Wanted to share this response to my question as I found it very insightful (regarding story: Love Lost)

Question:

Is there an alternative to smashwords

I've had my stories uploaded to smashwords for years with no issues, one of my stories was flagged for p3dofilia, something I strongly disagree with (characters were 17 and 18 - explicit smex included) and my whole account was deleted with no warning, all books gone. I honestly didnt know it was an issue, never had a problem with any of my stories. some of what I have written is very strong content, r]ape/t0rt0re, but my softcore romance where the couple are married in the end is the problem? I've been using inkitt but thats turned into a romance site, the only book of mine that gets any attention is a k1nky one, and one other saucy romance. all my other books, slice of life, softcore romance, fantasy, all ignored. Where else can I upload my books? this is so crushing and frustrating. i just wanna tell my stories but just feel so lost. i strongly believe in creative freedom, whats with all the censorship? help?

Response:

Erotica author here. The double standard is terrible/hilarious. You realize of course that Netflix distributes movies and TV shows about teenage sex under 18 all the time, and they don't need to abide by silly rules like D2d's. (Of course it helps that the actors playing these characters are in their twenties). The Big 5 publishers don't have to follow those 18+ guidelines either because they don't submit to KDP. But in this current climate, these publishers are risk-averse even though most of them have backlists full of under 18 sexuality that they are able to sell no problem.

It used to be that as long as the title had literary/artistic/meaningful message, things like under18 sexuality and non-consensual sex were not deal breakers. That is no longer the case -- although having sex with vampires and alien creatures seems to be ok.

I had a "questionable" title which I had no problem getting published on Google Play -- even though recently I think they are getting a little stricter about content. This title (which I am very proud of by the way) has been downloaded lots of times on Google Play -- although I switch between making it free and charging for it.

The monetization problem is the real problem here. Payment processors like stripe and paypal don't seem to distinguish between sexually-explicit services and selling books that contain words describing characters doing sexual things. Without a payment processor, you can't use payhip or gumroad -- although perhaps you can ask for donations.

Another thing worth mentioning. Tolerance for sexually explicit content varies by gender. If most readers out there are female and females view envelope-pushing stories unfavorably, you have lost a large percentage of your audience. Even if the monetization problem was not there, you'd still have the problem of finding an audience. Content sites like wattpad and literotica aren't particularly interested in supporting authors; they're more interested in surviving through advertising, so they don't particularly care about standing up against censorship or for first amendment freedoms. So stories can be pulled at the website's discretion.

Perhaps to avoid the content moderation problem, authors will end up reverting to selling print titles by mail directly to consumers rather than trying to sell digital content through the major platforms. That's one way to bypass this problem.