I think Amazon KDP is hunkering down on Erotica. I spoke with someone for Draft2Digital, wondering why my account was denied for Amazon distribution - since 1/2 of my catalogue is Erotica and they told me :
So first email a day ago, I was told why my Amazon distribution was denied on Draft2Digital:
“The content being uploaded must be of sufficient length. Overly short works are not accepted by Amazon when using aggregate services to publish. You may have luck submitting via a KDP account as the rules governing direct accounts differ from those governing aggregate service accounts.”
And today I was told different:
“Thank you for reaching out to us. Due to how selective Amazon is in the content they accept from us, we ask that you work directly with them.”
I know Draft2Digital, when KDP first started did have issues with KDP, that is why they have a distribution with Amazon. I understand what the Draft2Digital Support person was saying, I with they would write that in the Terms of Service “that we are not accepting Erotica for Amazon Distribution” - that will help a lot of frustrated folks.
Yes, KDP is policing , so to speak with Erotica because , well, the main reason is KDP Headquarters is in India and India is a conservative country- for the most part people who are working for KDP Kindle Content Review think erotica is P*rn and it os offensive that is why it is at random, but , why so many erotica writers are getting terminated and it wasn’t the Author’s fault, it is the fact KDP Kindle Content folk are NOT trained right!
For Draft2Digital, this is where they distribute their books:
Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Scribd, Smashwords, Tolino, OverDrive, Bibliotheca, Baker & Taylor, BorrowBox, Hoopia, Vivlio and Palace Marketplace.
Except Erotica isn’t distributed to many of the places on Draft2Digital - here is the list due to “Erotica: The content is primarily of an erotic nature, intended to stir sexual desire.” (And we might as well include Amazon. Yes you might have some Draft2Digital books on Amazon, perhaps several years ago, but times are changing and Erotica is getting a bad rep…)
- OverDrive
- Bibliotheca
- Baker & Taylor
- Hoopla
- BorrowBox
- Palace Marketplace
Remember when having a website was a fun thing to promote your words/stories? That was late 1990s and up to 2016 era. Now everything is buy-buy-buy; sale-sale-sale.
Is there a home for us erotica writers? As the doors are closing more and more for us, which, is sad. I will add one more bookstore that I personally launched for this reason my website:
https://www.saltyvixenstories.com/shop-ebooks/
You can also sell your ebooks in addition to other stores. My commission is not that much to be honest:
https://www.saltyvixenstories.com/sell-your-erotica-ebook-here/
With that said, don’t give up, while KDP is starting to hunker down on erotica and random account terminations, continue publishing your work elsewhere that accepts Erotica 🙂
