No Best Selling "Gay" Books at Amazon
Go look up your favorite book. Oh...be sure that it doesn't have anything to do with gay and lesbian issues. Go down to "Product Details" and check out the Amazon sales rank.
It's there for lots of books. Dig around. How about a book on serial killers?
Low look up Strangers At Gate, by Mel White. It is a very moving story about the struggle to be gay and Christian; or one of my absolute favorites, Not Like the Other Boys, a book in which a mother and son alternate telling the story of the son's childhood and their separate but parallel journeys to acceptance; or Always My Child, the very best book I know for giving guidance to parents who suspect or have recently learned that their child is GLBT.
Notice anything?
Yeah, no sales rank.
That's because, like erotica, they are now considered "adult" books and Amazon does not want them to appear in any of the best selling lists. (h/t)
I'm so angry I'm trembling.
According to Slate.com Amazon's Customer Service number is: 1-800-201-7575
Sadly, I can't find the link to email them a complaint. If you find it, please leave it in the comments.
commenter Elly says the email address is: ecr@amazon.com
Check this out: http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/04/12/amazon-rank/ - email address is ecr@amazon.com
ReplyDeleteThanks Elly. I emailed them. I told them that I wasn't going to buy more Kindle books until they changed the policy. It will no doubt hurt me more than it does them...but I can't bring myself to give them any more money until they do.
ReplyDeleteIt probably is an unintended consequence of something they rolled out a few months ago - the chances that pushing out GLBT books was an intentional business decision is slim. Smells of a less-than-competent business analyst choosing some bad criteria for keyword searches or something of that nature. Amazon probably has an item buried in their Change Request Log somewhere to correct the problem, but who knows how long it'll take them to get around to it without some pressure. Good job alerting and emailing - I'll send one too
ReplyDeleteProbably...but it pisses me off that a book purporting to tell parents how to PREVENT homosexuality has a sales rank.
ReplyDeleteThis is too easy, don't buy books from Amazon!
ReplyDeleteAs a Kindle owner that is not an attractive long-term solution for me!
ReplyDeleteThe most likely plausible theory that I have read is that trolls or right-wing conservative, or right-wing conservative trolls have been using the features that allow people to "flag" books as adults has been used to cause this problem. Still, it has been going on with some books since Feb. Various authors have complained and Amazon has had time to respond to it.
And Jennie is right that the best way to get a company to respond is through public pressure. If you have been paying attention on the blogosphere, there is a lot of that right now.
This reminded me of when I first came out. I wanted to find some books about coming out and the Gay and Lesbian community. My friend and I went to Barnes and Nobles and after 20 minutes of looking and another 10 minutes of building up my nerves I went to the help desk and asked where I could find the 'Gay section'. The lady told me to follow her and took me to the Erotica section. I was so embarressed that I left.
ReplyDeleteI found out later that they actually did have a whole section at Barnes and Nobles for Gay and lesbian writing but they have it on the same section as the Christianity and right by a main walkway so it is a very awkward place if you are just coming and are insecure and want to remain incognito.
Online book giants like Amazon are crushing my independent LGBT bookstore. It's important to put public pressure on the big guys, but independent bookstores need the financial support of like-minded individuals in order to survive. Buy local!
ReplyDelete