[Patty Jansen]

For those who care (not sure I do, but...)

I have a Bookbub today. I was at #4 free. This is the only time really that I check ranking.

Well, the ranking is gone.

Thanks, Amazon.

 

[dianapersaud]

Sorry this happened to you but it's not really a surprise. Their bot detection system is full of flaws.

I sent you a PM

 

[Monique]

That stinks. Was BB your only promo today?

 

[Patty Jansen]

That stinks. Was BB your only promo today?

Yup. I had some AMS ads running but I stopped them last night.

 

[Alan Petersen]

I see your rank. #4 right now. Am I looking at the wrong spot or maybe it came back?

 

[dianapersaud]

This is getting ridiculous.

It's been ridiculous for quite some time now.

 

[I'm a Little Teapot]

I see your rank. #4 right now. Am I looking at the wrong spot or maybe it came back?

The book's page shows its rank, but if you look at the Top 100 Free list, the #5 book is in the #4 slot, where Patty's book should be.

This stinks.

 

[Patty Jansen]

I see your rank. #4 right now. Am I looking at the wrong spot or maybe it came back?

I keep refreshing the page but am not seeing it. Amazon is totally throwing the baby out with the bathwater on this one.

To be sure, the main value to me is going to be the thousands of books on people's ereaders (and the thousands that will be reported on B&N, Apple and Google Play tomorrow), but this is really stupid.

 

[AnnaB]

Also seeing it here. Probably just some of the servers on Amazon's side not displaying all they should to everyone.

On the .fr site :

n°229 des titres gratuits dans la Boutique Kindle (Voir le Top 100 gratuits dans la Boutique Kindle)
n°1 dans Boutique Kindle > Ebooks Kindle > Ebooks en langues étrangères > Ebooks en anglais > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

On .com :

#4 Free in Kindle Store
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Dark Fantasy
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

(Edit : And now the rank is gone on .com for me too.)

 

[Allyson J.]

ugh! I have a BB tomorrow. This is very distressing. Question: can you run AMS ads on a rank-stripped book??

Also, Patty, I checked the US store and did not see a rank for your book. 

 

[Patty Jansen]

Nope it's gone from the charts and my Author Central gives rank "unknown".

 

[Monique]

No rank on the page for me and it's not displaying in the free BS list either. All .com. I'm in the US.

 

[Alan Petersen]

The book's page shows its rank, but if you look at the Top 100 Free list, the #5 book is in the #4 slot, where Patty's book should be.

This stinks.

Ah, I wasn't looking there.

I keep refreshing the page but am not seeing it. Amazon is totally throwing the baby out with the bathwater on this one.

To be sure, the main value to me is going to be the thousands of books on people's ereaders (and the thousands that will be reported on B&N, Apple and Google Play tomorrow), but this is really stupid.

SevenDays explained that I was looking at the book page, not the top 100. Now I understand how the rank-stripping works. Stinks. Hope they fix it for you and everyone else soon.

It's on the page for me but not the Top 100 free list. I'm on the U.S. West Coast.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Dark Fantasy
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

 

[Nicholas Erik]

I see your rank. #4 right now. Am I looking at the wrong spot or maybe it came back?

I see (saw) Fire & Ice ranked at #4 as of 5:36 EST in the US store (as of 5:45 the rank has vanished). Also see it at #3 in the UK store and #2 in the CA store. However, it's not on the Free Top 100 Bestseller chart in the US, whereas it is in the UK and Canada. Here's the US Top 100 Free as of 5:40 EST:

The book at #4 on the bestseller Top 100 Free in the US is also ranked at #4 when you go to its page in the US. Bizarre.

Nick

 

[Patty Jansen]

And you were right underneath me, Nick, weren't you?

 

[PhoenixS]

At times, Amazon will strip rank for a couple of hours only. Sort of a Tier 1 strip. I've seen it with many BB'd books -- some from trad publishers/mega names too -- including our anchor author's. Many of those books return to the ranks within 2-4 hours of being stripped. So hang tight. Yours may be one of those...

 

[Craig Andrews]

At times, Amazon will strip rank for a couple of hours only. Sort of a Tier 1 strip. I've seen it with many BB'd books -- some from trad publishers/mega names too -- including our anchor author's. Many of those books return to the ranks within 2-4 hours of being stripped. So hang tight. Yours may be one of those...

I hope this is the case, Patty. I saw your BB today, and was going to wish you luck, but never in a million years thought this would happen to you. Unreal.

 

[Nicholas Erik]

And you were right underneath me, Nick, weren't you?

Yeah, my book ran on BookBub yesterday and was still ranked at #14 (#13, now) at the time your book disappeared today. I used 7 other sites leading up to it, plus have been running BookBub + Facebook ads today to the free book (no AMS). Everything went fine yesterday (I checked a few times, but wasn't locked in, so I guess it could've disappeared for a little bit, but I don't think that happened). I peaked at #7 (I entered BookBub day ranked #100 on the chart). Just strange. Had 19,266 downloads yesterday; Supernatural Suspense is a little bit smaller category than Fantasy. Maybe there's a trip wire for when downloads spike above a certain amount with a certain velocity that flags a title for a manual check.

It seems the rank-stripping works on a store-by-store basis, because I'm still seeing the CA/UK ranks + chart positions for Fire & Ice. It'd be interesting to see if those disappear at some point, or whether whatever mechanism is causing this glitch/additional check only affects the US store.

Nick

 

[Patty Jansen]

I'm waiting for the "You are naughty" email.

I mean, seriously, why can't they employ a human to have a quick look *before* they start doing this nonsense?

How do you even FIND the free top 100 on the AU store /not an Amazon customer.

 

[Patty Jansen]

I hope this is the case, Patty. I saw your BB today, and was going to wish you luck, but never in a million years thought this would happen to you. Unreal.

I'm no more special than anyone else.

But. I just want to say this, for those who still suffer from Amazon Stockholm Syndrome: Amazon operations are run by computers. There is no human checking any of this. They feel nothing about you, about me, or anyone else. Please bear that in mind next time you feel anything towards Amazon in terms of loyalty or gratitude. They will NOT return your adoration. They're a big frikken steamrolling company. Use them, but be on your guard.