Amazon Censorship Expands

[MaggieScratch]

The reason people want to sell ebooks on Amazon is that it's EASY for people with Kindles to buy them via their Kindle. However, it seems to me that this is not the type of book that will appeal to a wide audience, and that the audience for this book, knowing that such books are difficult to purchase at a mainstream ebook retailer, might be very willing to seek out a separate site, purchase the book in Mobi format (which another site could very well sell) and either e-mail it or sideload it to their Kindles. And of course the publisher could also offer it in ePub or whatever other format they liked.

Frankly it sounds like a great business opportunity for some bright young techy person. How do you think Ellora's Cave started? It was a niche publisher for writers of erotic fiction who had difficulty finding publishers. Readers who liked those kind of books gravitated to their site, to the extent that mainstream publishers realized what they were missing out on and began publishing that type of work after all.

Such a site won't be another Amazon, but it might make a tidy profit. I won't ask for a royalty for using my idea. You're welcome. ;-)

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by nguirado

I didn't bring up the Patriot Act. .

You certainly did, in the quoted post.

[nashira]

I have to wonder if some of the irritation is because people with kindles don't necessarily use the internet otherwise, and therefore shop only in the Kindle Store? Some of them might not even have access to a full computer.

[carld]

Originally Posted by boxcorner

Did I say it didn't?

Obviously, it has all sorts of consequences:

• Possibly, who knows, it might delight some non-religious non-homophobic pacifists, who find a "how to" book about homosexual rape offensive, because sexual rape involves violence?
  

"How to Rape a Straight Guy" is not an instruction manual. It is a work of fiction with a provocative title.

[WT Sharpe]

Poor Amazon. They publish a how-to book on pedophilia and get boycotted. They get scared and refuse to publish a book with the provocative title "How to Rape a Straight Guy" (though not an instruction manual) and get boycotted.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

Agreed. But I would argue that Amazon is acting as a publisher in this instance, so we would have to look at its share of the overall publishing market.


Even if it were applied based on ebook share, I don't think that would work, either. I heard there were certain books and movies that Walmart won't sell. I don't believe anyone has brought an antitrust suit against them.

That would be because it would be ridiculously easy to just buy it from somewhere else instead. For some reason Kindles don't have a "shop at Smashwords" option in their menu.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by boxcorner

[*]Possibly, who knows, it might delight some non-religious non-homophobic pacifists, who find a "how to" book about homosexual rape offensive, because sexual rape involves violence?

It is a fictional book where a fictional character is raped by another fictional character. Something that happens in lots and lots of books, films, comics, even TV soaps.

It is precisely this attitude that people must be saved from being exposed to fictional violence that is the problem. Anyone who doesn't want to read fictional violence can easily avoid doing so. Especially when the book's title and/or cover image makes it obvious which ones should be avoided. So why try to inflict their choices on everyone else?

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by nashira

I have to wonder if some of the irritation is because people with kindles don't necessarily use the internet otherwise, and therefore shop only in the Kindle Store? Some of them might not even have access to a full computer.

Bingo. In other words, precisely the type of people that Amazon markets the Kindle towards. Maybe some monopolies commision should force them to add other sources of ebooks to their menu, like the way Microsoft was forced to offer a choice of internet browser. Only then will it not really matter when Amazon decides to remove books on a whim.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by carld

"How to Rape a Straight Guy" is not an instruction manual. It is a work of fiction with a provocative title.

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

It is a fictional book ... So why try to inflict their choices on everyone else?

I know, that's why I put the "how to" in quotation marks.

[carld]

Putting "how to" in quotes doesn't really change the meaning in that instance.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by boxcorner

That's why I put the "how to" in quotation marks.

I hope somebody at Amazon reads this thread and reconsiders their decision. You're probably the victim of bad timing more than anything else. That, and someone in the decision making process at Amazon who could use a dose of common sense.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by carld

Putting "how to" in quotes doesn't really change the meaning in that instance.

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

... You're probably the victim of bad timing more than anything else ...

What I wrote was:

Possibly, who knows, it might delight some non-religious non-homophobic pacifists, who find a "how to" book about homosexual rape offensive, because sexual rape involves violence?

Read the line without the two words in quotation marks.

Possibly ... it might delight ... pacifists, who find ... a ... book about ... rape ... because ... involves violence?

NOT

Possibly ... it might delight ... pacifists, who find a "how to" book about ... rape ...?

In other words, possibly pacifists might find works of fiction about rape offensive, who knows?

With the benefit of hindsight, I should have worded what I wrote more carefully, perhaps something like this:

Possibly, who knows, it might delight some non-religious non-homophobic pacifists, who find books about homosexual rape offensive, because sexual rape involves violence, even if the book is fiction and not really a how-to book?

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I hope somebody at Amazon reads this thread and reconsiders their decision ...

Originally Posted by kennyc

and we should consider applying that same common sense dosage to the population at large.

Quite. Are we singing from the same hymn sheet now?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

.... and someone in the decision making process at Amazon who could use a dose of common sense.

and we should consider applying that same common sense dosage to the population at large.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Bingo. In other words, precisely the type of people that Amazon markets the Kindle towards. Maybe some monopolies commision should force them to add other sources of ebooks to their menu, like the way Microsoft was forced to offer a choice of internet browser. Only then will it not really matter when Amazon decides to remove books on a whim.

What a hideous notion. Not only is Amazon not a monopoly in any way, your argument presupposes that all Kindle owners are completely incompetent with regard to computers and Internet usage despite a great deal of evidence to the contrary. What's next? Require them to accept everything submitted through CreateSpace? No rejections for any reason?

I may not agree with Amazon's choices, but I'll support any company's right to make the wrong move. If their decisions are so far off the mark, competition will fill the void and eliminate whatever monopolistic position you feel they hold. Problem solved.

[carld]

I've always been a big Amazon defender, but several things really bother me about all this. The book has been for sale from Amazon for years. Pulling it the way they did is pure cowardly CYA.

Also, unless these apparently new content rules are applied consistently across their product line, this becomes simple anti-gay discrimination. This isn't the first time some moralist has gotten a bug up their backside at Amazon about gay material. It's becoming something of a pattern with them.