PayPal, You've Met Your Match: Erotica Writers

Mark Coker of Smashwords became the leader of indie ebook writers--including some with dirty minds--in a fight against censorship and PayPal. He also has strong feelings about the DOJ's ebook pricing lawsuit.Mark Coker is the CEO of Smashwords, an ebook publishing and distribution platform. Coker recently won a highly publicized battle against PayPal, which briefly refused to work with Smashwords unless Coker removed certain naughty titles from the site. Fast Company caught up with Coker and learned, among other things, that writers of incest erotica can be very articulate.FAST COMPANY: What is Smashwords?MARK COKER: We’re probably the world’s largest distributor of self-published ebooks and ebooks from small independent presses. We were founded in 2008. A writer comes to Smashwords, uploads a Word document, which we instantly convert into multiple formats to be read on a Kindle or other device. Those are then available for sale at Smashwords.com at a price set by the author. 85% of all proceeds go to the author, so we flipped the compensation model upside-down. In traditional publishing, in the best case, an author earns 17.5% off an ebook’s list price. In 2008, we had 140 titles; in 2009, we had 6,000 titles; today we have just over 115,000.You recently came to prominence by picking a fight with PayPal, which threatened to stop working with you if you failed to remove some smutty titles from your store.On a Saturday, I received an email from PayPal notifying me I had... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'

[ Fast Company | 2012-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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STREET WRITER: The literary video game we didn’t know we needed.

Tired of the subtweets? The peevish reviews? The [gasp] indecorous email sign-offs? Do you wish the literary world would just conduct its brawls out in the open for all to see? Well, now you can fight along at home with Street Writer, Maxwell Neely-Cohen’s absolutely wonderful literary homage to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

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Author J J Bola and agency Pontas launch prize for under-represented writers

The Pontas Literary & Film Agency and author J J Bola are partnering to create a mentoring prize for unagented, unpublished, under-represented writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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Erin Kelly | 'In terms of plotting, it’s the hardest book I’ve ever written'

"My policy around this book is to say as little as I possibly can, in case I blow the twist!” says Erin Kelly, only half-joking, during our conversation about her latest psychological thriller, which does indeed contain a central twist so ingenious that this reader gasped out loud—and not just... Continue reading at The Bookseller

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Evaristo to mentor emerging writers of colour in Sky Arts project

Bernardine Evaristo is collaborating with the Royal Society of Literature to create a mentoring award scheme for emerging authors of colour as part of a £300,000 Sky Arts project. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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Stanfords Travel Writers Festival goes digital with Winn and Dalrymple

The Stanfords Travel Writers Festival is going digital this year with a line-up including Raynor Winn, William Dalrymple, James Naughtie and Simon Reeve. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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Aubrey Gordon, the writer behind ‘Your Fat Friend,’ has some thoughts on diets, BMI and the relentless advice of strangers

Some people are “constantly ringing the bell on how dangerous it is to be fat, but that’s not making fat people thin,” Gordon says. Continue reading at The Washington Post

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Nosy Crow holds open call for picture book submissions from writers of colour

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For a multiracial writer, a life marked by earthquakes and other upheavals

Nadia Owusu recounts her sense of dislocation and her search for a place to call home. Continue reading at The Washington Post

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Sevastien Volkov wins Impress Prize for new writers

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New Virago bursary for London Library's Emerging Writers Programme

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Barry Lopez, award-winning writer who ventured into the Arctic, dies at 75

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To All the Off-Brand Series I’ve Loved Before

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Elevate scheme for underrepresented writers lands ACE funding

Cornerstones Literary Consultancy has been awarded Arts Council funding for its Elevate mentoring scheme, following a successful pilot run. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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'I've never felt less festive': the art of writing Christmas novels, 365 days a year

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Jeremy O. Harris is donating a collection of plays by Black writers to libraries across the country.

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Black History Matters scoops 2020 ALCS Educational Writers' Award

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YA author James launches The Climate Fiction Writers League

Author Lauren James has established The Climate Fiction Writers League, a group of over 50 international published authors writing about climate change.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

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Strange and Wondrous Journeys with Palestinian Writer Sonia Nimr, by Madison Doyle

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