The Kobo Fiasco
Some of you may already be aware of what's going on. Others may not.Here's a simplified summary.
Kobo realised that *some* indie-published books in their catalogue contained illegal or icky erotic content. So they pulled *all* indie-published books.
Yep. You've read that right.
Here's some more info:
The books aren't permanently deleted, they're quarantined pending individual reviews. That sounds fair enough until you think about it. Can you imagine how long it will take Kobo staff to check several hundred thousand titles individually? Especially considering that Kobo staff are overworked and can't even cope with their normal workload.
Kobo spent much time and money courting indie authors and persuading them to publish with authors. With one fell swoop, they've destroyed that trust.
What caused this sudden action? This is where you may laugh: A tabloid newspaper in Britain published an article showing that a retailer in Britain was selling books containing incest. This exposure caused outrage against that retailer. All that retailer would have needed to do was instal an 18+ filter. Instead, they panicked. And Kobo (supplying that retailer) panicked too.
If Kobo genuinely thought there was an emergency, I can understand that that they would take a rapid drastic action.It might have made sense had they decided to temporarily quarantine all erotic books, or all books containing certain suspicious words such as 'Daddy', and check them for illegal erotic content.
But to do this to all indie books, simply because they're indie?
Note: Bestselling erotica titles were not pulled - an interesting instance of double standards.
On the plus side, Kobo sent an email to authors that books would be quarantined and why. I appreciate being informed. That's something. Alas, only authors who published directly with Kobo received that email. Authors who published to Kobo via Smashwords or D2D were not informed. They were shocked to see their books had vanished.
Moreover, that letter was worded to give the illusion that only a few titles would be temporarily removed pending review. It did not admit that *all* indies were pulled with one fell swoop.
And moreover, the letter is full of hypocritical statements such as "Our goal at Kobo is not to censor material; we support freedom of expression." and "Further, we want to protect the reputation of self-publishing as a whole."
These claims are in direct contradiction to Kobo's actions.
My subjective assessment: B***S**T.
The situation is of course more complicated than I've described. For example, not all books were removed at once. Mine were still in the Kobo catalogue yesterday - but today they've disappeared. And Kobo has several websites (some of them are regional, some are by other criteria) and the sweeping deletion has not happened to all of them at once. I believe some (but not all) American customers can still get all titles. If you're an author, your books will still show on your dashboard page even if Kobo has pulled it from the catalogue.
I suggest we allow Kobo until Friday to sort out this mess they've created. They may realise their mistake and do a u-turn, and restore books wholesale the way they've deleted them, and then remove individual suspect titles the way they should have in the first place.
If Kobo don't backtrack by Friday, I suggest it's time for authors (indie authors and sympathetic trad authors) and readers (especially Kobo customers) to unite and speak up.
If we allow Kobo to get away with this monumental breach of trust, other retailers and publishers will think they can do the same.
Some months ago, readers and authors used social media to campaign against the outrage of banks censoring books (the famous Smashwords vs PayPal case). We were very successful then. PayPal backed down, the freedom of literature was restored, and the credit card companies also gave up their self-appointed role as book censors.
If Kobo doesn't correct their anti-indie stance, it's time to speak up. Tweet, retweet, blog etc about it. Feel free to share this blog post. On Twitter, we're currently discussing suitable hashtags. #kobofiasco and #kobogeddon are emerging as favourites.
Some authors are already removing books from Kobo, calling for Kobo boycotts etc.
However, I suggest we wait before we take drastic action. Kobo *may* after all get their act together and sort this somehow. I suggest waiting until Friday before we get seriously active.
I used to have a positive opinion of Kobo, and used to promote Kobo a lot (largely because I hoped it would grow into a strong competitor to Amazon). But now, I'm no longer sure.
If Kobo manages to review all the pulled books, to delete the illegal ones and restore the legal ones by Friday, I'll applaud them. Otherwise, I'll be in the front lines of the #kobogeddon campaign.
Rayne Hall
Fantasy & Horror Fiction
Dark * Dangerous * Disturbing
viewAuthor.at/RayneHall
Kobo realised that *some* indie-published books in their catalogue contained illegal or icky erotic content. So they pulled *all* indie-published books.
Yep. You've read that right.
Here's some more info:
The books aren't permanently deleted, they're quarantined pending individual reviews. That sounds fair enough until you think about it. Can you imagine how long it will take Kobo staff to check several hundred thousand titles individually? Especially considering that Kobo staff are overworked and can't even cope with their normal workload.
