Apple's ebook iTunes books store is refusing to carry the complete version of my novella An Adorable Slave because of "Prohibited
Explicit or Objectionable Content" however they are allowing the
individual parts (four separate books) to be sold (through Smashwords
because I don't deal directly with Apple). Usually a work taken as a
whole is more understandable than when viewed in individual pieces, but
apparently this isn't so for Apple. I'm not terribly concerned because
Apple ebooks are a very small part of my overall sales, but it's amusing
because--and I'm only guessing here--Apple has someone or someones
skimming through every ebook (or at least the ones labeled as erotica)
being sold on their site looking for objectionable content--as is their
right, I don't mind that at all--but there is very little consistency to
what is objectionable. So for some of Apples reviewers a passage or
scene might be perfectly fine, but for a different reviewer it's likely
to turn an average reader into a maniacal pervert.
I
just wish Apple (and Amazon/Kindle) would tell me exactly what passages
or pages or what terms or sentences are "bad". Call me lazy but I'm not
going to go through a 40,000 word novella guessing at what parts are
objectionable, remove them or rewrite them, and then resubmit it to
Apple, or any other ebook retailer, and hope it's accepted on the second
or third or fourth time.
What I'm really complaining about
is the lack of consistency and the lack of information as to what is
objectionable. On the plus side I've had a few books rejected by
Smashwords but they are very specific in what they refuse to carry
(kudos to Smashwords, they aren't uptight prigs).
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