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 ]
News tagged with: #swimming pool #jeff bezos #steve jobs #pricing model #golden age #david zax

Other Publishing stories related to: 'PayPal, You've Met Your Match: Erotica Writers'


Yazbek wins PEN/Pinter International Writer of Courage Award

Syrian writer Samar Yazbek, author of A Woman in the Crossfire (Haus Publishing), has been chosen... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Junot Diaz and other writers are awarded MacArthur genius grants

Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Diaz, reporter David Finkel, and writer Dinaw Mengestu were honored by the MacArthur Foundation, each receiving a $500,000 grant. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #junot diaz


Booksellers turn writers for Icon

Booksellers have become book writers for a popular science project from Icon Books. Icon’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #icon books #book writers


Erotica boom affects genre sales

The recent boom in sales of erotic fiction is "cannibalising" the rest of the UK book market, trade magazine The Bookseller says. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2012-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #recent boom #erotic fiction #trade magazine


Erotica continues to dominate charts

Eight of the top 10 bestselling novels in the UK last week were works of erotica, with E L James... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Open Road buys US rights to British erotica trilogy

In its first frontlist deal with agency Conville & Walsh, US digital publisher Open Road has... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


M&B launches campaign building on erotica 'revolution'

Romance specialists Mills & Boon has launched its first billboard advertising campaign,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Gore Vidal appreciation: Writer served as canary in a coal mine

To him, the world was both subject and spectacle. Yet he remained, always, an author difficult to categorize.Gore Vidal, who died Tuesday night at age 86, was a fixture on the American cultural landscape for so long that it seems hard to imagine our literature without him. From 1946, when his... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #coal mine #social critic


Hamish Hamilton signs Granta-tipped writer

  Hamish Hamilton has signed up a novel from South American writer Daniel Galera, a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hamish hamilton


American Writers Museum gets a concept plan

The foundation behind a proposed museum honoring American authors has published a plan for the building. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Erotica's 'water-cooler moment' continues

Cornerstone has reprinted the Fifty Shades trilogy a further three times this week, as retailers... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Erotica trend seduces foreign territories

Rights in E L James' Fifty Shades trilogy have sold to 41 foreign publishers to date, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


More publishers mount erotica bandwagon

Erotica is continuing to steam-up acquisition meetings, with 19th July a potential sweet spot as... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #19th july


More deals as publishers embrace erotica

The erotica trend sparked by Fifty Shades of Grey looks set to sizzle all summer, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fifty shades


MJ chases erotica market

Hot on the heels of Cornerstone’s Fifty Shades of Grey, Penguin’s Michael Joseph has... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fifty shades #michael joseph


How fast can they write? E-books push writer productivity

A dozen books a year? Some writers are accelerating the pace in this brave new world of ebooks. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #dozen books


Guardian and Hot Keys launch young writers prize

Hot Keys Books has partnered with the Guardian to launch a new young person’s writing prize... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #young person #writing prize


Figment lets young writers share and critique work

Figment is a website that gives teenagers and young adults a forum for posting their work and giving advice to others. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #young adults #giving advice


Levenson to be bookshop 'writer in residence'

The Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, London, is to have its own "writer in residence... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #wood green