Amazon does U-turn over novel cover

‘‘It's not provocative at all. It's beautifully shot, it's artistic.’’

Amazon has had a change of heart after refusing to advertise a New Zealander’s novel because of its ‘‘provocative’’ cover.

Kapiti author Shona Moller was initially told the cover art for her novel The Trajectory of a Fallen Angel was too sexual for the online retailer to promote on its website.

This was despite the cover image – depicting a woman’s mouth, chin, neck, and a hint of cleavage – being designed by Amazon’s own publishing company, Create Space.

Following publicity about the decision, Amazon did an aboutface – though it is still insisting the design cannot be promoted on its Kindle e-readers.

‘‘It’s a great result. That’s absolutely fantastic,’’ Moller said on Friday.

‘‘I mean, it couldn’t have been any better because we got the publicity of them not doing it, and then they’ve switched and said they can, so it’s the best of both worlds, really.’’

In an earlier email, Amazon deemed the ad campaign to be ’’inappropriate to all audiences, such as sexually suggestive poses, overly provocative content or nudity’’.

Moller supplied the cover art to Create Space, but was not warned the imagery and blurb on the back of the book would create problems with Amazon.

‘‘It’s not provocative at all,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s beautifully shot, it’s artistic.

‘‘You really need to give people a little bit of a warning that there is going to be some sex in there.

‘‘If they’re expecting ponies and unicorns, then this isn’t really the story for them.

‘‘You don’t want to be reading about ponies and unicorns, and on page 165, the ponies and unicorns get it on.’’