I rarely write about “writerly issues” in my blog because since I’m primarily a reader, I want stuff that pertains to reading. But I’m utterly sad that Amazon has performed a WTFery to end all WTFerys.
They’ve deranked books containing erotic content as well as many books that do NOT contain erotic elements but are devoted to topics such as gay romance, lifestyles etc etc. I won’t go down the extensive list because I’d be here all day. Suffice to say, there is no rhyme or reason other than apparently Amazon is seeking to protect the sensibilities of some of their customers as well as play parent to kids who might GASP actually come across said books on their site.
Oy! This could take awhile so bear with me.
1. I do not need Amazon to parent my children. Nor do I need them to protect my sensibilities. Nor does the rest of the population. As popular as it is to remove the responsibility from the parent of monitoring their children’s online activity, that is not anyone’s responsibility other than the parent. Period. End of story. Expecting a business do do so is utterly ridiculous.
2. I’ve already heard it said, rankings? what’s the big deal? Rankings don’t mean anything. Well, yes and no. If you’re looking at it as a popularity contest then no, rankings aren’t terribly important in the scheme of things. However, rankings determine placement on certain bestseller lists.
Being on one of the bestseller lists means VISIBILITY for that book. It means that a whole lot of readers who look at these lists to see what’s hot, new, popular or what other people are buying are going to SEE this book. Marketing 101. Visibility? HUGE. If a book is stripped of its ranking then obviously it will never be listed on any of the bestseller lists (and there are many by category at Amazon)
3. Aside from rankings, books are disappearing from search results. When typing in an author name, not all the books are coming up. The books that have been “deranked” are conspicuously absent. This leads back to the whole VISIBILITY issue.
If a reader is looking for books from an author’s backlist or looking for a new release and they do a search by the author name and the books don’t show up? Missed sale. End of story.
4. I’ve heard the outcry of discrimination etc etc but let’s put all that aside for a moment and lessen the emotional impact of what’s going on. I’d like to know how it makes good BUSINESS SENSE for Amazon to bury these books and cut the visibility of these books. Why would you want to cut off a source of revenue?
This reeks of an emotional decision to pacify a segment of the customer base. I don’t really know because Amazon hasn’t made a statement. But as a business decision? This has to be one of the most moronic I’ve seen in a long long time. And I’ve been a total Amazon fan so I say this with no prior bitterness whatsoever.
5. Lastly, I have been a long, LONG time shopper at Amazon. My end of the year receipts? Number in the hundreds as far as total orders, thousands of dollars in cost. I routinely give away not only my books but many many other authors books and I order them from Amazon. I have given away hundreds and hundreds of dollars in Amazon Gift certificates.
I have a Kindle (recent) and have already dumped hundreds of dollars into buying Kindle ebooks. In fact, I gave up my monthly shopping spree at Eharlequin to buy ALL titles from Amazon. If I add up all my receipts from Amazon over the last few years, I’m willing to bet I pay an Amazon execs salary, so I’d say my business counts for something. Right? RIGHT? Or are you so willing to piss that away?
With everyone crying over the economy and the fact that it’s in the shitter, I’d think businesses would be going that extra mile to make every sale count, to highlight every possible source of revenue, NOT shut down an entire freight train of income and piss off not only a huge customer base but the authors of all those books as well.
Me? I’ll wait for an official response. Provided there IS one. I want to see what, if anything, Amazon does or how they respond to this. However, if they don’t respond in a satisfactory manner, I’ll be more than happy to pay an exec’s salary at BN or Borders (because Im pretty sure Borders wouldn’t turn down ANY revenue right now)
Your very unhappy, long time, very loyal customer
buy cialis online buy cialis 235605 http://khmezsjg.com )( [url=http://khmezsjg.com]buy cialis[/url] gujwn
Best reviews of the day about California, Berkeley apartments california, Apartments in oceanside california and California bankruptcy lawyer http://california.goodnano-av.com/
Very nice site! cheap viagra
Very nice site! [url=http://opxyiea.com/yoyrrro/2.html]cheap cialis[/url]
Viagra online viagra online 537970 [URL=http://forums.cclonline.com/member.php?u=2522]viagra online[/URL] :(b 8 http://forums.cclonline.com/member.php?u=2522 eppdo
Cialis online cialis 5007 [URL=http://www.solidphp.com/forum/member.php?u=3197]cialis[/URL] d:( http://www.solidphp.com/forum/member.php?u=3197 rigc
Yes, I do agree too with your point of view. Great post!
Cialis online cialis 8221 [URL=http://www.solidphp.com/forum/member.php?u=3197]cialis[/URL] :o http://www.solidphp.com/forum/member.php?u=3197 vfgib q
Lawyers spend a great deal of their time shoveling smoke.
Great post!
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Cialis online cialis 29 1713 [URL=http://www.solidphp.com/forum/member.php?u=3197]cialis[/URL] b(:o http://www.solidphp.com/forum/member.php?u=3197 bjf qnr
I always read your amazing website every week, its great fun and got lots of interesting information to take in and lots of interesting articles.
I always read your amazing website every week, its great fun and got lots of interesting information to take in and lots of interesting articles.
I always read your amazing website every week, its great fun and got lots of interesting information to take in and lots of interesting articles.
