I Will Be Shopping at Other Sites

[furrbear]

From TowleRoad:

Amazon Deems Gay Books 'Adult', Strips Sales Rankings

Amazon.com appears to be exacting a double standard on material it deems "adult" and has begun stripping hundreds of gay and lesbian books of their sales rankings, writer Mark Probst reported this weekend on his LiveJournal blog:

"Many of us decided to write to Amazon questioning why our rankings had disappeared. Most received evasive replies from customer service reps not versed in what was happening. As I am a publisher and have an Amazon Advantage account through which I supply Amazon with my books, I had a special way to contact them. 24 hours later I had a response:

"In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude 'adult' material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

"Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

"Best regards, Ashlyn D Member Services Amazon.com Advantage"

Meta Writers has posted a list of the books that have been stripped which includes almost all novels in a user's Top 100 Gay Novels List including James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, and Andrew Holleran's Dancer from the Dance.

Our theatre critic Kevin Sessums reports that the hardback edition of his memoir Mississippi Sissy retains a sales ranking while the ranking for the paperback edition has been stripped. Michelangelo Signorile reports that his books have all lost their rankings.

The L.A. Times reports on the de-ranking:

Our research shows that these books have lost their ranking: "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs; "Rubyfruit Jungle" by Rita Mae Brown, "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" by Alison Bechdel, "The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1" by Michel Foucault, "Bastard Out of Carolina" by Dorothy Allison (2005 Plume edition), "Little Birds: Erotica" by Anais Nin, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by Jean-Dominque Bauby (1997 Knopf edition), "Maurice" by E.M. Forster (2005 W.W. Norton edition) and "Becoming a Man" by Paul Monette, which won the 1992 National Book Award.

Books that remain ranked include: "Naked" by David Sedaris; "Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller; "American Psycho" by Bret Easton Ellis; "Wifey" by Judy Blume; "The Kiss" by Kathryn Harrison; the photobooks "Playboy: Helmut Newton" and "Playboy: Six Decades of Centerfolds"; "Naked Lunch" by William Burroughs; "Incest: From 'A Journal of Love'" by Anais Nin; "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by Jean-Dominque Bauby (2007 Vintage International edition), "Maurice" by E.M. Forster (2005 Penguin Classics edition).

No doubt there will be forthcoming revelations about what is happening at Amazon. A petition protesting the de-rankings has sprung up on Facebook.

Now what to do with the damn $40 credit...

Comments

[grandiva1968.livejournal.com]

They've told Publishers Weekly that the whole thing is a technical glitch.  I'll believe it when all the rankings are back.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

Apparently they've managed to contradict themselves quite well. (That's just one thread, so far there's two pages of comments.)

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

The PR droids are towing the line on what could very well be a technical glitch during a freakin' holiday. Also considering that most of the primary sources are book authors losing their shit... I think this is more shenanigans on both sides than anything else.

Practically speaking reports from LA Times and otherwise I haven't been able to find the same search rank crippling both on amazon.com and .ca which indicates that this is all a bit Inside Baseball for book authors and publishers.

[joebehrsandiego.livejournal.com]

Here's Dave White ("Exile in Guyville")'s experience FWIW.

http://djmrswhite.livejournal.com/381584.html

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

See my comment there.