider consensual BDSM rape.  When will they insist retailers remove BDSM titles?  Or gay and lesbian titles?  When will they insist retailers pull down all erotica?

Take a stand.  Cancel your PayPal account and send them an email and tell them why.  Urge your friends to do the same.  Let them know what PayPal is doing.  Expose this not as an attack on certain kinds of erotica, but as an attack on free speech and personal liberties.  PayPal wants to be your moral conscience.  Are you going to let them get away with it?

Read more at:
http://virginia-wade-erotica.com/
http://www.katiecramer.com/
http://michellemccleod.blogspot.com/
http://remittancegirl.com/
http://selenakitt.com/

PayPal is at it Again!

Well, All Romance eBooks sent out their e-mail this afternoon.  Same story, different book seller.  To their credit, ARe is handling it much better.  They gave notice of the change in their TOS, but Pseudo Incest and Barely Legal seem to be the targets.  They have already pulled titles that violate the new TOS, including one of mine, Sister Takes Over.  Don't expect the promised sequel.

My publishing partner, Aimee Seoul, lost four titles.  Some other authors have lost half, two-thirds or even more of their catalogs.  Some have lost titles that have nothing do with PI or young girls because they used tags that suggested the book included that stuff to reach readers.  ARe is also splitting Romantic Erotica from Erotica.

Expect that to further marginalize erotica and make it harder to find and sell.  Romantic Erotica can include explicit sex scenes, but is more happily ever after and relationship based.  Much of my stuff is Romantic Erotica and it will likely end up there.  ARe is having all authors re-shelve their books in a week or so into the the new categories.  If ARe is your seller of choice, be warned.

So, that leaves Smashwords.  Everyone I know is wondering what Mark Coker will do.  Will he cave or will he drop PayPal.  I've seen some rumors that suggest he might drop PayPal, but they are rumors.  Amazon and Barnes & Noble are mostly immune, but their seems to be some monkey business with the pseudo incest rankings on Amazon, but who knows?  Amazon is big enough to tell just about anyone to pound sand.

I've also heard that PayPal also considers BDSM rape.  That is a rumor, but a scary one.  Tell that to all the loving, monogamous, well adjusted couples that enjoy BDSM play.  According to the PayPal rumor, they've been either committing rape or being rapped.  I hope that's not true.  That would really open up a can of worms and destroy many, many writers.

So, if you like legal sex between step relations, you could soon find yourself underground searching the Internet for quality stuff.  It's not that bad yet, but it seems to be heading that way.  Hopefully Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and maybe Smashwords, hold the line and support freedom of expression.  This has been a rough week and it looks to get rougher.

By the way, if you don't like this, send the retailers an email and tell them.  Send PayPal a polite e-mail, preferably one that details how you are closing your account and why.  I know it's hard to stand up for erotica, but if you don't do it, who will?  No one, that's who.  Stay tuned!

PayPal, BookStrand and Censorship - Part 2

Thanks for all of you who read my post yesterday about BookStrand and PayPal.  It is a sad situation.  Over the last 24 hours many prominent authors have left BookStrand all together, including me.  BookStrand also began taking down books yesterday before authors had a chance to do it themselves.  The really sad part is that they have not held their own titles to the same standard.  Many books published through BookStrand and their partner are still up even though they violate the new TOS.

It also appears that BookStrand changed their Terms of Service without informing authors.  It's hard to tell for sure, but there appears to be new restrictions on pseudo incest and barely legal content.  Nobody remembers those being their before and the cached page on Google is vastly different.  If true, BookStrand violated their TOS and basically broke a contract with their authors, assuming they had a clause that party had to be notified, but I can't find the TOS anymore to verify.  Most TOS's, and contracts in general, have that clause.  If both parties don't agree, what's the point.

So, where does this leave you?  If you are an author, I would avoid BookStrand.  I don't believe they support their authors or that they can be trusted.  That is purely my opinion, but look at how they treated me and my fellow erotica authors.  What genre is next?  Who will they censor next time?

If you are a reader and you can no longer find the books and authors you like to read at BookStrand, Smashwords and All Romance ebooks (links to the right ==>) are great alternatives and both actually give more to the author for each sale and it doesn't cost you a penny extra.  Of course, if you have a tablet, like an iPad, you can buy just about anywhere if you download the right apps (Kindle, Nook, iBooks, etc.)

I am also in the process of killing my account at PayPal.  I will no longer use them for anything.  What they are doing is perfectly legal, but that doesn't mean it's right.  If they want to enforce their morality on the world, they can do it without my money.  I suggest you look into doing the same.

"Goosestepping morons such as yourself should try reading books instead of burning them" - Professor Henry Jones