Tiffany Mynx
Crystal Ray
Amber Wild
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 89359 [URL=http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/member.php?u=164249]viagra online[/URL] )b 8 http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/member.php?u=164249 lekwu
Jennifer Steele
Ander Page
Charmaine Starr
Alex Devine
Mya Lovely
Karina Kay
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 2598 [URL=http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/member.php?u=164249]viagra online[/URL] );; http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/member.php?u=164249 wwhzin
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Arial;}}
{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1515;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs20\par
\par
\par
I came across your nice website on the the other day and saw a some of your earlier posts that you did previously . I just added you to my bookmarks. Keep up the great work. i will Look forward to reading more from you again.\par
\par
\par
\par
grat piece of work that you did, Thanks for it.its wonderfull to see other people with a who think the same.\par
\par
\par
hi there to whoever owns this website, Can you give me more info on this? i sometimes look at other peoples websites that are made for people like me.\par
\par
\par
I do like your good big website i read some others that are on vaguely the same subjets, sometimes its a bit difficult reading them as i dont speak very good english.\par
}
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Arial;}}
{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1515;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs20\par
\par
\par
I came across your nice website on the the other day and saw a some of your earlier posts that you did previously . I just added you to my bookmarks. Keep up the great work. i will Look forward to reading more from you again.\par
\par
\par
\par
grat piece of work that you did, Thanks for it.its wonderfull to see other people with a who think the same.\par
\par
\par
hi there to whoever owns this website, Can you give me more info on this? i sometimes look at other peoples websites that are made for people like me.\par
\par
\par
I do like your good big website i read some others that are on vaguely the same subjets, sometimes its a bit difficult reading them as i dont speak very good english.\par
}
I always read your amazing website every week, its great fun and got lots of interesting information to take in and lots of interesting articles.
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Arial;}}
{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1515;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs20\par
\par
\par
I came across your nice website on the the other day and saw a some of your earlier posts that you did previously . I just added you to my bookmarks. Keep up the great work. i will Look forward to reading more from you again.\par
\par
\par
\par
grat piece of work that you did, Thanks for it.its wonderfull to see other people with a who think the same.\par
\par
\par
hi there to whoever owns this website, Can you give me more info on this? i sometimes look at other peoples websites that are made for people like me.\par
\par
\par
I do like your good big website i read some others that are on vaguely the same subjets, sometimes its a bit difficult reading them as i dont speak very good english.\par
}
Penis Enlargement
nude girls
home insurance
sex chatrooms
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 07622 [URL=http://groups.adobe.com/people/67f6254efb]viagra online[/URL] )b( http://groups.adobe.com/people/67f6254efb mnaay
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 59856 [URL=http://viagra-online.wackwall.com/]viagra online[/URL] o(:( http://viagra-online.wackwall.com/ kekzf
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 367898 [URL=http://groups.adobe.com/people/67f6254efb]viagra online[/URL] b(d http://groups.adobe.com/people/67f6254efb dvyawm
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 76 119 [URL=http://trunzohome.com/cs2/members/Lowest_2D00_Viagra_2D00_Prices_2D00_Online/default.aspx]viagra online[/URL] b)d http://trunzohome.com/cs2/members/Lowest_2D00_Viagra_2D00_Prices_2D00_Online/default.aspx zhjckm
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 70 16 [URL=http://www.aceproject.com/cs/members/Lowest-Viagra-Prices-Guaranteed/default.aspx]viagra online[/URL] (; http://www.aceproject.com/cs/members/Lowest-Viagra-Prices-Guaranteed/default.aspx kkydv
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 38754 [URL=http://www.blogmailr.com/members/Lowest-Viagra-Price-Online.aspx]viagra online[/URL] ;d( http://www.blogmailr.com/members/Lowest-Viagra-Price-Online.aspx qfsv
Viagra pharmacy viagra online 78 12 [URL=http://comunidadwindows.org/members/Lowest-Viagra-Prices-Guaranteed.aspx]cheap viagra[/URL] ;(o) http://comunidadwindows.org/members/Lowest-Viagra-Prices-Guaranteed.aspx k qeob
Perfect site, i like it!
4io0YT fgoG62mvVof47J1fCaLkg
If you have to do it, you might as well do it right.
Perfect site, i like it!
movit 100 until community open [url=http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us]early source generation period[/url] http://www.boston.com
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 71 182 [URL=http://vmtoolkit.com/members/Lowest Viagra Price Online.aspx]viagra online[/URL] ))d( http://vmtoolkit.com/members/Lowest Viagra Price Online.aspx zsydpn
Viagra pharmacy generic viagra 6 13450 [URL=http://vmtoolkit.com/members/Lowest Viagra Price Online.aspx]viagra online[/URL] );( http://vmtoolkit.com/members/Lowest Viagra Price Online.aspx vejl
Viagra pharmacy viagra 640523 [URL=http://www.atribune.org/forums/index.php?showuser=8449]viagra online[/URL] ;( http://www.atribune.org/forums/index.php?showuser=8449 svqkyu
Cialis pharmacy generic cialis 976154 [URL=http://drgaligin.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html]cialis online[/URL] b 8:( http://drgaligin.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html hltdk