Tag Archives: amazon

High Street Retailers Selling Pornographic E-Books

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An article in today’s Mail On Sunday reveals that the high street retailer, W H Smiths has been stocking e-books with such titles as “Pregnant with Daddy” alongside childrens books. The Mail also reports that Amazon and other retailers stock similar works. Following The Mail’s investigation Smiths has removed the titles in question and apologised to it’s customers. Apparently Smiths receives an automated feed from it’s e-book supplier, Cobo with whom they are now working to ensure that titles of this nature never appear on Smith’s site again.

Books of an erotic nature should not be accessible to children and retailers should take steps to ensure that those classified as children are not able to access them. However the question as to whether we are in danger of working ourselves up into a moral panic arises. Certain fantasies such as the incest taboo are unsavoury but provided they remain purely in the realm of fantasy ought society or the state to intervene and prohibit them? For something to be prohibited should it not first be demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that the thing being banned does positive harm? In the civil service such an approach is called evidence based decision making (I.E. one weighs the evidence cooly and without bias prior to taking decisions). If one applies this way of thinking to the matter in hand books which contain incest fantasies would be prohibited if having weighed up all the available data it could be demonstrated that such works cause individuals to engage in incestuous acts.

When reading the article I couldn’t help wondering whether where Nabakov’s Lolita to have been written today would The Daily Mail be calling for it to be banned as a “dirty book”. I wonder?

Obviously we are under an obligation to protect young children from inappropriate material, however in performing this vital task we need to take care that we don’t over react by going down an authoritarian road.

For The Mail’s article please visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2456651/WHSmiths-vile-trade-online-rape-porn-Bookseller-apologises-sales-sick-ebooks-revealed.html

I’m confused

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In the words of that rumpled detective, Columbo “I’m confused”! On Amazon, in the FAQ it states that all publishers are required to submit taxpayer information, however it is also stated that non-US publishers are not required to submit a US tax identifier number. The reason for my incoherent ramblings on this subject are that Amazon state that books will be removed by a specified date if publishers do not submit their tax information and as a self published author I don’t wish my books to vanish into a gaping void never to see the light of day again! Living in the UK I took Amazon’s statement as meaning that I, as a non-US tax payer am not obliged to submit tax information, however on querying this with Amazon I was informed that I am, indeed required to do so. It is all as clear as mud to a mere simpleton such as me! For information on the rules regarding author/publisher tax information submission please see the FAQ at https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=200641090.

An Act Of Mercy And Other Stories By K Morris Available At amazon.co.uk

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On 13 August I announced that my collection of short stories, “An act of mercy and other stories” can be purchased at amazon.com. I am pleased to be able to announce that “An act of mercy” is now available at amazon.co.uk, http://www.amazon.co.uk/act-mercy-other-stories-ebook/dp/B00EHS74CS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1376477044&sr=1-1&keywords=an+act+of+mercy+and+other+stories.

Visit my Amazon author page at http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0.     S

Book Giveaways

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This month’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) newsletter contains a link to a blog post on Create Space which suggests that authors give away free copies of their books in order to raise their profile and build up a loyal following, https://www.createspace.com/en/community/community/resources/blog/2013/06/24/find-advocates-with-free-books?ref=822525&utm_id=6002&cp=70170000000bgWg&ls=Email&sls=KDP_NL. I can see the advantages to such an approach, however the difficulty is that only US-based authors can provide gift copies of their books via Amazon (the facility is not available to UK-based authors such as myself). I would love to be able to give away free copies of my books via Amazon, however, at present my only option is to promote my books free of charge using the KDP Select promotion tool which authors can utilise for a maximum of 5 days in each 3 month period. I sincerely hope that Amazon extends the facility to gift to UK-based authors!

Update To My Goodreads Author Profile

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I have now added my collection of short stories, Sting in the Tail and Other Stories, to my Goodreads Author’s Profile
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18167570-sting-in-the-tail-and-other-stories.

Bookshelves

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There is something reassuringly familiar about the presence of much loved books ranged around the room on book shelves. The scent of bees wax perfumes the atmosphere as you sit comfortably ensconced in an armchair. No noise can be heard other than the ticking of a grandfather clock and the periodic sound of pages turning.

 

On looking at the books displayed on my bookshelves within my KDP Select dashboard I was struck by the somewhat quaint and to me rather lovely reference to bookshelves which conjured up the above vision of a traditional library or perhaps a single bookcase displaying much cherished books. It is good to know that in this age of technology familiar references remain. Everything changes but, somehow remains the same. Oh gosh I am turning into an old fuddy duddy!

Forthcoming Book Promotion

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I hope to be in a position to give away my story, Samantha free for 5 days. I published Samantha using Kindle Select which allows titles registered with the programme to be provided, free of charge for a period of 5 days every 90 days. I originally provided Samantha free in early March so, by my reckoning I should be able to do likewise in June. Please watch this space.

Samantha tells the story of a young girl forced into prostitution in the English city of Liverpool. Can Sam escape her life of sex slavery or will she end her days in the murky waters of Liverpool’s Albert Docks.

Self Printed: The Sane Persons Guide To Self Publishing by Catherine Ryan Howard

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I harbour a healthy scepticism regarding get rich quick schemes. You know the kind of scheme, buy my book or subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll show you how to become a millionaire in two shakes of a duck’s tail. I am pleased to report that Catherine Ryan Howard’s book, Self printed: The Sane Persons Guide to Self Publishing (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Self-Printed-Persons-Guide-Self-Publishing-Edition/dp/1478385545), does not fall into this category. Howard whitterly guides us through the world of self publishing in both it’s traditional printed form (she recommends using Create Space) and it’s younger sibling, Amazon Kindle ebooks. The author humorously warns against dreams of literary fame (a few self published authors, for example E L James) will shoot up the best sellers list and earn eye watering amounts of money, however James is very much the exception and not the rule. Self published authors can, however earn respectable sums if they expend care and attention on their work.

Howard sees the perceived conflict between traditional and self publishing as unhealthy. Both self publishing and it’s traditional counterpart can survive and what is right for one author is not, necessarily the correct option for another.

Howard’s book is well worth a read and I’d recommend it.

Launch of New Ebook Service

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The founder of the book shop Waterstones, Tim Waterstone, is launching a new service, Read Petite which will allow subscribers to read serialised novels and short stories on their mobiles and other mobile devices. Healthy competition in the world of ebooks can only be a good thing and it will be interesting to see how Read Petite competes with big players such as Amazon and Apple. For more on the story please visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307354/Dickens-goes-digital-Waterstones-founder-revives-serialised-novels-e-book-store-Read-Petite.html

to kindle or not to kindle, that is the question

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There is a lot to be said in favour of Amazon from the perspective of authors. KDP Select enables authors to promote their book for free for upto 5 days in any 90 day period (during the recent promotion of my book, Samantha a total of 96 copies where downloaded during the promotion, 3-7 March), a statistic with which I am rather pleased. However there are other aspects of Amazon’s services for authors (in the UK) with which I’d take issue.

On amazon.com there is an option to give Kindle content as a gift. I would dearly like to provide family, friends and readers of my blog with gift copies of my books, however the service does not work in the UK (the country in which I live) so I’m not able to avail myself of this excellent facility.

To my mind authors should be eligible for the same high standard of service irrespective of the country in which they reside. At present those resident in the UK are not obtaining the same services as those living in the USA. I for one hope that Amazon rectifies this situation as a matter of urgency.