The Impacts Of Censorship.

And What I'm Doing

Image by Jose Antonio Alba from Pixabay

I want to talk about censorship and how it piles risk onto indie authors. Also, how it’s impacted the choices I have recently made.

As many of you know, I recently introduced a new pen name: Emma Hines. I’ve shared the reasons before, but as with most things online, messages can easily get lost, drowned in a sea of newsletters, notifications, and algorithms.

I love writing across a wide range of romance, from tender slow burns to bold, boundary-pushing erotica. To keep things organized and to protect the future of my work, I’ve split my writing into three creative paths: Kate Granger, Emma Hines, and my collaborations with Sissitrix.

• As Kate Granger, I write dark, transgressive, and unapologetically explicit erotica that explores power dynamics, emotional extremes, and taboo desires.

• As Emma Hines, I focus on heartfelt, emotionally intelligent romance with sensual depth, slow-burn intimacy, and character-driven storytelling.

• With Sissitrix, I co-create symbolic, surreal, and transgressive erotic fiction in the dreamlike world of Nocturnem and the gritty noir setting of Sin Street, blending ritual, shame, and sexuality.

I don’t plan to stop writing across genres; this creative variety is part of who I am. But in today’s publishing landscape, it would be naïve not to recognize how fragile our connection to platforms can be.

Those of you who pay for Kate Granger can expect no changes to your pricing or content access. For some titles (City of Aten), you might have to subscribe free to Emma Hines to read.

And this isn’t just about Amazon, Substack, Medium, or even Stripe. Any platform, including Visa and Mastercard, can change its rules overnight. The consequences can be devastating. And indie creators-writers, artists, and game developers are often the first to feel the shock.

Take this recent example:

“Why did thousands of adult titles just disappear from the biggest PC gaming marketplaces?”
Steam and itch.io removed thousands of adult content and NSFW games from their platforms within days, under pressure from payment processors like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal.
Read the full Guardian article here.

When corporations worth hundreds of billions tighten their grip, even giants like Steam (parent company Valve valued at $7.7 billion) have no choice but to comply. Indie creators like us? We don’t even make the footnotes.

It’s not easy, or cheap, to spread your creative work across multiple platforms. And it’s definitely not simple to move an entire audience if you’re deplatformed. Many of us have spent years, sometimes more than a decade, building our body of work and earning reader trust. That kind of foundation isn’t easily rebuilt somewhere new.

I’m not asking for sympathy, I just want to share the reasoning behind my choices.

If Kate Granger were to publish a sweet children’s book on Amazon tomorrow (and no, I’m not planning to), it would likely be tossed into the algorithmic dungeon, simply because Amazon already sees Kate Granger as far too naughty. And yes, that’s thanks to titles like Kate Educates Jacob and Hotwife Hooker (both on sale now... shameless plug).

That’s fair. I wouldn’t want children’s content mingling with adult fiction either. But the point is: my name alone is enough to limit visibility even if the book itself is completely tame.

By contrast, Emma Hines and her novel I'll Do Better would be categorized under Contemporary Romance, with possible inclusion in LGBTQ+ Romance or Lesbian Romance. It would be treated as mainstream, not as a risk, and it wouldn’t face the same algorithmic suspicion or automatic suppression.

Here’s something not often talked about: Amazon does not moderate publishing companies the same way it does indie authors. Companies are few and trusted. We indies are many and flagged as a risk. Our visibility is determined not by a human editor but by an algorithm that quietly decides our fate.

So, to give myself (and you) the best chance of reading, writing, and connecting freely, I’ve made a few practical decisions:

• 📚 I’m publishing on more than one platform

• ✍️ I’m separating my genres under different pen names

• 💰 And yes, one day, I fully intend to out-earn Visa and Mastercard (just putting that out into the universe)

---

📚 Finding What You Love

To help you navigate the 6 million+ words I’ve written across pen names and genres, I’m introducing a simple legend and discoverability tools. This will make it easier for you to find exactly the kind of stories you’re in the mood for, whether that’s soft, romantic intimacy or the darker, dirtier corners of my imagination.

Truthfully, I resisted doing this for a while. I like trusting readers to explore freely. But I also want to respect your tastes and preferences, so you never feel blindsided by a story that’s not what you were expecting.

These little icons will start appearing on new stories first, and I’ll gradually work my way back through the archive as time allows.

Thank you for reading and for being here with me, wherever the words take us. You are truly appreciated. 💛

🔖 Story Legend

🔥 Steamy Romance - Emotionally driven romance with explicit sensuality, but no taboo themes. Think heart, heat, and intimacy.

💔 Psychological / Emotional Drama - Stories that explore darker emotional territory. Intensity, heartbreak, or healing.

⚠️ Taboo / Transgressive Erotica - Bold, boundary-pushing content that includes kink, power exchange, or socially taboo themes. (Kate Granger: After Dark)

🌈 LGBTQ+ - Stories centered on LGBTQ+ characters, romance, or themes, including bisexual, lesbian, and queer pairings.

💫 Experimental / Symbolic - Surreal, symbolic, or ritualistic fiction, often dreamlike, dark, and emotionally layered. (Often in collaboration with Sissitrix)

🪶 Light / Cozy - Low-heat or non-explicit stories with a gentle, uplifting tone. Soft love, friendship, and comfort.

🧠 Cerebral - Featuring brilliant, obsessive, socially unusual, or intellectually intense characters in emotionally rich settings.

Examples:

City of Aten. 🪶🧠

I’ll Do Better. 🔥🧠🌈

Dark Velvet. ⚠️⚠️⚠️

The Cuckoldress. ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️