Though I may like a reading device I described. This is still more me.
Why Discovery is More Fun in the Store than online. But Online has its positives as well.
I wander a lot in book stores. Granted it is usually Barnes and Noble and Borders since the independent bookstore is near extinct by me (only religious book stores thrive). I have in my head certain books that I want to buy. No question as to whether or not I am going to buy them. Those books I buy from BN.com or Amazon.
You Bought This, So you Might Like this
Amazon’s recommendations, at least for me, are pretty spot on. But most of the recommendation are books I already own, ones that I might be interested in reading but know that I don’t have the time to get to, or books with the same themes. I use this feature about 40% of the time I’m on Amazon. My wish list is filled with those recommendations.
But I don’t go to Amazon to discover. I go to Amazon to buy. I know what I am looking for, I add it to my cart and off I go. This is complementary to my store wanderings. I’ll get to that soon.
Rarely do I sit on the computer and scroll through page after page of recommendations or category of books. It is boring and repetitive.
Can I help you find something? No, I’m just wandering.
I tend to wander around book stores with no certain pattern or purpose. I’ll visit pretty much all the stacks and if I’m lucky, I’ll come away with something new that I have never thought to buy or read. Unlike movies books don’t get the huge media blitz so having new works presented to you is not really an option.
Wandering is fun. And I have come across some great finds that have made me pursue different works that I don’t think I would have picked up if I stuck to not wandering. It has also led to an increase in the number of books I buy but that is a minor side effect.
Recently, while wandering around the SF/Horror/Fantasy section in Barnes and Noble I came across Monster
and I’m glad I did. I now have a new author I’m going to check out.
Ultimately, buying online, for me, is about laser precision. I know what I am looking for, two or three clicks it is in my cart and then ready to be shipped. In the store I get to lose myself in the stacks and find out if I’m missing something or missed something (which seems to be increasing in frequency lately).
I wish that I had more used book stores or bigger independent book stores near me. It would give me more real estate to wander around in. But right now I have to deal with the four or five Borders and Barnes and Nobles I have local to me. At least they don’t mimic each others stock that much and I tend to find different things in each store.
