WTF Amazon?

[lagilman]

EtA: This is all breaking news and the updates are coming too fast for me, at least, to keep up. The alarm went up in the LGBT community but it seems to have spread to anything that has any overt inklings of even slightly non-straight or overtly non-vanilla sexuality (including the Kushiel books). A quick looks shows that my books are still listed, as are Anne Bishop's books, even the ones that involve the sexual abuse of an underage child. EtA: Lynn Flewelling is waiting to see if they go after her books next. If they do, and my books remain listed... my books are slightly more explicit than hers, only difference is mine are m/f and hers are m/m.

Meta Writer seems to be on top of it, so I point you there or to Dear Author or Smart Bitches

My comments below stand. I will not buy there, I will not send people there, I will not include them in any of my announcement links. Until they get the head back on the chicken that's running that place, they are dead to me.




ETA: on the road. updates when I'm home.

Via EBear, via http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11369.html:

"If you write books with homosexual characters, read books with homosexual characters, please look at this: http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html

Mark, Erastes, and Alex (among others) had their Amazon sales rankings removed over the last few days for The Filly, Transgressions and False Colours respectively. On enquiring about this, Mark was told the following:

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

-----------

suri here. it seems, at first glance, that the only books getting hit with "adult" ratings are those dealing with homosexual or transgender characters -- even if the books are YA. I haven't had a chance to check into this further (pending a call in to romance editors on Monday) but I haven't heard of mainstream 'sexy' or 'adult' books getting the same treatment.

Amazon, being a privately-owned company, is free to make whatever marketing decisions they choose to. And I, being a private citizen, am free to make whatever buying decisions I choose to. And until this is reversed -- or applied across the board to any book that has adult material -- which would include my own! -- I will not be buying from Amazon; not books, not music, not anything. And certainly not a Kindle. And I will be telling Corporate Headquarters of my decision.

You might want to do the same, if you're feeling the same disgust at their actions....

Comments

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

Nope, apparently they're including romance novels and erotica, according to Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. They're also setting up a Google bomb for the term "Amazon rank," which is an evil response I find utterly delightful. See http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ (I'm not using the term here, because I don't have your permission.)

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

At Dear Author is a post on a petition and how to contact Amazon, and more on who all is getting unrankes. I mean, Lesbian parenting books? Seriously? And it also tells why the deranking matters.

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/04/12/amazon-rank/#more-11470

Di

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

One wonders, is music by LGBT artists next? If so, that will have a direct impact upon my employer's bottom line.

[lagilman]

I suspect unless there is sexually explicit homosexual language on it, no. If they try to delist by the artist, they're into civil rights territory....

(right now they're 'just' homophopbic asswipes with delusions of net-nannying)

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

The "Speak to a Person" 800 number for Amazon is: 800-201-7575

I have already emailed a complaint and have asked what they are going to do to rectify the situation.

Corporate Offices in Seattle:
(206) 622-2335

Address:
Amazon.com Headquarters
Address: 1200 12th Ave., Ste. 1200
Seattle, WA 98144
Phone: (206) 266-1000
Fax: (206) 622-2405

Here is their CTO: Werner Vogels
werner@allthingsdistributed.com
His twitter: http://twitter.com/werner

Also, the CEO, Jeff Bezos, has invested very heavily in twitter so... that's also an avenue to vent.

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

It's not JUST GLBT type books- It's any genre of book that is labeled 'erotica'. They've targeted feminist books, books on sex for people with disabilities and even non fiction books.

[lagilman]

some of the books affected are not erotica but do have gay or tg characters. that is...troublesome.

[lizbetann]

Off the top of my head, I went an looked for a erotica/romance novelist, Emma Holly. Her "erotic" books (many published by Black Lace) do not have sales rankings. Her romance novels have sales rankings.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Not the first time I've been ashamed of this local-to-me corporation. I hate companies that try to rule the world.

[rwglaub.livejournal.com]

This is going to cross party lines in a hurry. Right-wing folks such as John Ringo, Tom Kratman and David Weber over at Baen in their military science-fiction regularly portray gay characters in a positive light in their books.

[lagilman]

I don't see how this is a "party " issue at all.

[djonn]

And Ringo's Ghost, while featuring heterosexual characters, is arguably kinkier than a lot of the stuff being delisted....

[leethomas.livejournal.com]

Yep, The Dust of Wonderland lost its ranking. Considering the minimal (and wholly vanilla) sexual situations depicted in that book, I'd say this is not an "Adult" issue but clearly homophobic.

[threeoutside.livejournal.com]

I called the 800 number as a customer of long standing at amazon.com and told them I won't be buying anything from or through them until this stupid, evil policy is rescinded. One lost customer won't make any difference but if thousands call or write them and tell them what they've lost, it might make a difference. This is just stupid - even LOCAL editors in the newspapers seem to realize the religious fanatic Right has lost its stranglehold so amazon.com's pandering to the Sex Police is just incredible.

[nightdweller20.livejournal.com]

I'm mad because I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to buy books from B&N because of the whole Obama/monkey book debacle and how it was handled. Now Amazon does this stupid thing, so where the hell am I supposed to buy books? The only bookstores around here are B&N or Half Price Books. I'm not aware of any others, so I'm screwed.

I wonder who the hell decided to make this business decision, because it has to be one the dumbest things ever decided upon. They're targeting the types of books that are the majority of all book sales. What kind of business plan is that?