Young adult author Ellen Hopkins is no stranger to controversy. Her teen books--which deal with very difficult yet realistic subject matter such as drug addiction, suicide, and self-harm--are often found hovering near the top of the lists of books that have been banned in schools or libraries. But an event this week shed new light on an age-old problem: censorship. Hopkins … [Read more...] about Ellen Hopkins, eBooks, and the Fight Against Censorship
censorship
Marvel Censors Miracleman for Some Digital Readers
Someone at Marvel Comics decided that their new edition of Miracleman needed to be censored for digital release—but apparently not everyone is on board with that. Last week, Marvel released the first of a planned series of reprints of the Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman run of Miracleman. Miracleman itself has a tangled history, having started off in the early 1950s as Marvelman, a … [Read more...] about Marvel Censors Miracleman for Some Digital Readers
Kobo: Writers Free to Write What they Want, We’re Not Compelled to Sell It
Amid the uproar and media firestorm surrounding the recent discovery of inappropriate subject matter available in the children's digital sections of some ebook retailers' websites, Kobo and several other self-publishing platforms took a bold stance and blocked self-published titles from sale until a thorough review could be conducted. Angry accusations filled the social media … [Read more...] about Kobo: Writers Free to Write What they Want, We’re Not Compelled to Sell It
Can The Book Genome Project Solve the Riddle of Categorizing eBooks?
The anger over the decision by several retailers to stop carrying self-published titles continues to rage, as it is even extending to authors whose books were not even remotely close to the adult nature of titles that stores like WHSmith and Whitcoulls railed against. Authors have taken to launching change.org petitions and their social media platforms to vent and try to … [Read more...] about Can The Book Genome Project Solve the Riddle of Categorizing eBooks?
The “Saga” Saga: It Wasn’t Apple After All
The internet lit up on Tuesday after writer Brian K. Vaughan made this announcement: "Unfortunately, because of two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex, Apple is banning tomorrow's SAGA #12 from being sold through any iOS apps." On Twitter, Facebook, comment strings, and message boards, fans denounced Apple for a seeming double standard, refusing to carry a comic because of a … [Read more...] about The “Saga” Saga: It Wasn’t Apple After All
PayPal Backs Down from eBook Ban
After a firestorm of angry protests and a grassroots petition campaign, PayPal has reversed its previous ban on using the online payment method to sell ebooks that contain themes of rape, incest, or bestiality. PayPal had initially informed ebook distribution platform Smashwords that it would have to remove approximately 2,000 “offensive” ebooks or risk losing PayPal as a … [Read more...] about PayPal Backs Down from eBook Ban
Authors Strike Back Against PayPal’s Censorship of Smashwords
Smashwords, the popular online ebook distribution platform that recently celebrated the uploading of the 100,000th title to its catalog of digital editions, found itself embroiled in some controversy over a request from PayPal that it remove nearly 2,000 titles that the online payment company considered inappropriate or offensive. Failure to do so would result in the … [Read more...] about Authors Strike Back Against PayPal’s Censorship of Smashwords