Yeah��� Clean Reader

Their tagline: “Reader books, not profanity.”

So��� Clean Reader. In case you don’t know the deal, here’s the story in a nutshell: A group published an app that takes ebooks and strips out swearing, sexual words and racial slurs. Ebooks were added to the Clean Reader without author consent. After a great deal of backlash from authors, Clean Reader has pulled the plug on the project.

I really feel weird about this. I have friends who have religious issues with swearing and pornography. I write both. A lot. And one of them has even expressed a mild interest in a version of Lily Quinn suited to their specific needs. Which I have declined to create not only because I don’t have the time, but because��� well, that’s not our book. Lily Quinn without the swearing and��the jungle��of cocks just isn’t what Aron and I wrote.

But while I’m glad none of our books showed up in Clean Reader and would never have consented to let them, I’m just not as offended as many of my fellow authors. (Not that I’m suggesting Chuck Wendig is a friend or contemporary. More like a furious role model.) I understand the desire of the app designers, sort of, even though I really do feel like Clean Reader is pissing on ��� excuse me, peeing on ��� the original creation.

I may not like a book for including certain language ��� I get really, really uncomfortable with racial epithets, for example ��� but I would never put The Drawing of the Three through Clean Reader to remove every time Susannah is called a n****r cunt. That is a part of the character’s experience, a part of her life. Removing those words would remove so much of the sting that is vital to her story. It ruins the art. But I’ll admit that I tend to hurry through those bits because they made me feel so shitty.

So��� those are my feelings on Clean Reader. I understand the sentiment, but I still think it was a bad idea. I’m glad it’s not going to continue. I wish the creators well, though. Maybe put together a big, comprehensive catalogue of clean books for your client base? Books that were written without the stuff you find problematic. The readers are happy with their squeaky books and the authors are glad to have their art��read in the form in which they created it. Deal?