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Hi Readers and Writers,
Last week Christopher Soden sent me a message indicating that he was starting a series of articles at Examiner.com on queer culture to profile GLBT heroes. I checked it out (nice article on Francis Bacon), and then I checked out Examiner.com and found that they have nobody covering the colorful world of GLBT literature. Well they do now.
I'm beginning an ongoing column at Examiner.com on queer literature, both locally (San Francisco Bay Area) and globally, to profile GLBT books and the people who write, publish, and sell them. So I plan to write book reviews, post interviews with writers and publishers and book sellers, announce author events, cover conventions, and even showcase blogs.
So if you're a gay or lesbian writer looking for another outlet to promo yourself and your work, please contact me. And for readers who want a place to check out what's going on in the world of GLBT Literature, swing by often and see what's new. The link is:
http://www.tinyurl.com/d54rtd
So far I have only posted one article, about the grassroots author response to the Amazon.com "technical glitch" fiasco of a few weeks ago. Later this week I'll be posting a book review of Ed Patterson's wonderful novel, The Academician, and there will be more, much more.
Thanks, Alan Chin
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Gay and Lesbian Authors Battle Amazon for Equal Rights
The weekend of April 11th and 12th, a nationwide human rights battle took place between Amazon.com and the authors who write glbt-themed books that are listed on Amazon’s site. And if you are not a published glbt author or don’t use Twitter, you probably never heard a word about it.
It all started when, without notice, the sales ranking numbers that Amazon assigns to every book disappeared for most, if not all, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender themed titles. Authors affected ranged from James Baldwin and E.M. Forster to Rick Reed and Victor Banis. My Hawaiian romance novel, Island Song, was no exception. Even though my book is rather tame, focusing on romance rather than erotica, it also lost its ranking.
Most readers browsing Amazon for reading material never pay much attention to these ranking numbers, and I suspect many Amazon customers are not even aware these ranking numbers exist. How many people really care if a book by their favorite author is ranked 330,000 rather than 22,000? So did it mean so much that glbt titles lost their ranking numbers?
YES! These numbers are not merely numbers to stroke author’s egos and establish a pecking order and bragging rights among writers, Amazon uses these sales ranking numbers to establish their bestseller lists, and also to arrange the output of any search performed by a customer. If a book has no ranking number, it does not show up in the bestseller lists or in customer searches. By taking away the rankings, Amazon essentially made glbt books invisible to searches. It was quite akin to shoving glbt authors in a literary closet and would certainly have a dramatic effect on their future book sales.
It was no surprise that the glbt writing community’s first reaction to this perceived anti-gay policy was blatant anger. Within hours, online writing groups, yahoo discussion lists, gay blogs, Facebook and twitter were all flaming Amazon. Thousands of authors took to the net.
Several published authors who inquired to Amazon management by email received the following explanation:
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 DMember ServicesAmazon.com Advantage
This response infuriated the authors even more since most heterosexual novels with explicit sexual scenes, such as Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers and Lost Girls by Alan Moore managed to keep their rankings. Even Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds by Chronicle Books, with pictures of over 600 naked women, kept its ranking. Frankly, most people realized that Amazon’s explanation didn’t hold water.
So the question I saw Twittered about was: What to do? When the British government decided to put a tax on salt, Gandhi led a march to the sea to make his own. It became a much larger movement than the British government expected or wanted. Just so, within hours, authors of glbt-themed books created a petition directed at Amazon to reverse its policy, and by Monday over 800 signatures were gathered and it was rapidly growing by the hour. A nationwide boycott of Amazon was being discussed on every part of the net. The story even trickled onto the mainstream media, with mentions in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and CNN. In one day a grassroots movement was on the march and people were taking notice.
By Monday afternoon Neil G. Giuliano, President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, approached Amazon, and the bookseller reversed its stance, indicating that a “cataloging error” had occurred, and that they were feverishly working to correct the error. In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Giuliano said:
"GLAAD has reached out to Amazon.com and they indicate this was an error, so we expect to start seeing evidence of its correction immediately, and any loss of visibility of gay-themed books as a result of this error will be made right by Amazon," Giuliano said. "When people learn about the lives of gay and transgender people and the common ground we share, the culture changes and advances. It is so important that stories about the lives of our community are available, and that companies like Amazon promote these titles in an equal fashion."
Nobody that I’ve talked to in the glbt writing community is buying the “cataloging error” explanation, but everyone is relieved that all the rankings were back in place by Tuesday. So the storm is over, the good guys won.
As I look back over the events of the weekend, I’m amazed and very pleased. I’m not amazed that Amazon backed down, I assumed they would eventually, but rather that in a matter of hours a grassroots protest was launched over the net involving thousands of people, and within a day, petitions were organized and signed, the mainstream news media was alerted, and people acted. In one day a battle for equality was launched, fought and won. I’ve heard many people call Facebook and Twitter useless online tools for people with nothing better to do than describe their mundane lives minute by minute. But these online tools have proved to be a serious form of communication that can almost instantly gather thousands, perhaps million around a cause. Yes, I’m very impressed.
