A Call for Writers To Unite

The Paypal ban.

I think it's sad that this issue has become divisive amongst writers. Almost no writers are in favor of pedophilia, rape, etc. But these things happen and if you can't write about them, you're not stopping these things from happening, you're only stopping people from writing about them. I'm bothered as much as anyone about the homepage of Smashwords, with the sleazy, cheezy porn covers (I won't insult Erotica by calling them Erotica). I'm bothered more by the bad taste (bad writing, bad covers) than the subject matter.

But this isn't about that. It's about huge companies controlling our lives. If you're on the "Right" you supposedly don't want the government controlling you. If you're on the "Left" you don't want big corporations controlling you. Most people are a mix. I agree with both sides. I don't want either controlling our lives.

So, WE SHOULD BE UNITED ON THIS. If we all are disgusted by Smashwords homepage for instance, let's get together as writers and ask Mark Coker how these damn things end up there (and not, for instance, MY book! or YOURS!) and see if we can instead get something better. After all, in a way, it's OUR site (I think Mark Coker would agree in a sense). If we don't want crap on there, maybe we should all contribute time and volunteer to read new stuff (God knows there's enough of us) and create some kind of indie vetting system. That's just off the type of my head. I don't know the answers (there are probably many).

But having these big entities that have only profit in mind making such decisions for us is WRONG. It is wrong as Americans. It is wrong as authors. It is wrong as proponents of free speech. I can't think of any way it is right.