AmazonFail, roundup.

[alex_beecroft]

Sales Ranks disappearing on Amazon?  What is going on?

Copied from storm_grant 's LJ

On the issue of Amazon suddenly stripping sales ranks from m/m, f/f and erotica, actual facts have been obtained.

Amazon is protecting is general readership from the evol gay and the pr0n. Read here: http://markprobst.livejournal.com/15293.html

http://vashtan.livejournal.com/490173.html

asknosecrets is collecting links here: http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11560.html

storm_grant  got #amazonfail going on twitter. Go tweet and protest! Think of it as signing an e-petition, only with 140 characters to express your outrage!

vashtan  is compiling a list of books that have been affected, here: http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11992.html


What can you do?

Copied from erastes LJ

1. Sign the petition

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/in-protest-at-amazons-new-adult-policy

2. Write to the CEO

Jeffrey Bezos. 
1200 12th Avenue South, 
Seattle, 
Washington 98144-2734, 
United States
Phone: 206-266-1000
Fax: 206-622-2405

3. Contact info for Amazon for calls, emails, faxes letters

http://clicheideas.com/amazon.htm

Also, if you have a book or books affected by the censorship, add their names to the list on meta_writer above.
Inform your publisher.
Write to any gblt paper you may be associated with.
Change your buy links for your books so they no longer link to Amazon.
If you were thinking of buying a Kindle, don't!

~*~*~*~

On an unrelated issue but a perfect example of bad timing,

I am not going to be here from this evening until late Monday night, as I've got a reenactment event booked which I can't get out of, but I'll try and catch up with my emails and comments when I get home.

Comments

[keesiegirls.livejournal.com]

The first question that occurs to me is, if it's "adult" material that Amazon wants to "protect" its customers from, are they also removing rankings for straight romances, most of which these days have graphic sex scenes? And are probably also one of their largest selling categories...

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

No, they aren't. And in fact it isn't even just gblt romances which are being affected. Self help books, autobiographies, even theology has had its sales rank taken off, as long as it has something to do with the existence of gay people.

Taking a Chance on God: Liberating Theology for Gays, Lesbians, and Their
Lovers, Families, and Friends
http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Chance-God-Liberating-Theology/dp/0807079456/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239554196&sr=1-4

I don't consider a theological book about God's love for gblt people to be an 'adult' work by any stretch of the imagination!

[mirien.livejournal.com]

Just asked them that in the email I sent, having already checked a few and knowing damn well that they have done no such thing to het romances!

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

*g* Breaking news is that they've offered a sort of apology saying it was all a big mistake here:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/amazon/archives/166329.asp

Right ;)

[mirien.livejournal.com]

I've emailed with all the polite disgust at my disposal - well ok, I called them liars in a very veiled way - and will see what they say. I'm not holding my breath, but if enough people cause a fuss in any way they can, who knows?

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think they had no idea that people were actually going to support the 'evil' gay books that they banned :) Writing to them and expressing your displeasure was wonderful and the best thing you could do, and I think it's worked! Thank you!

[mrs-norrington.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know about this. Next time I plan on purchasing books, I'll go elsewhere.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And yes, me too! I liked Amazon. I liked the fact that they had a huge selection of lgbt books and that you could easily pick a best seller. But even though they've claimed it was all a big mistake
http://blog.seattlepi.com/amazon/archives/166329.asp
it's going to be a long time before I shop with them again.

[wulfila.livejournal.com]

I checked on amazon.de, and the sales ranks are gone there as well - but, bizarrely enough, only from English-language books that are openly recognizable as dealing with m/m themes (right down to Mary Renault's "The Charioteer"), but not from English books less openly recognizable as having m/m content (I checked "The Persian boy" and the Nightrunner series) and - that is the remarkable thing - not from German m/m books.

So I suspect this new policy might be catering to specific moral objections in English-speaking countries (the USA, specifically?).

In any case, it is ridiculous that this is how they would define "adult" texts...

B & N policy?

[keesiegirls.livejournal.com]

With all the comments about switching links and purchasing to Barnes & Noble, do we have any assurance that they are not going to follow Amazon's lead? My guess from the beginning was that Amazon was caving in to pressure, or the threat or possibility of pressure, from the US religious right. And unfortunately, there are more of them than us... We must remember that Amazon is a large corporation, and my impression is that with most large corporations, money trumps integrity every time.

Re: B & N policy?

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

See my comment below. The extremists foaming at the mouth over this are not a majority of the US population. And the tide is blatantly turning against them. Which makes this move on Amazon's part a stupid decision from a business perspective.

Re: B & N policy?

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

I don't know about B&N, to be honest. I've had reports that they are re-ranking False Colors and Transgressions as 'gay fiction' rather than 'romance', and my publishers are looking into that. But for the moment I'd still much rather support a company that makes a small discrimination like that than a company like Amazon that makes a huge discrimination like stripping the rank from gay-positive *theology* or children's books like 'Heather has two Mommies."

