Photo by Flickr user figleaf (hey, that’s me!) Used under a Creative Commons license.

So I’ve been thinking about (finally) writing a book. Weird to think that if I wrote it about how to make money off of date-raping drunk young women my Amazon.com sales rank might shoot up to 1,404, but if I wrote about date rape in the context of the Two Rules of Desire in the no-sex class paradigm my Amazon sales rank might be… well, you might expect it to be a lot lower. Turns out, though, that evidently as of some time today it would more likely be… non-existent! Wiped out. Erased. Expunged.

From Twitter (Links with “twurl.nl” are URLs that are automatically shortened to fit Twitter’s 145-character post limit.)

Audacia Ray: http://twitpic.com/37ur0 – #amazon has dumped sales ranking for “adult” books. and all the info/reviews about Naked on the Internet are GONE

Audacia Ray: It’s not just “adult” themes but also LGBT books. I hope there’s a good explanation, but I fear there isn’t http://twurl.nl/w2y2dz

Audacia Ray: I’m trying to believe that the #amazon erasure of Naked on the Internet has to do with biz of remainders (its almost 2 years old)

Audacia Ray: But books older than mine have listings w/covers/reviews on #amazon even if out of print, like Carol Queen’s 1995 Exhibitionism for the Shy

Audacia Ray: So fucking bizarre. my book’s page is back, its in stock. sales rank is indeed missing. http://twurl.nl/7yd2vz

There’s actually quite a lot of buzz about this (at least a little while ago @AmazonFail was the #2 search item on Twitter.) I’ve singled out Dacia because a) her book is about sex, not a sex book, b) because her posts capture the general sense of surprise so well, c) because she’s pretty cool, and because I’ve been meaning to link to her last not one but two wonderfully reflective posts for a day or two.

(Update Speaking of cool people, see also Heather Corinna’s take on this.)

Other books recently gone missing from Amazon’s Sales Rank and other metrics (gee, wonder why the following links all go to Barnes & Noble pages? Gee, wonder why there are no links to Amazon pages in this post?)

Miriam Kaufman, Fran Odette, and Cory Silverberg’s The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability : For All of Us Who Live with Disabilities, Chronic Pain, and Illness unranked on Amazon.com

Heather Corinna’s S.E.X. : The All-You-Need-To-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College unranked on Amazon.com

Audacia Ray’s Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration unranked on Amazon.com

The Joy of Sex: The Timeless Guide to Lovemaking unranked on Amazon.com

Meanwhile, over at Amazon.com you can still find sales ranks for Girls Gone Wild: Girls on Girls (2008) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,404 and other charming works.

About that last one? The “one of these things that’s not like the other ones?” The one that Amazon hasn’t suddenly stopped sales-ranking? Here’s a nice “customer review” of this instructional video

66 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The New Girl-on-Girl – Barely Legal, February 18, 2008
By Jenifer M (Orange County, CA, USA) – See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
What started out as girls flashing their tits (for a free Girls Gone Wild T-shirt) – has more recently evolved into a bellwether of female sexuality (in the new century) – that captures some of the freshest and most spontaneous girl/girl action you’ll find in any video series today.

These aren’t actresses performing on film – but real girls, being sexy – and doing what just comes naturally. Sure, you’ll still see young women flashing, hiking their skirts, or completely baring their souls (or the physical equivalent) – just for the fun of it! But you’ll also find babes who (instinctively) know their way (exploring) around their friend’s feminine form – and who feel just as comfortable doing so – as they would around their own.

You’ll also find lots of girls kissing (another GGW trademark)

[Quick note about GGW: if you think that last bit was about me being “down on porn” then stop it. Porn’s not the point. This is about consistency, fairness, exercise of sound judgment, commercial competence, and abiding contempt for knee-squeezing twittery. —fl]

Yeah, so if you want to see “documentary” footage of legalized, commercial date rape of drunken “real girls” no problem. If you’re a sexual human being with, say, disabilities… or just in need of honest ideas… and want advice or inspiration? Amazon appears to be snubbing the kind of authors and works you probably care most to read.

I’m sort of hoping the overreactions aren’t called for. But… at the very least it seems pretty awkward. If it turns out to be true I’ll remove all references to Amazon.com from my website (including the book ads in my right-hand column) and swap in links to Powells Books or Barnes & Noble.

Which, if it was just me wouldn’t be a very big deal for Amazon at all. But then if it turns out to be true I’d probably recommend everyone else I know remove their references as well. (Even that might not be such a big deal for Amazon because… while I’m going to wait a little bit a heck of a lot of other people online aren’t waiting to de-link them at all.)