Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Tingle
Um, the last time I checked, Amazon does all of the things you listed. The author interviews are more author pages, but the effect is similar. I think you need a little more research.
Regards,
Jack Tingle
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I'm aware of what Amazon has, don't mistake lack of understanding on your part with lack of knowledge on mine. Why does Starbuck's prosper? After all, McDonalds sales coffee. Why don't people who buy from Starbuck's just buy coffee in a regular restaurant? I can buy bagels at Publix, why go to a stand alone bagel shop? The answer is that people will go to a specialty shop when they either get better product, or they can get that product in a setting that is more pleasing to them.
If I could find an ebook store where, when I'm browsing for a new SF/F ebook, I didn't have to scroll through 10 pages of porn, self published books, and public domain books to find actual newly published SF/F ebooks then that's where I go. Amazon uses the publishers to maintain their book database because it would be expensive to try to maintain it themselves. They push the cost to someone else. Thus, you get a list that has a bunch of extra junk put in by people gaming the system. An ebook store what specialized in a specific genre could maintain such a list themselves with a degree of accuracy that a broad based store like Amazon can't afford to do.
A genre specific ebook store could afford to generate author pages that include things like series info, the order of books and the like, things that I frequently don't find on Amazon author's pages. Yes, I know I can simply do a google search and find that info, but the point is convenience and flow making a more pleasant shopping experience. They would also be more likely to keep up with the genre specific news such as a particular author coming out with a new book, or passing away, or some backlist books finally making it to ebooks.
Reader recommendations in a genre specific ebook store would be more likely to have better recommendations, plus you could have a community that is more in touch with what is going on in that specific genre. I use SF/F because I like SF/F, but any genre can be serviced in such a manner.