Amazon's strange "glitch"

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

Amazon has decided to derank any book that it deems "gay." These books include classics like James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room and Mark Doty's Firebird, among many many many others. What that does to/for these books is take them out of the best seller lists and lowers their visibility on the site. For information on how to express dismay for Amazon's decision to marginalize authors who are homosexuals, go here.

[JessicaS]

I found an article

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123964842562214381.html

[zinemama]

It's not just gay themes. It's any book they deem "adult" including some YA. Candy over at Smart Bitches Trashy Books (a hilarious site) has more about this today. (It's affecting the rankings of her and her co-author's new book about romance novels, Beyond Heaving Bosoms

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

Originally Posted by abimommy

I found an article

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123964842562214381.html

The article says they're restoring the rankings, but I haven't seen a single one restored in the past two hours.

[JessicaS]

It does seem like this is a bit random

The Different Dragon
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,371 in Books

Daddy's Roommate-no rank

Molly's Family-no rank

It's Okay To Be Different
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,844 in Books


And Tango Makes Three
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,247

King and King #120,136 in Books

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

Originally Posted by abimommy

It does seem like this is a bit random

The Different Dragon
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,371 in Books

Daddy's Roommate-no rank

Molly's Family-no rank

It's Okay To Be Different
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,844 in Books


And Tango Makes Three
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,247

King and King #120,136 in Books

Yep, and Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds #24400

And, Super Beauties, the cover of which is a topless woman.

And then there's, Digital Desire (also ranked), which features photographs from Penthouse

So, the "Adult" excuse really doesn't fly. I guess objectification of women doesn't count as "Adult" content. Targeted? Yes.

[lolar2]

This author thinks it was a mistake:

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/amazon_fail/

One theory:

http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.html

[JessicaS]

I think I will wait patiently for some sort of response from Amazon before I freak out.

Amazon is pretty Liberal, I think this might be some sort of glitch/insanity/conspiracy.

[Calidris]

The worst part is that if you search homosexuality at Amazon the top results are things like "A Parents Guide to preventing Homosexuality" and You don't have to be Gay (or some such thing, yuck hate-filled books anyway).

*that was from my search this morning, I haven't been back since*

[Viola]

The search for homosexuality doesn't bother me so much, just because I think homosexuality is the term often used by the anti-gay side. If you just search for gay, you get quite a different search outcome.

Thanks for the explanations of the rankings. I've never actually noticed them, and I was having trouble finding them. I can find the titles listed when I search for them. The Filly, by Mark Probst has a ranking. Was it taken away and then restored?

Transgressions and Standish by Erastes do not have rankings, nor does Giovanni's Room, as I can tell. But Rubyfruit Jungle does.

Oh, from the trashybooks site:

The rampant inconsistency of the Amazonfail situation has puzzled me since yesterday. The Wilder Publications’ paperback edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was de-ranked, for example, but the Penguin Classics edition wasn’t. Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality Vol. 1 was de-ranked (and still is, unlike Lady Chatterley, which has had its rank reinstated), but Volumes 2 and 3 weren’t. The incredibly obnoxious A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality wasn’t de-ranked, but Heather Has Two Mommies was (rank has since been reinstated).