Quote:
Originally Posted by BillSmithBooks
Smashwords' search feature is not great...but not dreadful either (cough, looking at you B&N, cough).
I'd love to see more recommendation features in Smashwords, similar to the Amazon searches -- "This book is similar to this book" kind of thing.
And user forums would be way cool, too, to help seed good recommendations and discovery.
|
It is interesting how different ebookers view the shopping ease (or lack there of) of different ebook stores.
Unlike Bill, I hate Amazon's website and wish it were more like B&N's, which I much prefer. Whenever I go to Amazon, I feel like I am entering the worlkd of the 2 a.m. infomercial that is trying to sell me a food processor and if I buy it, will throw in a couple of free surprises.
At neither site do I like the "This book is similar to" "feature." If I could turn it off, I would, but I find the B&N recommendations to be less intrusive than those at Amazon.
I like to buy what ebooks I can at Smashwords because I like to support indie authors and I like to get my ebooks DRM-free. But I have complained several times -- in direct emails to Mark Coker and in articles at my blog -- about the very poor search and filtering system at Smashwords. However, the filtering system there today is significantly better than what was there just a year ago. At the rate it is being improved, it will be another decade before it is truly usable, so I'll continue to slog through the Smashwords system.