Still developing: Amazon, say it ain't so!!!


Gay-themed books universally considered "adult" content? "Adult" content has rankings stripped?

"American Psycho" is Bret Easton Ellis' story of a sadistic murderer. "Unfriendly Fire" is a well-reviewed empirical analysis of military policy. But it's "Unfriendly Fire" that does not have a sales rank -- which means it would not show up in Amazon's bestseller lists, even if it sold more copies than the "Twilight" series. In some cases, being de-ranked also means being removed from Amazon's search results.
Amazon's policy of removing "adult" content from its rankings seems to be both new and unevenly implemented. On Saturday, self-published author Mark R. Probst noticed that his book had lost its ranking, and made inquiries. The response he got from Amazon's customer service explained:
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.
Probst wrote a novel for young adults with gay characters set in the old West; he was concerned that gay-friendly books were being unfairly targeted.
Amazon responded to Jacket Copy, but with basically no information.

Bianca Reagan catalogs some of the books that are being stripped of rank vs. others that are not on BlogHer.

Bottom line: something's fishy,and it's a real shame.

I wait to learn more, but in the meantime will be tracking the hashtag: #amazonfail



Posted: Sun - April 12, 2009 at 07:56 PM       EmailFeedback

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