In case you missed the Amazon brouhaha over the long weekend, you can read about it here. The Twitter nation got involved, and Dear Author also raised a commotion. A little entity called The New York Times chimed in, too.
Penny’s books were affected, although they’re appearing again now, sales ranking intact. (Hint, the first link leads to Penny’s first book, the second link to the second). If you’d like to increase Penny’s sales ranking in protest against the “glitch,” be my guest! (Hint, purchasing the volumes increases the rankings).
Frankly, the entire episode ranked. However, for many book buyers (like those who live in the boonies), Amazon and entities like it are the only option. Yeah, there’s Barnes and Noble…if you’re American. In Canada, we have Chapters and Amazon.ca. I order from Chapters when I can, but they don’t have as big a selection as Amazon.ca. Chapters doesn’t carry Penny’s books. Neither Chapters nor Amazon.ca carries my books. If you want the paperbacks, Amazon State-side is the only game in town.
What do you think about the brouhaha? Did you buy the “glitch”?
Nope- I didn’t buy the “glitch” Glad to see Penny back up!
Thanks, Nancy. Me, too!
Not sure I bought the whole glitch thing. But I don’t ever buy from Amazon and rarely from Chapters. I can get pretty much anything I want via S/O from the two indies here on the Coast or from McNally Robinson (an independent chain based in Winnipeg with bricks & mortar and online divisions).
Hi Teresa!
My mind is blanking on what S/O means…
I had no idea about McNally Robinson – will check them out. Thanks!
Back from Googling.
Double cool about McNally Robinson – Penny’s books are there. More expensive than on Amazon.ca, though. I’ll have to provide links next time I update Penny’s website.
Cindy isn’t at McNally Robinson, though. :::sob::: Cindy is very obscure.
S/O = Special Order 🙂 Sorry!
Sorry to hear MR doesn’t have Cindy’s books. And yes, the discounts don’t tend to happen much there because they just don’t have the same buying power as the Evil Empire *g*.
Thanks, Teresa. I should have figured that out (S/O). However, I must admit, I don’t do the S/O thingie. For one thing, we only have 1 indie bookstore where I live, and I’m rarely in that area of town. For another, I find ordering on-line so, so convenient! Tons of selection, free shipping if I order a number of books at once (not a problem, LOL), and I don’t have to waste gas driving downtown. 🙂
Only Amazon has my books – that’s one of the downsides of publishing with such a tiny publisher. Amber Quill is primarily an epublisher, so I’m not quibbling. I’m happy they do paperback versions at all, and my editing and cover art experiences with them have been stellar.
An author on one of my loops sent Amazon an email and if I’m remembering the post correctly, customer service wrote back and specifically told her they’d taken down the ratings because they didn’t want to offend their family-oriented audience by having a bunch of erotica on the bestseller list…or something to that effect. Sounds like a pretty purposeful move to me…
Oh duh, I just saw that email response in one of the articles. At least I didn’t spill anything confidential. LOL
Hi Avery,
Yes, I heard about those email responses from Amazon, too. Which makes the “glitch” explanation look all that more suspect. 😉
I think the actual “glitch” part was the e-mail response. They do have safeguards in place for “adult” stuff, and Amazon admitted it was a guy in France who populated the “adult” field improperly that caused all our books to get screwed. The e-mail was an automatic response that was clueless about the “error.” It could have even been unseen by real people.
The question that will never be answered is, did the guy in France make a mistake, or did he have an agenda?
To me, the important thing is that they fixed it right away, that it apparently wasn’t suddenly some new policy application that they tried to spin and stuff.
Interesting point about the “glitch”, Natalie. Yes, they did fix the error right away. However, without the huge Internet outcry, would they have? We’ll never know.
Also, they would have looked like hypocrites if they hadn’t fixed it right away, because they were still selling Penthouse et. al. from the site. 😉