Amazon’s on an anti-GLBT crusade again. The evil text books!

It must be very difficult to run an enterprise the size of Amazon of you have your head and your Kindle stuck up your arse that far:

AMAZON has yanked the sales ratings (and limited the searchability
of a great number of GLBT books –
no matter if they have erotic content or not.
(Read all about it here on Meta Writer)

In a reply to author Mark Probst’s request, Amazon sent the following reply:

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

Let’s rock it like it’s 1699!

While I’m not a victim myself – I sell and distribute my books myself – many of my fellow friends and authors have been spat on by Amazon here, among them Alex Beecroft, Marquesat, Lee Rowan, Erastes and many others.

Being the curious George that I am, I took the liberty to check the text books I’ve reviewed in the past to see if they still show a ranking on Amazon or not. Do they? Well, have a wild guess…

The following books show no sales rankings anymore:

• Mother Clap’s Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830 by Rictor Norton
• Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition: English Sea Rovers in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean by Prof. B.R. Burg
• Boys at Sea: Sodomy, Indecency, and Courts Martial in Nelson’s Navy by Prof. B.R. Burg
• Rum, Sodomy and the Lash: Piracy, Sexuality and Masculine Identity by Hans Turley

Text books, folks. FRIGGIN’ TEXT BOOKS. Yanked to protect the innocent.

FEAR THE DANGERS OF EDUCATION!

So, what can you do about it? Well, I know what I will do:

• I’ll adjust my list of recommended books to other shops than Amazon.
• I’m not going to buy from them anymore, obviously.
• I’ll let them know where they can stick their Kindle.

There are plenty of other ways to buy books; yes, it will take longer and it’s less convenient, but enough’s enough. Amazon is the 600 pound gorilla, and publishers of GLBT are forced to put up with its prejudices and antics because there’s no alternative for them to sell their goods.

Only – that’s not quite true. There are alternatives. Buy from other companies. Buy directly from the publishers and the authors. At the end of the day, it’s our laziness as readers that enables Amazon. Maybe give that a thought…?