Lately, all the buzz is about Amazon and their new search "feature." Apparently, when you do an "All Department Search" erotica is being filtered out.
Right off the bat I can tell you that is a terrifying prospect to me. It's also offensive to be thrown into the category of porn. My books have sexual content. So do a lot of movies, games, and TV shows. They aren't considered porn, and my books shouldn't be either. I've read several horror writers who include sex in their books. They aren't being excluded from searches. Why? Maybe it has something to do with the category of erotica?
Now I mentioned this was terrifying to me. That's because I do this for a living. I have no other job. I write. I use my income from royalties to pay my bills. I also earn the majority of my income from Amazon sales. You see where I'm going with this? It's scary.
I wonder if this will blow over. Will writers like myself continue to be able to make a living? I sure as hell hope so. It's pretty well known that erotica was a driving force for Kindle sales. At long last, people could read romance novels without anyone seeing the cover and judging them for it. Surely, Amazon realizes this?
I know several people, men and women, who were thrilled to be able to read a BDSM novel without anyone knowing. One of my friends sat at the dentist office reading as he called it, "straight-up kink" and no one knew. THIS is what sold the kindle. Sexual content. Period.
And now, after all that, WE are getting filtered? My books are not porn! There are many novels in other genres who have just as much sex in them as my books do. Is it because my stories have a happy ending that I'm getting the shaft? (Yes, the pun is totally intended.)
Besides being scary, treating erotica writers this way is just plain bad business. We make Amazon a lot of money.
Back in the day, books used to only be filtered (or excluded from searches) if there was nudity on the cover. For that reason, none of my covers have naked people. I thought I had this Amazon thing figured out.
As I was composing this blog post, I read another post that answered a question I really wanted to know. You can no longer put your book in both "Erotica" and "Romance" categories. Additionally, the category "Erotic Romance" puts your book in erotica.
Seriously? I'm going to Amazon right now to change my categories. I don't think that's an option if your books are already considered "ADULT". Once a work is considered "erotic," it stays that way. Naturally, huge traditionally published books like 50 Shades get the option to change their category. But not the little guys.
I searched for my books on Amazon in the "All Department Search" and only one was excluded, Diary of an Incubus. Yes, it has been slapped with the ugly ADULT label.
While I figure out what to do about that, I'm going to pause blogging and go change the categories of my other books. Hey, Amazon didn't bother to tell us they were doing this filter crap. Why should I play nice? I need to make a living here.
*after changing categories*
Okay, now ALL my books are in different categories besides Erotica. Here's what I did with mine.
Necromancer - Horror, Romance Paranormal
Wicked City - Romance, Fantasy
Eden - Paranormal, Fantasy
Bitten - Romance paranormal, horror
The Eternal Kiss - Paranormal, short stories
The Dread Moon - Paranormal, Horror
Object of My Affection - Paranormal, Horror
Red - Paranormal, horror
Frank and The Werewolf Tamer - Fantasy, Romance paranormal
I hope this works. My fear is that changing the categories will actually make my books harder to find. But if the filer might have been preventing them being found ... hell, I don't know.
I changed the category of Diary of an Incubus to Romance, Paranormal. If it's being filtered for the cover, then screw Amazon. I've seen a lot worse.
I would like to say that this will blow over and everything will be okay. But the truth is I don't know what will happen. I'm trying to stay positive. Maybe changing these categories will help MORE readers find me.
Whatever happens, I will survive, and so will you.
2 comments:
The good news is, as a kindle owner, I rarely do a mass search. The bad news is I do look in the erotica category. If in a books description it says unsuitable for under 18's as a mother I find that completely acceptable, this appears to be another attempt at a big corporation telling me what I can read. And frankly that gets right on my tits!! Oh and 50 shades assume that is in the 'boring not enough sex category' ;-)
I agree, I rarely do a mass search. Hopefully, this won't affect as many customers as I'm afraid it might. I just want people who are looking for that sort of thing to be able to find my books.
I don't know why Amazon doesn't have an adult search feature that can be turned off and on. That would be so much easier and honest.
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