A bit delayed on the posting for a late walk, but I’m catching up.
I had a great time. I’m feeling energized and ready to dig back in. Today is “chore day” and I should clean up some of the hanging-over chores from last week before digging into the next galley.
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Nathan, you were talking about compilations, Did you know you were part of this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Myth-Majesty-Fantasy-Novels-ebook/dp/B00HG2KNE8/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_mrai_3_dp
Oh yes. Yes, indeed.
And I’ll be joining the Stars and Empire 2 compliation at the end of the year. Should be interesting.
Oddly enough – your recommendation engine has been implemented – that’s the whole idea behind GoodReads. You post and rate books you’ve read, mark books you’ve already read, and it makes recommendations. It’s exactly what it sounded like you were describing. And it’s already large enough to have significant network effects, though obviously not to the scale of Also Boughts on Amazon.
I’ve got an account on Goodreads but I’ve never felt welcome there.
I fought it for ages, then found I needed to make a comment on a book in an effort to get a correction made…
The primary recommendation engine I use is fanfic mailing lists – though most of those recommendations are other fanfics, of course.
Facebook and G+ tend to be too much like forums for my tastes – I really do prefer the good old fashioned e-mail mailing list. In comes in, procmail dumps it into various folders, and I read it as I get time to.
Oh – and a scientific approach to making perfect coffee: http://www.science20.com/the_conversation/4_things_needed_to_make_the_perfect_cup_of_coffee-147758 . I expect Ishmael could do better.
Let’s change that! Welcome to Goodreads, Nathan!
I love Goodreads and get a lot of my recommendations there from people who I found who have enjoyed books that I’ve enjoyed. I use the “Compare books” feature to find these folks. I follow only a few folks, some of whom I know in a physical, thought not biblical, way. It’s been a gold mine for me. Being in Goodreads probably helps Amazon know what I prefer to read as well. 🙂
(Thanks again for the mention.)
I’ve seen these “Let’s recommend each other” sites come and go, and they all generally fail IMO for the same reason. They’re trying to solve a writer’s problem (how to find readers), so they only attract writers. Yes, writers read, but there’s not enough.
I have always thought that the better approach is to solve it from the readers’ point of view. That is, how do I as the reader find new books to read? Readers who can find books they like will buy more books, so making it easier for them to find the books they will like means they’ll buy more, and we as authors will reap the benefit.
It’s a huge problem, of course, and will likely require a lot of smart people with a scads of money to back them up. They would need a vast database of books and readers’ preferences. It would also help if such a team had a vested interest in not just helping the readers find the books, but to buy them as well. Maybe they could get a cut of every sale as some kind of a kickback — not a huge amount, probably no more than 30%.
Maybe Amazon could spin off some kind of start-up to try this.
Space Opera recommendation: Have you tried H. Paul Honsinger’s two books? 3rd coming out soon, supposedly. I loved them. Don’t get the ones with the stars, get the edited ones with the picture covers. I am pretty sure you will enjoy them.
About the “funnel”, I agree with you. One reason is illustrated in your commentary today. You don’t read cyberpunk, except (ta da inserted here) you are enjoying the Eduardo book. People need to browse as readers often go out of their comfort zone looking for goodies, right? Recommendations across genres is one answer, assuming the recommendation is not by the author (or his aunt, mother, brother, or next door neighbor. ) But that is kind of hard to control sort of like amazon reviews.
Well, you *can’t* get the ones with stars on the covers, unless you order them used. The stars on the covers are the self-published first editions, the ones with the pretty pictures on the cover are the 47 North “professionally published” editions. I have both books, in both editions, in e-format.
I thought it was an interesting case study, myself. Just what *did* the professional editing and other aspects of the process add to the book? In my opinion:
Not much.
The body count went up. There was a nice scene changed from where the Doctor got to show that he was on the ball, to one where the engine room gets nearly blown up, and the ship almost hulled, by a hypersonic wrench, and the problem was obvious to everyone. There was a discussion – I’ll admit a bit info-dumpy, but also I felt very important to explain the reasons behind some of the Captain’s actions – that got tossed out. A three ship encounter got turned into a four ship encounter for reasons I can’t quite make out.
All in all, more explosions, less story. These books are very much in the Aubry/Maturin mold – intentionally. He gets much praise about the feel of things from some real-life submariners and sailors. They’re great books, even after the editing. Just… they lost some of their uniqueness, their specialness, in going through the “professional editing” process.
Just as a side note, his wife got him into the racket after she wrote and published a couple of HEA Romances set in space (with 3 males/1 female relationships), and started making enough money they could retire from their law practice. She’s up to … 10 books now, I think. And while Paul helps her with the scifi part (and he’s very detail-oriented on that point), they’re no Nora Roberts (or even J. D. Robb).
I kind of disagree on some of the stuff you mentioned, mostly the info dumps. I have both also and enjoyed the starred ones, which is why I bought the edited ones. Also got the paperbacks as I have kids who are paper oriented. (they love the books) Anyway, I think the books are “tighter” and using fewer words to get the info in the story. Especially the Dr.’s part. However, I must say that compared to some of the other offerings, the first books were better than so many. I love Indy books though,well, except for J D Robb, Lee Child, and Liaden.
“Tighter” is not always better. “Jabberwocky” can be summarized, with little loss of information, as “Hey, kid – watch out for the Jabberwock, the Jub-Jub Bird, and the Bandersnatch. Ok, Dad. Kid wanders through the woods, takes a moment to think things through, and the Jabberwock shows up. Sword cuts off the head, Kid runs back home, and Dad celebrates.”
Or the legendary summaries of The Wizard of Oz: “Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets, then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again.” and “When you think about it, the Wizard of Oz is the ultimate chic flick. At its core, its about two women trying to kill each other over a pair of shoes.”