Book Banning - Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo

This hit me rather late Monday, which for me means after two in the afternoon.  I'm still trying to get all the facts together but from what I've put together this book banning ordeal started with an article run last week titled:  How Amazon cashes in on Kindle Filth.  The article slammed Amazon for making money off books with titles that depicit incest and forced rape scenarios.

The rumors circulating around the self-publishing world is that they aren't just deleting porno titles but all erotic books or any book that goes against what society deems as 'polite'.  So what exactly is going on?  We still don't know.  What we do know is that WH Smith said their site won't be available again until all Self-Published books are pulled.

Do you really want my opinion on that bully tactic by WH Smith?  Probably not but I'll give it to you anyway. First let me say I don't live in the UK and could really care less whether they close down their site or not.  In other words I don't have a dog in the hunt.  But for any company to use those types of tactics to get a company to stop selling a product is pretty ridiculous.  So WH Smith wouldn't be a place I'd shop in I lived in the UK nor would I shop online for anything that they offer with them using strong arm tactics like that.

Personally I'd say keep your moral bias to yourself and if you're going to remove titles that are offensive why don't you start with Fifty Shades of Grey, like that's going to happen because we all know what a moneymaker that book is.  Nope instead it will be the small people who self-publish that get taken for a ride. Of course if they start removing titles from the Kindles, and Nooks then they better start thinking about the millions in revenue they need to pay to the public and have no hope of getting back from the author since the product was bought and sold and those companies are responsible for biting the monetary bullet.

Is it a witch hunt?  In my opinion yes!  But you know what will happen?  All those readers that have come to love us and our work will be able to buy them on our site and eventually Amazon and BN will find themselves losing the buyers.  Tears is working now to put every single book up for sale on this site.  Maybe it's time we started taking control of sales, and stop giving away so much profit to these idiots that obviously don't appreciate our craft!

I know I've gotten way off topic, but that's a Southern Woman for you!  You can take my self-published books out of my cold dead Kindle, because if you continue to ban books I like to read,  the Kindle is as worthless as a tin can.  It might serve these companies well to note that the majority of authors are readers and we are a force you don't want to screw with!  Self-Published by choice and Author for Life!

Michelle Hughes