It appears the Amazon KINDLE has changed its Terms and Conditions to ban explicit images from being published on the KINDLE (See EDIT below for exact terminology). This issue started last month when Yaoi Press had a few of their titles, both manga and prose, pulled from the KINDLE with no explanation other than they were in direct violation of their Terms and Conditions. Yaoi Press's founder Yamila Abraham has stated they will now have to change their explicit images on their prose titles to more 'romantic' images that will be acceptable to KINDLE.
Today Digital Manga has announced they too have had some of their 801 Media titles pulled, including Weekend Lovers and King of Debt. However, it appears this will also affect June Manga as KINDLE has rejected The Selfish Demon King and has banned The Color of Love. Unfortunately since these are manga and not prose like Yaoi Press's titles, there is no way to alter the images to meet KINDLE's Terms and Conditions.
I took a peek at Libre's direct from Japan KINDLE releases but have not noticed any titles that are missing as of yet. That being said, I expect with some of the explicit Ayano Yamane and Youka Nitta titles they have that it is only a matter of time. My recommendation is to grab what you can get now before it is gone. The good thing with the KINDLE is that once you own it, it's yours to keep. You also do not need to own a KINDLE to read their titles. You can use any number of their software apps to read them including KINDLE Desktop for both the PC and Mac.
I guess now we will just need to wait and see if Borders' KOBO or Barnes & Noble's NOOK will follow suit.
EDIT: To find where it specifies what content is acceptable, you need to actually look at their Content Guidelines. Very top items says Pornography with the following: "Pornography and hard-core material that depicts graphic sexual acts." To further cover themselves, they have also added: Offensive Material: What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect. Amazon Digital Services, Inc. reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of Titles sold on our site.
EDIT #2: While perusing Amazon's KINDLE erotica stories, I found this little gem: No Holes Barred. It boasts: "51 full-color, high-resolution images! Warning: Full-frontal and full-rear female nudity. For adults only."
EDIT #3: Thank you to Meichell for posting a response received from Amazon and GLAAD in comments below.
If you are unhappy with Amazon's decisions, please let them know! Join our Call to Action by emailing Amazon and letting them know how you feel. You can REALLY hit them where it hurts by checking out these KINDLE alternatives for yaoi.
~Jennifer LeBlanc
