Power to the moms, dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles who spoke up and said very loudly "ENOUGH!"
The online outcry was targeted at Amazon.com for including an obscene guidebook for pedophiles. The lewd details about this book reported in the news are so upsetting that after reading the reports I felt like vomiting. Fortunately the outcry evidently pushed Amazon to remove the book, but I am concerned that another book like this will get published again.
As a former book editor and a parent, I will briefly summarize the concept of this book: Disgusting!
I object so strongly to the publication of this book that I won't even dignify it by giving the title of the obscene book or including the author's name.
The book debuted on Kindle on October 28th. Until the bloggers, tweeters, and just plain angry customers reacted in the past few days, the e-book was sold on Amazon. Finally Amazon heard the online outcry and pulled the book off its Kindle list today.
How can an objectionable book such as this book appear on Amazon.com? Amazon initially offered the controversial book under the grounds of free speech. Amazon does request that authors verify the book is not offensive, however their guidelines for determining offensive material are vague. According to the BBC News:
Amazon does not specifically state on its website what material it deems offensive, instead saying "probably what you would expect'.
News of the offensive book available on Amazon.com spread through Twitterverse. Mommy (and daddy) tweets around the world demanded the book be dropped. According to LA Times blog Jacket Copy:
On Twitter, the best way for lots of people to raise their collective voices quickly, users have called for Amazon to remove the book. Author and blogger Kristen Welch tweeted, "Dear Lord, @amazon Do you really want the force (a.k.a MOM BLOGGERS) boycotting you? Remove this book."
Hats off to Hera over at her blog Greek Momma. With savvy PR skills and a rational tone her voice was one of the many demanding removal of the book from the Amazon listings. Hera listed the Amazon toll free number for complaints. She even addressed the issue of freedom of speech and why taking the book off Amazon did not infringe on the author's rights. In a nutshell, Hera encouraged Amazon to exercise their right to determine that a book is objectionable. Here is what Hera, an adult survivor of child molestation and child abuse/neglect, asked her readers to do:
This is a matter of telling Amazon, a huge conglomerate that making this information accessible to such a large number of people is wrong. That you and I , as consumers will not buy from a company that promotes illegal activity, especially acts that will undoubtedly harm or children and their families.
Online demonstrations such as this one come with a word of caution that makes me cringe: Even bad publicity has the power to create interest. The sad irony is the fact that the online outcry made the book more prominent on the Amazon list. In fact, according to Slate Magazine and Gawker, before TechCrunch wrote about the book on Wednesday, very few had even heard of it. As Slate reports:
After TechCrunch covered the book, it skyrocketed to 146th—"an increase of over 101,000% in less than a day," Gawker's Adrian Chen notes. It reached 65th place before Amazon pulled it from the site,
The story comes full circle here. Amazon sold the book, people complained, Amazon took the book off their list. But this cycle can repeat itself. And each time an objectionable book gets more publicity.
Amazon.com and other booksellers are in the driver's seat. Before another objectionable book like this becomes available I urge booksellers to rethink their policies and remember as adults we are responsible for protecting our children.
If you want to read more about the Amazon's removal of the controversial Kindle book, CNET News and the WSJ also cover the story.
