Bookstrand cuts self-pubber accounts

brainstorm77 · Feb 22, 2012

Bookstrand cuts self-pubber accounts (moved to Erotica)

I got the notice today when I went to sign into my account on there. All self-published titles have been yanked from their site, including the ones like mine that did not violate their policies or Paypals.

This all started when Paypal froze their accounts last week citing that Bookstrand violated their terms of service by selling incest titles and others that they deemed in violation.

This sucks! I got a lot of sales from that site

Alessandra Kelley · Feb 22, 2012

That sounds like a pretty heavy-handed reaction on Bookstrand's part.

scarletpeaches · Feb 22, 2012

I can understand why they've done it though. They wanted/needed to get the incest and hardcore porn books off their site, and self-publishing authors are the culprits. Not all of them, mind. I didn't say that.

At least with books that have gone through the gatekeeper system, theoretically, there should be no incest, rape or other kinds of porn in them.

Somebody told me about this, this morning, but they said it was AllRomance. I wonder if the same thing's happened there?

c.m.n. · Feb 22, 2012

AllRomance has also been in the ringer lately and they've decided to recategorize.

In an email I received from them, they are going to delete the old erotica category and replace it by two separate erotic romance, and erotica categories, hopefully making it easier to browse their site... not sure how that will work, or if it will help.

Browse their site now, and you happen among tons of incest "Daddy and Me", etc. titles in almost every category.

brainstorm77 · Feb 22, 2012

I understand the reason behind it and I do see Bookstrand's side of it. They didn't want to do it, but had no choice.

All Romance is in the process of making changes too. It will be interesting to see what happens with them.

Bookstrand did state they will pay out all remaining royalties within 30 days and then all accounts will be offically closed. At this time they are also not taking on any new publisher accounts period.

Bubastes · Feb 22, 2012

c.m.n. said:
Browse their site now, and you happen among tons of incest "Daddy and Me", etc. titles in almost every category.

Including Young Adult/Juvenile. :Wha:

ETA: ARe looks scrubbed now.

Creative_Solitude · Feb 22, 2012

c.m.n. said:
Browse their site now, and you happen among tons of incest "Daddy and Me", etc. titles in almost every category.

...and "twincest"...guess it shows just how behind the times I am. I never even knew there was a market for such a thing.

scarletpeaches · Feb 22, 2012

Silver is the only 'legitimate' publisher I can think of that's okayed twincest. (Yes, really.)

brainstorm77 · Feb 22, 2012

scarletpeaches said:
Silver is the only 'legitimate' publisher I can think of that's okayed twincest. (Yes, really.)

They do have a couple of non twin incest titles out too. It's MM if I remember correctly because when it was released, it stirred the waters a bit.

brainstorm77 · Feb 22, 2012

Creative_Solitude said:
...and "twincest"...guess it shows just how behind the times I am. I never even knew there was a market for such a thing.

HUGE market!

Creative_Solitude · Feb 22, 2012

brainstorm77 said:
HUGE market!

Good Lord! Really?! lol

brainstorm77 · Feb 22, 2012

Creative_Solitude said:
Good Lord! Really?! lol

I monitored the Bookstrand bestseller lists off and on. Some of the biggest selling authors were the ones writing incest. People are buying them.

Creative_Solitude · Feb 22, 2012

brainstorm77 said:
I monitored the Bookstrand bestseller lists off and on. Some of the biggest selling authors were the ones writing incest. People are buying them.

I guess the saying really is true, different strokes for different folks.

CaoPaux · Feb 22, 2012

Some discussion of this at Dear Author: http://dearauthor.com/features/indu...e-rumors-reader-data-and-paypal-clarification.

scarletpeaches · Feb 22, 2012

I think it was a mistake to merge these threads; this is a third-party vendor issue, rather than related to Bookstrand as a publisher. Other sites are involved in this matter too.

CaoPaux · Feb 22, 2012

Mmm. Yeah, okay; I'll move this to Erotica, since that's the core issue.

veinglory · Feb 22, 2012

Alternatively, they could try actually looking at the products they are vending and applying selection criteria.

Rise2theTop · Feb 22, 2012

veinglory said:
Alternatively, they could try actually looking at the products they are vending and applying selection criteria.

But that would be too easy, now wouldn't it? *shakes head*

Perks · Feb 22, 2012

brainstorm77 said:
Some of the biggest selling authors were the ones writing incest. People are buying them.

Really? That's surprising to me.

brainstorm77 · Feb 22, 2012

Perks said:
Really? That's surprising to me.

It was to me too.

veinglory · Feb 22, 2012

Some of the ebook niches selling like absolute wildfire are romantic kink, twincest and multiple partner brothers etc. They do very well.

absitinvidia · Feb 22, 2012

scarletpeaches said:
At least with books that have gone through the gatekeeper system, theoretically, there should be no incest, rape or other kinds of porn in them.

I'm not trying to be offensive here, but where do you get this idea that there won't be rape? There's a surprisingly big mainstream market for "bodice rippers," many of which feature forced sex.

veinglory · Feb 22, 2012

These days non-con is nowhere near as common as it was 20 years ago, in fact on the chain store shelf you;d have trouble finding it. Most romance publishers won't take it any more--so their output would be pre-vetted for it.

scarletpeaches · Feb 22, 2012

absitinvidia said:
I'm not trying to be offensive here, but where do you get this idea that there won't be rape? There's a surprisingly big mainstream market for "bodice rippers," many of which feature forced sex.

You'll note I said theoretically.

And I know there are many erotic romances out there which feature non-con and dub-con. I don't like it, but it happens, and it's rape by another name.

But that's probably for another thread.

c.m.n. · Feb 22, 2012

Here's more information on ARe's re categorizing http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/all-romance-ebooks-clarification

I wasn't self-pubbed on Bookstrand, I couldn't find out how to a couple of months ago, but I'm interested to see how all of this will pan out with ARe and even other sites.

Bookstrand cuts self-pubber accounts

practical experience, FTW

Sophipygian

Beary cute ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

practical experience, FTW

bananaed

All the world's a stage...

practical experience, FTW

practical experience, FTW

All the world's a stage...

practical experience, FTW

All the world's a stage...

Mostly Harmless

Mostly Harmless

volitare nequeo

To Live the Dream, Ya Gotta Feel It

delicate #!&@*#! flower

practical experience, FTW

volitare nequeo

A bit of a wallflower

volitare nequeo

Beary cute ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)