Rape and Incest Titles Should not be Banned [BLOG]

A self-publishing author says the media over reacted to self-published books on rape and incest being discovered on WH Smith's website.

Self-publishing is a wonderfully liberating experience. Authors such as myself can make our books available on platforms such as Amazon Kindle in a matter of minutes. In essence all that is required is for the person uploading the file to confirm that they own all necessary rights and, hey presto your work is available!

I published my first collection of short stories, The First Time, in December 2012. Since then I've published three subsequent books with only very minor problems.

All that is required is a computer and you have lift-off. You can upload content in PDF form but not being technically savvy all of my books have been uploaded in Microsoft Word.

Why self-publish?

It is incredibly difficult for new authors to obtain a publishing deal with an established publisher so, unless you are JK Rowling, you will find it virtually impossible to break into the world of established publishing. As the publisher I can easily make changes to my books and, if I so desire un-publish them - no need to exchange emails with your publisher, as you are both author and publisher.

As can be seen from the above, the world of self-publishing is wonderfully lacking in bureaucracy. I devoutly hope that the simplicity of self-publishing is not about to become mired in bureaucracy due to concerns regarding "unacceptable content."

Recent media coverage has dealt with the availability of erotic works on WH Smith's site. Titles such as "Pregnant With Daddy" could be freely viewed irrespective of the age of the viewer. There was, quite understandably, concern that children might view inappropriate adult content.

Massive over reaction

Consequently WH Smith, along with the content supplier Kobo, closed their sites while the content was removed.

No reasonable person is going to contend that adult material should be available to children. However there has, in my view, been a massive over reaction. Rather than calling for the establishing or tightening of existing age verification procedures, newspapers such as The Daily Mail have fulminated against filthy books implying that such works should be prohibited.

Such a prohibition would run counter to the values of a liberal and open society.

Titles dealing with incest and rape are not to everyone's taste (I personally would never read such works). However, provided that the persons portrayed in works of an erotic nature are 18-years-of-age or older (and the titles are only available to adults) I can see no reason for banning them.

Encouraging incest?

It may be objected that such works encourage incest or other undesirable sexual activity.

However there is, to my knowledge, no evidence that this is in fact the case and in the absence of proof regarding the alleged harmful effects of such books they ought to remain available for sale.

Sites such as Amazon could help by clarifying their guidelines on what constitutes unacceptable content. Amazon's current guidelines are vague in the extreme, "What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect."

Come on Amazon surely you can do better than that!

In conclusion, it is right that adult content is restricted to those aged 18-years-old or older. However it would be a tragedy if legitimate concerns regarding children were to lead to the imposition of bureaucratic and inflexible controls on the self-publishing industry.

The overwhelming majority of authors behave responsibly, so let's not use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Kevin Morris is an author who has published four works on Amazon's Kindle self-publishing platofrm.