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Welcome to Smashwords!

Check out our new interface for discovering great ebooks! Read the official announcement at the Smashwords Blog.

Please confirm your erotica preferences.

"Mainstream" vs "Taboo" Erotica

Conventional industry-standard book classification systems do a poor job of distinguishing mainstream erotica from taboo erotica. This makes it difficult for retailers and readers to distinguish one from the other. At Smashwords, we carry a wide variety of legal erotica, including books that contain taboo themes.

In September 2017 we implemented new erotica classification requirements for Smashwords authors and publishers.

The purpose of this effort is to provide retailers and their customers greater transparency about a book’s categorization. This erotica categorization policy was announced in a Smashwords Blog post titled Smashwords Implements New Classifications for Erotic Fiction

Below is a summary of “Taboo” themes and their definitions. These definitions were developed in close consultation with our largest retail partners to ensure uniform policy enforcement across our distribution network.

Erotica titles which have been certified by their authors or publishers as containing none of the themes listed below are considered "mainstream erotica" and will be shown if readers select the "Include mainstream erotica" option from the filter.

Books containing one or more of the themes listed below are considered "taboo erotica," and these, along with older erotica or erotic romance books which have not yet been certified, will be filtered out of a reader’s Smashwords search results unless the reader selects the "Include all erotica" option.

“Taboo” theme definitions

Age play - One or more consenting adult characters role playing, pretending to be babies or children.
Bestiality - Sexual relations between humans and real-world animals (sex with Big Foot, dinosaurs, shape shifters and other imaginary creatures is not bestiality).
Dubious Consent (dubcon) - A common and popular theme in mainstream fiction. Dubcon explores the gray area between consent and non-consent. Not clear if the receiver of the sexual act was fully on board or not at the time of the act. Most major retailers carry dubcon erotica.
Incest or pseudo-incest - Sexual relations between family members, whether biologically or non-biologically related. Includes stepbrother, stepsister and step-anyone.
Nonconsensual sexual slavery - Erotic depiction of a person captured or held against their will, such as kidnapping, imprisonment or human trafficking. Not to be confused with BDSM, which is predicated upon informed consent and negotiation between both parties before the act, and which provides safe words so either partner can end the act if it goes too far. If the book adheres to BDSM best practices, we instruct authors and publishers to not classify it as nonconsensual sexual slavery.
Rape for titillation - The dominant theme of this book is rape — whether the rape is by one person or a character is raped by a group of people, i.e. a gang rape or nonconsensual "gang bang" — and it targets readers who are titillated by the fantasy of nonconsensual sexual relations.

The above list is not all inclusive. There are many other taboo themes that have never been allowed at Smashwords. For a full summary of Smashwords erotica policies, please review Section 9f of the Smashwords Terms of Service.

Learn more about erotica controls. You may change these settings at any time.

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