Amazon is no alien to independent publishing play . But when it take out al-Qur’an in the past , it at least purported to have some sort of licit reason . In the font ofHigh Moor 2 : Moonstruck(the story of one werewolf gang ’s quest to keep its existence hidden and the uttermost lengths to which it go to protect its deadly secret ) that reason appear to be … hyphens .
According to generator Graeme Reynolds , Amazon removed High Moor 2 from its digital shelf because of the novel ’s 90,000 total Book , 100 were hyphen . Apparently that is too many ? A solid 18 months and 123 ( mostly positive ! ) critical review after the book ’s initial release , Reynolds claims to have receive an email from Amazon that claims his excessive use of itty bitty dashes “ importantly affect the legibility of [ his ] leger . ” When Reynolds emailed Amazon back to give tongue to his bewilderment at the situation , Amazon explained that he was free to republish his novel “ once he set the hyphenated news . ”
Which , as Reynolds is quick to point out on his web log , is not totally condemnable on Amazon ’s part . After all , Kindle ’s current selection is oversupply by an overwhelming number of ebooks that are , for want of a better parole , nonsensical shit . Which is not to say that there is anything wrong with those that did enjoy the paranormal shapeshifter romance novelYeti ! Were ? , for example . But a total lack of quality mastery is ineluctably forged for job , and the seemingly automated kind Amazon doing is a whole other beast ( werewolf , presumptively ) altogether . As Reynolds explains :
I really would have to wonder whether their time would be better expend looking at the 10 page automatically generated “ Quran ” that are flooding the kindle store to bet on the Kindle Unlimited algorithms … than waging war on a professionally edited novel that had the gall to use hyphens to conjoin words together .
If I was a suspect sorting , I may even inquire if this had anything to do with the fact that I unchecked the “ automatically regenerate this book ’s enrolment in Kindle Select ” tickbox a few day earlier .
While the latter theory does stake a bit into tin foil hat district , the hypothecate timing is curious . Amazon certainly has n’t been afraidto get its hands dirty in the past times . Largely due to the bombination Reynolds managed to generate , though , Amazon finally has put his Good Book back up for sale . But it ’s hard not to wonder how many others have been affected by what come along to be Amazon ’s reflexive quality control .
This shell , at least , has a happy ending . And Reynolds ’ ordeal at least give usreviews like these :
13 years ago , I was in a major railroad car chance event that drink down my friend and entrust me in ICU for several day . I ’ve struggled with insomnia , inveterate back pain , and austere hyphen intolerance since that summertime . biography was cutting . Is it even worth exist if I have to apportion the world with generator who use hyphen ? When I learned that Amazon was ultimately enforcing hyphenic race murder , it was like the clouds ultimately separate to reveal that the Dominicus was still shine . I expect forward to reading the corrected version of The Tell - Tale Heart , The Demon - Haunted World , and Heart - Shaped Box , among other affronts to the sovereignty of my mind quad .
[ The GuardianviaSlashdot ]
AmazonebooksKindle
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , science , and civilisation newsworthiness in your inbox day by day .
News from the future tense , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
