Judging a book by…

Since we were given a list of choices, I used them as a jumping off point. I went through the list and starred the titles that appealed to me at first glance. Then I did a generic Amazon search. I wanted to see which of the books I had selected from the list would come up first (Plug Your Book! was the big winner). My goal was to see which books I would have come across on my own if I had been searching for a book without a list to work from.

In my first keyword search, two of the four titles I starred showed up on the first page results. Much to my surprise (and disgust), almost all of the books that showed up in my initial search were listed as kindle books only, or with e-book prices listed more prominently than analogue book prices. I had to follow several links before I had the option to buy a book made of paper. Luckily, for the paper loving masses, my second search yielded many more analogue results. I imagine that by using the word “online” in my initial search, I prompted Amazon to believe that I was looking for digital reading material.

I then specifically researched the four titles I had starred on my list. I flipped though the “look inside” features of each of the titles to get a feel for the book— the way I would flip through the pages of an analogue book in a bookstore. I like to check out the design and the format of the books I am going to read. One of the books (Radically Transparent) was not available to browse, however, and this deterred me from choosing that one.

After flipping back and forth between the Amazon pages, I narrowed my list down to two titles (The Age of Engage and Online Marketing Heroes) and moved my search over to Powell’s where I checked their reviews and availability of the two titles. I feel better about buying books from our wonderful independent bookstore. Since both were available, I went back to Amazon and read the first few pages each one. I finally selected the book that seemed most interesting to me and easiest to read.

When it comes down to it, I shopped the online bookstore in much the same way I shop at a brick and mortar bookstore. I browsed for a while, picked up a few choices, narrowed it down, and committed. I took into account the reviews and recommendations, the readability and relevance. I agonized and scrutinized… and then picked the prettiest one.

I will be reading Online Marketing Heroes: Interviews with 25 Successful Online Marketing Gurus