Free Now Harder To Find On Amazon

taming · 07-25-2012, 08:03 PM

http://www.fonerbooks.com/selfpublishing/?p=1977

From the article:

Quote:

Last weekend Amazon removed the vast majority of free classics that they published (adopted from Project Gutenberg) prior to 2011, after replacing them with the same books using new ASIN’s, meaning new product pages. In doing so, Amazon orphaned millions of links from the web, which now arrive at a “Can’t find what you’re looking for” page, not to mentions tens of thousands of customer created Listmania lists, So You’d Like To guides and Customer Discussions. They are orphaned because Amazon does not redirect, or forward the ASIN’s of eBooks removed from their catalog.

A major side effect, if not prime effect, of changing all of those ASIN’s, is the loss of their historical sales data. In other words, a customer going to the Kindle store and searching for Jane Austen would once have gotten back a list that started off with free editions of her most popular works, starting with Pride and Prejudice. This morning, the only free Austen book appearing in the first page of the search results is “Love and Friendship”, certainly not her most popular title, but there because it hasn’t been updated since 2006.

tubemonkey · 07-25-2012, 10:12 PM

Interesting; still, the titles are free.

tomsem · 07-25-2012, 11:01 PM

Ultimately it is for the good I think. The sales rankings will restore and there won't be so many 'duplicate' titles to sort through.

However I know of at least one case where the reviews were consolidated as well. The problem with that is you might see reviews that don't actually apply to that edition (complaining of formatting problems, or referring to frontmatter that is not part of that ebook). So one will have to take that into account until newer reviews show up.

I haven't been getting PD titles at Amazon for quite awhile, as it is easier to get them at gutenburg (or feedbooks) and know there is consistent formatting. But it might be time to take another look, particularly for titles with XRay and/or page numbers (if there are any).

JeremyR · 07-26-2012, 03:26 AM

Well, to be blunt, most of the free (PD) books on Amazon are terribly formatted.

So if this drives people to places like here, that have nicely done books, well, good.

LuvReadin · 07-26-2012, 07:37 AM

Have to agree - I go to PG every time. I've been wishing for a long time that Amazon would put them all in a different section, so there wouldn't be any need to wade through them when searching for freebies. I've just checked Amazon UK, and it's much easier now!

RainingLemur · 07-26-2012, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Well, to be blunt, most of the free (PD) books on Amazon are terribly formatted.

How bad is the formatting on them? I've seen a couple wonky things, but I've only grabbed one or two PD books from Amazon.

DrNefario · 07-26-2012, 11:29 AM

The main thing I've seen is lack of proper chapter/story breaks and tables of contents. I've replaced many of my old Amazon classics with decently-formatted versions from here and other places.

QuantumIguana · 07-26-2012, 01:15 PM

Interesting. I just did a search and then sorted by price. Of the first 12 listings, only 5 were Jane Austen's books, the others were other people's books. Her most popular books weren't on the first page. But when I seach for Frank Baum, all of the books on the first page were his books, and all but 3 were free. The order is a little strange. I can understand the 95 cent collection of his Oz books being first, but the first Oz book is 7th on the list, and comes after a few of the sequels.

I'm not sure if Amazon is trying to steer people away from the free books, or if their search is just a little strange. When I search for Jane Austen sorted by free, the first result is a French translation of Sense and Sensibility. It's pretty unlikely that is what I am looking for. The second result is The Three Musketeers. It might be a fine book, but it's not Austen. The fourth result is Wuthering Heights. The 6th result is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The 9th result is Agnes Grey Anne Brontë. The 11th result is A Tale of Two Cities. Very strange results.

When I sort by free searching for Frank Baum, all the results are his books. They aren't the most popular of his books, the first result is Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. It is one of Baum's books, but a pretty obscure book. It looks to me like it is just screwy search results. It may just be a matter of it not being a priority of theirs to get the most meaningful search results for books that they aren't going to get any money from. For books that sell a lot, you're much more likely to get popular results.

carpetmojo · 07-26-2012, 06:30 PM

Why not just go straight to PG ?

MikeB1972 · 07-27-2012, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

I'm not sure if Amazon is trying to steer people away from the free books, or if their search is just a little strange. When I search for Jane Austen sorted by free, the first result is a French translation of Sense and Sensibility. It's pretty unlikely that is what I am looking for. The second result is The Three Musketeers. It might be a fine book, but it's not Austen. The fourth result is Wuthering Heights. The 6th result is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The 9th result is Agnes Grey Anne Brontë. The 11th result is A Tale of Two Cities. Very strange results.