Kobo spent much time and money courting indie authors and persuading them to publish with authors. With one fell swoop, they've destroyed that trust.
What caused this sudden action? This is where you may laugh: A tabloid newspaper in Britain published an article showing that a retailer in Britain was selling books containing incest. This exposure caused outrage against that retailer. All that retailer would have needed to do was instal an 18+ filter. Instead, they panicked. And Kobo (supplying that retailer) panicked too.
If Kobo genuinely thought there was an emergency, I can understand that that they would take a rapid drastic action.It might have made sense had they decided to temporarily quarantine all erotic books, or all books containing certain suspicious words such as 'Daddy', and check them for illegal erotic content.
But to do this to all indie books, simply because they're indie?
Note: Bestselling erotica titles were not pulled - an interesting instance of double standards.
On the plus side, Kobo sent an email to authors that books would be quarantined and why. I appreciate being informed. That's something. Alas, only authors who published directly with Kobo received that email. Authors who published to Kobo via Smashwords or D2D were not informed. They were shocked to see their books had vanished.
Moreover, that letter was worded to give the illusion that only a few titles would be temporarily removed pending review. It did not admit that *all* indies were pulled with one fell swoop.
And moreover, the letter is full of hypocritical statements such as "Our goal at Kobo is not to censor material; we support freedom of expression." and "Further, we want to protect the reputation of self-publishing as a whole."
These claims are in direct contradiction to Kobo's actions.
My subjective assessment: B***S**T.
The situation is of course more complicated than I've described. For example, not all books were removed at once. Mine were still in the Kobo catalogue yesterday - but today they've disappeared. And Kobo has several websites (some of them are regional, some are by other criteria) and the sweeping deletion has not happened to all of them at once. I believe some (but not all) American customers can still get all titles. If you're an author, your books will still show on your dashboard page even if Kobo has pulled it from the catalogue.
I suggest we allow Kobo until Friday to sort out this mess they've created. They may realise their mistake and do a u-turn, and restore books wholesale the way they've deleted them, and then remove individual suspect titles the way they should have in the first place.
If Kobo don't backtrack by Friday, I suggest it's time for authors (indie authors and sympathetic trad authors) and readers (especially Kobo customers) to unite and speak up.
If we allow Kobo to get away with this monumental breach of trust, other retailers and publishers will think they can do the same.
Some months ago, readers and authors used social media to campaign against the outrage of banks censoring books (the famous Smashwords vs PayPal case). We were very successful then. PayPal backed down, the freedom of literature was restored, and the credit card companies also gave up their self-appointed role as book censors.
If Kobo doesn't correct their anti-indie stance, it's time to speak up. Tweet, retweet, blog etc about it. Feel free to share this blog post. On Twitter, we're currently discussing suitable hashtags. #kobofiasco and #kobogeddon are emerging as favourites.
Some authors are already removing books from Kobo, calling for Kobo boycotts etc.
However, I suggest we wait before we take drastic action. Kobo *may* after all get their act together and sort this somehow. I suggest waiting until Friday before we get seriously active.
I used to have a positive opinion of Kobo, and used to promote Kobo a lot (largely because I hoped it would grow into a strong competitor to Amazon). But now, I'm no longer sure.
If Kobo manages to review all the pulled books, to delete the illegal ones and restore the legal ones by Friday, I'll applaud them. Otherwise, I'll be in the front lines of the #kobogeddon campaign.
Rayne Hall
Fantasy & Horror Fiction
Dark * Dangerous * Disturbing
viewAuthor.at/RayneHall
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This is the letter Kobo sent to authors. As you can see, they told us that titles would be quarantined. It seemed reasonable. What they didn't tell us is that they would automatically quarantine (i.e.pull from the catalogue) all indie books!
Not all icky books, not all erotic books, not all suspect books. All *indie* books.
That's such an outrageously anti-indie action!
And they didn't say that in their letter.
