Amazon Plogs?

[jmc_bks]

Opinions about plogs?  Do they matter in the scheme of your book buying and reading?

I had two new plog posts waiting when I checked Amazon today; one from Nora Roberts, one from a movie reviewer about a movie I bought via Amazon more than a year ago.  :shrug:  The Nora post was interesting to me, primarily because she mentions her work in progress -- a trilogy called The Seven Signs The Sign of the Seven, with the first book Blood Brothers, to be released next December.  Paranormalish, I'm thinking, just based on the titles.

Comments

[sarahf.livejournal.com]

What's a plog?

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

It's a marketing tool of Amazon. It works like a blog aggregator based on purchase history, with letters and updates by authors you've bought or wishlisted in the past. [Although I'm wondering now if they use search history, too, because there's at least one letter by an author that I've never bought, at Amazon or elsewhere. Which disturbs me in terms of wondering what they track and how they use it.] My personal plog includes entries by Nora Roberts, a couple of chick lit authors I've read, etc.

I'm not sure where "plog" came from, but Amazon seems to have trademarked the term.

I'm not sure how well received it has been, or if it serves the marketing function that I assume it was created for. Occasionally I check them out, but otherwise they go unread. And they don't influence what I buy or read.

[eackerman.livejournal.com]

I think "plog" = "plug" and "blog".

Plogs

[(Anonymous)]

I ignore the plogs and the reviews on Amazon. If anything I find them annoying, actually.

~Amanda

[(Anonymous)]

I'm like Amanda - I figured plogs were just another marketing grab by the author. I only read the reviews at Amazon if someone points me to something or if I'm thinking of purchasing a non-fiction book. Amazingly people are very well versed in what kind of information they are looking for and luckily, they are willing to share how the book worked.

CindyS