Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

First crack in the silence

I got a response from Amazon, today...and they say they're putting my books back up.  That me sending them snippets of the books and telling them what the stories are about (and just plain not shutting up like so many people told me to on the blogs I visited) gave them the excuse they needed to reverse their decision.  I'm leery of believing it until everything's back online...but the fact is, they did say they would.  And now I'll just wait and see before I do any more screaming.

I am pretty battered by this whole business, however.  This one thread I was invited to join in on to discuss my books being banned turned into a nasty back and forth, with many of the posters telling me Amazon could do as it liked and I hadn't been really harmed by it and even accusing me of making up the entire situation to try and get sales for my books and that I was stupid for putting those titles on them and I really was nothing but a pornographer.  Without specifically saying so (for the most part), I was made out to be a liar, idiot, whiny baby, naive fool, asshole and all-around manipulative jerk.  Some people agreed with me but the anti-Kyle crowd was louder.  And now the thread's been shut down due to "personal attacks."

The internet is great because it gives you access to anything you want.  Information, ideas, images, individuals you'd never be able to meet in your lifetime.  But it also is vile because it provides anonymity and that destroys civility.  I won't say I've been innocent of being uncivil; on more than one occasion I snapped back at those who snapped at me.  What I will say is I do not do the anonymous commenter crap.  I own my comments.  Sometimes it's hard to do, but I will not lower myself to the level of a cockroach and scurry into the woodwork when a light is shined on me.

So now I'm tired.  My scream of a story is closing in on 4000 words and it's all dialog between two people...and I don't know why it's like that, but that's how it's coming out.  And you want to hear the title?  "Crazy Is."  Does that make one damn bit of sense to anybody?

Oh.  Wait.  Maybe it does, considering I'm the one doing the writing.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I knew it was just a matter of time.
Good for you for not backing down.

Too bad for Amazon I already made the switch to purchasing my books from Barnes and Noble and decided on the Nook over the Kindle.

JamTheCat said...

Ya don't mess wit' da jamthecat, not when he's gonna be spittin' and crap.

Writer said...

I'm glad you got that settled, Kyle. And I'm sorry you had to go through all that.

I think I will always have a love/hate relationship with the Internet just for the reasons you mentioned. I've met so many wonderful people because of it, but it allows the nastiness of some to flourish like kudzu.

Hugs, and get some rest.

JamTheCat said...

Thanks, Writer. Same to you.

CWatkinsNash said...

Fingers crossed for you that they follow through. One of the MR members posted a link to this so that those interested could get the update. I'm sorry things went the way they did over there, but that discussion was volatile before you joined it. It was bound to happen either way.

I'll be keeping an eye on this. Best of luck to you.

Anonymous said...

Sorry you had such a bad experience at the site, Kyle-believe me though, you aren't alone. There are some great posters there, along with some really obnoxious and rude ones.

It is like Jr. High School there-the Kindle clique, the Open Source clique, etc...all trying to bully anyone who disagrees or criticizes their beloved platforms.

Keep up the good fight.

Anonymous said...

AMZ descriptions are borked too:



It wasn't until a chance comment jolted him out of his grief that Antony began to realize what happened in Holding Cell Six was not "a horrible tragedy that no one have prevented.”

s/no one have/no one could have/

JamTheCat said...

Which just goes to show, no matter how careful you are proofing your own work, you can't do it 100% and should have someone else help you. Sometimes being independent IS a fault.

JamTheCat said...

BTW, Anonymous -- thanks.