What's going on with the Washington Post's 'buy it now' Amazon book links?
The Washington Post reportedly added a 鈥渂uy it now鈥� Amazon link to a blog about the book 鈥�Charlie and the Chocolate Factory鈥� by Roald Dahl, but the paper says the link's placement in the text of the article was a mistake.
The Washington Post was bought by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2013.
On Aug. 15, an article about a controversial new cover for 鈥淐harlie鈥� was posted online and, within the text of the article, the words 鈥淩oald Dahl classic鈥� were a link to an Amazon page for the novel, with a button saying 鈥淏uy it now鈥� appearing after the link, according to industry newsletter Shelf Awareness. However, the link was soon taken down.
Washington Post director of communications Kris Coratti told the website that the only thing that was different about the 鈥渂uy it now鈥� button was that it appeared in the text of the article rather than on the side.聽
鈥淲ith the recent introduction of our new article format, the button functionality at first was not supported but was able to be added back in the last few days,鈥� Coratti said in a statement. "The button was inadvertently incorporated into the text of stories rather than on the side, which is why people thought it was new. As we work to resume our previous years-long practice, we have removed the button from stories.鈥�
Meanwhile, an unnamed spokesperson for the paper told the website that 鈥渋t was not intentional鈥� and that 鈥渢he button is being fixed and will go back on the side where it has always been.鈥�
While the books page may still be in the process of being fixed, as this blog was being printed, some of the top reviews on the Post website 鈥� book reviews of 鈥淯nmanned鈥� by Dan Fesperman, 鈥淎 Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall鈥� by Will Chancellor, and 鈥淚n the Wolf鈥檚 Mouth鈥� by Adam Foulds 鈥� have text links to Amazon鈥檚 site.
Reviews of 鈥淵eah! Yeah! Yeah鈥� by Bob Stanley and 鈥淭he Sorcery Club鈥� by Elliott O鈥橠onnell contain the 鈥渂uy it now鈥� link that reportedly appeared in the article about 鈥淐harlie and the Chocolate Factory.鈥�
The reviews of 鈥淏lue-Eyed Boy鈥� by Robert Timberg and 鈥淭he End of Absence鈥� by Michael Harris, however, do not seem to have any Amazon links.聽
