Amazon has released a bit more data concerning the “gay glitch” that de-ranked several gay and lesbian-themed books. According to a new statement, it was a massive “ham-fisted” cataloging error that affected over 50,000 titles.

“It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles – in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica.  This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally.  It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon’s main product search.”

A process of re-ranking books is now underway, not only are popular titles like “Brokeback Mountain” and “Heather Has Two Mommies” back to normal, but the Pagan-themed books I linked to yesterday have all had their rankings restored. According to the L.A. Times Amazon.com will be releasing more information about this “glitch” soon. Meanwhile, the Internet is buzzing over various theories concerning whether Amazon.com was hacked and the company is trying to cover it up (a school of thought that has mostly been debunked at this point). Over at the Making Light blog, Tor book editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden has no problem whatsoever believing this was indeed a massive cataloging error.

“If you don’t think this kind of clusterfark is entirely possible, you probably haven’t worked in a large organization. I don’t mean any of this as special pleading on Amazon’s behalf (although, full disclosure, obviously they’re one of Tor’s largest customers, so you may dismiss my views if you so desire). I just find it implausible that Amazon would want to alienate GLBT readers and their friends, who form an enormous and valuable segment of both their customer base and (surely) their own organization. Indeed, I suspect that dozens of Amazon executives and PR professionals will be having hurried meetings in Seattle this Monday morning, and that consumption of antacids at those meetings will be at an all-time high.”

None of this means that Amazon.com shouldn’t be sorry about the chaos and hurt they’ve caused (on the contrary), only that Amazon.com probably didn’t have any  nefarious anti-gay (or anti-Pagan) scenarios in mind when this massive de-ranking occured. There are plenty of reasons to not like Amazon.com (or any giant faceless corporation for that matter), but actively hating on minority groups is probably not one of them.

If you were anywhere near Twitter or the LGBT/feminist blogosphere over the weekend you probably heard about the “gay glitch” (aka “#AmazonFail”), where several titles (predominately gay and lesbian-themed) were removed from the Internet book giant Amazon’s search results and ranking system.

“A groundswell of outrage, concern and confusion sprang up over the weekend, largely via Twitter, in response to what authors and others believed was a decision by Amazon to remove adult titles from its sales ranking. On Sunday evening, however, an Amazon spokesperson said that a glitch had occurred in its sales ranking feature that was in the process of being fixed. The spokesperson added that there was no new adult policy.”

While Amazon’s PR flacks are now saying it was all a “glitch”, previous contacts with customer services reps portrayed it as a new policy toward “adult” material on the site. Meanwhile, some claim that this process of de-ranking “adult” (read: gay) books has been going on quietly since earlier this year. Whether new policy or “glitch”, popular mainstream titles like Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain”, and resoundingly non-adult children’s fare like Leslea Newman’s “Heather Has Two Mommies” are still de-ranked on the site. Currently, when you search the site for “homosexuality” the top result is “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality” (something I certainly wouldn’t let a child read without adult supervision).

It’s obvious that Amazon will be backtracking under the glare of bad press and Internet groundswell, but while the “glitch” remains I wanted to see if it affected any books aimed at Pagans. Sure enough, “Gay Witchcraft: Empowering the Tribe” by Christopher Penczak, Jennifer Hunter’s “Rites of Pleasure: Sexuality in Wicca and Neo-Paganism”, LaSara Firefox’s “Sexy Witch”, Vicki Noble’s “The Double Goddess: Women Sharing Power”, and “Lesbian Rites: Symbolic Acts and the Power of Community”, edited by Ramona Faith Oswald (and featuring contributions from Ruth Barrett and other Goddess-worshiping women) are all, at the time of this writing, without an Amazon sales ranking. No doubt there are even more that are escaping my notice (you can find a running list of de-ranked titles here).

What does it mean to be without a sales ranking? Or to not have your book show up in certain keyword searches? In basic terms it makes it harder for customers to find your books on the site, and thereby reduces potential sales and visibility of your title(s). You could be selling thousands of copies, but if you aren’t ranked, you won’t show up in the bestseller lists. Your book is swept under the metaphorical rug. Funny how a “glitch” managed to do that without targeting heterosexual “adult” material. I’d have to agree with author Lilith Saintcrow who exclaims “this is not a glitch” (or, as Twitter puts it, “#GlitchMyAss”). While this “glitch” may be “fixed” in the near future, I can’t imagine those affected will be satisfied until a real answer for how this happened emerges, along with safeguards put in place to ensure such “glitches” are avoided in the future.