banned from CreateSpace

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by ForrestCraig

I find it odd that it could be banned by a company that sells Pedophile how to books.

I think it is the media hysteria over that book that has led to actions like this. Amazon won't want to become known for being perveyors of smut, so they will remove anything that is likely to draw the same sort of attention.

[ForrestCraig]

Here's the bottom line of my complaint with CreateSpace. If you are a self publishing company and therefore by definition promoting new writers and the unpublishedd, you should be willing to tell the new writer why you are cutting ties. It is an unfinished work, still under evolution, which is why I asked for, and paid for in advance, an "editorial evaluation". I wanted feedback on my work, before even I would consider it ready for public consumption. I agree with some advice I received above that they were probably not the right choice in my book development. If it was print ready, I doubt if I would have had any problem as it is obvious (judging by the pedophile story) they are not screening all the books they offer for sale, not until they get caught violating their own guideline policy.

[twittles]

It hasn't been pointed out here yet, but it seems to me that they provided no information on the reason for their decision because:

1) they decided that there isn't anything you can to do fix it to their satisfaction
2) they don't want to expose themselves to legal action from you.

The second point is key. Once they've made up their mind, providing you any additional information beyond their decision can only get them in legal trouble, from their perspective. You typically see this kind of brevity in communications in rejecting interviewees for jobs, suppliers seeking to sell something, and the like.

In other words, by design, they don't want to tell you their reasoning. You can't take exception to their reasons (or effectively sue them) if you don't know them. They are betting that the very time-consuming and expensive processes of discovery and deposition (triggered by any lawsuit) that will be required to find out their reasons is beyond your means and not a good use of your time and money.

I neither agree nor disagree with the approach I think they took, but that's my two cents. Your best bet is to move on and find someone who is more open to whatever you are writing. Different editors, publishers, and distributors have very different likes and dislikes, so whatever turned off these folks my be attractive to someone else, further diminishing the potential value to you of any specific reasons from the party that rejected you.

A long-winded response as I get some "me time" this Holiday, and I chuckle as I think of a way to illustrate the last point above. If you submit a gritty urban hip-hop song to a Nashville label, attempting to fix whatever they dislike about it will probably bury you with Def-Jam.

[Paul Levine]

Seems to me you asked them for too much and perhaps invited rejection.

Maybe consider hiring a professional editor to whip your m/s into shape. Change the title, if only to separate the new, improved model from the old one, and try again.

Paul Levine
The Jake Lassiter Series
Author of RIPTIDE

[Joseph Mitchell]

I need to chime in again and make myself more clear. Createspace, like Amazon's Digital Text Platform, is a system set up to run automatically. It processed orders and does its thing with no help from human overseers in the best cases, which is what they would aim for all of the time. Normally, no one at Createspace would ever try to proofread your manuscript, unless you make special arrangements for that, which you did. You did not need to do this at all. You could have simply submitted your work to the machine, and the machine would have done it's thing and published your novel. No problem. But by inviting them into the editing process, you make them part of it, and for some reason or another, most likely legal concerns, they don't want to be associated directly with what's written. Had you not invited them to participate directly, chances are that your book would have passed through the system without warnings and there would be no problem.
My suggestion before, that you could edit it yourself or get someone to help you, I still think is your best course of action. Edit your work and resubmit it with the aim of letting it pass through the system automatically, as I'm sure hundreds of people do every day. It's possible that they might have flagged the title as something they won't accept, but even that, I doubt. Your book will have some sort of invoice number in their database that is currently flagged to not be published. If you delete that title and resubmit it as a new work, it should get a new entry in their database that is clean and ready to be processed automatically. I can't believe that they would 'blacklist' you as an author and never publish another book you've written based on this single case, so I think you should simply scrap this 'attempt' to publish, and resubmit. Change the title if you must, but I doubt that's even necessary. The system wants to run automatically, and it does, unless you force them to take an active part. I hope this helps you see this problem in perspective, ForestCraig. Good luck!

[osnova]

I suspect twittles is correct. This is exactly what I would have done -- a terse rejection without going into the reasons why. Giving the reasons would invite a rebuttal or legal action, or simply further discussion that I would seek to avoid.

[ForrestCraig]

Originally Posted by Joseph Mitchell

I hope this helps you see this problem in perspective, ForestCraig. Good luck!

Thanks for all the input I have received. I think the quote above sums up what I have gained the most from the experience. It's all new to me and I am learning as I go. I am just disappointed that a company that you pay for their input, would just shut you out (from any feedback). They obviously have the right to not publish, but give me the feedback so I can learn. I am on a private editor's waiting list so obviously moving on but would have trouble trusting CreateSpace again in the future, even with a new work. Thanks again.

[ForrestCraig]

Thanks for all the input. I am waiting for my turn with an independent editor to review my book. I have no writing back ground, and though, I obvioiusly think what I wrote is Pullitzer worthy (ha), I am smart enough to know I need a review and professional feedback before submitting it to a agent/ publisher or even self publishing. I thought that is what I was going to get from CreateSpace, but no. Thanks, again.

[jumpingjack42]

Did you find out if you were blacklisted? Or was it just that particular submission?

[ForrestCraig]

I am not personally blacklisted, based on a terse email I got from their lawyers, but if I continue to submit material that "violates" their obscure and undefined guidelines, I could be.