What is your single most common method of book discovery?

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

So I'm guessing that the book I'm working now -- that has a character portrait per chapter -- is likely to hit a snag in conversion.

And the book I'm working next year -- a Choose Your Own Adventure style book that has dozens of pictures and hundreds of links and cross-links -- will probably not convert cleanly either, no matter how closely I follow the guidelines.

Those should both work fine--with the guidelines.

The guidelines that is AN ENTIRE BOOK. Full of prose trying to scare you into not messing up. And which is not easy to follow as a reference material, imho. Because it's AN ENTIRE BOOK OF PROSE.

I agree. Is ridiculous. And while it may be a lovely book in ePub, I don't want to read formatting instructions in ePub; I want them in an easily-edited format that I can arrange for easy printing, and highlight the sections I'll need help remembering... and for some reason, the RTF output from the Meatgrinder is about the worst of its output formats. Which makes NO BLOODY SENSE, given that it's starting with Word docs; it shouldn't have to "convert" anything.

As an author and as someone who buys from Kobo more often than I do from Smashwords, I would prefer they fix the submission process.

Fair enough. It wasn't a bland rhetorical question.

As a reader, I notice the lack of ability to find stuff I'd like a lot more than poor-quality formatting of what I get. (And the stuff that irritates me the most--lack of page breaks before chapter headings, lack of formatting for indents/quote sections--are likely to stay, because they indicate an uploader who flat-out wasn't paying attention to any of the specs.)

Indie e-publishing already has enough "ew, the books are badly formatted!" bad press. Word conversions aren't going to help that.

I don't mind the poor Word conversions as much as that the Meatgrinder is a least-common-denominator tool... it doesn't support a lot of formatting that ePub *can* do, because the other formats don't support those features. (Tables. Text wrap around images. Drop caps. Font embedding.)

You can't have it both ways -- you can't assume that in the Meatgrinder process, all the authors conscientiously format their Word document perfectly for conversion, but with a "and epubs are allowed too", the authors will universally be careless idiots. Either the idiots exist in BOTH processes, or NEITHER.

I assume the same number of idiots, with the caveats that (1) indifferently-formatted Word docs, with no particular errors but lacking functionality (like chapter breaks), are more likely than similarly indifferently-formatted ePubs and (2) badly-mangled Word docs are likely to provide readable, if ugly, exports; badly-mangled ePubs are likely to provide files that don't open on the user's machine at all.

However, I do think we're rapidly getting to a point of general awareness of & competence with ePub that not being able to submit download-ready files will set Smashwords up to be another "early groundbreaker that couldn't keep up with tech changes."

[crich70]

I browse book covers, and if it grabs me I investigate further

I know they say don't judge a book by its cover, but an attractive cover most often catches my eye first.

[Michael Wallace]

In spite of all of the changes, I think it's still recommendations. The difference, of course, is that I live in a world of instant gratification. A friend can recommend something on FB or Goodreads, I'll see it a minute later, and two minutes after that I can be reading the book.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Those should both work fine--with the guidelines.

I'm seriously considering hiring someone to do the Smashwords formatting for me, because I just don't want the headache. I know, I KNOW, that the first cut that I do won't work the way I want it to, and it's going to be a major point of frustration for me.

In the meantime, I will be published on Amazon and B&N and my blog, and I hope the Smashwords shoppers will be patient with me. But I am SUPER anal about formatting and links and TOCs being correct in my work, and not thrilled at the process of forcing it through, well, a meat grinder!!

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I agree. Is ridiculous. And while it may be a lovely book in ePub, I don't want to read formatting instructions in ePub; I want them in an easily-edited format that I can arrange for easy printing, and highlight the sections I'll need help remembering... and for some reason, the RTF output from the Meatgrinder is about the worst of its output formats. Which makes NO BLOODY SENSE, given that it's starting with Word docs; it shouldn't have to "convert" anything.

A "how to format your book" guideline should have a "short form" that covers everything you need to remember after you've gone through the book once. Having to dig information out of prose multiple times is CRIMINAL. Why, yes, I do write user manuals as part of my day job and I am fanatical about this.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

As a reader, I notice the lack of ability to find stuff I'd like a lot more than poor-quality formatting of what I get. (And the stuff that irritates me the most--lack of page breaks before chapter headings, lack of formatting for indents/quote sections--are likely to stay, because they indicate an uploader who flat-out wasn't paying attention to any of the specs.)

I'm not convinced that the majority of errors in a transform indicate a user not paying attention. But, as I said, transforms are things that I write, so I have a strong ingrained opinion that they should be as idiot-proof as possible. Without empirical evidence, it's really just an assumption that poorly formatted books post-transform were the result of an idiot author.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I don't mind the poor Word conversions as much as that the Meatgrinder is a least-common-denominator tool... it doesn't support a lot of formatting that ePub *can* do, because the other formats don't support those features. (Tables. Text wrap around images. Drop caps. Font embedding.)

Right. And then there's the ACCIDENTAL embedding of things the author DOESN'T want. Didn't I read somewhere that Smashwords epubs don't support "night mode", or did I hallucinate that?

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I assume the same number of idiots, with the caveats that (1) indifferently-formatted Word docs, with no particular errors but lacking functionality (like chapter breaks), are more likely than similarly indifferently-formatted ePubs and (2) badly-mangled Word docs are likely to provide readable, if ugly, exports; badly-mangled ePubs are likely to provide files that don't open on the user's machine at all.

