Over the weekend, author Mark R. Probst reported that Amazon has excluded certain books with adult content from bestseller lists and some searches. Many were upset with the policy, and organized an online petition protesting the policy and a Twitter tag called #amazonfail–which, as seen by this screen shot, was the most popular Twitter topic on Sunday despite a holiday, a major golf tournament, and a Navy Seal rescue.
According to Publishers Weekly one Amazon spokesperson explained that “a glitch had occurred in its sales ranking” and caused the problem. Here are links to a few popular posts about Amazon’s policy: Craig Seymour, Dear Author, Edward Champion, and Smart Bitches.
Here is an excerpt from Probst’s post: “As I am a publisher and have an Amazon Advantage account through which I supply Amazon with my books, I had a special way to contact them. 24 hours later I had a response: ‘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.'”
