Forum: Author Hangout

And, to my knowledge, incest isn't allowed.

That's my point. Out of the 'latest offerings' listed, a large amount featured incest themes, several featuring underaged characters (under 18, but not children). Publishing sites might not 'allow' incest, but that doesn't mean they police their policy. As long as no one complains, you're safe. If they do, and the site drops the book, you simply relist it, or if you get dropped you simply open a new account using a new email address.

By the way, the majority of books on this one page list were between 2,000 to 7,000 words, averaging $2.99 each. Only a couple were greater than the standard 60,000 word limit for 'novel sized' books.

I question the usage of limit in this context.

I believe Crumbly meant minimum size to be considered a novel (vs., say, a shorter novella).

I question the usage of limit in this context. I have certainly seen dead tree novels published be the traditional publishing houses that are larger than that. "Battlefield Earth" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_Earth_%28novel%29 is 1094 pages.

I wasn't suggesting that as a maximum book size, but more of a lower limit (30,000 words is considered the size of a novelette).

2,700 words barely qualifies as a short story!

The rule cited refers to underage incest.

I don't know about Smashwords, but on Amazon incest is not allowed, no matter what the age, and even step-children and in-laws are considered incest and not allowed.

If I remember right, the 3 no-nos on Amazon are incest, underage sex, and bestiality.

I would have self-published "New Society, New Rules" except it has incest and underage sex.

If I remember right, the 3 no-nos on Amazon are incest, underage sex, and bestiality.

Happily (or not), Amazon-as well as Lulu and iBooks-are not consistent in their policy. Even Lulu, which sells incest but says no to underage sex, doesn't always enforce the under-18 rule.

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Happily (or not), Amazon-as well as Lulu and iBooks-are not consistent in their policy. Even Lulu, which sells incest but says no to underage sex, doesn't always enforce the under-18 rule.

Without reading each of the 1,000 new books supposedly published every hour by Amazon, there's really nothing they can do to police the works. It's set up on an honor system, where they only take action when they receive a complaint from an authorized purchase. A few sites try to impose an automated check, but aside from searching for the words "incest" and "tween", they're unlikely to uncover the majority of 'offensive' texts, as well as catching many legitimate books.

there's really nothing they can do

They can cancel your account which affects your other "legal" books.

The rule cited refers to underage incest. In the quoted segment the MC is looking forward to his daughter coming of age so he can break her in, that's not UNDERAGE incest.

Not having read the book, I'd imagine that means 16, rather than the 18 or 21 insisted by the majority of distributors that Amazon and the other sites depend on. Even if it's 18, it's still in clear violation of Amazon and Koko's rules (one of smashword's distributors). I suspect it's more 'what you can get away with', rather than what the site supports. It's easier to sell what you can, even if you lose money from purchased books when they're eventually banned.

Again, it's not that I object to that type of book. I don't believe in any kind of censorship, but like the 2,700 word book, it's discouraging to be competing against people playing by a completely different set of rules than the rest of us.