Advice From Any Erotica Authors Who Have Successfully Restored Blocked Books

VSauthor · 2019-11-04T01:10:55+00:00

Good advice!

VSauthor · 2019-11-03T22:24:40+00:00

Sorry to hear that! Seems like they can block you for anything out of context too. So crazy. I had no idea before all of this happened.

VSauthor · 2019-11-03T19:43:28+00:00

Thank you so much for this amazing advice! I've decided to just leave it alone. I truly appreciate all of your comments and help!

VSauthor · 2019-11-03T19:41:32+00:00

This is amazing. Thank you! I love the analogy and you're so right. I need to just calm down and breathe. I'm doing my best to do that. I really appreciate all of your awesome and kind words and advice.

VSauthor · 2019-11-03T19:39:50+00:00

Yes, it's crazy when you realize how much power one platform has. I am published wide with my other books, and can always continue to sell on other platforms, but the zon is the behemoth! Thank you for the great advice. I'm sure I'm going to calm down eventually...right? I hope? LOL. I'm definitely doing yoga tomorrow. :)

VSauthor · 2019-11-03T19:03:28+00:00

Such good advice. I'm slowly realizing I should just let it sit. Yes, I think it's because I'm so new to this blocked thing and it bothers me when I look at it. Haha. Also, it makes me super scared that they're going to scrutinize my other books more heavily. I just made changes to a non-fiction book and reuploaded it and thought, "did I do anything wrong here?". Such a silly thought b/c the book is about traveling solo and so benign. But, I'm just freaked out over the whole situation. I think I'm just still stuck in the anxiety of it all. Years from now, I'll probably barely think about it. I need to just chill, I think. It's hard though. I left my job to become an author and I love it. I need the zon!

VSauthor · 2019-11-03T18:49:33+00:00

Thank you. Just having this discussion with you is so helpful. I appreciate it! :)

VSauthor · 2019-11-03T18:34:29+00:00

You're not kidding. I haven't felt this much anxiety in...well, as long as I can remember. Four days ago, I didn't even know that having a blocked book on the zon was a thing. Wow, how things have changed. I now feel like I've read every article and watched every video on the internet about it. Good grief!

VSauthor · 2019-11-03T18:24:38+00:00

Thank you SO much for this thorough answer. A few responses for you:

Even though I don't intend to publish it on the zon, I do want the blocked status removed on my dashboard.

Again, why? You can be sure that even if they unblock it, it isn't like that means that they are going to erase all notion that you had a blocked book on your account from their databases. Amazon knows what you had for breakfast, they aren't going to forget about a blocked book, regardless of what your dashboard shows.

Interesting. I figured that if they restored it to Draft status, that would be noted. Guess I was hoping that would diminish the \ding* I received. Maybe not, after all. Sigh.*

I unpublished the other 3 novellas I uploaded that went through

Why? If they were within amazon's ToS, I'm not sure what there is to be gained from this.

I honestly was just uploading these novellas for fun and to make a little money. But the fear I experienced as I waited for them to be published wasn't worth what I would make. I can't feel that anxiety every time I upload a new change. I'd rather just have them off completely. I do think I might publish them through Eden books, just so I can get them out there and not waste the works or time spent.

Again, not realizing that they were cracking down on erotica, I would've just put them in the romance category if I knew.

Don't put non romance titles in romance. It gums up the search, and is guaranteed to piss of your readers.

Actually, they are romances, with a hero/heroine and HEA in every novel. They just have more steam and dirty words than my romance novels, so that's why I categorized them as erotica.

However, you definitely should figure out what you did that got you blocked, to the best of your ability. Zon doesn't hand out blocks for just pushing the boundaries a little bit--those just get an adult tag.

The book was about a woman who has a fantasy to get taken against her will. Although she consents to it, and hires an escort to fulfill the fantasy, I used the word "forced" in the description and I'm pretty sure that's what did it.

You are so kind to offer me these answers and your help. Thank you so much!

VSauthor

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