Before the online
shopping era, I used to go frequently to Gramedia—the biggest book store in
Indonesia—which we can find in almost every city. Once a month at least, I
would be entering any of Gramedia stores with the hunger to scan any
interesting book on the “new release” shelf. If there are too many of them for
my budget that month, I’ll take note of the title, so I know what to buy (or
consider to buy) for next time.
Now, the
internet makes shopping for book becomes much easier:
- I don’t have to take notes at the book store (I’ve been once reproved by the staff for taking notes), I can create a personal account in the online store’s website, and keep all my wishlist there.
- I can visit a book store anytime, as long as I’m using internet; it saves time and energy. All I have to do is to open my wishlist and put it into my basket.
- To look for a certain book, I can go from one book store to another in just few clicks; I can even compare the prices, stocks, and editions so easily.
And this is
how I shop my books through the internet (because I don’t go to offline book
store anymore, unless I need a book very urgently for a birthday gift):
Thanks to
Goodreads and social media, I am always updated of new published and good books
around. I usually spend much time in reading as much as review of one book that
comes to my radar. I like to read both positive (from people who give 4 or 5
stars), and negative comments (from they who dislike the book to give only 2
stars). I’d like to know what makes them love it and hate it; what kind of
reader they who love it or hate it; are they have similarity with me or not.
For example, if a guy who gives the book 2 stars has the opposite opinion with
me about the book’s theme, then perhaps I’d like the book (I’d also check the 5
stars review with the same reason). From that, I can judge whether I would like
a book or at least whether the book deserves to be considered later.
For English
books (and lately my reading is dominated by English books), my favorite book
store is The Book Depository, with Amazon and Better World Books for second choices
when the book I want isn’t available in TBD. TBD is so far the cheapest choice
for us in Indonesia, thanks to their free delivery shipment. The site
navigation is quite simple and fast, which is very comfortable for shopping.
For
Indonesian translation books, I rely on Maria who has cooperation with some
publishers, and can get a fair discount especially for pre-order books. Maria also
lives in Surabaya, and we used to meet every several months with the others
book blogger in the city, and so she can keep the book(s) for me, and just hand
it me on when we meet (again, free delivery shipment, ha!).
So, I guess,
I should say goodbye to offline book store which has loose its attraction to
me, thanks to the internet. Now, everytime I enter a book store and take a look
at the books (even ones in the ‘new released’ shelf) I would feel like: Ah…I already knew this book. And that book
too. And that one is what they talked about in Twitter last week. Oh, that one
is what that publisher has been promoting for days. And so….there’s no more
excitement left for me to go around traditional book stores….
What about
you? How do you shop for books?
~~~~~~~
The rest 14 days of the challenge:
I always find the negative review the most useful. No matter what the book there will always be a fair amount of people who like it. And they seem to say similar things. The people who hate a book are always different and a much easier way to judge it. If the complaints are well argued and well written I know I should procede with caution. If the complaints are the ranting invective of biased hacks its probably worth considering.
ReplyDeleteExactly! The negative reviews are more intriguing, and usually I get more of the information from them.
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