Browsing for ebooks

pwalker8 · 11-22-2009, 04:56 PM

In my experience, the none of ebook stores has a very satisfying experience shopping for books.

Amazon has the best selection, but it works best if I am looking for specific book or author. If I want to simply browse, the experience is quite frustrating for me. I like to browse to see what books are new since the last time I visited, however, so many independent publishers are gaming the system to get their books at the front of the list, I have to wade through three pages of self published or PD stuff to see the one or two books that I actually might be interested in. Plus a lot of books seem to be put in the wrong category. I don't know if they depend on the publisher to put in the correct information, but it really needs to be cleaned up, a lot.

Sony's web site is much better, but you can't buy from the website, only the eBook Library, which which much improved from the original, suffers from not having tabs and being single threaded. I find myself with both the Sony website and the Sony eBook Library application open, using the web version to browse and just putting in the author's name in the store when I see something I want to buy.

B&N's website isn't much different than Sony's and you can buy from the website, but it appears that they are still bringing it up to speed. The last time that I used it, it would crash when I selected the show 100 books rather than 10. They seem to have fixed that one, so I will need to play with it a bit.

I've tried a couple of the ebook websites that aren't associated with a specific reader, but all seem a bit dated.

Hopefully, with all the competition, they will improve the experience. Here are some of the things that I would like.

1) Notification when they get something in from a favored author. Sony claims to do this, but I've never received a notification from them. Perhaps it's just me.

2) Putting a book in a wishlist. Amazon sort of has this, but I'm talking about the way that Audible.com implements it. Basically, it's a way of saying, I'm interested in this book, but I'm not ready to buy it at the moment. Keep it in a list for me, so I can come back to it at a later date.

3) All the stores have the ability to search, but for the most part, it only works well where searching for a specific author. For example, I might want to find a book on the Eastern Front in WW II. Using that as a search pulls back a couple of books on Amazon. Doing the same search on Sony yields 15 books, though I was unaware that D-Day and the Yom Kippur War occurred in the Eastern Front. In neither case did the search pull back books that I was looking for.

I'm sure other people have other things that they would like, but right now, the best buying experience that I've seen have been Audible.com and the iTunes store. Amazon use to be pretty good, but they just seem to have gotten a bit sloppy with the ebooks.

Katti's Cat · 11-22-2009, 05:02 PM

Hm, I have not had that experience. Most bookstores I use (neither of which is Amazon or Sony as they don't sell to me) have a wishlist. Haven't tried the notification yet as I usually know what I am looking for (I use brochures for new books, references in other books, recommendations and the library search engine to find related books).

And yes, eBook stores are relatively new - so if you find anything that might improve the shopping experience, why not send them an email? I'm sure most would appreciate your feedback

Kali Yuga · 11-22-2009, 05:23 PM

Erm.... Amazon definitely has a Wish List function, they've had it for years, and yes you can add ebooks to your wish list (though the process is not very straightforward). You can also sample a book you're interested in, and buy it later at any time.

Doing a search for "eastern front world war ii" brought up quite a few items -- in fact, probably more than what you would find at a typical small bookstore. Plus you could sample a dozen books and peruse them at your leisure.

Plus, almost every site now has a "recommendation" feature. It may not be ideal but it usually works about as well as looking at the spine of a book.

Notifications could be handy; Amazon does have an email notification feature, but only for "new products" based on stuff you've already purchased, i.e. not a lot of fine control.

Browsing paper books has its advantages, but IMO the virtues of the "analog experience" tend to be a bit overblown and romanticized; most physical bookstores carry a fraction of the number of titles of most ebook stores. Amazon in particular has spent about a decade working on its sales pages, and while far from perfect, seems to work well enough to gain a huge chunk of the market and dozens of imitators.

fugazied · 11-22-2009, 05:33 PM

I usually find Amazon the best for browsing/discovering new authors and reminding me of authors I meant to read. I'm still waiting for a website to give the same experience that last.fm does for music.

With last.fm you can listen to snippets of mp3s and view similar artists. Other music fans contribute comments and discuss the band and similar bands. I'd like to see a book site with that level of discovery involved - other readers giving tips on similar authors/books and the ability to listen to/read blurbs of the books and sample chapters which other readers have reccomended. Amazon kind of does it, but doesn't have the same level of interactivity and discovery.

narbeauchamp · 11-22-2009, 08:11 PM

Amazon has a wish list,the Sony ebook store also has one (I very often put books on the list for purchase later.....)

Lately what I have been doing (more so since I got the ipod touch) is that I shop for books at B&N and while I am there I compare and put things on a "to read " list. I get recommendations from the stores,based on what I've bought prior....

pwalker8 · 11-22-2009, 10:23 PM

"Eastern Front World War 2" yields 2 books when limited to the kindle section. "Eastern Front World War II" yields 11 books.

As I said, Amazon does have wish list, but it's more of a list of things you want others to buy for you rather than what I describe, which is more of a list of books that I'm interested in but not ready to buy.

I do like Amazon's suggestion feature, though it will suggest books that I have already bought, so it could use a bit of refining.

ficbot · 11-22-2009, 10:56 PM

Fictionwise has wishlists and notifications. I have never tried to use a notification, but I have used the wishlist feature.

