I think it is important to give you, my readers, a follow-up on Amazon banning Her Client. After I made my last on the subject, I received several comments from many of you, supporting my contention that Amazon made an error of judgement. I know of other books that are just as brutal and even more so. So why was my book singled out?
I continue to contend that Amazon’s increasing use of AI algorithms to decide these questions is the fault here.
In the old days, a human would review the newly published work and decide. With so many authors are uploading self-published work coupled with Amazon’s need to watch costs and the bottom line, did they move too aggressively into the world of AI? Did they tailor these algorithms to more PC rather than letting the author’s creativity take precedence?
I learned over the years that there is no appeal process for this ruling, and without lots of sales, it’s impossible to get it published again without a major rewrite. Since a rewrite that will pass their guidelines with strip the story from the emotions of the characters, I will not do it. My readers know what I am talking about. I strive hard to get inside the heads of my characters, protagonists and antagonists alike. It’s the why they do what they do.
Her Client is the first book in a trilogy. A little over the year, they banned the second book, Her Overseer, in the trilogy. Yet, they left the third book, Her Essentia, in the series, What is an author to do?
In my case, I removed book 3, Her Essentia, from Amazon. It’s their loss. Read a comment I received on this unfortunate situation. It’s just one of many.
I think that is unfortunate for readers and a poor move for Amazon. I read it and thought it was great. For others who have not, follow the author’s instructions. You won’t regret it.
Now the entire trilogy is available only on alternate retail online sites. To find out where, go to my website. https://richardverry.com/stories/her-client-trilogy/
As a bonus, for a limited time, you can read book 1, Her Client for free. That’s right, there’s no charge. The other two books are just $0.99 each. Read the entire trilogy for only $1.99. Read the stories today.
Here’s the direct link on my website. Please check it out. You can even read reviews from verified readers who posted positive reviews on the stories.
richardverry.com/stories/her-client-trilogy
Besides giving you an update on follow-up on Amazon banning Her Client, last month, I retired from my civil service job, but I’m not out of the workforce just yet. First, I spent most of the entire month of February catching up on my sleep. During the first week, I slept an average of eleven and a half hours each night, with the first night a little over thirteen hours. In time, I will apply for a less stressful full-time job. I’ll find it, but for now, I’m content at home.
So, what have I been doing besides sleeping? December and January were more about preparing to retire and finishing my current projects. I worked like the Tasmanian Devil, but I’m proud to say I finished what I started. Don’t I always? Okay, that may be a stretch, but that’s so rare an event; who cares? In the second week of February, I took down and packed away the holiday decorations. After that, I worked on cleaning my home office. I’m not done yet, but as farmers say, I can see the short rows.
Ah, but that’s not that important to you, is it? You want to know when my next book is coming out. I’m to say, I’m working on it. It may not be as fast as you wish, but I believe you would rather read quality versus an inferior product written in haste.
After reading these books or any of my others, please send me a note. I would love to hear from you. I hope you’re having a wonderful day.
JJJ March 7, 2023
The Amazon action against you parallels demonetizing efforts by YouTube across a broad spectrum of content providers and other speech-limiting efforts by Corporate Tech and more concerningly, the Government. The criteria being used by YouTube and Amazon appear to be algorithm implemented and rely on keyword searches etc. With little recourse to challenge.
The effect is to essentially censor open speech and corral it into some ill-defined vanilla paradim, same with Amazon. For example, YT providers get demonitized for even minimal use of swear words, particularly early in a presentation. Another example is avoiding use of words such as “hate” or “kill” even when simply describing something that has actually happened – or get demonitized. It’s childish and absurd.
In a related sense, Twitter and Facebook have been subject to a vast program of politically driven content censorship by Government entities (FBI, CIA, DHS, Congressional offices etc) for essentially narrative violations. And we have the receipts of these 1A violations. They are not disputable. Shockingly, or not, these are largely unreported on and weirdly ignored by the legacy mainstream media.
A time once existed when reasonable, non threatening speech was considered acceptable without question. We now have an increasingly totalitarian mindset in Corporate Tech Companies and Govt (not unlike the Chinese CCP) that seeks to regulate/censor public speech and media content that does not meet approved narratives, across a spectrum of topics, or fall within poorly (and shifting) boundaries of acceptability.