3 Responses to “Search Inside”

• 1
  Jason Mittell
  19 July 2006, 1.22 pm

  Nice searchability - the even cooler thing that Amazon does with some books (unknown what criteria) is publish Concordance lists of the 100 most commonly used terms in the book.  My book has that feature (for the hardcover only for some reason) at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/sitb-next/0415969026/ref=sbx_con/104-8907841-1497528?ie=UTF8#concordance - it creates kind-of a new interface to the old medium of the book.  And looks cool too…
• 2
  e. fiction
  20 July 2006, 1.26 pm

  Of course, this might mean a few less copies sold, since poor schlubs like me* have been known to use the search feature to read a book three pages at a time rather than buy it.

  Quick professional question: do you think having three publications (articles in decent journals) is any better on the job market than having two?  I’m trying to decide how to respond to a revise-and-resubmit request.

  - - - -

  * - Although in this instance, I’ll be purchasing a copy, hopefully to be autographed by the author in December.
• 3
  KF
  20 July 2006, 1.48 pm

  Actually, studies* have shown that making the text available online generally results in increased rather than decreased sales, as folks get drawn in by what they can find and then decide they’d rather read it in print.

  As to your question:  My basic sense is that more is nearly always better, particularly if they’re good journals.

  *Don’t ask me to cite these studies.  I read that somewhere and I can’t for the life of me remember where.

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