Edit: As of today, I went into my back catalog and edited out “offensive” content as per Amazon’s standards. I also added an “everyone is above 18” disclaimer to the description of my works. Fingers crossed!
Hello, it’s me again, writing from my crime laboratory somewhere off the Pacific coast.
My readers know that my erotica is filled with erotica crimes. Taboo crimes. Mysterious main character ages, quasi-beastiality (swan and werewolf), and yes. Incest. I’ve Googled and searched through forums and there seems to be no solid resource for what is a no-no, what is a go-go, and what might be taken down.
Selena Kitt’s “Under Mr. Nolan’s Bed” is a fantastic example. It was taken down for incest, but she raised hell and gained a lot of attention. Thus, it was put back up on Amazon and is still on sale today with the original incestuous content.
I walk this strange line where I’m not famous enough for these “lit crimes” to become a problem, but I do worry that a reader may report the work or something else may happen for it to be taken down. Gossip floating in the air suggests that as long as the lit crime isn’t explicitly advertised in the description, cover, or etc., then the work might be left alone.
I’m not sure if it’s worthy to explain why I feel like erotica and taboo topics should be written about and protected. Selena Kitt shares my perspective on this, and says it better than I ever will in this interview with Smashwords. Also, ya’ll know I am so sex fantasy positive that doctors are prescribing “Please Stop” to me.
There is now an issue of “getting caught.”
For each of my stories, I’ve created a PC backup plan to alter the original text and re-upload the work as edited to be less illegal. I’m not ashamed to say that I would rather have a story online than keep with the integrity of the original and try to market it elsewhere; I’ve just started out, and it would be a waste of word count and expensive stock photography to do otherwise. Sisters will become step-sisters, everyone will suddenly become 18, etc.
(I don’t know what I can do for that swan one. Burn it?)
According to Selena Kitt’s interview, PayPal has the right to not pay someone for work that includes beastiality, incest, etc. I can see this being a problem for her, as she sells many millions of copies per year. But for me, this is another place where I’m shaky on the slack line of “do I dare?” I want to make a living on erotica. I can’t if PayPal or other sites won’t pay me.
This affects the short stories I want to write in the future. Why fondle the hot potato of dangerous topics if the work may be taken down, or I may not get paid for it?
I hate restrictions on writing. I hate censorship.
If you told the Marquis de Sade he could only write about a married couple performing missionary on Wednesdays, he would jump out of a window.
This is one of those topics on my blog that have an enormous “to be continued.” Right now, I have about 48k words worth of shorts online, and another batch of about 48k shorts planned for the rest of the year. I imagine that about half of those shorts will include some kind of illegal, nasty, yucky behavior.
But. I will still write them, staying true to the things that get me off and excite me. Limiting myself to missionary would make erotica a chore. Right now, it is the opposite of a chore; it’s a brand of salsa that’s much too hot for my mouth, but I love it.
Mintie Price 