Comments on: Amazonfail fallout http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/ The News Blog of Comics Culture Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:23:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Amazon blames human error for LGBT derankings | Retailer to publish uncensored doujinshi in English | Tokyovation http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3158402 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:44:25 +0000 http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3158402 [...] Why this error seemed to disproportionately target gay/lesbian-positive books is still an area of concern, although there is one very remote explanation… perhaps people simply found more instances of the glitch in the genre because they were actively looking for it, since the news began within gay/lesbian writer circles (The Beat points out one victim that wasn’t an LGBT title… Craig Yoe’s Secret Identity).  All of this serves as a good reminder of Hanlon’s Razor, but considering how often the LGBT community seems to be victims of such random “glitches,” they are perfectly right to be skeptical.  And all the authors affected still deserve a thorough and very public apology. [...] […] Why this error seemed to disproportionately target gay/lesbian-positive books is still an area of concern, although there is one very remote explanation… perhaps people simply found more instances of the glitch in the genre because they were actively looking for it, since the news began within gay/lesbian writer circles (The Beat points out one victim that wasn’t an LGBT title… Craig Yoe’s Secret Identity).  All of this serves as a good reminder of Hanlon’s Razor, but considering how often the LGBT community seems to be victims of such random “glitches,” they are perfectly right to be skeptical.  And all the authors affected still deserve a thorough and very public apology. […]

]]> by: Cole http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3154021 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:33:24 +0000 http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3154021 Kindle: They may as well just call it the "Fahrenheit 451" machine. Kindle: They may as well just call it the “Fahrenheit 451″ machine.

]]> by: John Tebbel http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3153249 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:24:22 +0000 http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3153249 "Glitch" is the new weasel word of the week, also used recently by TicketCombine to paper over hustling tickets to their scalper sites in re Springsteen and others. Printing, publishing and bookselling are politically sensitive businesses on the micro (horsewhipping your favorite smalltown newspaper publisher) and macro (the king used to be in charge of each and every publication) level. Amazon is very much into the anonymous product; they seem to think books are hunks of processed paper (which they'd just as soon not stock or ship, re: Kindle). If that's your attitude you're likely to be continually bludgeoned by this or that "ham hand" inside or outside your organization. Only sensible response to censorship is "No." Every employee should know this from day one. “Glitch” is the new weasel word of the week, also used recently by TicketCombine to paper over hustling tickets to their scalper sites in re Springsteen and others.

Printing, publishing and bookselling are politically sensitive businesses on the micro (horsewhipping your favorite smalltown newspaper publisher) and macro (the king used to be in charge of each and every publication) level. Amazon is very much into the anonymous product; they seem to think books are hunks of processed paper (which they’d just as soon not stock or ship, re: Kindle). If that’s your attitude you’re likely to be continually bludgeoned by this or that “ham hand” inside or outside your organization. Only sensible response to censorship is “No.” Every employee should know this from day one.

]]> by: craig yoe http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3152180 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:29:06 +0000 http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3152180 No, not just the sales ranking position was dropped! There was an article on the front page of USA Today on my book "Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster" yesterday. But the reporter there tipped me off to the fact that his readers were emailing him upset. When they went to the Amazon home page and typed in the title of the book only the written title came up. The cover visual had been dropped and there was a message that the book was unavailable! How many sales do you think "Secret Identity: the Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster" do you think were lost as a result? Part of the theme of my book is censorship since Joe Shuster's work that i show and talk about in the book was banned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The printer was arrested. The publisher eventually went to jail for 3 years for his activities. Joe was never caught. The Supreme Court decision against joe's work was a sad day for freedom of the press! The crack down on Joe's work was instrumental in the adopting of the Comics Code. Sadly ironic for me that over 50 years later there was some kind of censorship-py weirdness happening again to this material. As I conclude in the book, our freedoms today are very fragile. Beware. Someone just posted on the book blog comments section at http://secret-identity.net that they are GLAD amazon did this to Secret Identity! Thanks Heidi for bring this to people's attention! No, not just the sales ranking position was dropped! There was an article on the front page of USA Today on my book “Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster” yesterday. But the reporter there tipped me off to the fact that his readers were emailing him upset. When they went to the Amazon home page and typed in the title of the book only the written title came up. The cover visual had been dropped and there was a message that the book was unavailable!

How many sales do you think “Secret Identity: the Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster” do you think were lost as a result? Part of the theme of my book is censorship since Joe Shuster’s work that i show and talk about in the book was banned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The printer was arrested. The publisher eventually went to jail for 3 years for his activities. Joe was never caught. The Supreme Court decision against joe’s work was a sad day for freedom of the press! The crack down on Joe’s work was
instrumental in the adopting of the Comics Code. Sadly ironic for me that over 50 years later there was some kind of censorship-py weirdness happening again to this material. As I conclude in the book, our freedoms today are very fragile. Beware.

Someone just posted on the book blog comments section at http://secret-identity.net that they are GLAD amazon did this to Secret Identity!

Thanks Heidi for bring this to people’s attention!

]]> by: Michael http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3151717 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:03:41 +0000 http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3151717 Books weren't removed from Amazon, just the sales ranking system. I was able to find plenty of scary gay books via browsing on Sunday. Still a stupid move, whether intentional or not. Books weren’t removed from Amazon, just the sales ranking system. I was able to find plenty of scary gay books via browsing on Sunday.

Still a stupid move, whether intentional or not.

]]> by: Sean T. Collins http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3151325 Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:45:19 +0000 http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/04/14/amazonfail-fallout/#comment-3151325 Heidi, that "bowl of BS" quote from Jezebel is based on the initial response by an individual customer service rep, not the final announcement by the company, which was obviously not BS at all. Heidi, that “bowl of BS” quote from Jezebel is based on the initial response by an individual customer service rep, not the final announcement by the company, which was obviously not BS at all.

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