If you're looking for today's new hot and sexy book excerpt... you'll find that just below this notice.
Sadly, the much talked about topic of censorship in the erotica market is NOT going away. In addition to banned titles, artwork and content deemed offensive by larger retailers, one ebook retailer is now scanning books for certain words, and pulling books from their website without regard to the context in which these words are used. This is a troubling new evil in the ebook retail market, especially since it seemed targeted specifically at erotica, while allowing the same content and words in other literary genres. Like so many of these measures now used in the review of books, little is known about the specific criteria use to ban an erotica title.
I could rant on this for days. But today, I'm simply calling attention to the problem once again, because it's one that is not going away. Readers need to be aware that the content and story lines they love is still available, though it may NOT be from the larger ebook retailers you are accustomed to buying from.
I encourage readers of non-consensual erotica to buy directly from small publishers and retailers who do not censor words, titles, art and content in erotic books, as so many of the larger retail sites now do. If this is the erotica you enjoy, support the authors and publishers.
PLUS: You're likely to find on these sites, many books that are now banned on the bigger sites. This is censorship by corporate decree. It is frustrating and infuriating but it's an evil that's unlikely to change in the near future.
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Friday, March 7, 2014
Friday, July 19, 2013
An Afternoon in Monet's Gardens...
Those looking for erotica... page down! There's plenty there.
After a long week... of banned books, writing to meet a publishing deadline, (the first I've had in well over two years...and yes, my new books is nearly done!), a stroll through a beautiful garden sounds like the perfect place to unwind. And since my own gardens are baking in the Michigan heat, looking dry and tired, since I don't have much inspiration for gardening in this muggy weather, I'm going back to Giverny in the Northwest corner of France to Monet's Gardens and the inspiration for Monet's waterlily paintings. I'll let the images speak for themselves...
If I have the opportunity to go there again, I will. If you're ever in that part of France, don't miss this magical place.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Banned Books and Censorship...
For as long as I've been writing erotica, (beginning in 1989) this genre has
been the ‘dirty little stepsister’ of the publishing world...driven into the
back corner of bookstores, if it's there at all, and shunned by most
established publishers.
In the mid-90s, the Internet changed the fortunes for erotica writers and readers in a dramatic way, offering many more opportunities to publish, sell and read the explicit and often kinky fiction readers of this genre are clamoring for. Long gone are the days of sneaking into the dirty book store, when you can easily, and in complete privacy, download to a computer or other device the kind of reading material you enjoy.
A perfect environment for a major surge in erotica was born, and the numbers of erotic books now available climbed dramatically in the last decade. I can be nothing but grateful for the new technology, and the many websites, big and small, that offer my books for sale.
I often bemoan the fact that there’s still a segment of the world that doesn’t understand the kind of kinky erotic content that appears in BDSM fiction. It’s challenging for many people to realize that there are those, like myself and my avid readers, who find an erotic thrill in the fantasy depictions of such activities as bondage, spanking, whipping…along with a whole host of kinky activity.* Kinky thoughts and fantasies have been around since time began. It has been my belief that finding safe and sane ways to express these dark elements of our humanity is healthy, not harmful. Erotic literature is one very simple, harmless way to experience and enjoy the depth of our erotic nature.
It’s a sad reality that there is, still, an ongoing censorship of erotic fiction in today’s marketplace. Just when it looked as if erotica was finally gaining some acceptance in the mainstream fiction world, it’s sad to see that some of the biggest players in the vast ebook market have jumped into the game of banning certain content and book titles from their listings. It doesn't matter that the criteria used to evaluate books is arbitrary, and often the very same content that has been banned in erotica can be found within other genres of fiction, including Murder Mysteries, Thrillers, SciFi, Vampire stories, etc.
Do I wish that the marketplace were different? That erotica was on the same playing field as romance fiction? That I could change the minds of those who censor our content? Sure. But it's not the reality of our world, and I've given up trying to rail against it... doesn't do any good and just makes me feel worse.
Maybe there's even something good about being 'banned'... maybe it means I'm just edgy enough to say something that will rattle peoples cages, and I rather like that thought.
The good news is that even the ‘banned content’ is still available. It’s as legal to write, publish and sell as any work of fiction. You just may need to hunt a little to find it. Or not hunt at all!
