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The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

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Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#51

Post by wussboy »

GeoSys wrote: post #4
jn6118 wrote: post #2

This article really resonates with me and I'm somewhat relieved to see someone else feels the same way. I love physical books for general reading and will often buy both physical and ebook format for technical books to get the best of both worlds. I now cannot stand print-on-demand books and, like the author, I can spot them very quickly. The quality is abysmal, and I might as well be printing them myself at that poi…

Is there a way to filter out such books when you browse Amazon? They should at least tell you it's an "on-demand" printed book before you order?

Not only am I sure there isn't one, I'm sure there will never be one. That might reduce profits for Amazon slightly.

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#52

Post by tharmas »

ahartmetz wrote: post #47
toofy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don’t know of a way. but even if you can, it will almost certainly be done away with. i’m so jaded im sure it would end up like trying to filter out shorts on youtube. click the “show me less of this” only for it to show you more.

There are uBlock Origin filter rules for shorts. They work :)

I concur!

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#53

Post by SilverElfin »

GeoSys wrote: post #4
jn6118 wrote: post #2

This article really resonates with me and I'm somewhat relieved to see someone else feels the same way. I love physical books for general reading and will often buy both physical and ebook format for technical books to get the best of both worlds. I now cannot stand print-on-demand books and, like the author, I can spot them very quickly. The quality is abysmal, and I might as well be printing them myself at that poi…

Is there a way to filter out such books when you browse Amazon? They should at least tell you it's an "on-demand" printed book before you order?

Not that I can tell. It’s probably an intentional choice, just like how they don’t let you filter by country of origin.

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#54

Post by elcapitan »

Regarding quality, I have noticed a considerable decline in non-on-demand quality of paperback books in recent years as well. Paper is often really bad, printing quality even worse. Very often the text is grayish pixelated, I'm guessing this is because the publishers have stored some subpar digitized version of prior editions, which on reprints comes out like an ereader from 20 years ago.

I often specifically look up old or first print editions of books (paperback or hardcover) and then buy them used from Abebooks etc.

However, the quality of the on-demand books via Amazon is hit and miss. It's not universally bad. Sometimes it is very good paper and sharp print. Sometimes it is cheapish white copy paper. The covers are universally bad. In Berlin they apparently come from Poland.

I also got on demand books in similar qualities from other German book sellers (buecher.de for example). On their page at least it's somewhat recognizable that it will be on demand, because they have some details about the manufacturer (themselves in this case).

I'm not necessarily against those on demand books, but I would really like if Amazon and other sites would

- let me know when I have to expect those books

- customize the quality options (e.g. paper color)

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#55

Post by microflash »

I’m a very prolific reader who primarily reads ePubs and occasionally printed books (mainly because I’m running out of space to keep books at home). One thing that I’ve noticed in modern prints is the subpar spines. I’ve books from 90s with their spine intact and going through continuous reads vs recent buys that come apart and require a rebinding on just few reads.

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#56

Post by mingus88 »

ljm wrote: post #11

I like to buy books and would never buy from Amazon. Haven't for a long time for many reasons. I find it more enjoyable to browse a local bookshop or charity shop and, if I want to buy something specific online I'll go with bookshop.org.

Bookshop.org will also pair with local book stores and share some profits. Win-win

It’s ironic that in the 90s, we were warning about large retailers like Barnes and Noble pushing out smaller shops. Now we’re nostalgic for that experience also.

Amazon has truly ruined many things. We traded so much for the cheap convenience of fast shipping and a few dollars off.

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#57

Post by mingus88 »

sevenseacat wrote: post #33

This is partially why I don't buy print books anymore, unless I have no other choice (like random region restrictions on ebooks I want to read). Sadly, I'm completely locked into the Amazon ecosystem for ebooks, but at least there I know what I'm getting.

Are you truly locked in?

I still have a kindle 4 from 2011 that works fine. If you have a lot of Amazon only ebooks, there’s nothing stopping you from keeping an old device for those.

I switched to a Kobo and have zero regrets. It has overdrive/libby support and I can check out books from my library directly to it. The Kobo store is fine as well and I can maintain a calibre library for everything else

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#58

Post by jerome-jh »

My local book store accepts online orders and I can fetch my books from the shop a few days later. I am finding this more convenient than Amazon, even if a little more expensive. I also appreciate to have a book store in town, for the few times I have to find a present and have no idea and little time.

For the convenience aspect: Amazon deliveries routinely fail, require me to fetch the parcel at the entrance of my condo at inconvenient times, or require me the get my parcel at the condo concierge, again at inconvenient times, or the parcel is dropped at a random place.

I never had to return a book bought at the store. I do not even know their return policy. It may definitely be an issue someday in the future.

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#59

Post by jerome-jh »

jerome-jh wrote: post #58

My local book store accepts online orders and I can fetch my books from the shop a few days later. I am finding this more convenient than Amazon, even if a little more expensive. I also appreciate to have a book store in town, for the few times I have to find a present and have no idea and little time. For the convenience aspect: Amazon deliveries routinely fail, require me to fetch the parcel at the entrance of my c…

Replying to myself

Christmas 2023: I ordered a number of books from the local bookstore. One failed to delivered, so

Christmas 2024: I ordered most of my books from Amazon. No two deliveries went the same (see above), total randomness.

Christmas 2025: I ordered ALL my books from the local bookstore (+600$). I started shopping earlier (end of November) and everything went smooth! They kept my individual orders at the shop and I could collect them all in one go. No stress.

The online shop of my local bookstore is simple and efficient. I can read book excerpts, just like on Amazon. But the total absence of clutter makes for a much more efficient experience and a huge amount of time spared.

Re: The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books

#60

Post by mrweasel »

cmiles8 wrote: post #43
mrweasel wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no real point to Amazon anymore. They generally aren't cheaper, especially once you factor in shipping, the entire site is a mess, you risk getting scammed and you can't really find what you're looking for anyway.

The only area where it makes sense is speed of delivery. If you really need something in the next 24 hours they are the fastest. For just about everything else the customer experience is far better elsewhere.

Amazon doesn't have any warehouses within the country, Germany is the nearest, so everything takes a week or more to arrive.
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