Bezos Interview: why Amazon started with books

[ekbell]

There are some niche publishers that I have found to be a great aid in selecting books, (such as Bethlehem Books when buying children's historical fiction for the daughter who devours such books) although I have never confined myself to such publishers (I've bought historical fiction for my daughter from other publishers)

On a more general note while I have little idea who published most of the books I own I can't say that publishers have no effect on which books I choose. Most of my discovery is through mailing lists, a couple of PD sites, and this forum which does reduce the chance of finding new independents (unless highly favored by a forum member) and means that I am in effect if not by desire selecting for certain publishers (since a fair number of the mailing lists are from publishers).

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ekbell

There are some niche publishers that I have found to be a great aid in selecting books, (such as Bethlehem Books when buying children's historical fiction for the daughter who devours such books) although I have never confined myself to such publishers (I've bought historical fiction for my daughter from other publishers)

On a more general note while I have little idea who published most of the books I own I can't say that publishers have no effect on which books I choose. Most of my discovery is through mailing lists, a couple of PD sites, and this forum which does reduce the chance of finding new independents (unless highly favored by a forum member) and means that I am in effect if not by desire selecting for certain publishers (since a fair number of the mailing lists are from publishers).

I suspect that most people have some sort of filtering mechanism in place, even if they don't really think of it that way.

I don't have a favored publisher at the moment and Tor is the only SF publisher news letter that I get. That means that the new authors that I get are a combination of recommendations here, and the occasional recommendation that pops up on Amazon and catches my eye. Cover art is very important from that stand point if an author wants to catch my eye. Before they got cut off by Amazon, I used authoralert to let me know when a favored author had a new book coming out. Since then, it's likely that I've missed a few books since it's purely me remembering to search for an author on Amazon.

[theducks]

I am with Diap, I shopped by the section in my bookstores

I queried Calibre about my Paperback buying days (attached)
No big suprises

Lately, I read a lot of Indies (easy to do because they are EPUB/AZW3)

[Apache]

I shopped by section in bookstores too, but I always knew which publishers were best for science fiction.
Apache

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Apache

I shopped by section in bookstores too, but I always knew which publishers were best for science fiction.
Apache

Sure, in book stores I shopped by section. I also always went to the new books self of a section to see what new books were out. The habit of checking the new books shelf is why trying to browse Amazon's SF&F section by publication date is so maddening to me.

A favorite scam by various porno, PD republishers and some indies is to keep changing the publication date so those books appear as just published. It would be so easy for Amazon to add filtering so I could filter stuff I'm not interested in out, but Amazon seems to have no real interest in that. Heck, simply showing me new books by authors I've bought books of would be a huge improvement.

[darryl]

Unfortunately search generally seems to be in a sorry state, and Amazon is by no means exempt. The number of highly ranked results with marginal relevance is very frustrating sometimes. On occasions the specific thing I search for ranks well down the list or on one occasion I can recall did not appear at all. The worse it gets, the less likely people will become to use the search. Perhaps this is the aim, as I'm sure many entities would prefer that you just browse their pages and be exposed to the things they want to sell you.

[DiapDealer]

I don't use retail ebook stores to search for, or discover, books. I use them to buy books once I know what I want. Discovery, for me, is an organic, hybrid process. Scanning search results and recommendation algorithms isn't a huge part of that process.

[Apache]

There are many places you can use to discover new books that are better than store search engines. As DiapDealer says I only visit the online bookstores to purchase the books I want.
Apache

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Apache

There are many places you can use to discover new books that are better than store search engines. As DiapDealer says I only visit the online bookstores to purchase the books I want.
Apache

Finding new authors/new books and finding new books by favored authors are two very different processes. Frankly, I've given up using the search to find new authors. I mostly use recommendations here and elsewhere for new authors.

Trying to find new books by favored authors is really the only reason I use the search function. Yea, it sucks dead bunnies, as the saying goes. If the search results for my programs were like that, I would get fired! Same for the browse. I'm basically scanning the list for authors that I recognize.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Trying to find new books by favored authors is really the only reason I use the search function. Yea, it sucks dead bunnies, as the saying goes. If the search results for my programs were like that, I would get fired! Same for the browse. I'm basically scanning the list for authors that I recognize.

Why do you need to use a retail search engine to "find" new books by favored authors?

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Why you need to use a retail search engine to "find" new books by favored authors?

Well, there is that class of author you like, but who hasn't risen to the level of stalking status yet. It's the old, "I wonder if old so and so has published anything lately? I always liked him/her."

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Well, there is that class of author you like, but who hasn't risen to the level of stalking status yet. It's the old, "I wonder if old so and so has published anything lately? I always liked him/her."

Well, if you have to look it up/type it in anyway, wikipedia is your best bet for author bibliographies, or the author's website--since you have to remember their names to type them into a search engine to begin with. Just about any search engine out there is going show you a particular author's volume of work better than any ebook retailer's will. This has always been true. Not all stores carry every author's every title (new or old).

Why keep using an inferior tool (hating it and wishing it would improve) when better tools abound?

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Well, if you have to look it up/type it in anyway, wikipedia is your best bet for author bibliographies, or the author's website--since you have to remember their names to type them into a search engine to begin with. Just about any search engine out there is going show you a particular author's volume of work better than any ebook retailer's will. This has always been true. Not all stores carry every author's every title (new or old).

Why keep using an inferior tool (hating it and wishing it would improve) when better tools abound?

I can't argue with your logic. However i personally don't think about "good old so and so" until I'm in the Amazon Book store and encounter something that triggers my remembrance of the author. It is a natural reaction to look him/her up in the book store you are in. A proper search will frequently follow but only people made of sterner stuff than me could resist a quick bookstore search.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I can't argue with your logic. However i personally don't think about "good old so and so" until I'm in the Amazon Book store and encounter something that triggers my remembrance of the author. It is a natural reaction to look him/her up in the book store you are in. A proper search will frequently follow but only people made of sterner stuff than me could resist a quick bookstore search.

That's probably the difference. I'm never just "in the Amazon store" (or any ebook retailer) for anything other than buying what I already know I want to buy.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Why do you need to use a retail search engine to "find" new books by favored authors?

Because once you get past a handful, it gets to be a real pain to search for authors one by one to see if they have anything new. I had about 50 on my authoralerts account, that includes active authors who have written a book in the last year (around 22), active authors who write less frequently (around 10) and backlist authors who I'm still waiting for some of their books to come out as ebooks (30 plus). Authoralert didn't do ebook only releases all that well, but they did a good job on the rest.

You know, really that question is a bit like asking someone why they need a car since one can walk where ever they need. I mean if Frodo can walk from the Shire to Mordor and back, why can't you just walk? Computers are a tool of increased productivity. Why in the world would I want to type in a bunch of names into a search engine once a month when I can put load them into a program and get notified whenever a new book comes out? I really have no clue where you are coming from or what point you are trying to make.