I’m just about finished with the current round of edits on Rag & Muffin. I’m currently on a long weekend from work, during which I’m entertaining my smol Asian gf. But I’m grabbing a few minutes here and there to put the polish on my manuscript.
Now about this post’s sensationalized headline: Amazon has come out with new “rules” that they will not allow book covers in which guns are firing, pointed at the viewer, or held by a minor.
Amazon banning adverts for book covers with guns that are firing, aimed at viewer or others, or held my a minor.
This is science fiction. You all have taken this too far. https://t.co/vnEX4JjMaG
— Mark Kern (@Grummz) October 7, 2019
That pretty much makes any conceivable cover art for Rag & Muffin impossible, since the book’s concept can’t be conveyed visually without an image of a minor holding guns. This is Minors Holding Guns: The Book.
And you can bet that Amazon will not be applying this rule to any big publishers. They won’t be banning manga. In fact, images of minors holding or firing guns are still easy to find on the platform:
This is obviously an excuse to crack down on indies and is likely a precursor to more aggressive censorship.
It’s worth testing how consistently Amazon can apply this rule, so I’d like to attempt to upload Rag & Muffin with relevant cover art. If the book gets rejected, my plan is to suggest to my publisher that we produce an image that says “BANNED BY AMAZON” in big letters, and put right in the book’s description that the content of the novel is too hot for Amazon to handle. Anyone who buys the book, either in print or digitally, will of course get the actual cover art.
