#Amazonfail

Now I see the point of Twitter. It was ablaze over the weekend - #amazonfail the hot topic. In terms of picking up the latest industry news Twitter is like a global grapevine - 21st century jungle drums. News spreads like wildfire. For anyone who missed the story, certain books with 'adult' content mysteriously lost their sales ranking. It was quite extraordinary watching writer after writer reporting that their titles had gone missing. If you log on to Twitter and search #amazonfail you can catch up on what Amazon is now referring to as a 'glitch'.

The 'disappeared' books were not only specifically hardline gay, feminist or other titles apparently deemed 'adult' by some faceless censor at Amazon. They were great works of literature by the likes of Lawrence and Winterson with certain adult themes. Meanwhile it seems titles by Penthouse and Playboy retained their ranking. Has the world gone mad?

Does Amazon really think people need protecting or that titles like this need the cyber equivalent of being put in a dark backroom? Maybe I'm being naive or too liberal - my first book has gay characters and apparently this could be a problem. It's not the main storyline, but it is integral to the plot - and the events that happened in the book really did happen to an acquaintance. Perhaps working in the arts all these years I've grown up accepting people for who they are rather than what they are - it's life. For a bookselling behemoth like Amazon to now apparently appoint itself judge and jury about what is or is not acceptable in literature is extraordinary. It makes you wonder what all those hard fought cases for freedom of speech were for. In closing here are a couple of quotes from the three year old's little MQP board book 'A Question of Freedom':

'I believe we are here on planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom'. (Rosa Parks)

and

'He whose honor depends upon the opinion of the mob must day to day strive with the greatest anxiety, act and scheme in order to retain his reputation. For the mob is varied and inconsistent, and therefore if a reputation is not carefully preserved it dies quickly'. (Benedict Spinoza)

TODAY'S PROMPT: What is your take on this? When you think of what is freely available on the web - or Amazon for that matter, seeing Lawrence, Winterson and 'The Well of Loneliness' knocked off the sales rankings is mindboggling. Do you think the general public is more accepting of 'difficult' themes in literature than Amazon gives them credit for? Apparently the 'glitch' is being fixed, but the fallout for Amazon will be interesting. Do you think some books/films/online content deserve genuine censorship - or do you think freedom of expression should mean complete freedom and individual (or parental) responsibility?

UPDATE 15/4/09 'Glitch' blamed on French employee ... http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/bookselling/amazon_worker_details_companys_error_113978.asp?c=rss