On Tuesday, 15 October 2013, 3:54, Writing Life wrote:
To our Kobo Writing Life and self-publishing partners: As you may be aware, there has been a significant amount of negative media attention in the UK regarding offensive material that became available across a number of eBook platforms. Kobo was included in the reports from media and we are taking immediate action to resolve an issue that is the direct result of a select few authors and publishers violating Kobo’s content policies. In order to address the situation Kobo is taking the following
steps: 1. We are removing titles in question from the Kobo platform. 2. We are quarantining and reviewing titles to ensure that compliance to our policies is met by all authors and publishers. We will ensure that content meeting the policy is made available online as soon as possible. 3. We are reviewing our policies and procedures to implement safeguards that will ensure this situation does not happen in the future. We are working hard to get back to business as usual, as quickly
as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter. Our goal at Kobo is not to censor material; we support freedom of expression. Further, we want to protect the reputation of self-publishing as a whole. You have our promise that we will do all we can to ensure the exceptions that have caused this current situation will not have a lasting effect on what is an exciting new channel that connects Readers to a wealth of books. Sincerely, Mark Lefebvre Director, Kobo Writing
Life
Not all icky books, not all erotic books, not all suspect books. All *indie* books.
That's such an outrageously anti-indie action!
And they didn't say that in their letter.
On Tuesday, 15 October 2013, 3:54, Writing Life wrote:
To our Kobo Writing Life and self-publishing partners: As you may be aware, there has been a significant amount of negative media attention in the UK regarding offensive material that became available across a number of eBook platforms. Kobo was included in the reports from media and we are taking immediate action to resolve an issue that is the direct result of a select few authors and publishers violating Kobo’s content policies. In order to address the situation Kobo is taking the following
steps: 1. We are removing titles in question from the Kobo platform. 2. We are quarantining and reviewing titles to ensure that compliance to our policies is met by all authors and publishers. We will ensure that content meeting the policy is made available online as soon as possible. 3. We are reviewing our policies and procedures to implement safeguards that will ensure this situation does not happen in the future. We are working hard to get back to business as usual, as quickly
as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter. Our goal at Kobo is not to censor material; we support freedom of expression. Further, we want to protect the reputation of self-publishing as a whole. You have our promise that we will do all we can to ensure the exceptions that have caused this current situation will not have a lasting effect on what is an exciting new channel that connects Readers to a wealth of books. Sincerely, Mark Lefebvre Director, Kobo Writing
Life
>But seriously, if the book is marked as mature content and adult filters are put up people who dig erotica and are old enough to read it should get to read it. I don't really like erotica but I like censorship even less. And even lesser if it is disguised as something else. <
Exactly. Content filters give consumer the choice what they wish to see.
That's where the actual problem arose: A certain British retailer (WHSmith) didn't have an 18+ filter on their website. So kids could and did view pornographic titles.
The tabloid newspaper reported this, the public were outraged. Instead of simply installing an 18+ filter, the retailer blamed indie authors.
And Kobo (who supply books to that retailer) panicked. They pulled all indie books.
Which makes no sense whatsoever.
Exactly. Content filters give consumer the choice what they wish to see.
That's where the actual problem arose: A certain British retailer (WHSmith) didn't have an 18+ filter on their website. So kids could and did view pornographic titles.
The tabloid newspaper reported this, the public were outraged. Instead of simply installing an 18+ filter, the retailer blamed indie authors.
And Kobo (who supply books to that retailer) panicked. They pulled all indie books.
Which makes no sense whatsoever.
They still have the Story of O and Justine available. When I looked to see if School of Venus was, I got a real mix of kids books and erotica. So they still have not put any filters in place.
I believe they are negligent and should have had an adult filter (similar to Smashwords) in place from the beginning.
I believe they are negligent and should have had an adult filter (similar to Smashwords) in place from the beginning.
Em wrote: "They still have the Story of O and Justine available. When I looked to see if School of Venus was, I got a real mix of kids books and erotica. So they still have not put any filters in place.
I b..."
Yes, that's gross negligence. Did you see this at Kobo or at WHSMith?
And what an outrage that they neglect such a simple measure, and instead commit such a large-scale outrage!
I b..."
Yes, that's gross negligence. Did you see this at Kobo or at WHSMith?
And what an outrage that they neglect such a simple measure, and instead commit such a large-scale outrage!
Thanks for this article, Rayne. I published via Smashwords and so hadn't been notified of this, though I see my book has gone from Kobo when I check. Let's hope they find a sensible solution soon.
Shambhawi wrote: "Em wrote: "They still have the Story of O and Justine available. When I looked to see if School of Venus was, I got a real mix of kids books and erotica. So they still have not put any filters in p..."
It says en-gb in the web address bar so I assume UK. As far as I know I can't get access to the US ine because my IP address in UK
It says en-gb in the web address bar so I assume UK. As far as I know I can't get access to the US ine because my IP address in UK
Karen wrote: "Thanks for this article, Rayne. I published via Smashwords and so hadn't been notified of this, though I see my book has gone from Kobo when I check.
