We knew Geek Love was hot when we created it. It’s got tentacle sex, robot rockin’, gamers rolling hot d20s, cosplay, Tesla, half-naked dwarves, hot gamer boys and girls… and that’s just in the first couple of stories and art. What we didn’t expect was that it would be too hot for Amazon:
Of course, we’re not saying Amazon should take us. They have the right to only take the books that fit within their very clear, stringent and consistently regulated content guidelines. Which are:
So, clearly it’s a good thing they don’t sell the wonderfully graphic Lost Girls or a book called Force Lactation and Rough Sex with My Busty Teen Niece: Licking My Aunt’s Milky Breasts (Taboo Erotica).
Oh. Wait.
(Note: I’m not knocking authors or books of sexually explicit work here, clearly, and I’m certainly not saying Amazon should take those books down. I think the whole world should sell sexy stuff. I am just commenting on the lack of consistency in enforcing guidelines here. Also: if someone makes me a t-shirt that says “What I Deem Offensive is Probably About What You Would Expect,” I’ll send you a free Geek Love ebook).
Thankfully, as with so many things in the world, those who are awesome get to reap the rewards of being awesome. And in this case, the awesomeness is DriveThruFiction. They’ve supported Geek Love (and, truly, all of Stone Box Press’s books) from the get-go. We’re even working with them to create a beautiful, hardcover, print-on-demand version of Geek Love for those who missed the Kickstarter.
And look at this, after just one day of sales:
Yeah, that pretty much rocks. For us, for erotica lovers, for the authors and artists, and for DriveThru. To all those who support us: Thank you. May your endings always be happy and your bookshelves be full.
Kiss kiss bang bang, s.
UPDATE: Amazon has now suspended our account based on the reasoning that we are violating policy with a book that they didn’t even let us publish. Which makes not an iota of sense to me, so much so that it makes me wonder if they’re attempting to punish me for being so outspoken about this whole event. To which I say: Go DriveThru. Go small companies that actually have customer service numbers and people who care. Go small presses. Go readers. Go to hell, Amazon.
~
UPDATE (4/2):
Wow. Amazon just called me to say that they saw I’d posted about the fiasco with Geek Love and that it was rejected in error and I could reopen our account and publish it there if I wanted to. The woman on the phone was very nice, but sounded quite surprised when I said, “Thanks, but we already went exclusive with another company because our experience with Amazon was so bad. We’re not interested in coming back.”
It’s economically beneficial too, since an e-cigarette can be used numerous occasions, does not develop highly toxic harmful smoke, or leaves any kind of ash or ugly residue. Quite a few related authorities put electric cigarettes under a lots of criticism. You should not hold yourself to too strict a food or exercise regimen; as long as you keep it at a reasonable level you will be fine.
I will immediately grasp
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Most likely, Amazon blocked your book to begin with because of the sex depicted on the cover. The stated rules are very arbitrary, but generally speaking, as long as you don’t have BLATANT sex position on the COVER. Amazon isn’t known for every reading any content that goes through their review process.
If you had petitioned they probably would have let it through a second time.
Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that they shouldn’t have such vague outlines to start; it just creates an umbrella clause where they can deny anything they want for any reason (that they won’t tell you).
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Oddly, while it appears that they are still selling my other books, my account is still suspended. I can’t get in at all.
Wow. Gotta love a monopoly when it starts acting REALLY arbitrarily!
Did the “temporary” suspension ever go away?
“Hottest items” … HA! Sorry that’s the 12 year old boy I used to be 20+ years ago.