You know how everything is terrible? Well, here's more terrible to add to the list.
If you check out Excitica's storefront, here's what you'll see:
It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Excitica will be closing our doors, effective immediately.
Unfortunately, we are unable to continue providing you with the stories and books you love in the current climate due to strict payment processing standards holding us hostage. We have attempted to fight this form of censorship to no avail. We will be paying all publishers and authors royalties owed to them. We apologize for this lost opportunity and regret that we won’t be able to continue our relationship.
Readers, please download your purchases before Friday, February 8, 2019. Thank you all for your support through the years.
In case you're not familiar with Excitica, it was the erotica ebook store Selena Kitt created when other ebook retailers started removing tons of erotic stories and books from their shelves--particularly taboo erotica, dubcon, noncon, hardcore BDSM, and whatever else the retailer deemed offensive.
Selena created Excitica so independent authors/publishers like you(?) and me could get our work out into the world, like the internet gods intended.
I'm gutted that Selena's had to close Excitica's doors. I've been working with her for more than a decade and I love her like family. She has done so ridiculously much to help other authors, building co-ops and websites that would benefits erotica readers and writers alike. Trust me, she has been fighting the powers that be for years any time our books have come under fire. She's the one who's always gone to bat for all of us. I could never do what she's done, for myself much less for erotica authors as a whole.
Erotica's always had a bad rap, and it takes a strong leader to create spaces for readers who read it and writers to write it. Selena's been that leader for more than a decade. She's done her damnedest, and I can only thank her for her efforts.
I can't fault Selena for the closure of Excitica. I can only praise her for building it in the first place.
But Excitica's closure does not bode well for those of us who read and/or write erotica. It doesn't leave us many retailers to purchase from or publish at. The only ebook retailer (that springs to mind) that continues to allow taboo content is
Smashwords, and I thank the many, many readers who continue to purchase
my work and
Lexi's from
that source.
