[Honeybun]

I'm starting this thread as a way to communicate with Amazon (or really any vendor who liked the ideas) about some things I'd love to see implemented.  And, please forgive me if they already exist and I just didn't realize it.

1.  I'd love to have a way of saving an author whose works I'd love to read without actually picking out any books at that time.  I might want to read them but just not at this moment.  Kind of like a future-reading wish list.

2. With ebooks, I'd like to be able to put them in a Wishlist to be bought shopping cart like I can physical items.  Again, sometimes I want to buy but not this minute.  Or, sometimes I want to buy but I haven't decided if "this" book is the one I want or maybe it's this "other" book.  If I could add ebooks to a shopping cart, it would give me a chance to make my final selection a little easier without losing titles I was thinking of going back to.

3.  I think Amazon's push/attempts to get people to write more reviews is admirable.  However, as a buyer, I find it frustrating that when I get an email asking me to review something, I essentially have to write a review twice - once at the email level and then again at Amazon where I have to put it all in again.  (It's been awhile since I've done a review that way so maybe the process has changed.)  Also, it would be nice to be able to leave someone a star rating without leaving a comment.  I don't always need to write a comment.  If I'm buying agava syrup for the 5th time, I might feel like giving a star rating but I feel burdened in that I'm being asked to write a description.  Just leaving a star rating should (imo) be an option.


Anybody else have site adaptions they'd like to see?

 

[Becca Mills]

I think many of us would love to know how people get to our books. Do they search on our names? Our books' titles? On our books' genres? Do they click through from an also-bought? From a popularity list? From a best-seller list? From an outside website? (If so, which one?) That would be really useful, and I'm sure Am has that info.

Many people want readers to be able to "follow" an author, with Am sending an email out to the followers every time the author publishes something new. I think I'm against that. If someone followed me on Am, they might be less likely to sign up for my mailing list -- it would seem redundant. That would make me even more dependent on Am than I am already. Also, I'd have no control over how/when my readers were being contacted. What if Am's efforts annoyed some of them, the way the review-solicitation emails do? There'd be nothing I could do about it.

 

[Honeybun]

Becca,

Your comments made me think.  How cool would it be to know how many people click in to take a closer view/read on our titles?  If, for instance, we were getting 100 people who clicked in on our titles but only 30 people bought, that would give us Very useful information!  It would let us know that something is working really well about our cover and title info but something is not working about our blurb, etc.  I would love to have that information.   

 

[Lynn McNamee]

I don't really understand your post, Ada.

1. Why don't you just put them on your Amazon Wishlist? That's what I do.

2. Same answer.

3. Amazon sending you an e-mail that tries to get you to write a review doesn't mean have to do it. You also don't have to do it in the way you described. Just go to the product page and write a review as normal.

I get what you're saying about the ability to leave a star rating without a comment. You can do that over at B&N and Goodreads. But for as many people as I've seen wanting the ability to do that at Amazon, at least three others don't want it. It promotes "drive-by" ratings and trolls.

~~~

Becca Mills's ideas are spot-on. As a publisher, I'd love to see that information. 

 

[Honeybun]

I don't really understand your post, Ada.

1. Why don't you just put them on your Amazon Wishlist? That's what I do.

2. Same answer.

3. Amazon sending you an e-mail that tries to get you to write a review doesn't mean have to do it. You also don't have to do it in the way you described. Just go to the product page and write a review as normal.

I get what you're saying about the ability to leave a star rating without a comment. You can do that over at B&N and Goodreads. But for as many people as I've seen wanting the ability to do that at Amazon, at least three others don't want it. It promotes "drive-by" ratings and trolls.

~~~

Becca Mills's ideas are spot-on. As a publisher, I'd love to see that information.

Ahhh... A "Wishlist" button. lol.. there you go. I overlooked it. But, still can't see how I can create a list of favorite authors.

 

[George Applegate]

As I've said before, I do think Amazon is behind the curve on matching readers to books.  Like Netflix, they need to be estimating how a reader will rate a given book by matching rating patterns between readers.  Central to this is an easy and clear way from readers to rate all books they have read (not just purchased at Amazon), without requiring them to write reviews.  If you haven't seen it, Netflix has a rating page where they offer you movies you have not yet rated but which they think you are likely to have watched.

The simple star rating may be too subjective for books.  Netflix uses Hated/Didn't like/Liked/Really liked/Loved which gives some guidance.  With stars, some people will habitually rate 4-5 and others 3-4 because they interpret the stars differently.  So perhaps the book rating system should be distinct from the star system.

 

[Terrence OBrien]

"I think many of us would love to know how people get to our books. Do they search on our names? Our books' titles? On our books' genres? Do they click through from an also-bought? From a popularity list? From a best-seller list? From an outside website? (If so, which one?) That would be really useful, and I'm sure Am has that info."

That would be valuable information for authors. It would also be very valuable to Amazon competitors. I suspect Amazon doesn't want to give out a formula for success. The internal paths people take to books are paths Amazon developed.