Author, and now famed satirist, Michael J. Knowles had held the #1 Best Seller spot on Amazon.com for a solid week and a half with his book Reasons to Vote For Democrats. He has made several TV, radio, and podcast appearances promoting his publication.
Each appearance seemed to have been met with interesting holds when Amazon users attempted to purchase his book.
Michael J. Knowles told Red Alert Politics, “The book has now disappeared from Amazon on two occasions: once immediately after I appeared on national television to discuss it, and another time when it became the #1 bestselling book across all of Amazon after a few hours at #2.”
The second occurrence to place today. Amazon’s page for Reasons to Vote For Democrats, temporarily looked like this:
Now, it looks like this:
Knowles continued, “Both times I called CreateSpace, which is owned by Amazon, and was stonewalled for the better part of an hour. The first time it was pulled, the book reappeared minutes after I threatened to go to the press. The second time it was pulled, the book reappeared minutes after a flurry a threats to cancel Prime accounts over the issue showed up on Twitter.”
@amazon this is not a joke, I WILL cancel my prime membership if you insist on being partisan hacks. https://t.co/sRFcJCRC4q
— Chris West (@Sodel_CB) March 16, 2017
@michaeljknowles I already cancelled my prime membership but only after I ordered 2 more copies of the book.
— Adam Travis (@ADam_Travisty) March 16, 2017
Unbelievable. @amazon, as a loyal Prime member who gets deliveries from you multiple times per week, FIX THIS SH*T! https://t.co/AkVbFhfasF
— Candace ❤?☕️?? (@BookAddict10) March 16, 2017
.@amazon you’re gonna have tons of people cancelling their Prime accounts (including me) if you don’t put @michaeljknowles book back on sale
— Rob Van Pelt (@_thervp_) March 16, 2017
The author attempted to reach out to CreateSpace to no avail.
“It’s curious to me that not a single member of the CreateSpace executive customer relations team would speak to their top-selling author while the book was down.” Knowles said.
Amazon’s activity is highly suggestive, but purely speculative. Neither CreateSpace nor Amazon has stated whether their movements are motivated.
Michael’s feat is example of the state of not just politics, but culture as well. Take it for what it is ─ a joke. It is harmless and innocent. Although the left likes to conflate the influence of words with the power of actions, the assertion has failed to control what people find hilarity in. And, they simply shouldn’t.
Reasons to Vote For Democrats has sold more than 70,000 copies so far. It is surely a successful high-jinks.