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

It seems that they stripped the sales ranks from any book which was classified as 'gay' or 'lesbian. So - exactly as you say - they only stripped the rankings from books which were easily recognizable as having glbt content. It looks very much like a response to American fundamentalist pressure. Now, of course, they're saying its a mistake
http://blog.seattlepi.com/amazon/archives/166329.asp
but I'll only believe it when all the books have their ranks restored!

[layangabi.livejournal.com]

Oh my God.

I thought (or hoped, maybe) it was a glitch. That is not what I expected from Amazon. At all.

*feels...wrathful*

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

It's absolutely obscene, to be honest. They're now claiming it was a mistake
http://blog.seattlepi.com/amazon/archives/166329.asp
which is hard to believe, but does at least indicate that when enough people are outraged enough, things do change for the better :) But I'll never believe a word they say again.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the helpful links. Here, at last, is fail that truly qualifies as "epic." I have no words.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

It is one of those things that proves to me that I am underestimating the sheer evil that fairly good people are capable of perpetrating without really meaning to. They're categorising gay positive theology as 'adult' and making tracts about the 'evil gay agenda' bestsellers. It's obscene.

Of course, they're saying it was all a mistake now
http://blog.seattlepi.com/amazon/archives/166329.asp

yeah, right.

Cultural tone-deafness, anyone?

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

They chose the week two more states legalized same-sex marriage to go on an anti-gay crusade.

Hello! Amazon? This is not an argument the homophobes are winning. Which makes it a bad business decision to side with them.

Stupid corporation. Have some brains.

(Yes, I will tell them that personally. And cancel my account with them. Morons!)

Re: Cultural tone-deafness, anyone?

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

*g* Yes, on the positive side, they could not have publicized gay fiction better had they tried. Erastes is talking to the NY Times tomorrow, Captain's Surrender showed up on Channel 4 News in the UK today - millions of people who didn't even know gay fiction existed now do! And False Colors has been tagged 337 times with a new 'Amazonfail' tag. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot!

On the negative side, plenty of books are still missing, though, so it's not safe to start easing up on the pressure just yet!

Heh. Thank you!

[orchidee.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh! You have a livejournal! Okay, that sounds weird, but I'm a bookseller who's been talking up False Colors sight unseen for the last month or so, to anyone who looks like they'll stand still long enough to listen.

With the whole Amazon fail that's happening now (thank you for standing up and helping organize, by the way), this is possibly not the best time to come running in and doing the equivalent of a fangirl squee, but I'm doing it anyway. I'm really excited about your latest book.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Hello! Yes, I've been on LJ for more years than I care to remember ;) (At least ten, I think). All my 'yay, I'm getting published for the first time' posts are on here, and it's still the place I tend to check most often and reply to quickest.

Anyway, Heee! I'm thrilled that you're talking up False Colors! Thank you :) I hope you actually enjoy it now that it's here - and can I put in a quick plug for Transgressions too? It's very cool! :D

Anytime is a good time to meet a new friend on the LJ, and it's lovely to hear from you especially now with everything moving so fast and being so weird and uncertain. Thank you!

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

::hates on amazon::

But, on the plus side, the widely-read gawker.com is advertising your book:

http://gawker.com/5209381/why-amazon-cant-just-call-gay-blacklist-a-glitch

Demi-yay?

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Amazon clearly have all the integrity of a wet paper bag. Not only have they pissed off all their liberal supporters by doing this, but they've now pissed off all their fundie supporters by recanting on it.

On the positive side... from a sheer personal POV, yay for the prominent display of False Colors! Thank you!

From what I understand, Amazon are now starting to restore sales ranks. So if they manage to do that for everything now stripped, then I will be more than happy. (Gay-positive theology was stripped as 'adult' for God's sake, while books about the evil gay agenda were not. Glitch, my arse!) But really, after articles about this in the NY times, and on Channel 4 news, Amazon could not have done more to *publicize* gay literature if they'd tried!

Avon-type cynical yay! on the whole, I think :)

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Sorry your book has been affected by this. Needless to say, I will be contacting Amazon to voice my extreme displeasure. What an idiotic move on their part! It's going to cause them nothing but grief.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much, Ithilwen :) Curiously enough, I'm much more angry about them de-ranking John J O'Neill's "The Church and the Homosexual" than I am about them de-ranking False Colors. O'Neill's book saved my faith when I was going through an 'am I damned because my fantasy life is all m/m' crisis. I can only imagine that it has saved the faith and the lives of many gay people. It's obscene to list it as 'adult' when it's a book that helps people to accept themselves and to love God and other people.

Amazon have now said it was all a mistake
http://blog.seattlepi.com/amazon/archives/166329.asp

which is hopeful in terms of getting things back how they were, but not exactly believable.