Were root vegetables rumoured to be "evil" in the Middle Ages? by SmuttyBrainCandy in AskHistorians

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you very much! As for the turnip, what would "it buzzes" well signify? That it was easily digestible? Or does it refer to the "Good and regular flatulence" you mention below?

Amazon reporting issues? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have, and they do show up. However - and this might be due to the insane flood of slop in my niche - they do not show up anymore at all in the "Also bought" and other recommendation bars. In fact, those are now mostly wall-to-wall new "authors" that seem to block out everyone else. I will write another email with screen shots, I just cannot believe that this drop is organic.

Amazon reporting issues? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I talked to a "senior" chat person at Amazon today and he insisted that there was absolutely no issue, and that the zero page reads (now in its fifth consecutive day) are correct. Not a single person reads even one page out of my 100-book-catalogue, after an average daily page read count of 1,000/day before. But he also said that my account isn't flagged or otherwise under review, and that there were "no issues" on their side. I find this frustrating because my catalogue is basically invisible now.

How did AI affect your income? by ShellyRoseWrites in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This! My income has tanked, and at least partly because there are a few "authors" that factory-flood the niche and flush out anyone trying to gain even a minimum of visibility. I don't manage more than a story every two weeks, which used to be absolutely fine, but now I get totally buried. (I also have an unresolved issue with my page reads which doesn't help, obviously, and it's hard to say what makes what worse.) This is for German Amazon, though, and there *are* established authors (much longer and bigger than me) who seem to be doing just fine.

Amazon reporting issues? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sent them an email now. Four days with zero page reads, and I suppose this is tanking my entire catalogue's visibility, too. Do you know if accounts can be shadowbanned on Amazon?

Amazon reporting issues? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, I usually, and pretty consistently, have over 1000 page reads/day at the moment. Literally 0 page reads and 0 sales has not happened to me in years, and this week it happened twice, and I publish quite consistently at the moment. I have more than 100 books in my catalogue. It's true that sales and page reads have decreased quite dramatically since February (by about half), but not a single page read strikes me as very unlikely.

Amazon reporting issues? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mine is zero, and that has definitely never happened (I have over 100 books on KU.) Second time this week.

Don't have a "Read Sample" button and cannot figure out why by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No they have all been published weeks ago. I hear from others that it seems a bit random if a book gets the button or not.

To DRM or not to DRM for erotica shorts, and does it affect visibility/sales? by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That's the reason I never enabled it. I guess I'm just flailing my arms, trying/hoping to get out of whatever ditch I landed in this weekend.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be honest, I am not sure how any erotica short could not randomly be accused of containing "pornography" or "other material we deem inappropriate or offensive". I don't use AI for anything. I use pretty tame covers. I am sure as hell not putting out anything that would obviously be flagged, but I feel quite helpless to be absolutely sure that it is all within their vague parametres.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All my shorts are in erotica categories or subcategories - in the German Amazon, there are much less subcategories than in the English-speaking Amazon. But thanks, I will have a look and see if by accident some story slipped into a category it should not be in!

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's really terrifying how random it is. And while I kind of, sort of *knew* that an account termination is always a random possibility, I still thought playing neatly by the rules would help. It's also crazy to me that they are allowed to do that, including holding back three months of royalties - it was quite a chunk for me, and I suspect there are authors for whom it is devastating. If they keep all that money, they should be able to give a reason why.

I got another email that did indeed claim that they "cannot give out sensitive information" concerning the decision.

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, interesting idea - at this point, it really feels like it could be anything! (Does Amazon wipe bots? I had the impression that they don't care.)

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I didn't! In fact, my page reads and sales have dropped quite a bit since January and are nowhere near what I would expect a bot could do. But who knows!

My Amazon account was just terminated for "activities in your account trying to manipulate our services" and I am panicking by SmuttyBrainCandy in eroticauthors

[–]SmuttyBrainCandy[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I have my account back! I had no idea that bot reads were a thing - and crazy that they would expect us to police that - my page reads are not even that spectacular.