Member: pioneercynthia

pioneercynthia wrote: " I've been selecting my preferences from the August ER's, and I have a question about it. Is it better for me to request everything that even remotely interests me, or to just pick, say, the five most interesting books? "

Hi Cynthia,

Well, it depends what you mean by "better"! Do you mean more likely to win, or more likely to get a book you want? The algorithm picks the best reviewer for every book -- not the best book for every reviewer. So for example, in a given batch, you if you request a book you're only semi-interested in, and you're a better match for it than most people, you'll win it. And if you were a pretty good match for a book you were really interested in, in the same batch, you'll be out of the running, because you were a better match for a book that you might not be as interested in. Does that make sense?

Ultimately, though, I think it's about what you'd like to read. If you're fine reading a variety of books--and taking the time to review them--then request what you want!

I don't think there's really a way to "game the system."

Best,
Abby

posted by ablachly at 11:04 am (EST) on Aug 11, 2009

Hi, Cynthia:

My apologies for the delayed response! Thanks so much for your note and for sharing your thoughts on Amazon as well. I was on a long-awaited trip to West Africa during December and am slowly catching up.

I've written two other books, one pretty technical, about singing, called "Concert Song as Seen," but one that I think you might enjoy--it's about mannequin displays in New York store windows (yes, really), and is called "Vital Mummies." Deals with the fashion industry and the design of the mannequins and of the store windows, especially during the 1970s, when vivid sex-and-death windows were the rage.

Hope this finds you well indeed--

With all warm wishes,
Sara

posted by sarakschneider at 5:56 pm (EST) on Jan 15, 2009