Re: Re: Amazon.com's "Search Inside the Book"

On Mon, 2003-11-03 at 11:55, Keith Tabor wrote:

>
> The works aren't really available in a way that will
> diminish sales. The works are searchable and more
> likely to be seen by people looking for advice on a
> topic. The works are more likely to be bought.

This is one theory, but as you mention later in your note, if it doesn't turn out to be the case, then Amazon will probably discontinue the practice.

There isn't proof at the moment that making books available online will increase sales. The National Academy Press put some of its works up online beginning in 1996 and claimed that sales of those works had gone up, measurably. (They did more than put the books up online, however, they created an entire online presence for their Press. See the article at: http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/04-04/pope.html) At least one other academic publisher, University of California Press, has also made its works available online, but last I heard they have not seen an increase in sales. Both of these are academic presses, whose works are notoriously hard to find in bookstores and receive very little promotion, so the increased visibility of these books online could make a difference. Most of us are reluctant to buy a book by an unknown author that we can't at least leaf through and get some idea of its content before putting down our money. Since these books aren't usually carried by bookstores, online access gives most readers their first chance to browse these books before buying.

Whether or not viewing a few pages online leads to a sale depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the text itself. As I recall from one posting, publishers of reference books have refused to participate in the Amazon feature. For those works, a small number of pages may well satisfy the information need of the person doing the search, and will substitute for a sale. In the case of some non-fiction works, a single chapter may have value in itself. (There are some e-textbooks in which individual chapters are being sold separately.)

So the factors are complex. They depend on the type of publishing, the nature of the materials, how the materials are presented, and what the audience wants. We should view what Amazon is doing as an experiment and watch for outcomes before we draw conclusions about how this is for authors.

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Karen Coyle
Digital Library Specialist
http://www.kcoyle.net
Ph: 510-540-7596 Fax: 510-848-3913
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