So I read the fine print, followed the instructions, came up with a cover, (see example) and uploaded my manuscript...only to have it rejected for the content. The eligibility guidelines indicate that they do not take manuscripts with excessive profanity, racial slurs, or sexual content that may be considered graphic or too offensive to others.
Hmm....okay, I went back to the drawing board and cut out all dirty sex words referring to male or female body parts beginning with the letter C. I figured that might help the content machine.
Nope. Still rejected. Same reason.
So I went back again and edited all the curse words which started with F, Sh, or started with an A and ended with the word hole. Actually, there were quite a few of those words. Excessive. Alright. I could see that.
Nope. Still rejected. Kept on trying.
Finally, after several more tries, Amazon sends me a letter saying that I've submitted a bunch of times, blah, blah, blah,...I email them back, trying to find out exactly what the problem is. Tell me what needs fixin', people! You do take erotic material, right? It's listed as a subgenre on your KindleScout site.
Received an email back saying they can't give me any exact information. And yes, they do take erotic fiction. Have a nice day.
At this point, I'm kind of done. Something in my work is too racy, but since they can't provide any real clue as to what it is, it seems sort of pointless to keep trying. I can only assume it has something to do with the sex scenes. However, since the story is an erotic fiction, it's not like I can cut them out!
So here's my word of advice: Be careful about submitting a story with sex in it to KindleScout. Apparently, they are really afraid of offending their readers! Like, really afraid....
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That IS puzzling. They take erotica, but not graphic sexual content. VERY puzzling.
ReplyDeleteMy mystery/suspense novel stayed on Hot and Trending for all thirty days of the campaign, which delighted me since I had erroneously believed final decisions were crowdsourced. Not so much apparently. I received notification this morning that KindleScout decided not to publish the book.
ReplyDeleteI've been a professional novelist for twenty-three years and have won multiple awards. A nonfiction book published by Warner Books (now Grand Central) was a bestseller. Even if my grousing sounds like sour grapes, ask yourself what the chances were that the book I submitted to the campaign actually sucked. Now ask yourself why KindleScout goes to such elaborate lengths to pretend as though they publish books based on votes.
There's something rotten in the state of Amazon. I would really like to know what it is.