Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonkchapman
Unfortunately, there is no mechanism that I can think of to overcome that, because it's something of a human failing. Too many people are eager to rate the judgment of others more highly than their own. It may be based on numbers (10 million people can't be wrong!) or some perceived expertise (movie reviewers) or that nebulous "cool" factor (celebrity endorsements).
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I don't think that's quite it.
If I'm between books, I have to pick my next one to read somehow. I can either look for myself--spend potentially hours crawling through ebook stores and author pages and searching google by keyword + BOOKS trying to find one I think I'd like--or I can look for someone else's recommendation.
A random "Hey, I liked this" from a total stranger is meaningless. But a "Hey, I liked this" from 10,000 strangers is potentially useful--that tells me that whatever's in the book, lots of people enjoy it. I have a better chance of having something in common with some of 10,000 people than with one.
A regular book reviewer who reads lots of books might be able to tell me what he liked or disliked, and I can know whether I'd agree with that. If he hates it because it's packed with flowery prose and breathless romance, maybe I'll like it anyway. If he enjoys it because it's got snappy dialogue and veering plot twists, maybe I'll like that one, but my daughter probably won't.
Celebrity endorsements don't help unless I know something about the celebrity's taste. If Oprah recommends a book, that tells me nothing about its literary quality, but I'd expect that it's not packed with offensive sexism and it's not written in a multi-syllabic academic tone with 400 word paragraphs and extensive footnotes. I can be pretty sure I'd find it readable, if not to my tastes.
I find fandom mostly by rec lists, suggested reading compiled by other fans. I suspect we'll start seeing more and more of those for mainstream ebooks, as traditional marketing gets scattered and incoherent online.