Why Is Amazon Removing The Sales Rankings From Gay, Lesbian Books?
According to author Mark R. Probst, Amazon.com has begun pulling the sales rank numbers from several gay and lesbian books, claiming that the books are “adult” and should be excluded from some searches and lists.
Probst noticed the disappearing rankings after searching for a few high-profile gay romance novels; believing there was some sort of glitch in the system, he continued researching and discovered that “HUNDREDS of gay and lesbian books simultaneously lost their sales rankings,” including his own book, The Filly. When Probst contacted Amazon regarding the situation, he was given this response by the company:
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.
Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.
Best regards,
Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage
This sounds like a big old bowl of BS, does it not? Especially when you consider the fact that Amazon has vibrators, clitoral stimulators and anal plugs available in their search system with sales ranks attached. One wonders why these items are allowed to remain in the system with sales ranks while books including gay and lesbian content, themes, and even, as a commenter points out, autobiographies of gay and lesbian authors such as Stephen Fry, are deemed too “adult” for such things.
The LiveJournal community MetaWriter is currently keeping tabs on the books that have had their sales ranks removed: Rubyfruit Jungle, Brokeback Mountain, and even Alex Sanchez’s Rainbow Boys, a YA novel, have been deemed too “adult” for Amazon’s customers to view their sales rankings. Twitter is currently buzzing with the controversy: #AmazonFail is the number one trending item on the site right now.
To be clear, the books that are having their sales rankings stripped fall into a wide range of categories; it appears that Amazon is removing the rankings from titles that touch on everything from romance novels to history titles to YA novels, and even such titles as The Advocate College Guide For LGBT Students. There doesn’t seem to be much logic going on here; how anyone could classify a self-help guide for LGBT students going off to school or Homophobia: A History as too “adult” for sales rankings is a bit puzzling.
Update:
We’ve been keeping track of the titles that have been stripped of their rankings: Anna points out that Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer has retained its sales rank, but Anais Nin’s Delta Of Venus has been stripped.
Commenter Gertymac points out that The Ultimate Guide to Sex And Disability has been stripped.
Update 2:
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