Note: If you’ve landed directly on this post, you could read PART ONE first, but it isn’t essential.

WE’VE BEEN SHADOWBANNED,
AND YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN TOO
PART TWO

How do I know YOU or your favourite Christian authors are being shadowbanned or silenced on Amazon like we have? See my evidence below.

I am an avid reader and buy a lot of Kindle books. I’ve owned a Kindle for fifteen years.

Amazon is always recommending books to me based on books I’ve already read. It is so specific, and tracks me so carefully, that even if I look up a book I know I won’t like e.g. a thriller just out of curiosity to see what’s out there, or maybe because I’m intrigued by the cover or even by accident, I get a barrage of books recommended to me based on just one click even though I never buy them.

Just one click.

The Amazon algorithm is one of the most potent ways you are being tracked, for better or for worse.

A big chunk of the books I buy and a big chunk of the books I research or click on are Christian books, fiction and non-fiction. But Amazon has never once, and I mean NEVER ONCE, recommended a Christian book to me. Whatever the algorithm favours, it is not your Christian book, even if readers are actively looking for that.

And if I type in keywords like, “Christian fantasy”, very few come up. I’ll get every modern, dark, twisted fantasy out there instead. (Just today I tried it again and top of the list was a paranormal romance with a cover art by someone with the first name of Christian, and Hans Christian Anderson Fables – as if they were the closest matches.) And I know, as an author, that it is an actual specific category on Amazon. There are tonnes of books just in that category alone.

That incredibly accurate, personalised or customer-tailored algorithm of Amazon’s, seems to become utterly (deliberately) stupid and clueless when it comes to Christian books. In fact, if I look up books about say, the Holy Spirit, it recommends books about the occult to me instead, no matter how many times I actually purchase the kinds of books I am specifically looking for. Or it recommends New Age books and modern forms of spirituality. And even in the search bar when I specifically type in “Christian” “Holy Spirit” “Bible” etc, I’ll get a tonne of demonic recommendations instead and then a whole lot of books completely unrelated as if it’s exhausted every book it can think of and is moving into a whole new category just in case. Yes, it will show me other more applicable titles, but it makes me work hard for it.

And as for the books it recommends in my inbox or via my Kindle Home Page or just the recommended reading list on Amazon? Not once does it recommend any title close to what I was looking up or readily buy. I have to discover my books another way. I’ve learned to find books elsewhere and come back and type in the exact title and author I want. If I didn’t, I would probably never find you.

Do you think I am the exception? Am I the only customer Amazon overlooks when it comes to recommending more Christian reads?

I should be your biggest market, but unless you are paying for it, you’re probably not getting recommended to a single person, let alone me. You might argue that you’ve been receiving recommendations so all is well, but the fact that I have not received a single one, despite repeated clicks and purchases on those kinds of books, tells me that the algorithm and marketing is deliberately not reaching every reader it can. It has intentionally limited its effectiveness and reach for Christian books. Your book or favourite author is being silenced, even if it’s only by degrees.

I have been tempted to remove my books from any Christian categories, but I know, now that I’m shadowbanned, that it won’t make a difference. I released another book after the initial four, and even on Kindle Unlimited – which is supposed to actively promote your book for ninety days – it had zero page reads and zero sales because the shadowbanning was in effect. So the damage has been done.

And honestly, why should I have to unlist my books from any Christian category? Are Christian fantasy novels that dangerous?

Obviously they are, or our Enemy would not be going after them. The amount of spiritual warfare behind these books, and quite possibly yours or your favourite authors as well, tells me that our enemy is very afraid of them. But I’ve learnt that the bigger the warfare, the bigger the destiny. The more impact you’re destined to have, the harder he goes after you.

But we are not powerless. In fact, we have the ways and means to have the whole system rigged in our favour. And this is where my next post comes in.

What should you do about it? What should I do about it? I do have one idea. Read part three to find out.

About the Author: Lisa Saul

Fiction writer · creative guide · lifelong storyteller … Lisa Saul writes in the quiet spaces between words and paint. For more than twenty years she has worked side by side with her sister Naomi — shaping novels, illustrations, notebooks, and the little studio world behind this blog. A lifelong maker, Lisa has moved through journalism, photography, editing, watercolour, and award-nominated fiction, always returning to the same thread: story. Whether she’s writing a novel, illustrating a notebook, or sharing a moment from her creative life, Lisa brings a thoughtful, honest voice shaped by imagination, experience, and a deep love of helping others grow creatively.