Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has the skinny:
In short: someone in Amazon has utter shit for brains.
Authors such as Jaci Burton, Maya Banks, Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler have reported that since being stripped of their sales rankings, their titles are no longer found in searches on Amazon.com. MetaWriter is also compiling a list of titles that have been stripped of their sales rank.
When pressed for a reason, Amazon.com’s customer service department told YA author Mark Probst:
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.
What, I ask, the fucking fuckhell? Many an Amazon customer is infuriated, and the #amazonfail hashtag on Twitter has pretty much become the only thing worth following. What to do, what to do?
Well, if you’re the Smart Bitches, you set up the Amazon Rank Google Bomb. That’s why they call ‘em Smart, see? Seriously, thoguh. Amazon? What the fuck are you thinking? De-listing sales rankings for GLBT and erotic romance books, thus excluding them from search? Bad move. Having search results that look like this? Even worse.