It all started when, without notice, the sales ranking numbers that Amazon assigns to every book disappeared for most, if not all, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender themed titles. Authors affected ranged from James Baldwin and E.M. Forster to Rick Reed and Victor Banis. My Hawaiian romance novel, Island Song, was no exception. Even though my book is rather tame, focusing on romance rather than erotica, it also lost its ranking.
Most readers browsing Amazon for reading material never pay much attention to these ranking numbers, and I suspect many Amazon customers are not even aware these ranking numbers exist. How many people really care if a book by their favorite author is ranked 330,000 rather than 22,000? So did it mean so much that glbt titles lost their ranking numbers?
YES! These numbers are not merely numbers to stroke author’s egos and establish a pecking order and bragging rights among writers, Amazon uses these sales ranking numbers to establish their bestseller lists, and also to arrange the output of any search performed by a customer. If a book has no ranking number, it does not show up in the bestseller lists or in customer searches. By taking away the rankings, Amazon essentially made glbt books invisible to searches. It was quite akin to shoving glbt authors in a literary closet and would certainly have a dramatic effect on their future book sales.
It was no surprise that the glbt writing community’s first reaction to this perceived anti-gay policy was blatant anger. Within hours, online writing groups, yahoo discussion lists, gay blogs, Facebook and twitter were all flaming Amazon. Thousands of authors took to the net.
Several published authors who inquired to Amazon management by email received the following explanation:
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 DMember ServicesAmazon.com Advantage
This response infuriated the authors even more since most heterosexual novels with explicit sexual scenes, such as Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers and Lost Girls by Alan Moore managed to keep their rankings. Even Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds by Chronicle Books, with pictures of over 600 naked women, kept its ranking. Frankly, most people realized that Amazon’s explanation didn’t hold water.
So the question I saw Twittered about was: What to do? When the British government decided to put a tax on salt, Gandhi led a march to the sea to make his own. It became a much larger movement than the British government expected or wanted. Just so, within hours, authors of glbt-themed books created a petition directed at Amazon to reverse its policy, and by Monday over 800 signatures were gathered and it was rapidly growing by the hour. A nationwide boycott of Amazon was being discussed on every part of the net. The story even trickled onto the mainstream media, with mentions in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and CNN. In one day a grassroots movement was on the march and people were taking notice.
By Monday afternoon Neil G. Giuliano, President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, approached Amazon, and the bookseller reversed its stance, indicating that a “cataloging error” had occurred, and that they were feverishly working to correct the error. In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Giuliano said:
"GLAAD has reached out to Amazon.com and they indicate this was an error, so we expect to start seeing evidence of its correction immediately, and any loss of visibility of gay-themed books as a result of this error will be made right by Amazon," Giuliano said. "When people learn about the lives of gay and transgender people and the common ground we share, the culture changes and advances. It is so important that stories about the lives of our community are available, and that companies like Amazon promote these titles in an equal fashion."
Nobody that I’ve talked to in the glbt writing community is buying the “cataloging error” explanation, but everyone is relieved that all the rankings were back in place by Tuesday. So the storm is over, the good guys won.
As I look back over the events of the weekend, I’m amazed and very pleased. I’m not amazed that Amazon backed down, I assumed they would eventually, but rather that in a matter of hours a grassroots protest was launched over the net involving thousands of people, and within a day, petitions were organized and signed, the mainstream news media was alerted, and people acted. In one day a battle for equality was launched, fought and won. I’ve heard many people call Facebook and Twitter useless online tools for people with nothing better to do than describe their mundane lives minute by minute. But these online tools have proved to be a serious form of communication that can almost instantly gather thousands, perhaps million around a cause. Yes, I’m very impressed.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
A Great Ebook Site
Hi everyone,
This week I wanted to share a great site I've been browsing called Untreed Reads. They have a sea of information about ebooks and the ebook industry. Check it out:
Untreed Reads was founded by J. Alan Hartman in 2008, as a way to promote ebooks and audiobooks, with an emphasis on independent authors and publishers. J. Alan Hartman has been writing about the ebook industry for ten years, and was previously the Content Editor for KnowBetter.com, one of the Internet's first websites dedicated to electronic reading. In only a few short months, Untreed Reads expanded to include an Events Calendar for announcing new releases and signings. In addition, the site offers video trailers, reviews, announcements of discounts and sales and recently launched Untreed Excerpts (http://www.untreedreads.com/excerpts/) to give readers a taste of what is available electronically. All services are provided to authors, publishers and readers completely free of charge.
This week I wanted to share a great site I've been browsing called Untreed Reads. They have a sea of information about ebooks and the ebook industry. Check it out:
Untreed Reads was founded by J. Alan Hartman in 2008, as a way to promote ebooks and audiobooks, with an emphasis on independent authors and publishers. J. Alan Hartman has been writing about the ebook industry for ten years, and was previously the Content Editor for KnowBetter.com, one of the Internet's first websites dedicated to electronic reading. In only a few short months, Untreed Reads expanded to include an Events Calendar for announcing new releases and signings. In addition, the site offers video trailers, reviews, announcements of discounts and sales and recently launched Untreed Excerpts (http://www.untreedreads.com/excerpts/) to give readers a taste of what is available electronically. All services are provided to authors, publishers and readers completely free of charge.
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