Welcome to a breaking audio update edition of the Good e-Reader Radio Show. Today Michael Kozlowski and Jeremy Greenfield talk about the hottest topic in self-publishing right now, the bulk deleting of erotica content from major eBook stores.
Over the weekend WH Smith has shut down their online bookstore and Waterstones have released statements on the removal of content. They all basically blame indie authors for putting their erotica titles side by side with children’s books, hampering eBook discovery and raising a firestorm.
Kobo has been cleaning up their bookstore by removing titles from publishers such as Draft2Digital and indie authors. All of these eBooks feature questionable covers and subject matter such as incest. Amazon and Barnes and Noble have yet to release official statements but they have also been cleaning up their catalog of digital books.
Are these major digital publishing companies just trying to mend the situation with deleting a few titles and getting their PR departments to deal with it? Erotica is big business and its highly dubious if they will start policing the genre. What can be done to stem the tide of highly provocative titles being listed side by side with genres that have nothing to do with it? Michael and Jeremy break it all down.
[display_podcast]
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.