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Comment Threads

• williamlivesley commented on Polemic: how readers will discover books in future
  The increased signal to noise in publishing is the heart of the problem in finding books to read rather than the inclusion of adverts which is likely to be easy to avoid. Up to now we have relied on publishers to do this for us, they select authors and put the time and effort into letting us know who is worth reading. Authors published this way have by and large passed the quality test (OK - Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer slipped through). This has now changed. As self-publishing accelerates the problem of separating out the dross is only going...
• anonemouse commented on Polemic: how readers will discover books in future
  This is where putting adverts into books may come in as a misguided attempt by publishers to reduce book prices. I think few readers are that price sensitive and it would be a bad mistake to try this route. Stronger than that; we know readers who buy hardback or paperback aren't sensitive to price, because those that are buy second-hand or pick it up in the library....
• yatima2975 commented on Polemic: how readers will discover books in future
  Aren't bookstores a form of (altruistic) bookspam too? Even staying away from the chains, it is very well possible for me to end up buying more books than intended! It's one of the few forms I don't particularly mind - but it is untargeted and unsolicited advertising....
• Charlie Stross commented on Polemic: how readers will discover books in future
  Aren't bookstores a form of (altruistic) bookspam too? Nope. Spam is attention theft without consent -- it tries to sneak into your eyeballs even if you deny permission. In contrast, you go into a bookshop of your own volition: there's implicit consent. (This goes for any shopping experience you initiate, too.)...
• Chris Kiick commented on Polemic: how readers will discover books in future
  I suspect that bookspam is not too far off. Already, I begin to see Amazon "pushing" books exclusive to them onto their e-book recommendations. Here's the thing: would you read a book with ads in it, if it was free? That's how a lot of web sites work. That's how TV works. Given how desperate publishers are for income, it wouldn't surprise me to see them try the same model - and e-books are the perfect vehicle. Plus, then they could charge a premium for "ad-free" versions. And the less scrupulous (or more desperate) the publisher, the more aggressive the...