Kasumi_Lee
Really Really Experienced
- Joined
- May 2, 2013
- Posts
- 385
If you publish erotica via Smashwords/Draft2Digital, you need to read this post.
I've just had a very distressing week going back and forth with D2D's support team and head of operations regarding what should be my latest ebook release. For one thing, I need to get this off my chest, but more importantly, the approach and attitude taken by D2D potentially bodes ill for erotica authors.
Here's the backstory. A few months ago, after my account was migrated from Smashwords to D2D, I updated the keywords on a certain taboo erotica story and its French and German translations. Being taboo, only Smashwords would accept this sort of material, and they had already accepted all three stories and all three identical censored cover images. Unlike Smashwords, which did manual reviews of every submitted cover image, D2D relies on automated filtering software which has proven very unreliable.
How unreliable? It blocked the English version of this story's cover for being "inappropriate" even though it had already been censored, but it APPROVED the identical and identically censored French and German cover images. I got in contact with D2D, who responded three days later to unblock the book on the grounds that Smashwords had already approved the image. No acknowledgement of the fact that their filtering software treated the same image differently.
Now the latest incident also involves taboo erotica, but is somewhat different. For my latest ebook cover image, I covered up the woman's breasts with big black circles and assumed that her raised thigh completely concealing her crotch would be enough. To be fully transparent, I'll admit that in retrospect this particular image was pushing the line rather too much. When it got blocked from distribution to Smashwords by the same filtering software, I uploaded a more compliant cover but couldn't get past the publishing page because you have to select at least one retailer and all of them, including Smashwords, were blocked.
It took another three days for D2D to reply by explaining to me that cover images, even those for taboo erotica, need to take into account the sensibilities of "families and young adults" (I'm not kidding). They stuck by this explanation even after I pointed out the obvious problem with it, but were kind enough to unblock my ebook so that I could upload the new cover. I created a much more compliant cover with only the model's bare arms, pregnant belly, and face exposed . . . only for the compliant cover to be blocked within minutes. I have resubmitted the image (before the delisting window closes, preventing republication) and also contacted Smashwords directly who responded within hours to assure me that the revision should be live in the next 12 hours.
Why This Matters
I joined Smashwords long before Draft2Digital swallowed it up, so I completely understand the cover requirements. Feel free to tell me that I should have known better than to push the envelope (I'm regretting it plenty already), but this is also ominously illuminating regarding the different styles of customer service practiced by Smashwords and D2D. As far as I can tell, Smashwords would always manually review all submissions. On the rare occasions when my images have been rejected, they've always told me what was wrong and I've promptly fixed it. More importantly, there was (and still seems to be) a genuine good faith attempt to help authors comply in a way that doesn't assume we're edgy perverts looking for ways to circumvent the rules.
By contrast, D2D's customer support center is open from 11am to 2pm four days a week. Unless they're severely understaffed, which they might be given the demands of handling account migration, that speaks volumes about their attitude towards customers/writers. There's also the fact that they take three working days or more to reply to emails, and although they at least give direct and to-the-point answers, the tone is often downright surly. The latest email, the one that told me my ebook had been unblocked so that I could upload a new cover, also basically threatened me with account termination if future issues like this were to occur. Given that the first incident (the one with the identical covers being treated differently) arose from their shitty filtering software, this threat was fucking outrageous.
I'll be honest, my gut reaction to that email was that the person who wrote it should do us all a favor and go skinny dipping in a piranha tank. I remained rational enough not to reply, let alone with anything like that, but it gave me such a visceral reaction because it reminded me of the way Amazon's content review team treat authors whose works are found to be in violation of its own incredibly vague content guidelines, sometimes for reasons that Amazon refuses to disclose. D2D, to it's credit, at least has a clear and transparent set of rules for the kinds of content it will and won't accept (actually, Smashwords should get the credit for that). D2D also relies on humans (however borderline rude) to answer author queries instead of Amazon's approach of sending cut-and-paste emails triggered by algorithms; but the similarities in attitudes is disturbing, especially in contrast to the customer service you get from the likes of Smashwords.
Paranoia or Portent?
As I type this post, my latest D2D ebook is currently publishing to Smashwords, the only retailer that will accept it. I've been assured by Smashwords (who got back to me in only an hour) that they've been in contact with D2D and are going to review the ebook as normal and publish it for preorder in the next 12 hours. I'm cautiously optimistic that this particular incident will be resolved.
I'm less optimistic about what this means for publishing erotica, taboo or otherwise, via D2D. The charitable explanation is that D2D has its hands full handling the migration of accounts from Smashwords to its own platform, and doesn't have the resources to manually review every submission, forcing it to rely on imperfect filtering software. No doubt, it also fears the reputational damage if a false negative were to slip through the cracks, and would rather throw authors under the bus than allow that to happen. The incident with the three identical covers approved by Smashwords but being treated differently by D2D is especially disturbing because it means that covers previously approved by Smashwords aren't necessarily safe from retrospective blocking by their new owners.
I have no idea if the charitable explanation is actually the case, but at a minimum there is a clear culture clash between Smashwords and D2D and how they handle customer service and resolving content review issues. I'll certainly be a lot more cautious about the cover images I select from Shutterstock going forward, but my trust in D2D has really been shaken.
