PayPal backs down

March 13, 2012

I received this email last night and I was very pleased to see it. I have expressed previously, my grave concerns about banks and credit card companies holding themselves out as censors. I have also thought that this attack seemed to be on e-books only. Other works out in the printed domain do not attract the same attention.

A win for indie publishers and for us all!

Smashwords author/publisher update:  PayPal Reverses Proposed Censorship

Great news.  Yesterday afternoon I met with PayPal at their office in San Jose, where they informed me of their decision to modify their policies to allow legal fiction.

Effective last night, we rolled back the Smashwords Terms of Service to its pre-February 24 state.

It's been a tumultuous, nerve-wracking few weeks as we worked to protect the right of writers to write and publish legal fiction. 

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Smashwords authors, publishers and customers.  You stood up and made your voice known.  Thank you to every Smashwords author and publisher who wrote me to express opinions, even if we disagreed, and even if you were angry with me. You inspired me to carry your cause forward.  

Smashwords authors, publishers and customers mobilized. You made telephone calls, wrote emails and letters, started and signed petitions, blogged, tweeted, Facebooked and drove the conversation. You made the difference.  Without you, no one would have paid attention. I would also like to thank the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). These three advocacy groups were the first to stand up for our authors, publishers and customers. Their contribution cannot be overstated.  We collaborated with them to build a coalition of like-minded organizations to support our mutual cause. Special kudos to Rainey Reitman of EFF for her energy, enthusiasm and leadership.

I would also like to thank all the bloggers and journalists out there who helped carry our story forward by lending their platforms to get the story out.  Special thanks to TechCrunch, Slashdot, TechDirt, The Independent (UK), Reuters, Publishers Weekly, Dow Jones, The Digital Reader, CNET, Forbes, GalleyCat & EbookNewser and dozens of others too numerous to mention. 

I would like to thank our friends at PayPal.  They worked with us in good faith as they promised, engaged us in dialogue, made the effort to understand Smashwords and our mission, went to bat for our authors with the credit card companies and banks, and showed the courage to revise their policies. 

This is a big, bold move by PayPal.  It represents a watershed decision that protects the rights of writers to write, publish and distribute legal fiction.  It also protects the rights of readers to purchase and enjoy all fiction in the privacy of their own imagination. It clarifies and rationalizes the role of financial services providers and pulls them out of the business of censoring legal fiction. 

Following implementation of their new policies, PayPal will have the most liberal, pro-First-Amendment policies of the major payment processors.  Will Google Checkout and Checkout by Amazon be next now that the credit card companies have clarified their positions, and have essentially given payment providers the permission to adopt more enlightened policies?   Finally, thanks to Selena Kitt of Excessica and Remittance Girl for helping me to understand and respect all fiction more than I ever have before.

This is a bright day for indie publishing.  In the old world, traditional publishers were the arbiters of literary merit.  Today, thanks to the rise of indie ebooks, the world is moving toward a broader, more inclusive definition of literary merit. Smashwords gives writers the power and freedom to publish.  Merit is decided by your readers.  Just as it should be.

Thanks,

Mark Coker

Founder

Smashwords

Romance and kissing cousins

Kissing cousins

I wrote this story after being inspired by a photo. If you haven’t read it, I will warn that spoilers follow. 

*SPOLIER ALERT*

It is a quick insight into a girl’s inability to resist the wrong guy. She knows he is wrong for her, she knows that he turns up and has sex with her when it suits him, and he will never acknowledge her as a lover or a partner. She knows this and she still can’t say ‘no’. She describes him as her ‘Achilles thong’; her intimate weakness, I suppose. By the end of the short story, she has said ‘no’, she has realised that the guy she is currently dating is a better, healthier choice and a nice guy. She tells him everything and he forgives her and still loves her.

It’s a circle of sorts. And I love circles in stories.

But one thing I had never anticipated was the reviews from Smashwords readers. I wrote that they were cousins. I didn’t say first cousins, but they are family. This was an issue for her in the story, because she can never quite get away from him. They keep meeting at family functions.

