Today I’m blogging about censorship. PayPal has a new stance when it comes to the contents of an e-book. The credit card companies have become indignant about e-books’ containing what they call porn and want the said material removed. As you know, some publishers use Paypal services to pay their authors royalties. Since the credit card companies are working closely with Paypal, they are calling the shots in what material an e-book can contain.
Several publishers are asking their authors’ to check their blurbs and excerpts in case they contain any objectionable words. The idea behind this is if the publishers are randomly checked, there won’t be any banned words in either a blurb, or excerpt. If an author finds any of these words, they report to the publisher and the publisher places asterisks in their place.
I’m wondering after all these years why the credit card companies are pressuring Paypal to screen publishers about their contents placed up for sale.
We all know the written language in the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment states Freedom of Speech to all individuals. Our forefathers established the First Amendment so that you and I could express our views without having someone judge us. Now, it seems that First Amendment Right could disappear.
If anyone interested in buying a book should take a look at the ratings first and decide if it is for them. Most books contain ratings of Adult, PG, R and Mainstream. This tells the person purchasing the book that the contents might not be right for them.
I feel this is an injustice to not only the publisher, but writer, as well. When did different organizations such as Paypal and credit card companies become so narrow-minded in its views? How will this affect sales of e-books? Do you have an opinion on what is happening at PayPal?
http://www.mary-suzanne.blogspot.com/
http://www.webspawner.com/users/Romancewriter/index.html
2 comments:
Very good post, Mary Suzanne. I've been following the Paypal business with great interest since one of my books has been pulled. "Purr" - my short story erotic version of "Puss In Boots" - was removed by AllRomanceEBooks and Bookstrand. That publisher's entire catalogue is gone from both sites. I think my book was caught up in the publisher's removal. Hopefully this will clear up very soon, since at the very least my book has no objectionable material in it. The irony is that since I've let word get out that "Purr" has been pulled it's been selling reasonably well on Amazon.
Glad you commented, Lizzie. I posted an earlier answer to your comment, it didn't come through.
Sorry to hear about your book Purr. That's a shame, but if it's doing well at Amazon, let's hope Amazon doesn't take the same stance. But, as of now, Amazon isn't connected to PayPal.
I tried using PayPal at Amazon once when ordering a CD and they said they don't accept PayPal for payment.
I can't figure out how PayPal can change their views after doing business with the publishers for so long. It has to be the credit card companies, and again, I don't understand their change.
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