How does Amazon work the Also Boughts?

The algorithm takes time to kick in, but how much time varies. There's a lot of guess work, but it seems like the more sales you have the faster also bought items show up. My latest pre-order received the first batch in four days, and the list grew quickly after that.

Reviews have nothing to do with also bought items, only how many people purchased the same item. The list is sorted by relevance. So if 75 people bought book 1 and book 2, then book 2 would appear higher on the also bought items for book 1 than anything that had fewer common purchases.

Does that make sense? I'm not sure if I explained that very well.

Chris Fox said:

The algorithm takes time to kick in, but how much time varies. There's a lot of guess work, but it seems like the more sales you have the faster also bought items show up. My latest pre-order received the first batch in four days, and the list grew quickly after that.

Reviews have nothing to do with also bought items, only how many people purchased the same item. The list is sorted by relevance. So if 75 people bought book 1 and book 2, then book 2 would appear higher on the also bought items for book 1 than anything that had fewer common purchases.

Does that make sense? I'm not sure if I explained that very well.

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You explained it perfectly, thank you.

Gwynn,
First off what is a gum pole?

Now on to also boughts,  if you run a free promotion expect anything and everything to show up in the also-bought.    Those tend to be the buyers that stock up on everything.
Now I haven't stocked up in a while but to give you a general idea, here is what I might pick up...
Gwynn's biography, Philip's history, Wayne's sea adventures,  Becca's kids books, everyone's Sci fi, some mysteries,  cookbooks that look good, craft books, organizing books, prepper books,  erotica,  romance and whatever else catches my eye.  The occasional how to write a kindle book though those are mostly for laughs.

Not to mention the trips from here to grab a kboarder book or 3. 

Amazon just picks random books in my you might like section.
Hope this helps.

cinisajoy said:

Gwynn,
First off what is a gum pole?

Now on to also boughts, if you run a free promotion expect anything and everything to show up in the also-bought. Those tend to be the buyers that stock up on everything.
Now I haven't stocked up in a while but to give you a general idea, here is what I might pick up...
Gwynn's biography, Philip's history, Wayne's sea adventures, Becca's kids books, everyone's Sci fi, some mysteries, cookbooks that look good, craft books, organizing books, prepper books, erotica, romance and whatever else catches my eye. The occasional how to write a kindle book though those are mostly for laughs.

Not to mention the trips from here to grab a kboarder book or 3.

Amazon just picks random books in my you might like section.
Hope this helps.

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Okay. Gotcha. You made me smile, too, so that was a double bonus!

Can you please answer the gum pole question.  It has been bugging me since last night.

Unless there's a slang I don't know, a gum pole is basically timber. The ******** tree, which is a type of eucalyptus, is grown like a slower-growing version of maize, and harvested for its straight pole trunk... which, once debarked and dried, is a "gum pole." (Usually treated to prevent rot and termite infestation, but not always.) They range from smaller, thinner poles chopped to length (and sometimes quartered) for fence posts to big fat architectural timbers to telephone poles... to just about anything else you'd need a long, straight piece of wood for. The trees grow up to 50 meters tall, though you won't get all of that as a useable poll once you remove stump and crown.

In the USA, they use pine trees instead of ********, because it's better suited for that climate and soil. This leads to a lot of sarcasm from the folks who grow it toward people proclaiming we need to save the forests and recycle more paper, because it's just another agricultural crop like maize or wheat.

Thank you.
Well I know here in the US,  the big paper mills grow their own trees.  It was neat seeing the different sizes.    They specifically used 5 year old trees.  And then replanted.

Cin, it's a pleasure.

Gwynn,

You had me at Okavango delta. My husband has said for years he wants to show the better parts of Africa to me, and that is one of the best of all the places he left behind... but it does seem that the things he says about tourists and wildlife are remarkably similar to my familiar grounds of Alaska. (He had never heard our weary phrase, "Tourists get on the plane, and turn off their brain", but his "Africa wins again" seemed to have all the same connotations.) I look forward to reading your book tonight!

cinisajoy said:

Can you please answer the gum pole question. It has been bugging me since last night.

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Um . . . did I write something crazy in my sleep? I must have because I don't recall anything about a gum pole. you will have to enlighten me. I never did claim to be very smart . . .

dgrant said:

Cin, it's a pleasure.

Gwynn,

You had me at Okavango delta. My husband has said for years he wants to show the better parts of Africa to me, and that is one of the best of all the places he left behind... but it does seem that the things he says about tourists and wildlife are remarkably similar to my familiar grounds of Alaska. (He had never heard our weary phrase, "Tourists get on the plane, and turn off their brain", but his "Africa wins again" seemed to have all the same connotations.) I look forward to reading your book tonight!

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I would love to go to Alaska. It is a long held dream of mine. Maybe you should write a book about it so I can snuggle up and escape too. Hope you enjoy Torn Trousers! Africa won big time.

GwynnEWhite said:

Um . . . did I write something crazy in my sleep? I must have because I don't recall anything about a gum pole. you will have to enlighten me. I never did claim to be very smart . . .

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"Known as squatter camps, the residents of these homes -- corrugated iron, plastic bags, and gum poles tacked together with nails-- considered themselves lucky if they had one meal a day." (Location 66)

cinisajoy said:

"Known as squatter camps, the residents of these homes -- corrugated iron, plastic bags, and gum poles tacked together with nails-- considered themselves lucky if they had one meal a day." (Location 66)

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Ah . . . the light has gone on. Don't you have gum poles in the US? They are eucalyptus tree trunks (called gum trees is South Africa) used for building in South Africa. Now any round, straight pole is called a gum pole . . . I wonder how many other people have wondered about that?

I was thinking of a sweet gum tree but that didn't sound right.  It would have been easy enough to Google but since I had talked to you, more fun to ask the author.

Always

cinisajoy said:

I was thinking of a sweet gum tree but that didn't sound right. It would have been easy enough to Google but since I had talked to you, more fun to ask the author.

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. I love chatting to the authors of books enjoy. Part of the fun of the whole indie revolution that authors are now accessible.