What is up with Amazon?

An author by the name of Mark Probst sells his books via Amazon.com. A few days ago he noticed that the sales ranking disappeared from newly released high-profile gay romance books. The day after that hundreds of gay/lesbian books lost their sales ranking - including his own book. Nobody could understand what was happening. Was there a glitch in the system? Or was Amazon doing this on purpose? Were they trying to control the visibility of gay/lesbian literature?

Mark decided to contact Amazon. Since he is also a publisher, it was easier for him to get a reply from the site. This is the answer he received:

"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.

Best regards,

Ashlyn D

Member Services

Amazon.com Advantage"

So Amazon admitted they were stripping sales ranking indicators for what they decided is "adult" material. Strangely enough, other "adult" literature is still being ranked... They are purposely targeting gay/lesbian books.

Books like "Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds" still have a ranking but not "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Prolux? Blatant discrimination, I say.

Shame on you, Amazon!!