Check out Pink Flamingo's sister site http://eroticbooknetwork.com, where you’ll find novels like my Slave Ranch, Taken Before Dawn, Wayward Angel, Nightmare of Vengeance, The Humiliation of Hannah, and these two, (which are particularly odd since they are basically consensual love stories), Memoirs of a Sex Toy and Against Her Will: The Abduction of Kat Bloom. (plus many more edgy titles from a large number of Pink Flamingo authors)
I urge readers of erotica (particularly readers of BDSM and GLBT fiction) to make the extra effort to buy your erotic paperbacks and ebooks directly from the erotica publishers like Pink Flamingo and the smaller independent retailers of erotic fiction who support your reading choices. It may mean some inconvenience in the formats available. But this is one way you can be sure that your personal brand of erotica will continue to be written and available to purchase in the Internet marketplace.
Enough said about that subject... back to writing!
*Just so no one misinterprets what I’m saying here: I am NOT talking about child porn, bestiality or snuff, etc., which are not found in my erotica or that of any Pink Flamingo author.
In the mid-90s, the Internet changed the fortunes for erotica writers and readers in a dramatic way, offering many more opportunities to publish, sell and read the explicit and often kinky fiction readers of this genre are clamoring for. Long gone are the days of sneaking into the dirty book store, when you can easily, and in complete privacy, download to a computer or other device the kind of reading material you enjoy.
A perfect environment for a major surge in erotica was born, and the numbers of erotic books now available climbed dramatically in the last decade. I can be nothing but grateful for the new technology, and the many websites, big and small, that offer my books for sale.
I often bemoan the fact that there’s still a segment of the world that doesn’t understand the kind of kinky erotic content that appears in BDSM fiction. It’s challenging for many people to realize that there are those, like myself and my avid readers, who find an erotic thrill in the fantasy depictions of such activities as bondage, spanking, whipping…along with a whole host of kinky activity.* Kinky thoughts and fantasies have been around since time began. It has been my belief that finding safe and sane ways to express these dark elements of our humanity is healthy, not harmful. Erotic literature is one very simple, harmless way to experience and enjoy the depth of our erotic nature.
It’s a sad reality that there is, still, an ongoing censorship of erotic fiction in today’s marketplace. Just when it looked as if erotica was finally gaining some acceptance in the mainstream fiction world, it’s sad to see that some of the biggest players in the vast ebook market have jumped into the game of banning certain content and book titles from their listings. It doesn't matter that the criteria used to evaluate books is arbitrary, and often the very same content that has been banned in erotica can be found within other genres of fiction, including Murder Mysteries, Thrillers, SciFi, Vampire stories, etc.
Do I wish that the marketplace were different? That erotica was on the same playing field as romance fiction? That I could change the minds of those who censor our content? Sure. But it's not the reality of our world, and I've given up trying to rail against it... doesn't do any good and just makes me feel worse.
Maybe there's even something good about being 'banned'... maybe it means I'm just edgy enough to say something that will rattle peoples cages, and I rather like that thought.
The good news is that even the ‘banned content’ is still available. It’s as legal to write, publish and sell as any work of fiction. You just may need to hunt a little to find it. Or not hunt at all!
Check out Pink Flamingo's sister site http://eroticbooknetwork.com, where you’ll find novels like my Slave Ranch, Taken Before Dawn, Wayward Angel, Nightmare of Vengeance, The Humiliation of Hannah, and these two, (which are particularly odd since they are basically consensual love stories), Memoirs of a Sex Toy and Against Her Will: The Abduction of Kat Bloom. (plus many more edgy titles from a large number of Pink Flamingo authors)
I urge readers of erotica (particularly readers of BDSM and GLBT fiction) to make the extra effort to buy your erotic paperbacks and ebooks directly from the erotica publishers like Pink Flamingo and the smaller independent retailers of erotic fiction who support your reading choices. It may mean some inconvenience in the formats available. But this is one way you can be sure that your personal brand of erotica will continue to be written and available to purchase in the Internet marketplace.
Enough said about that subject... back to writing!
***
*Just so no one misinterprets what I’m saying here: I am NOT talking about child porn, bestiality or snuff, etc., which are not found in my erotica or that of any Pink Flamingo author.
Friday, May 3, 2013
About that rant on censorship...
The announcement of that was a bit premature... please stay tuned while I polish up that post. Should be coming NEXT week. In the meantime, for something strictly fun... and sexual, please read the previous post, which is also new... A great weekend to all! Lizbeth
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