If Smashwords is checking to see if the converted epub validates, then it should be JUST as easy to check to see if an uploaded epub validates -- the framework for checking validation is already in place.

If Smashwords ISN'T checking to see if the converted epub validates, then the "upload crappy epub that won't work" issue is just the same as an author uploading a crappy Word document that will RESULT in a crappy epub that won't work.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

However, I do think we're rapidly getting to a point of general awareness of & competence with ePub that not being able to submit download-ready files will set Smashwords up to be another "early groundbreaker that couldn't keep up with tech changes."

I agree. If Smashwords can't keep up with changing technology -- both in the uploading sense AND in the search engine sense -- it's a dying market.

[BillSmithBooks]

I know "All of the above" is a less than helpful response in regard to this poll, even if it is truthful (in my case).

I do find that recommendations, message boards, etc. are a GREAT way to find out about books I otherwise would have never noticed. (It's easy to go find the stuff you know you already like.)

Discoverability is the huge issue for ebooks: There is still is no replacement for the serendipity of in-store physical book browsing.

I see a huge opportunity for a "Smashboards" community that serves a similar function to Kindleboards, Library Thing and all of the other social book communities -- message boards, tagging, recommendations etc., directly tied to Smashwords, to make the site and community more sticky. Now, Smashwords is pretty dependent on other boards, blogs, etc. to drive traffic to the site -- adding a community effect really enhances the experience.

Mark: I know one of Smashwords's big bonuses is not being format specific and DRM-free -- what would you recommend as a generic, "best-cheapest" ebook reader? (Best value in terms of price, durability, usability, etc. -- and ignoring the issue of DRM since you can read all of Smashwords, Baen, Gutenburg, etc. without DRM).

I see Smashwords as having an opportunity to heavily promote DRM-free ebook reading by partnering with one or more "generic reader" manufacturers, actively lobbying more and more established authors to get their backlists up, and using that combination to leverage more awareness of Smashwords for potential ebook converts -- I'd love to see the day when Smashwords is discussed as frequently as Amazon and B&N -- great company, great service, really fair business dealings all the way around.

[beppe]

I use all sort of approaches, but often I read for leisure what a friend recommends: better informed than me and with a larger tbr list. With the advantage of enlarging my horizon.

[Abtacha]

Since I've got at least two dozen bookmarks on books/series of books/authors I want to check out due to recommendations from forums and blogs I went with that.

But I still like to browse a bookstore every now and then. Problem with that is that I prefer to read English books in original language and the English books sections here are rather limited.

[maianhvk]

I chose "best-seller lists of my favorite genres", but:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

But in reality, my number one method is: recommendations from other like-minded readers that it's taken me years to find. Whether they're online, down the street or across the hall.

[David Munch]

I simply search MobileRead.coms forums for the overall subject, such as "recommended fantasy" or "scifi", and see what people recommend..

[kezza]

This is kind of a tough one to answer. If I break down my last 10 purchases, it works out to this:
Search for a favorite author: 3
Personal friend recommendation: 2
Online community recommendation: 2
Traditional media review: 1
Retailer recommendation: 1
Other: 1
(The "other" is a book I read about halfway through more than a decade ago on paper and decided to try again with an ebook. I honestly can't remember why I chose it in the first place.)
Personal recommendations and favorite authors tend to influence my reading choices more than anything else, but it's not a wide margin.

There's one quibble about this poll: what about online communities that consist of a mixture of personal friends and online-only acquaintances? On Goodreads my "friend" list is just about equally split between people I know personally and people I know exclusively online. I take all their recommendations into account, and I know where their taste tends to mesh with my own. There's no room on this poll for places like Facebook and Goodreads, etc.

[bshar489]

Originally Posted by David Munch

I simply search MobileRead.coms forums for the overall subject, such as "recommended fantasy" or "scifi", and see what people recommend..

Yep, this is what I do too MobileRead is my first stop to get ideas and see what might be out there. Although I use some of the other methods on the poll, this is my favorite place to start. I might add, too, that now that I can check out library books with my Kindle that I've been visiting my library website to see what there is.

Bergette

[Serpentine]

I think the best books that I have discovered outside of my local libraries is *ahem* less-legitimate sites comments and collections. I'm not trying to advocate it, however the absence of limitations in regard to format/pricing/region/publishing etc; it all seems to result in pretty diverse and non-bias discussion/collections. GoodReads too, but it's a bit tedious to find similar minded folks.

[Kevin8or]

I voted bestseller lists, but I look at all sorts of lists, especially awards. If you want to find some great science fiction, for example, look at the history of the Nebula and Hugo awards. The nominees as well as the winners. Every genre has its own annual awards. Plus, of course, pulizters, national book awards, man booker prize, etc. Wikipedia usually has everything you'd want for any given award.

We all, apparently, use most of the poll's methods. A fun question might be, which method do you NOT use to discover new books?

[Format C:]

I rely mostly on readers' reviews.
But also on lists from blogs and big retailers.

For example, i built my SF TBR stack looking for every "the best SF novels of all time list" I found, and choosing the ones which made all the "best of" lists...
I ended with 53 novels, and I bought 5 of them by now.

[basschick]

i should have chosen "other". i don't use a single method - i use "more like this" recommendations, forum recommendations, browse randomly and then read the reviews and i download free ebooks and then if i like 'em, i buy more of that author or series. i use 'em all. heck, sometimes i'll just go to a category and check out the highest rated books, reading the reviews.