Indie author Tillie Cole says she has taken down her popular Hades Hangman series from online ebookstores after readers criticized a love story in book seven, DARKNESS EMBRACED, centering on a member of the Ku Klux Klan. That book was first published in January 2019. Reviews of the book posted on Twitter describe the romantic male protagonist as “heir of the Texas Ku Klux Klan,” while the female protagonist is the “daughter of a Mexican cartel boss.” Readers also flagged racial slurs used in previous installments of the series. Books one through five are still available on Audible and at least […]
Self-publishing
Indie Authors Sign Petition Against Amazon’s KDP Select Policy
Over 28,000 people have signed a petition to “stop the unfair removal of titles on Amazon” as a result of the retailer’s Kindle Direct Publishing Select policy. The policy states that work that is part of KDP Select must not be digitally published elsewhere. The petition claims the books being removed have sometimes been stolen and pirated: “Many authors follow this rule closely, but Amazon refuses to acknowledge the part they play in the theft and redistribution of authors’ publications online.” The signatories are asking for Amazon “to change their current process for authors that allegedly infringe” on the policy; […]
Amazon’s CreateSpace Continues to Grow, Devour Self-Published Print Market
Bowker released their annual statistics for 2017 charting the release of self-published books that carry ISBNs issued by the company (and as we know, a large number of self-published titles, particularly ebooks, do not carry ISBNs at all). The report has essentially become a chronicle of Amazon’s steady march to dominate print self-publishing in the same way that their KDP has long dominated ebook self-publishing. For 2017, there were 879,587 self-published print titles that carried ISBNs — and 751,924 of them came from CreateSpace (which is now being merged with KDP), comprising over 85 percent of the total. CreateSpace’s output grew by […]
Barnes & Noble Press Replaces Nook Press
Barnes & Noble’s self-publishing platform has officially changed from Nook Press to Barnes & Noble Press (after changing in 2013 from PubIt! to Nook Press). Most notably, they have increased the royalty offered for higher-priced ebooks; titles listed at $10 or more, up to $199.99, now qualify for a 65 percent royalty, up from 40 percent previously. eBooks can now be offered for pre-order up to 12 months ahead of publication. On the print-on-demand side, they have added more trim sizes, along with glossy cover and color printing options.
CreateSpace Keeps Gaining Share In Self-Published Market
Bowker updated their annual statistics tracking the output of new, self-published titles that carry ISBNs in 2016. As has been well documented, a meaningful quantity of self-published titles do not carry ISBNs at all. But the Bowker data set helps track many of the vendors. As in past years, Amazon’s CreateSpace continued to grow, up over 18 percent, with 501,000 print ISBNs (compared to 424,000 in 2015). That has CreateSpace claiming 78.5 percent of that market, and they have only three meaningful competitors, all of whom declined: Lulu was down 11 percent at 42,000 ISBNs; Blurb was off 33 percent at […]
Nook Revises Content Policy to Limit/Eliminate Erotica, Starts Terminating Author Accounts
On August 16 Nook Press revised their posted content policy in a way that seems to indicate they will no longer sell self-published erotica. Their definition of excluded “obscene or pornographic material” now “may include content that graphically portrays sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.” They also note “other content we deem offensive in the exercise of our sole discretion including but not limited to works portraying or encouraging incest, rape, bestiality, necrophilia, paedophilia.” As a result, some self-published authors have reported online that their titles were suspended from sale and they were told […]