[Rob Lister]

First, hat tip to stonetools for linking me to an article that had an annoying html5 pop-up linking me to another article on book discoverability ... on which, I surprisingly clicked!

Social reading, discoverability and other unsolved problems at BEA 2012

snip...

Start off by assuming that social reading means being able to interact with a book through social media or with social features inside the book, and discoverability is the challenge of finding new authors and books.

The stuff about social reading was interesting, and perhaps threadable on its own, but this thread is about discoverability ... until somebody rudely [or mercifully] derails it.

Bookstores are going down and taking discovery with them

Social tools haven’t taken the place of brick-and-mortar bookstores, which are declining as a source of discoverability for books, industry consultant and analyst Peter Hildick-Smith noted in a Publishers Launch BEA panel on Monday. His company, Codex Group, tracks discoverability by asking readers where they bought the last book they read. Two years ago, 31 percent of respondents found the book in a bookstore. As of the end of May 2012, that number has 45 percent, down to 17 percent.

Where I bought my last book is not where I discovered my last book, so I think he asked readers the wrong question.

That’s bad for book sales, Hildick-Smith said, because bookstores prompt a lot of spontaneous purchases. The Codex Group asked book buyers if they had a specific book in mind to buy the last time they went to a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Only one in three had a specific title in mind; the rest were going to browse and buy. Kindle owners are even more likely to browse in bookstores — 76 percent go in spontaneously — suggesting that online solutions (like Amazon’s algorithms) aren’t yet doing the trick for discoverability.

I think Peter is utterly convoluted in his analysis but ... whatever. Book readers like to browse books, as is evidenced by 76% going in spontaneously. I think the 'trick' has more to do with the actual tactile feel of real books, the aroma of new books, and maybe even the hot college girls that roam the aisles (and don't at all think I'm a creepy old guy) of real brick and mortar reality stores. Nothing more complicated than that.

Damn, this post has been all digress and no topical ingress.

I 'discovered' my last book while reading the winners list for last year's Hugo Award. Embassytown by China Mieville caught my eye. I'd heard of him somewhere but never read him. I then 'bought' his book from the B&N website. Still reading it. Very good read thus far. He has an obvious love of language.

Where did you discover your last book?