Introducing BookHints
Today, we’re thrilled to unveil BookHints on AbeBooks.com and AbeBooks.co.uk. BookHints is a unique book recommendation system based on the personal libraries of LibraryThing.com members.
LibraryThing.com is a social networking and book cataloging site for booklovers. Check out this article from Saturday’s New York Times to see how the mainstream media is just starting to understand why LibraryThing - a classic Web 2.0 website where the users create the content - is so special.
When you now search for a book on AbeBooks and click through to a listing, you are presented with up to six recommendations for books you might also wish to read. BookHints generates recommendations based upon titles found on the bookshelves of like-minded readers who also own the book originally sought.
At the moment, 10% of AbeBooks’ 100 million listings have recommendations attached to them so don’t be alarmed if you click on some listings and don’t see a set of BookHints. We’re going to be working hard to increase the number of recommendations.
So why have we introduced BookHints?
Well, AbeBooks has never been website designed for browsing books. Traditionally, the majority of our customers know exactly the book they want to buy (usually something that’s become hard to find) but there are also a large number of people who come to AbeBooks unsure about that they want to read next. All too often, these people attempt to browse but end up looking at books that have no relevance to their interests.
We think BookHints will help these browsers find their next read.
Before its official launch to the public, I spent a long time cruising through AbeBooks’ listings and looking at BookHints recommendations. They worked for me. I went through the classics, modern fiction, military history, chick lit, sex manuals and many more genres. Often, I was surprised, and intrigued, by the recommendations in a set of BookHints.
BookHints are unique because they are really an insight into what’s on other people’s bookshelves. We’re excited about them and we hope you enjoy them too.
March 5th, 2007 at 11:18 am
[…] Abebooks announced the implementation of a book recommendation service called BookHints. This service will use the collective data from LibraryThing to make recommendations to users based on the current title they are browsing. I originally posted on this idea back in October. Currently 10% of titles display up to six recommendations. This is a great play for Abebooks and an equally savvy marketing move that coincides with the release of a variety of news articles on LibraryThing today. This should be a strong move for Abe and its sellers. I hope they post some stats to let us know the benefits this service provided. | Permalink for this article | Email this […]
March 11th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Ihave about a hundred english murder mysteries from agatha christie to ngaio marsh to ruth rendell to p.d.james, ect…i would trade them in or sell them for a mere pittance so that i might be able to aquire some new titles. HELP!!