Amazon removes gay/lesbian/erotic books from listed sales rankings

[Kraseviya]

According to several authors' sites and various blogs, Amazon has opted to remove anything they deem to be "erotic" fiction (and apparently some non-fiction as well) from their listed sales rankings. On top of the fact that they are apparently ashamed to admit that they sell erotic fiction, pretty much anything involving gay or lesbian characters is considered "erotic" whether it is overtly sexual or not, and thus removed from their sales rankings.

To start with this is a list of the titles who's rankings were removed yesterday.

It looks like Amazon decided that even something like a college guide for LGBT students was "explicit" or "adult" material.

Meanwhile [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Playboy-Complete-Centerfolds-Chronicle-Books/dp/0811860914]this collection of playboy centerfolds[/ame] still has its sales ranking listed.

This happened yesterday and its just now being noticed largely by the affected authors themselves - looks like it hasn't really made it into the mainstream media yet, though I certainly hope it does. Until them here are a few blog articles about it:

http://queersunited.blogspot.com/
http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html
http://www.naughty-and-spice.com/2009/04/12/amazon-plays-hide-and-go-seek-with-my-book-and-yours/
http://tectonic-uplift.com/deepthiw/2009/04/12/amazon-disappears-gays-and-lesbians/

I guess Amazon is trying to pass this off as hiding material that "may be offensive" to their purchases but considering the fact that anything gay-related is removed from the rankings regardless of whether or not its actually "explicit" - while more hetero-oriented material is apparently ok even if it is more explicit, it seems more like there's a homophobic agenda at work in how they are doing this.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

I joined www.Insightoutbooks.com which has been a good place to start with gay fiction. I'll buy from Barnes and Noble and I guess I can still buy from local gay bookstores although they're all starting to close. Sucks.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

I doubt this will make it to the mainstream media.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

At first I assumed this was one of those stupid rumors that get started all the time on the Internet. But then I checked it out and it looks like it's true. Why would Amazon do anything so unprofessional?

Why are there no rankings for The Well of Loneliness, an erotica-free lesbian classic, but there are for The Tropic of Cancer, which is so filthy (but heterosexual) it was censored for years?

They got some splainin to do.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

I doubt this will make it to the mainstream media.

You mean like Publisher's Weekly?

Amazon Says Glitch to Blame for "New" Adult Policy
By Rachel Deahl & Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 4/12/2009 5:49:00 PM

A groundswell of outrage, concern and confusion sprang up over the weekend, largely via Twitter, in response to what authors and others believed was a decision by Amazon to remove adult titles from its sales ranking. On Sunday evening, however, an Amazon spokesperson said that a glitch had occurred in its sales ranking feature that was in the process of being fixed. The spokesperson added that there was no new adult policy.

For most of the weekend on Twitter, in conversations with the hash tag "#amazonfail," users were discussing the fact that the e-tailer was removing the sales rankings for books that it deemed featured "adult content." Many readers, and writers, decried the fact that Amazon appears to be removing the sales ranking for titles that feature gay and lesbian characters and/or themes.

The director of the Erotic Authors Association, who goes by the pen name Erastes, told PW that many of her members "noticed their titles had been stripped of their sales rankings" on Amazon. One, Mark Probst, contacted a customer service representative at Amazon and wrote about the exchange on his blog. Probst wrote that the Amazon rep responded to his inquiry by saying that "'adult' material" is being excluded from appearing in "some searches and best seller lists" as a "consideration of our entire customer base."

Whether a glitch or new policy, titles like James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room and Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain are among the titles who have lost their ranking.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6651080.html?desc=topstory

So at least they know they goofed, let's see how they explain it.

 

[Puzuzzu]

http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=gay&x=0&y=0

I think that Canadian one is fine?

 

[SonOfSlobone]

^^^No no dear. Nobody's saying they stopped selling the books, just stopped including the information about where they rank on the bestseller list.

And checking The Joy of Gay Sex, they don't include a sales ranking in Canada either...

 

[Speeds]

Wow this piece of news is all over the communities that I have just visited. I hope there's a backlash. I can't believe AMAZON is being so homophobic all of a sudden, despite the fact that the country is becoming more accepting (gay marriages etc)

Amazon has officially lost me as their loyal customers. And I regret that I ordered a TV there a few days ago.

And did you guys know that the first results you find when you searched for HOMOSEXUALITY are all books on how to prevent being a homosexual? I find that scary. Amazon may be the most homophobic internet shop ever.

 

[operafan]

I'll be looking at this with great interest. There is no way that they can defend categorizing something with gay or lesbian themes as erotica -- unless it is erotica.

How could Geography Club be classified as erotica?

I'm hoping that Slobone's posting is correct and it was just a "glitch."

 

[Shiro]

Bad move on Amazon's part if you ask TWITTER.

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=#amazonfail


People on twitter are mad lol.

 

[Croynan]

I joined www.Insightoutbooks.com which has been a good place to start with gay fiction. I'll buy from Barnes and Noble and I guess I can still buy from local gay bookstores although they're all starting to close. Sucks.

Jasun, is A Different Light Bookstore still open in West Hollywood and if so has there been any rumors of them closing that you are aware of?

thanks. saw your interview with Mason Wyler earlier today. quite good. you conduct a good interview. you should show more of them.

eM.

 

[justsimon]

Powells.com


A great resource for books and a great company to support.

Seconded. .

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

[/COLOR][/B]

Jasun, is A Different Light Bookstore still open in West Hollywood and if so has there been any rumors of them closing that you are aware of?

thanks. saw your interview with Mason Wyler earlier today. quite good. you conduct a good interview. you should show more of them.

eM.

Different Light will be closed at the end of this month.

Awful, I bought so many books there.

And thanks... the Mason Wyler interview Part 2 is coming tomorrow.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

Yeah.. books like Out Of The Pocket about a high school football player coming out that doesn't have any sex scenes and only has him going on a date and kissing a guy... that's filed with The Joy Of Gay Sex.

 

[pasacon]

Yet in related searches for world of warcraft you'll find fleshlights...

Well nothing makes the time fly faster in 25 man nax like getting my wand skill up to 400 IRL while the officers dispense loot.

 

[Fire]

Well nothing makes the time fly faster in 25 man nax like getting my wand skill up to 400 IRL while the officers dispense loot.

 

[star-warrior]

Its always fun to watch the excuses when they're pwned...

 

[SonOfSlobone]

Update: they've started putting the books with deleted sales rankings back on the list and have issued a statement:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/tec...-to-rerank-affected-books-theories-swirl.html

UPDATED, 3:03 p.m. Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener sent us the following statement, blaming the entire situation on a "cataloging error":

This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.

It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles - in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon's main product search.

Many books have now been fixed and we're in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.

I have no doubt it was a "glitch", but caused by an over-eager human, not a computer. In any event they owe everybody a fuller explanation than this.