(no subject)

[minervasolo]

Amazon Rank

Adding to the Google Bomb. For those who don't know, Amazon has delisted (nearly)* all GLBT books, fictional and non-fictional, from it's ranks because it's declared them Adult.

I have several agents and publishers friended, many of whom have already picked this up. I think that's going to be what makes the difference, really; authors whose books have disappeared. Books have been disappearing since February, but there seems to have been a mass pull recently. I'm thinking Amazon has been pulling books in response to complaints for a while, and have decided it'd be quicker to just pull everything tagged Erotica and GLBT, which means they've overlooked things like Playboy books and homophobic manuals that wouldn't use the term GLBT while accidentally picking up kids non-fiction and fairly tame romance novels.

If you're looking for an alternative online bookstore, can I point you towards Better World Books, which sells new and secondhand books, supports literacy charities in the third world, and is even carbon neutral. There's a postage charge outside of the US, but otherwise is does everything bookwise that Amazon does.

Quick Note: The postage is Per Item, which is fine if you're in the US, but a little painful in the UK and elsewhere, especially if you've gone for the 5 books for $15 thing. Still, exchange rate and all, it could be worse. Also, the site is a little biassed towrads Kids Books, because it gets a lot secondhand from School Libraries.

If you want an alternative for CDs and DVDs, I quite like CD Wow, which managed to get The Avengers for me when every other site gave up. Took three months to reach me, but they had it!


*Heather Has Two Mommies has gone, but not A Parent's Guide To Preventing Homosexuality. Hmm...

Comments

[misura.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to BWB - unlike Amazon, I see they take Paypal, too, so that makes them at least twice as cool as Amazon already.

[minervasolo.livejournal.com]

I've not used them before, though I'm placing an order now. You do have to keep an eye out if you're doing a general search, since they have a lot of kids' books on there.

Thanks

[bloodredroses1.livejournal.com]

I'm also saying "Thanks for the link". Last night I sat down to check my f-list & then make a decent sized order to Amazon.ca. Yeah.
While I'm glad I did it in that order, it left me wondering where to go to get my books. And honestly I want them NOW (if not yesterday) & wasn't looking forward to slogging through things to find another site. But once again you ride to the rescue, so thanks again.
Morgan

Re: Thanks

[minervasolo.livejournal.com]

Between that and CD-Wow (http://www.cdwow.com/), most of Amazon's functions are covered, and CD Wow is actually better at getting out of print DVDs and CDs, though it can take months for rare items to actually arrive.