8,577 ebooks and nothing to read

NormHart · 08-24-2009, 12:15 AM

I don't often buy Amazon ebooks although I own a Kindle 2 but I was inspired tonight to poke around on their site to see what new and interesting books they might have. Now I read Science Fiction, lots and lots of Science Fiction, and have done so for over fifty years so seeing that they had 8,577 Science Fiction ebooks was interesting.

I noticed several things right off the bat.

1) There are a lot of ebooks listed as Sci-Fi that are not, in fact, Sci-Fi at all.

2) In the default "Bestsellers" sort, the top listed ebooks are either free or old classics. Not too surprising since you see much the same thing at Gutenberg and elsewhere.

3) Sorting by "Price low to high" gets you a lot of low priced ebooks that either are not Sci-Fi, are short stories, are repackaged Public Domain ebooks, and lots of duplicates.

Trying to find new and good Science Fiction is amazingly hard on Amazon. I finally sorted the ebooks by "Price high to low" and, after going through several pages of weird stuff at unreal prices I came upon some newer Sci-Fi at hard bound prices.

By this time I was exhausted and still found nothing I really wanted to read and could afford.

Is this true for other genera?

Is there some other way of finding good ebooks? I am used to wandering along the shelves at a bookstore looking at covers, selecting by author or publisher, Amazon certainly does not lend itself to that kind of browsing so far as I can tell.

GA Russell · 08-24-2009, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NormHart

I came upon some newer Sci-Fi at hard bound prices.

Even on this board I see people who are unaware that Amazon's prices are not typically $9.99.

I think that the public is going to be down on eBooks if the prices are going to be close to what a hardback goes for.

Xiaopanda · 08-24-2009, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Even on this board I see people who are unaware that Amazon's prices are not typically $9.99.

I think that the public is going to be down on eBooks if the prices are going to be close to what a hardback goes for.

I don't even actualy own a Kindle (though there is one in the house) and I know the books are not typically 9.99.

For me, Ebooks should be cheaper than pBooks, or there is no real point.

Kinda sad if it's cheaper to kill a tree, pollute a river, transport and disrtibute the things than it is to publish a file that I'm unlikly to even be able to pass on to a friend (legally) when I am done......

Elsi · 08-24-2009, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NormHart

... By this time I was exhausted and still found nothing I really wanted to read and could afford.

Is this true for other genera?

Is there some other way of finding good ebooks? I am used to wandering along the shelves at a bookstore looking at covers, selecting by author or publisher, Amazon certainly does not lend itself to that kind of browsing so far as I can tell.

I search or browse in Amazon's normal (paper) book section, find a book that looks interesting, and then look for the "Start reading this book immediately on your Kindle" link on the left under the picture of the cover. Once I get to the Kindle display, I then click the "Send me a sample" link and then start following the "related books" or "people who bought this book also bought" links. Each time I land on a book that sounds promising, I click on the "send me a sample" link. Then I turn on the antenna on my Kindle. I start reading a sample ... if I like it, I click the "buy now" link at the end of the sample.

I also use the "recommended for you" link. Once you've bought a couple of books, Amazon will start making fairly decent recommendations.

Or you can do what a friend does. She takes her Kindle into the book store & when she finds an interesting book on the shelf, checks to see if it's available for the Kindle -- using the "Shop in the Kindle Store" link within the Kindle itself. And then she usually walks out with one or two paper books any way!

emellaich · 08-24-2009, 01:19 AM

You probably already know this, but for me the best way to find new science fiction is through the Baen web site at: http://www.webscription.net/

Now, back to your original query. I agree that I have yet to see a web store with a good way to casually browse any non-trivial collection. However, Amazon does have two features that I find extremely useful.

Go to a book that you know you like on Amazon. Then look for two areas: 1) Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought; and 2) What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item. These should give you lists of similar books that you can choose from. You can even 'chain' these recommendations by clicking one of the recommended books and then seeing what is recommended on its page.

In some ways this is much better than what you originally requested since it can lead you through a similar genre quite efficiently. But I do admit it is not perfect. Books won't show up on the list until they are popular. I can see this approach leading to an insular focus on the most popular authors and freezing out new authors who are trying to bring a fresh view to the genre.

Gideon · 08-24-2009, 01:20 AM

I have an enormous backlog of things I've found on Amazon as ebooks I've not even had a chance to get to yet. Most are reasonably priced and more and more often when I look for something it's available. I read mainly non-fiction and once I filter out all the insane political/religious/snake oil books I've still a lot to work with.