11-22-2009, 04:56 PM	#1
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Browsing for ebooks In my experience, the none of ebook stores has a very satisfying experience shopping for books. Amazon has the best selection, but it works best if I am looking for specific book or author. If I want to simply browse, the experience is quite frustrating for me. I like to browse to see what books are new since the last time I visited, however, so many independent publishers are gaming the system to get their books at the front of the list, I have to wade through three pages of self published or PD stuff to see the one or two books that I actually might be interested in. Plus a lot of books seem to be put in the wrong category. I don't know if they depend on the publisher to put in the correct information, but it really needs to be cleaned up, a lot. Sony's web site is much better, but you can't buy from the website, only the eBook Library, which which much improved from the original, suffers from not having tabs and being single threaded. I find myself with both the Sony website and the Sony eBook Library application open, using the web version to browse and just putting in the author's name in the store when I see something I want to buy. B&N's website isn't much different than Sony's and you can buy from the website, but it appears that they are still bringing it up to speed. The last time that I used it, it would crash when I selected the show 100 books rather than 10. They seem to have fixed that one, so I will need to play with it a bit. I've tried a couple of the ebook websites that aren't associated with a specific reader, but all seem a bit dated. Hopefully, with all the competition, they will improve the experience. Here are some of the things that I would like. 1) Notification when they get something in from a favored author. Sony claims to do this, but I've never received a notification from them. Perhaps it's just me. 2) Putting a book in a wishlist. Amazon sort of has this, but I'm talking about the way that Audible.com implements it. Basically, it's a way of saying, I'm interested in this book, but I'm not ready to buy it at the moment. Keep it in a list for me, so I can come back to it at a later date. 3) All the stores have the ability to search, but for the most part, it only works well where searching for a specific author. For example, I might want to find a book on the Eastern Front in WW II. Using that as a search pulls back a couple of books on Amazon. Doing the same search on Sony yields 15 books, though I was unaware that D-Day and the Yom Kippur War occurred in the Eastern Front. In neither case did the search pull back books that I was looking for. I'm sure other people have other things that they would like, but right now, the best buying experience that I've seen have been Audible.com and the iTunes store. Amazon use to be pretty good, but they just seem to have gotten a bit sloppy with the ebooks.

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11-22-2009, 05:02 PM	#2
Katti's Cat Wizard Posts: 2,259 Karma: 175640 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Brisbane Australia Device: Sony PRS-600	Hm, I have not had that experience. Most bookstores I use (neither of which is Amazon or Sony as they don't sell to me) have a wishlist. Haven't tried the notification yet as I usually know what I am looking for (I use brochures for new books, references in other books, recommendations and the library search engine to find related books). And yes, eBook stores are relatively new - so if you find anything that might improve the shopping experience, why not send them an email? I'm sure most would appreciate your feedback

11-22-2009, 05:23 PM	#3
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	Erm.... Amazon definitely has a Wish List function, they've had it for years, and yes you can add ebooks to your wish list (though the process is not very straightforward). You can also sample a book you're interested in, and buy it later at any time. Doing a search for "eastern front world war ii" brought up quite a few items -- in fact, probably more than what you would find at a typical small bookstore. Plus you could sample a dozen books and peruse them at your leisure. Plus, almost every site now has a "recommendation" feature. It may not be ideal but it usually works about as well as looking at the spine of a book. Notifications could be handy; Amazon does have an email notification feature, but only for "new products" based on stuff you've already purchased, i.e. not a lot of fine control. Browsing paper books has its advantages, but IMO the virtues of the "analog experience" tend to be a bit overblown and romanticized; most physical bookstores carry a fraction of the number of titles of most ebook stores. Amazon in particular has spent about a decade working on its sales pages, and while far from perfect, seems to work well enough to gain a huge chunk of the market and dozens of imitators.

11-22-2009, 05:33 PM	#4
fugazied Wizard Posts: 1,305 Karma: 1958 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: iPod Touch	I usually find Amazon the best for browsing/discovering new authors and reminding me of authors I meant to read. I'm still waiting for a website to give the same experience that last.fm does for music. With last.fm you can listen to snippets of mp3s and view similar artists. Other music fans contribute comments and discuss the band and similar bands. I'd like to see a book site with that level of discovery involved - other readers giving tips on similar authors/books and the ability to listen to/read blurbs of the books and sample chapters which other readers have reccomended. Amazon kind of does it, but doesn't have the same level of interactivity and discovery.

11-22-2009, 08:11 PM	#5
narbeauchamp Groupie Posts: 170 Karma: 98 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: New York,NY Device: PRS700BC/PRS505/TZ350N/MacBook/Aspire One/iPad/iPhone/BB 9630	Amazon has a wish list,the Sony ebook store also has one (I very often put books on the list for purchase later.....) Lately what I have been doing (more so since I got the ipod touch) is that I shop for books at B&N and while I am there I compare and put things on a "to read " list. I get recommendations from the stores,based on what I've bought prior....

11-22-2009, 10:23 PM	#6
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	"Eastern Front World War 2" yields 2 books when limited to the kindle section. "Eastern Front World War II" yields 11 books. As I said, Amazon does have wish list, but it's more of a list of things you want others to buy for you rather than what I describe, which is more of a list of books that I'm interested in but not ready to buy. I do like Amazon's suggestion feature, though it will suggest books that I have already bought, so it could use a bit of refining.

11-22-2009, 10:56 PM	#7
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	Fictionwise has wishlists and notifications. I have never tried to use a notification, but I have used the wishlist feature.

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