Wow! I had no idea that I had inadvertently stepped into the American version of incest. Which is oddly ironic, given the current battle that Smashwords and PayPal are having over the publication of incest.  I have no idea if my little story will cause my entire account to be deleted for breaching site rules on incest.

I am Australian. We have no such taboo about dating your cousin. You can even marry them if you want.

The Marriage Act prohibits people marrying:

an ancestor or descendant; or their brother or sister (whether whole blood or half-blood siblings). These restrictions also apply to adoptive relationships even if these have been annulled, cancelled, discharged or cease to be effective for any reason (for example, a subsequent adoption order being made).

This means, for example, that a person cannot marry their parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister. However, (depending of course on the gender of the party) a person may marry their aunt or uncle, niece or nephew or ‘first’ cousin.

[copied from the Australian government attorney general information website.]

As far as I understand, it is not an issue for most countries in the world. Maybe it is a Puritan hangover for the US? I certainly had no idea that marrying your first cousin is illegal in more American States, than not. I guess if Americans are confused about it, too, then my little story might be safe. Oddly, it has the most downloads too. Way more than any of my other stories so far.

Most reviewers also seem to miss the point, that by the end, she has made the correct choice. I can only assume that they didn’t read to the end. I also keep getting told that it isn’t a romance. In Smashwords, I have to choose existing tags (at least, I think so - still new at this ‘n all) I looked up romance. It says it is a noun for a novel of a love affair. It’s certainly not Mills & Boon style romance, but it finishes on what I would categorise as happy for now.

Yeah… *picture me confused*.

Banks as censors?

This week there has been a lot of publicity about PayPal and Smashwords and the issue of erotica and censorship. The Smashwords platform is built on PayPal both as a way to exchange sale prices and as a way to pay writers their fees.

https://www.smashwords.com/press/release/27

PayPal gave the company days to remove all items from its library that contained rape, incest or bestiality.

I don’t write or read stories with rape, incest or bestiality themes, but I believe that you should have the right to do so if you wish. It concerns me greatly that the company that we need to sell our books can effectively hold us to ransom. But it seems from Mark Coker’s (head of Smashwords) latest press release, that PayPal itself is being held to ransom.

And by banks and credit card companies, no less.

https://www.smashwords.com/press/release/28

“I had another call with PayPal this morning.  Our conversation is continuing with them as I seek to achieve a less onerous, more sensible result.
 There's a sliver of hope that I might be able to obtain a more positive, less restrictive outcome than I communicated on Friday,  yet it's unlikely we'll achieve the true result I want (no censorship) in the near term.  Today, PayPal hinted at a more relaxed definition of prohibited content as, according to them [I'm paraphrasing], "books for which rape, bestiality and incest are the major theme.
 If rape, bestiality and incest are incidental plot points, then that content might be allowable."
 This represents a significant clarification in our ongoing attempt to delineate the gray areas and push back the onerous, unfair and restrictive definitions as they now stand.  It's an opening, but it's not the final word from PayPal.  Our friends at PayPal are trying their best to help Smashwords authors and publishers.
 This potential relaxation doesn't solve the broader issue of censorship.  I think if a writer wants to write fiction around the theme of [anything], I think they should be able to write it if it's legal.
 Today's progress, while encouraging, also opens up new gray area.  How does one judge whether the taboo subjects are incidental instances or major themes?  Where does one draw the line?  The PayPal rep and I agreed our discussion will continue, and they assured me our PayPal services will not be cut off as we both work in good faith to advance the discussions.”
[excerpt from press release 28]

I don’t know about you, but I fear a world in which a bank controls censorship.

It’s the same thorny issue as deciding what is art or pornography. And who gets to decide?

Can they then, tell you what you can and can’t spend your money on? Can they block your credit card from being used to purchase certain kinds of items or information? Scary, scary world. Even if it probably would have been good for someone to stop me before I paid for that watermelon maxi-dress, we can’t allow this.

Indie authors are the biggest publishers of erotica.  Already, one retailer/distributor, Bookstrand, has decided to drop all indies from their store.

Bringing attention to this will, I hope force the banks and credit card companies to explain themselves, or to change their policies.

No one tells me what to read or what to write.