But for a big group of genre fiction with an enormous amount of books available you really are better off looking for specific books.

susan_cassidy · 08-24-2009, 01:51 PM

I also recommend Baen Books for science fiction. There are also some good science fiction books for Kindle on Fictionwise.com. Make sure to only look at Multiformat books. I recommend the Sten series, by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch. Great fun! A few typos here and there, but I've reported some, and they fixed them.

demoric · 08-24-2009, 06:18 PM

Baen is very good for sci-fi, and I frequent fictionwise about as often as I do amazon. Multi-format books are the way to go on fictionwise, but you can convert mobi protected files if that's an avenue you'd like to pursue. (Sorry I can't give instructions, but they are available on the internet). Fictionwise does have some titles that aren't available on amazon, and it's always nice to cross-compare prices.

As for myself for every book I read I seem to collect about 15 for future reading. It's just too easy to aquire new ebooks. I spend more money now on ebooks than I ever did on hardback and paperback books.

pwalker8 · 08-24-2009, 08:43 PM

I have the same frustration with Amazon. I tend to go book shopping every couple of weeks. So when I go to the store, I first go to the new books section. Using the order of publishing date on the Amazon site is almost useless. It wasn't nearly this bad a year ago, but it's gotten worse and worse. I suspect the major cause of the problem is the self publishing and PD books. If there was some way to filter those out, it might be ok. Believe it or not, Sony's website is actually worlds better than Amazon's now, at least from a usability/scanning point of view.

While it isn't ebooks, audible.com has possible the best online shopping experience that I've seen. It's easy to search for books, to sort books in a number of different orders and to change the number of books on the screen. Better yet, I can stick audio books in my wishlist for later purchase, or simply as a reminder to look at a book more closely. Amazon and Sony could learn a lot from Audible.

Daithi · 08-25-2009, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emellaich

You probably already know this, but for me the best way to find new science fiction is through the Baen web site at: http://www.webscription.net/

Now, back to your original query. I agree that I have yet to see a web store with a good way to casually browse any non-trivial collection. However, Amazon does have two features that I find extremely useful.

Go to a book that you know you like on Amazon. Then look for two areas: 1) Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought; and 2) What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item. These should give you lists of similar books that you can choose from. You can even 'chain' these recommendations by clicking one of the recommended books and then seeing what is recommended on its page.

In some ways this is much better than what you originally requested since it can lead you through a similar genre quite efficiently. But I do admit it is not perfect. Books won't show up on the list until they are popular. I can see this approach leading to an insular focus on the most popular authors and freezing out new authors who are trying to bring a fresh view to the genre.

I use the same technique as emellaich along with Elsi's technique of sending myself samples. I also pay attention to the user ratings. Personally I find this way of browsing even easier than finding a good book in the bookstore.

Also, I've found Amazon's prices for fiction is often under $9.99 and rarely over that price. Non-fiction is a different story but even then the price is still usually cheaper than a new physical book, at least from my experience.

NormHart · 08-26-2009, 12:45 AM

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I will give them all a try as soon as I run out of interesting stuff on my Kindle. I can't help but think that if Amazon implemented some form of folders/shelves on the Kindle they might implement the same thing on their web site (or visa versa). Clearly the current scheme is not satisfactory.

08-24-2009, 12:15 AM	#1
NormHart Semper Carpe Bufo Posts: 537 Karma: 21676 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Napa Valley, California Device: Kindle2 & Kindle3	8,577 ebooks and nothing to read I don't often buy Amazon ebooks although I own a Kindle 2 but I was inspired tonight to poke around on their site to see what new and interesting books they might have. Now I read Science Fiction, lots and lots of Science Fiction, and have done so for over fifty years so seeing that they had 8,577 Science Fiction ebooks was interesting. I noticed several things right off the bat. 1) There are a lot of ebooks listed as Sci-Fi that are not, in fact, Sci-Fi at all. 2) In the default "Bestsellers" sort, the top listed ebooks are either free or old classics. Not too surprising since you see much the same thing at Gutenberg and elsewhere. 3) Sorting by "Price low to high" gets you a lot of low priced ebooks that either are not Sci-Fi, are short stories, are repackaged Public Domain ebooks, and lots of duplicates. Trying to find new and good Science Fiction is amazingly hard on Amazon. I finally sorted the ebooks by "Price high to low" and, after going through several pages of weird stuff at unreal prices I came upon some newer Sci-Fi at hard bound prices. By this time I was exhausted and still found nothing I really wanted to read and could afford. Is this true for other genera? Is there some other way of finding good ebooks? I am used to wandering along the shelves at a bookstore looking at covers, selecting by author or publisher, Amazon certainly does not lend itself to that kind of browsing so far as I can tell.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
For and against ebooks. Interesting read	eric11210	News	30	09-08-2010 06:09 AM
Why do you read ebooks?	kdf9511	News	71	02-17-2010 06:43 AM
Do eBooks Change What You Read?	schroedercl2	News	44	02-16-2010 09:52 PM
Cant read eBooks on eReader	=X=	Reading and Management	3	04-06-2009 02:19 PM
Read eBooks on a GameBoy!!	Bob Russell	Alternative Devices	0	05-05-2005 09:02 AM

