Amazon glitch purges sales rank, angering authors

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon.com apologized for an “embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error” that led to the sales ranking being removed from thousands of books.

The online retailer initially said last Sunday that a “glitch” had caused the problem and promised that the numbers would be restored. But Monday afternoon, sales numbers were still gone for such recent works as Chelsea Handler’s “My Horizontal Life” and from such classics as Gore Vidal’s “The City and the Pillar” and James Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room.”

On Monday, Amazon spokesman Andrew Herdener said that 57,310 books in categories ranging from gay and lesbian literature to health and erotica had been affected.

“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,” Herdener said. “Many books have now been fixed and we’re in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible.”

Authors strongly questioned Amazon’s explanation, with some posting e-mails they had received from the online seller that said their books had been placed in an unranked “adult” category, excluded from some searches and best-seller lists. And the glitch dates back to at least February.