#UPDATE#
After my ebook was delisted and blocked once again, even with the new compliant cover, I finally got customer service to solve the issue.
I've just had a very distressing week going back and forth with D2D's support team and head of operations regarding what should be my latest ebook release. For one thing, I need to get this off my chest, but more importantly, the approach and attitude taken by D2D potentially bodes ill for erotica authors.
Here's the backstory. A few months ago, after my account was migrated from Smashwords to D2D, I updated the keywords on a certain taboo erotica story and its French and German translations. Being taboo, only Smashwords would accept this sort of material, and they had already accepted all three stories and all three identical censored cover images. Unlike Smashwords, which did manual reviews of every submitted cover image, D2D relies on automated filtering software which has proven very unreliable.
How unreliable? It blocked the English version of this story's cover for being "inappropriate" even though it had already been censored, but it APPROVED the identical and identically censored French and German cover images. I got in contact with D2D, who responded three days later to unblock the book on the grounds that Smashwords had already approved the image. No acknowledgement of the fact that their filtering software treated the same image differently.
Now the latest incident also involves taboo erotica, but is somewhat different. For my latest ebook cover image, I covered up the woman's breasts with big black circles and assumed that her raised thigh completely concealing her crotch would be enough. To be fully transparent, I'll admit that in retrospect this particular image was pushing the line rather too much. When it got blocked from distribution to Smashwords by the same filtering software, I uploaded a more compliant cover but couldn't get past the publishing page because you have to select at least one retailer and all of them, including Smashwords, were blocked.
It took another three days for D2D to reply by explaining to me that cover images, even those for taboo erotica, need to take into account the sensibilities of "families and young adults" (I'm not kidding). They stuck by this explanation even after I pointed out the obvious problem with it, but were kind enough to unblock my ebook so that I could upload the new cover. I created a much more compliant cover with only the model's bare arms, pregnant belly, and face exposed . . . only for the compliant cover to be blocked within minutes. I have resubmitted the image (before the delisting window closes, preventing republication) and also contacted Smashwords directly who responded within hours to assure me that the revision should be live in the next 12 hours.
Why This Matters
I joined Smashwords long before Draft2Digital swallowed it up, so I completely understand the cover requirements. Feel free to tell me that I should have known better than to push the envelope (I'm regretting it plenty already), but this is also ominously illuminating regarding the different styles of customer service practiced by Smashwords and D2D. As far as I can tell, Smashwords would always manually review all submissions. On the rare occasions when my images have been rejected, they've always told me what was wrong and I've promptly fixed it. More importantly, there was (and still seems to be) a genuine good faith attempt to help authors comply in a way that doesn't assume we're edgy perverts looking for ways to circumvent the rules.
By contrast, D2D's customer support center is open from 11am to 2pm four days a week. Unless they're severely understaffed, which they might be given the demands of handling account migration, that speaks volumes about their attitude towards customers/writers. There's also the fact that they take three working days or more to reply to emails, and although they at least give direct and to-the-point answers, the tone is often downright surly. The latest email, the one that told me my ebook had been unblocked so that I could upload a new cover, also basically threatened me with account termination if future issues like this were to occur. Given that the first incident (the one with the identical covers being treated differently) arose from their shitty filtering software, this threat was fucking outrageous.
I'll be honest, my gut reaction to that email was that the person who wrote it should do us all a favor and go skinny dipping in a piranha tank. I remained rational enough not to reply, let alone with anything like that, but it gave me such a visceral reaction because it reminded me of the way Amazon's content review team treat authors whose works are found to be in violation of its own incredibly vague content guidelines, sometimes for reasons that Amazon refuses to disclose. D2D, to it's credit, at least has a clear and transparent set of rules for the kinds of content it will and won't accept (actually, Smashwords should get the credit for that). D2D also relies on humans (however borderline rude) to answer author queries instead of Amazon's approach of sending cut-and-paste emails triggered by algorithms; but the similarities in attitudes is disturbing, especially in contrast to the customer service you get from the likes of Smashwords.
Paranoia or Portent?
As I type this post, my latest D2D ebook is currently publishing to Smashwords, the only retailer that will accept it. I've been assured by Smashwords (who got back to me in only an hour) that they've been in contact with D2D and are going to review the ebook as normal and publish it for preorder in the next 12 hours. I'm cautiously optimistic that this particular incident will be resolved.
I'm less optimistic about what this means for publishing erotica, taboo or otherwise, via D2D. The charitable explanation is that D2D has its hands full handling the migration of accounts from Smashwords to its own platform, and doesn't have the resources to manually review every submission, forcing it to rely on imperfect filtering software. No doubt, it also fears the reputational damage if a false negative were to slip through the cracks, and would rather throw authors under the bus than allow that to happen. The incident with the three identical covers approved by Smashwords but being treated differently by D2D is especially disturbing because it means that covers previously approved by Smashwords aren't necessarily safe from retrospective blocking by their new owners.
I have no idea if the charitable explanation is actually the case, but at a minimum there is a clear culture clash between Smashwords and D2D and how they handle customer service and resolving content review issues. I'll certainly be a lot more cautious about the cover images I select from Shutterstock going forward, but my trust in D2D has really been shaken.
#UPDATE#
After my ebook was delisted and blocked once again, even with the new compliant cover, I finally got customer service to solve the issue.
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