08-24-2009, 01:19 AM	#5
emellaich Wizard Posts: 1,101 Karma: 4388403 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Palm>Ebookman>IPaq>Axim>Cybook>Kndl2>IPAD>Kndl3SO>Voyager>Oasis	You probably already know this, but for me the best way to find new science fiction is through the Baen web site at: http://www.webscription.net/ Now, back to your original query. I agree that I have yet to see a web store with a good way to casually browse any non-trivial collection. However, Amazon does have two features that I find extremely useful. Go to a book that you know you like on Amazon. Then look for two areas: 1) Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought; and 2) What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item. These should give you lists of similar books that you can choose from. You can even 'chain' these recommendations by clicking one of the recommended books and then seeing what is recommended on its page. In some ways this is much better than what you originally requested since it can lead you through a similar genre quite efficiently. But I do admit it is not perfect. Books won't show up on the list until they are popular. I can see this approach leading to an insular focus on the most popular authors and freezing out new authors who are trying to bring a fresh view to the genre.

08-24-2009, 01:20 AM	#6
Gideon Wearer of Pants Posts: 1,050 Karma: 7634 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Norman, OK Device: Amazon Kindle DX / iPhone	I have an enormous backlog of things I've found on Amazon as ebooks I've not even had a chance to get to yet. Most are reasonably priced and more and more often when I look for something it's available. I read mainly non-fiction and once I filter out all the insane political/religious/snake oil books I've still a lot to work with. But for a big group of genre fiction with an enormous amount of books available you really are better off looking for specific books.

08-24-2009, 01:51 PM	#7
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	I also recommend Baen Books for science fiction. There are also some good science fiction books for Kindle on Fictionwise.com. Make sure to only look at Multiformat books. I recommend the Sten series, by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch. Great fun! A few typos here and there, but I've reported some, and they fixed them.

08-24-2009, 06:18 PM	#8
demoric Kindle 2 User Posts: 98 Karma: 496 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: S.E. Kansas Device: Kindle 2	Baen is very good for sci-fi, and I frequent fictionwise about as often as I do amazon. Multi-format books are the way to go on fictionwise, but you can convert mobi protected files if that's an avenue you'd like to pursue. (Sorry I can't give instructions, but they are available on the internet). Fictionwise does have some titles that aren't available on amazon, and it's always nice to cross-compare prices. As for myself for every book I read I seem to collect about 15 for future reading. It's just too easy to aquire new ebooks. I spend more money now on ebooks than I ever did on hardback and paperback books.

08-24-2009, 08:43 PM	#9
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	I have the same frustration with Amazon. I tend to go book shopping every couple of weeks. So when I go to the store, I first go to the new books section. Using the order of publishing date on the Amazon site is almost useless. It wasn't nearly this bad a year ago, but it's gotten worse and worse. I suspect the major cause of the problem is the self publishing and PD books. If there was some way to filter those out, it might be ok. Believe it or not, Sony's website is actually worlds better than Amazon's now, at least from a usability/scanning point of view. While it isn't ebooks, audible.com has possible the best online shopping experience that I've seen. It's easy to search for books, to sort books in a number of different orders and to change the number of books on the screen. Better yet, I can stick audio books in my wishlist for later purchase, or simply as a reminder to look at a book more closely. Amazon and Sony could learn a lot from Audible.

08-26-2009, 12:45 AM	#11
NormHart Semper Carpe Bufo Posts: 537 Karma: 21676 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Napa Valley, California Device: Kindle2 & Kindle3	Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I will give them all a try as soon as I run out of interesting stuff on my Kindle. I can't help but think that if Amazon implemented some form of folders/shelves on the Kindle they might implement the same thing on their web site (or visa versa). Clearly the current scheme is not satisfactory.

Advert

Advert