Christopher Rice on the Amazon.com fiasco

There’s a really good interview with author Christopher Rice that was posted on Queerty.com earlier today and one of Rice’s comments really hit home because yesterday was the first time I walked by the site of the old A Different Light Bookstore on Santa Monica Blvd. to see it empty and closed.

I felt very sad.

So, in the context of the Amazon.com fiasco that came to a head on Sunday after authors and readers of LGBT-themed books noticed that their sales ranks had been eliminated because the titles were deemed “adult.” Most were not adult, they were simply gay.Amazon has trickled out prepared responses to inquiries and stated that the disappearance from the rankings was a technical and not the intent of the online retailing giant.

“I mean you know, we already lost A Different Light in [West Hollywood, CA], several weeks ago and in no small part because of internet giants like Amazon,” Rice said. “So, they need to stop acting like a drunken elephant and starting like a gentle giant. They need to recognize their influence and their size and they need to behave accordingly. I think there needed to be a much better P.R. campaign around this and there still needs to be greater clarity in their response. … If there was a technical error behind this, we need to know a little bit more about this technology, particularly if we are loyal customers, as I am. I would like to know more about who was responsible and what they’re doing to contain it. It may not be intentional, but the repercussions are huge. They were really huge.”