Let's hope they find a sensible solution soon."
I believe even the ever-serene Mark Coker of Smashwords has lost his cool over this outrage.
Let's hope they find a sensible solution soon."
I believe even the ever-serene Mark Coker of Smashwords has lost his cool over this outrage.
Rayne wrote: "Em wrote: "They still have the Story of O and Justine available. When I looked to see if School of Venus was, I got a real mix of kids books and erotica. So they still have not put any filters in p..."
I did a little research and I hope my HTML allows this.
I searched for School of on the kobo site and got this:
I then turned on the adult filter on Smashwords and got this:
It really must be very simple to do.
I did a little research and I hope my HTML allows this.
I searched for School of on the kobo site and got this:
I then turned on the adult filter on Smashwords and got this:
It really must be very simple to do.
Yikes! That's an interesting and valuable experiment you've carried out, Em. Thanks for sharing.
It looks like Kobo, as well as that British retailer, were negligent about taking a simple precaution which would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.
Instead, they take this much bigger, totally pointless, very harmful measure of deleting all indies.
Hmm. Maybe there's more than one stupid executive at Kobo.
It's outrageous that they blame indie authors for their own negligence.
May I share your results with others?
It looks like Kobo, as well as that British retailer, were negligent about taking a simple precaution which would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.
Instead, they take this much bigger, totally pointless, very harmful measure of deleting all indies.
Hmm. Maybe there's more than one stupid executive at Kobo.
It's outrageous that they blame indie authors for their own negligence.
May I share your results with others?
Rayne wrote: "Yikes! That's an interesting and valuable experiment you've carried out, Em. Thanks for sharing.
It looks like Kobo, as well as that British retailer, were negligent about taking a simple precaut..."
Feel free. The quicker people realise that this is their fault, the better.
It looks like Kobo, as well as that British retailer, were negligent about taking a simple precaut..."
Feel free. The quicker people realise that this is their fault, the better.
Note to authors: I've involved some friends worldwide in experiments.
It seems that in the UK, all indie-published books have been pulled.
In the US, not all have been pulled yet, although it may be done in stages. It seems (not entirely sure) that those published through Draft2Digital were the first to be deleted.
However, even the indie books that are still shown in Kobo's catalogue mostly have their buy links disabled.
This is enfuriating for readers who see books and can't buy them.
British readers realise it only when they browse their favourite authors or search books they've been recommended and can't get them.
I haven't received any reports from the Kobo sites in other countries to say what's going on there.
It seems that in the UK, all indie-published books have been pulled.
In the US, not all have been pulled yet, although it may be done in stages. It seems (not entirely sure) that those published through Draft2Digital were the first to be deleted.
However, even the indie books that are still shown in Kobo's catalogue mostly have their buy links disabled.
This is enfuriating for readers who see books and can't buy them.
British readers realise it only when they browse their favourite authors or search books they've been recommended and can't get them.
I haven't received any reports from the Kobo sites in other countries to say what's going on there.
Even though I am not in favour of banning any book , this seems like an idiotic thing to do to say the least. The better option might have been to review all the titles * without * pulling them off , and then removing the illegal ones one by one . Is the same thing happening on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well ?
They are still featuring all the V.C. Andrews novels. When I think of incest she always comes to mind, her books I mean.I am confused by all of this. First, after the Shades of Grey novel it was a race to see how much people could ratchet up the kinkiness. Some did and it seemed to sell. Now this.
Rayne Hall, Fantasy and Horror Author
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In this case, I'm glad I've brought it up.
And yes, the situation is much more complicated than I've described. Worse. You're right, double standards abound. And that's strange, because if Kobo took the time to protect the bestsellers from this sweeping pull, the could also have taken the time to identify actual suspects.
Personally, I hope that the executive who made this decision gets fired. Not because they overreacted (if they genuinely thought they had an emergency on their hands, they were right to take drastic unpopular measures) but because of their anti-indie stance. Blaming indie books for the problem is a scapegoating generalisation of breathtaking arrogance. It contradicts Kobo's mission statements to authors about being 'the author's friend'.
I hope this hypocrisy is not shared by Kobo in general. Maybe it's just one executive who's anti-indie.
If Kobo fires that executive, and rapidly reinstates our books, and apologises formally to all authors, I'll trust Kobo again.