Poll: What is your #1 method of ebook discovery

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

She is a sister not a brother. But agreeing with the sentiment.

It's non gender specific when applied to a group, kind of like using guys to a mixed group. Besides preach on, brother and sister, preach on makes for a terrible punch line.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

It's non gender specific when applied to a group, kind of like using guys to a mixed group. Besides preach on, brother and sister, preach on makes for a terrible punch line.

Yes, but she isn't a group she was one.
But preach it brother does have a better ring than preach it sister.

Back on topic. I mostly use the forum here.

[crich70]

I usually look around at Amazon and if the cover intrigues me (i.e. the title and the picture look interesting) I take a closer look.

[Luffy]

The interface at Amazon is quite appealing, although I prefer the type of layout of Goodreads rather than Amazon as far as reviews are concerned.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Yes, but she isn't a group she was one.
But preach it brother does have a better ring than preach it sister.

Back on topic. I mostly use the forum here.

Actually, there were two that I was commenting on, Atunah and BearMountainBooks. But both may be women, or men pretending to be women, or elves pretending to be human. One never knows on an online site. Being a TOF (traditionalist old fart @TM) I tend to use old fashion technique (i.e. male pronoun when I don't know), if it offends them, then they can let me know.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Actually, there were two that I was commenting on, Atunah and BearMountainBooks. But both may be women, or men pretending to be women, or elves pretending to be human. One never knows on an online site. Being a TOF (traditionalist old fart @TM) I tend to use old fashion technique (i.e. male pronoun when I don't know), if it offends them, then they can let me know.

I'm not in the least offended. You may call me a TOF, include me in "guys" or call me an elf, a dragon or a cat. I have no issues with using the pronoun "he" when it can be either a woman or man in articles. I have no issues with it being "her" either. I tend to focus on the content or point of an article/post. I haven't time for anything else.

[KenMagee]

I ticked 'favourite authors' which turned out to be the most popular choice (26%). It's what I do but it made me sad to realize how that puts new authors at yet another disadvantage.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by KenMagee

I ticked 'favourite authors' which turned out to be the most popular choice (26%). It's what I do but it made me sad to realize how that puts new authors at yet another disadvantage.

In theory, the if you like "author A" you might like "author B" helps to solve that problem, but unfortunately, it seems like the marketers latched on to that and started showing books they wanted to push rather than show books that have similarities to the book you just bought.

finding new authors is one of the biggest problems for readers (and new authors) out there. Whoever can come up with a good solution is going to make a bundle.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

In theory, the if you like "author A" you might like "author B" helps to solve that problem, but unfortunately, it seems like the marketers latched on to that and started showing books they wanted to push rather than show books that have similarities to the book you just bought.

finding new authors is one of the biggest problems for readers (and new authors) out there. Whoever can come up with a good solution is going to make a bundle.

It's always been "pay to be seen" and that will continue. I think Amazon learned early that there's as much or more money to be made by selling advertising as in actually selling products.

[Alpha o]

I use all the methods if I want a particular genre.

But as to offering books - when I first got the Kobo, all they recommended was romances and women's literature. I erased as not interested. Then they tried best sellers, and got the not interested line again. What I finally did order was a couple of books on the Mars Curiosity Rover and one astronomical book. They simply had nothing of interest in that category - even "Roving Mars" didn't turn up as a suggestion.

Amazon did find a few more, but they didn't have one of the rover books at the time. (You can buy some from O'Reilly Press)

I'll go look for books where there's a good assortment, and in the EPUB format. Also a good note or precís of the book. Some of the best books have turned up from interviews on the PBS Newshour. "Spam Nation" was one.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

In theory, the if you like "author A" you might like "author B" helps to solve that problem, but unfortunately, it seems like the marketers latched on to that and started showing books they wanted to push rather than show books that have similarities to the book you just bought.

I've found a lot of books I've enjoyed through Amazon's recommendations and the suggestions at Fantastic Fiction.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I've found a lot of books I've enjoyed through Amazon's recommendations and the suggestions at Fantastic Fiction.

I used to. Maybe I'm not buying enough books so they don't work as well. Or maybe they take more ads for those spots now. I now buy from Kobo and Amazon and the library and Smashwords...

[tomsem]

I have no idea what #1 is for me, and at any rate it probably accounts for less than 10% of discoveries.

Hm, surprised nobody's brought up YouTube reviews, but maybe no-one here reads YA or all-ages SciFi. There's quite the community of "book-Tubers" who are very active on YouTube everyday with their reviews and "most anticipated books" and "unboxing" videos.

I also go to the genre blogs and "Top ____" lists from news outlets like NPR and the major newspapers as well as iO9.

I too go to GoodReads.

I used to pull the free Kindle books but there's no quality control there and when you have 700 or more books in your Kindle App, with no good reason why they are there...meh. Too many choices.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by MVS

Hm, surprised nobody's brought up YouTube reviews, but maybe no-one here reads YA or all-ages SciFi. There's quite the community of "book-Tubers" who are very active on YouTube everyday with their reviews and "most anticipated books" and "unboxing" videos.

I also go to the genre blogs and "Top ____" lists from news outlets like NPR and the major newspapers as well as iO9.

I too go to GoodReads.

I used to pull the free Kindle books but there's no quality control there and when you have 700 or more books in your Kindle App, with no good reason why they are there...meh. Too many choices.

I haven't tried any youtube book reviews. I've looked at reviews for other products and usually find I'm frustrated because the person runs on about something irrelevant, or spends too much time on an aspect of the product I'm not interested in. I'd be afraid book reviews would be similar.