#ScribesAndMakers 8: How do you define a book? Do audio books and graphic novels fit your definition?

Thanks to the goofball way that ebook stores work, I presently define a book as something I can sell on an ebook store. Plus some things I can't. Which basically means a story that's 4K or longer can be a book regardless of its format. I'm not sure what the minimum length is for a graphic novel or children's picture book.

To be clear, the part of this that I resent is the part where a 4-5K story is a 'book' rather than a short story. Which it definitely is when I'm publishing it as a 'short' book. (I also resent the fact that pricing policies on #Amazon and #Draft2Digital mean I more or less have to price a short at $2.99 USD.)

Kind of off in the weeds here at this point. Getting more to a point, I'm generally not accepting of gatekeeping definitions. I will happily define book as broadly as possible. I would just like to be able to to call a short story a short story.

@shaknais I’ve run into an author who had one erotic work they couldn’t send from #Draft2Digital to #Bookshop but whose other works could be sent there. It would be nice to have any degree of transparency and consistency.

Between this and D2D declaring most non-fiction forbidden for their authors, I’m quickly becoming frustrated and disgruntled.

#ScribesAndMakers 8: How do you define a book? Do audio books and graphic novels fit your definition?

Thanks to the goofball way that ebook stores work, I presently define a book as something I can sell on an ebook store. Plus some things I can't. Which basically means a story that's 4K or longer can be a book regardless of its format. I'm not sure what the minimum length is for a graphic novel or children's picture book.

To be clear, the part of this that I resent is the part where a 4-5K story is a 'book' rather than a short story. Which it definitely is when I'm publishing it as a 'short' book. (I also resent the fact that pricing policies on #Amazon and #Draft2Digital mean I more or less have to price a short at $2.99 USD.)

Kind of off in the weeds here at this point. Getting more to a point, I'm generally not accepting of gatekeeping definitions. I will happily define book as broadly as possible. I would just like to be able to to call a short story a short story.

@shaknais I’ve run into an author who had one erotic work they couldn’t send from #Draft2Digital to #Bookshop but whose other works could be sent there. It would be nice to have any degree of transparency and consistency.

Between this and D2D declaring most non-fiction forbidden for their authors, I’m quickly becoming frustrated and disgruntled.

#Draft2Digital lately announced that they were partnering with #Bookshop to allow authors to publish there as well. They were pretty vague about that but authors quickly found out that #erotica need not apply.

After an outcry, Draft2Digital announced that the restriction against erotica was “temporary” until they could put in “additional safeguards”.

Due to crappy behavior and a lack of transparency, it’s hard to know how to take this announcement.

#Draft2Digital lately announced that they were partnering with #Bookshop to allow authors to publish there as well. They were pretty vague about that but authors quickly found out that #erotica need not apply.

After an outcry, Draft2Digital announced that the restriction against erotica was “temporary” until they could put in “additional safeguards”.

Due to crappy behavior and a lack of transparency, it’s hard to know how to take this announcement.