For those of you who haven't been swept up in the big hoo-ha of Amazon's stripping the sales ranks from "adult" themed works that ended up targeting gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) works.
Well yours truly was also hit even though
MESSALINA - DEVOURER OF MEN is a heterosexual erotic romance.
But it doesn't matter the sexual orientation of a books characters or its theme/topic - here is Amazon.com trying blatantly discrimminating against a certain
population.
Like many others, I first heard about this through my Twitter account, but it got smothered by various other twits that I really couldn't figure out what was
going on until I got
THE PETITION in my emailbox that my husband forwarded to me.
The ratings function has been fixed has been corrected but solely because of the intstant and LOUD protest from around the world of people who saw it for the
bullshit it really is. Amazon spin doctors are trying to say it was an internal "glitch" and
"ham-fisted error" despite the fact that it has been documented
that one of the employees stated that this decision was based on their "entire customer base."
No one asked me for my opinion. Did they ask you? No? I didn't think so.
DON'T BELIEVE THE SPIN!! AMAZON WAS CAUGHT TRYING TO DISCRIMINATE AND IT HAS BIT THEM IN THE ASS!!!Some people say Amazon has a right to do whatever they want with their site. True. But if Amazon really doesn't want to sell "adult" books, they need to stop
selling it and rebrand themselves as a totally Family and child-friendly merchant. There are thousands of other retailers, large and small, who I'm sure
would be glad of the business.
Psst!
MESSALINA - DEVOURER OF MEN is also available at Barnes & Noble!Thank GOD Amazon isn't the only fish in the sea. It may be the biggest in regard to online book sales, but it's not the only fish.
There have been several informative, if not entertaining, responses to the whole fracas. One of my favorites is from the Smart Bitches and their GOOGLE bomb
of the phrase "Amazon Fail."
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/amazon-rank/Here's another article on Foreign Policy discussing ways of civil disobedience and "
anti-corporate cyberactivism."
The article in Publisher's Weekly amused me too.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6651080.html?desc=topstoryThen there is
THE petition. I signed it a few hours after it started when less than 800 people had signed. By the time I went to bed, it was around 2,000.
Less than 24 hrs later, it was pushing the 20k mark and as far as I know, it's still growing. The comments people are leaving makes great reading too:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/in-protest-at-amazons-new-adult-policySome people (mistakenly) see this as a "GBLT" thang or a "smut" thang or a "sex" thang.
WRONG! You let this go, where does it end?
This cock-up has provoked many people to never buy from Amazon again, which is their choice. Other people have said they'll never look at Amazon the same way
again. Whatever your personal standpoint:
"If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." --Malcom X
"I was an Internet Bride"