Thats just Amazon's normal search, they return the stuff they think you are looking for first and then a bunch off similar stuff you also might want to buy - so when you sort by price things look strange because of the stuff they tacked on the end of the results you wanted. It's not just books, it's across the entire site.

jbcohen · 07-27-2012, 07:33 AM

The way baen uses free ebooks, is the way I think most book publishers should use the free ebook catagory. Baen will frequently make the first book in a series availble for nothing and then charge for the rest at a rate that allows them to make up for the free cost in the first book and start making a profit off the remainder of the series. For us the customer that methods, also called a loss leader, allows us to see if we like the authors writting style before comitting our hard earned dollars to the rest of the series. I personally like this approach and wish more publishers would adopt it.

DrNefario · 07-27-2012, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Why not just go straight to PG ?

Because they magically appear on your Kindle automatically if you get them from Amazon, and are also available to the Kindle app on other devices.

And we're lazy.

Edit: The other issue with them changing the ASINs on the new editions of their own freebies is that we won't get updated if we own the old ones.

07-26-2012, 07:37 AM	#5
LuvReadin Addict Posts: 372 Karma: 1925568 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: England, UK Device: Sony PRS-T1 and Cool-ER	Have to agree - I go to PG every time. I've been wishing for a long time that Amazon would put them all in a different section, so there wouldn't be any need to wade through them when searching for freebies. I've just checked Amazon UK, and it's much easier now! Last edited by LuvReadin; 07-26-2012 at 07:39 AM.

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07-25-2012, 10:12 PM	#2
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,481 Karma: 158151390 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	Interesting; still, the titles are free.

07-25-2012, 11:01 PM	#3
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,495 Karma: 26425959 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Ultimately it is for the good I think. The sales rankings will restore and there won't be so many 'duplicate' titles to sort through. However I know of at least one case where the reviews were consolidated as well. The problem with that is you might see reviews that don't actually apply to that edition (complaining of formatting problems, or referring to frontmatter that is not part of that ebook). So one will have to take that into account until newer reviews show up. I haven't been getting PD titles at Amazon for quite awhile, as it is easier to get them at gutenburg (or feedbooks) and know there is consistent formatting. But it might be time to take another look, particularly for titles with XRay and/or page numbers (if there are any).

07-26-2012, 03:26 AM	#4
JeremyR Guru Posts: 973 Karma: 2458402 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: St. Louis Device: Kindle Keyboard, Nook HD+	Well, to be blunt, most of the free (PD) books on Amazon are terribly formatted. So if this drives people to places like here, that have nicely done books, well, good.

07-26-2012, 11:29 AM	#7
DrNefario Wizard Posts: 2,106 Karma: 11315768 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch	The main thing I've seen is lack of proper chapter/story breaks and tables of contents. I've replaced many of my old Amazon classics with decently-formatted versions from here and other places.

07-26-2012, 01:15 PM	#8
QuantumIguana Philosopher Posts: 2,034 Karma: 18736532 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2 gen, Kindle Fire 1st Gen, Kindle Touch	Interesting. I just did a search and then sorted by price. Of the first 12 listings, only 5 were Jane Austen's books, the others were other people's books. Her most popular books weren't on the first page. But when I seach for Frank Baum, all of the books on the first page were his books, and all but 3 were free. The order is a little strange. I can understand the 95 cent collection of his Oz books being first, but the first Oz book is 7th on the list, and comes after a few of the sequels. I'm not sure if Amazon is trying to steer people away from the free books, or if their search is just a little strange. When I search for Jane Austen sorted by free, the first result is a French translation of Sense and Sensibility. It's pretty unlikely that is what I am looking for. The second result is The Three Musketeers. It might be a fine book, but it's not Austen. The fourth result is Wuthering Heights. The 6th result is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The 9th result is Agnes Grey Anne Brontë. The 11th result is A Tale of Two Cities. Very strange results. When I sort by free searching for Frank Baum, all the results are his books. They aren't the most popular of his books, the first result is Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. It is one of Baum's books, but a pretty obscure book. It looks to me like it is just screwy search results. It may just be a matter of it not being a priority of theirs to get the most meaningful search results for books that they aren't going to get any money from. For books that sell a lot, you're much more likely to get popular results.

07-26-2012, 06:30 PM	#9
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Why not just go straight to PG ?

07-27-2012, 07:33 AM	#11
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,025 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Piper College Device: Samsung A21	The way baen uses free ebooks, is the way I think most book publishers should use the free ebook catagory. Baen will frequently make the first book in a series availble for nothing and then charge for the rest at a rate that allows them to make up for the free cost in the first book and start making a profit off the remainder of the series. For us the customer that methods, also called a loss leader, allows us to see if we like the authors writting style before comitting our hard earned dollars to the rest of the series. I personally like this approach and wish more publishers would adopt it.

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