C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

02/28/2012 • 10:40 AM 1

Smashwords — PayPal vs Erotica Debate Update & a New Deadline

Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction
Mark Coker responds to critics and says the issue is not only bigger than Smashwords. It’s bigger than PayPal! Read on for the update on the deadline extension and the “sliver of hope.” Click the link for Mark Coker’s latest letter on the censorship debate. ~ Chazz
Via www.smashwords.com

PayPal cracks down on erotica e-book sales | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics (chazzwrites.com)
PayPal As Moral Police? Forces E-Book Sellers To Remove Certain Erotica Content (techcrunch.com)
Smashwords, erotica and Paypal (gillyfraser.wordpress.com)
Paypal Puts Publishers’ Panties In A Wad (webpronews.com)
Speak up against PayPal’s censorship (sherihart.com)

Filed under: censors, censorship, ebooks, publishing, self-publishing, censors, censorship, erotica, Mark Coker, PayPal, self-publishing, Smashwords

02/27/2012 • 6:16 PM 0

Two Legs Bad: An Open Letter to Mark Coker | Remittance Girl : Erotic Fiction, Stories and Series

Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction

This post is a public response to an email sent by Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, asking all erotic writers to take down any books that contravene their…
Via remittancegirl.com

PayPal cracks down on erotica e-book sales | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics (chazzwrites.com)
Smashwords, erotica and Paypal (gillyfraser.wordpress.com)
Speak up against PayPal’s censorship (sherihart.com)
The Censorgasm (jswayne.wordpress.com)
PayPal As Moral Police? Forces E-Book Sellers To Remove Certain Erotica Content (techcrunch.com)

Filed under: censors, censorship, publishing, self-publishing, Useful writing links, censors, censorship, erotica, fiction, Mark Coker, PayPal, porn, publishing, Smashwords, Writers Resources

11/05/2010 • 10:31 AM 3

Censorship: American Psycho, Canadian Psychos

Support censorship: Botticelli's "Birth o...

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God so loved the world he sent his only Son…instead of a committee.

For a couple of years I sat on a committee for Freedom of Expression representing editors and publishers.

Here’s what I learned:

Many people are staunch defenders of free expression as long as they agree with the views expressed.

I say I “sat” on the committee because my impression was that nothing would ever get done. The one time I chaired the committee, I was criticized for being too controversial.

Flash forward: I was no longer on the committee and was now working for Cannon Book Distributors. Brett Easton Ellis‘s American Psycho had been out for a short time and I was selling it across Canada. I met a former employer with whom I’d locked horns before in a Toronto street. He looked smug; he had no other facial expression, actually. He thought he had me.

“Now how do you feel about having to sell American Psycho?” (He didn’t say “ha-HA!” but the unspoken hung in the air between us.)

“Great,” I said. “I let grown-ups decide what they read. Otherwise, I’d be treating them like children.”

“You’re a civil libertarian, then?” he asked. He asked the question the same way you might ask an acquaintance how often he buggered syphilitic goats.

“Yes.”

He shook his head. No hope for me.

Here’s what censors don’t seem to get: Either you read a book you found offensive and decided for yourself it wasn’t for you (in which case everyone else should have that same privilege) or you didn’t read it, in which case you shouldn’t condemn it. I’ve already got two parents. I really don’t need more authority figures telling me what not to read.

I love a list of censored books.

Almost invariably, that’s where to find great, or at least interesting, books.

Book Talk: Bret Easton Ellis on the lottery of success (reuters.com)
American Psycho To Slay Audiences In Front of the Footlights [The Theatre] (gawker.com)
28 reviews of American Psycho (rateitall.com)
Bret Easton Ellis (jimdempsey.wordpress.com)

Filed under: banning books, censors, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis, censors, censorship

06/09/2010 • 5:28 PM 0

The Censor’s Dilemma

Censorship of books in Cuba is an interesting phenomenon. When a book is banned, it’s pushed into the black market and the underground economy scoops it up for the populace. Thankfully.

Whenever a book or a film is decried by would-be censors, or actual censors, the object of their derision is made all the more desireable in the minds of many. I have no doubt JK Rowling would have been a success in any case. However, when numerous religious groups tried to have it banned, they unwittingly contributed to the Harry Potter phenomenon.

If your book is made into a movie, your sales will soar. If you can get somebody to declaim it as an offense to decency or whatever their pet cause happens to be, then you’ll get more media promotion than you could possibly pay for.

When I was a kid a local Baptist church held a rally, proud they were going to burn evil Metal records. They identified the music as a threat to the children. The trouble was, mostly the kids didn’t have any of the offensive records (or had them stashed at a friend’s house.) Their solution was to go out and buy a bunch of AC/DC so they could contribute to the liberating bonfire. Bloody brilliant. (A recent study revealed teens who listen to heavy metal are actually more serene and intelligent as a group.)

To the censors: if you don’t want anybody to read or listen to something you don’t like, ssssshhhhhhh. Don’t read it. Don’t talk about it and don’t tell me what to do with my brain. The moment you start railing against it, I’m putting on my coat to head to Chapters. Look at any list of banned books and you’ll find a lot of great literature there.

Rock on.