Notes from the field: DEAR AMAZON ... an exchange between novelist Amy Gutman and Amazon.com From: Argutman@aol.com Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 10:22:33 EST To: community–help@amazon.com Subject: Problem with "whole–book" search — can't find books Dear Amazon, Are you at Amazon aware of the significant glitch in the "whole book" search that makes it impossible for many of us to search by title & author any longer? My new book, "The Anniversary" (Little, Brown 6/03), no longer comes up at all when I type in my name (Amy Gutman). (Similarly, Julie Hilden's new book "Three" (Plume 7/03) doesn't come up when I type her name.) Instead, I get books where I'm listed in the acknowledgments and a slew of books quoting a Princeton philosophy professor who shares my name. My Amazon ranking has plummeted since introduction of this new search engine. It apparently is not a problem shared by everyone—my editors at Warner and Little, Brown are able to search and find the book—but about half the people I've polled are having this problem with my book and others. If it matters, I am on AOL 7.0 and several other AOL users are among those I polled who are now having trouble finding books. Refreshing the browser makes no difference to this problem which again is a NEW problem—one I never had prior to introduction of the whole–book search. I would appreciate a response at your earliest convenience. All best, Amy Gutman From: cust.service03@amazon.com Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 16:24:18 -0800 To: argutman@aol.com Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com. I'm sorry to hear that you didn't find our new search feature interesting enough. However, please note that we've introduced a feature that allows you to search for books that contain specific words or phrases. Just type the phrase into the keyword search field on our home page. For example, if you're looking for books about managing a stock portfolio, you might type "managing stock portfolios". Click "Go!" to see the search results. On the next page we will display short excerpts from books that contain the phrase you entered. Click the page number to view the page within that book with your search terms highlighted, or you may choose to view a list of excerpts from the book that contain your search terms. Please note that you must have an Amazon.com account in order to use this feature. For more information, please visit our Help pages: http://www.amazon.com/o/tg/browse/-/10197021 http://www.amazon.com/o/tg/browse/-/10197041 Customer feedback like yours is very important in helping us continue to improve the selection and service we provide. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com. We hope to see you again soon. Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question: If yes, click here: http://www.amazon.com/resolved-yes?comm_id=qhrh6327 If not, click here: http://www.amazon.com/resolved-no?comm_id=qhrh6327 Best regards, Varun D. Amazon.com Customer Service From: Argutman@aol.com Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:36:26 EST To: cust.service03@amazon.com Subject: Re: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Your answer was COMPLETELY NON–RESPONSIVE to my complaint. Very frustrating. Amy Gutman From: orders-reply@amazon.com Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 06:05:08 -0800 To: argutman@aol.com Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your concern. I have reviewed our previous correspondence with you. When you use our keyword search engine to look for items, our system looks for any items whose title, author/artist, or subject includes the keywords you specify. For books, we will also display titles that include those keywords in their text. The information that appears in the item name, author/artist, and subject fields of the items on our web site is determined by the publisher or manufacturer. Therefore, you may occasionally find that a search produces results you were not expecting or were not interested in, as happened in the case you described. You can refine your search results by clicking the "Search" or "Advanced Search" link in the navigation bar at the top of most product categories' home pages. Our advanced searches allow you to specify whether your search terms apply to the item name, artist, or manufacturer, as well as allowing you to specify other parameters such as language, age range, binding or format, etc., depending on the product type. If you are searching for an exact author name, title, or phrase, you might try putting the words between quotes when entering them into the keyword search field. This should also help narrow down your results. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We designed our search engine to perform broad searches in this manner because we wanted to make sure you wouldn't miss finding items that you might want. We appreciate the time you took to send us your feedback on this subject. We hope to see you again soon at Amazon.com. Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question: If yes, click here: http://www.amazon.com/resolved-yes?comm_id=haah6204 If not, click here: http://www.amazon.com/resolved-no?comm_id=haah6204 Best regards, Kashish Aggarwal Amazon.com Customer Service From: Argutman@aol.com Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 09:45:34 EST To: orders-reply@amazon.com Cc: dj@mobylives.com, staff@authorsguild.org Subject: Re: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, it does not resolve my serious concerns about the new "whole book" search. It is very disturbing that Amazon customers who do an initial search of my name and/or book title cannot find my book. (As you suggest, I use parentheses with the title & my name—it makes no difference.) Most customers—including me—do not know about the advanced search feature and will give up after a first try. Moreover, I cannot, even now, seem to locate this advanced search. When I pull up the Amazon home page I have a single search box, and it is labeled "Search" not "Keyword". I do not see any alternatives. In any case, it would seem far more logical to make the "whole book" search the "advanced search" while allowing run–of–the–mill customers easily to find the titles and authors they are looking for. Once again, it is now virtually impossible to locate my new novel "The Anniversary." (Little, Brown 6/03) on your site. The only way I have found to locate it is by clicking on my first book, "Equivocal Death," and then following the link to my second book, "The Anniversary." Obviously, most potential customers would not have the incentive to go to these lengths. In all likelihood, they will simply assume that the book is not available on Amazon. Given the new technology, I assume many other authors are having and will be having similar problems. Very truly yours, Amy Gutman From: argutman@aol.com Date: Fri Oct 31 08:50:41 PST 2003 To: orders-reply@amazon.com Cc: dlj@mobylives.com Subject: The so-called ADVANCED search Yet another glitch. When I do the so-called "Advanced Search" for THE ANNIVERSARY as Amazon suggested—I finally located the link—what pops up is the paperback version to be published by Warner in February. The book is identified as "yet to be released." There is absolutely no indication that "The Anniversary" is available in Little, Brown hardcover and has been since June. And as previously noted, when I do a normal search using either my name or the book's title, I cannot find it at all. (The reader who suggested using the format "Gutman, Amy" did turn out to have an answer for me—the first one that appears to work consistently—but again, how was one to know? In pre–"whole book search" days, I always used "Amy Gutman" and it worked just fine. You certainly can't expect Amazon customers to try myriad permutations of searches in hopes of hitting on the right one—especially when Amazon offers no visible guidance on the subject.) Book buyers go on line to SAVE TIME, not to endlessly futz around with a dysfunctional search engine. Amy Gutman From: orders-reply@amazon.com Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 11:17:13 -0800 To: argutman@aol.com Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your comments. We appreciate your loyalty to our web site over the years—we couldn't have made it this far without you. I'm sorry to hear that our new feature, which allows you to search for books that contain specific words or phrases, doesn't appeal to you. I hope you'll understand our desire to present a level of selection and service to all customers. Although there is no way to disable this feature, please know that you can still search for just the author name or title by clicking the "Search" link in the navigation bar at the top of the Books home page, or by going directly to this URL: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ats-query-page/ Our advanced search allows you to specify whether your search terms apply to the title or author, as well as allowing you to specify other parameters such as publisher, ISBN, age range, and binding. Also, please note that you can sort search results by publication date or alphabetically, using the drop-down menu that appears on the search results page. Thank you again for taking time to offer us your thoughts. We are continually working to improve the feature and your comments are important to us. I hope that we will see you again soon at Amazon.com. Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question: If yes, click here: http://www.amazon.com/resolved-yes?comm_id=vtqh6534 If not, click here: http://www.amazon.com/resolved-no?comm_id=vtqh6534 Best regards, Mark McAuley Amazon.com Customer Service From: Argutman@aol.com Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 15:09:54 EST To: orders-reply@amazon.com Cc: dlj@mobylives.com Subject: Re: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Once again, your answer to my email managed to be completely non-responsive. For starters, my complaint is that you are listing a non–published edition of my book when someone does a search. At the moment, I honestly don't have the energy to continue this frustrating and seemingly fruitless exchange. Amy Gutman From: orders-reply@amazon.com Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 15:56:54 -0800 To: argutman@aol.com Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com. It is always important for us to hear how customers react to all aspects of shopping at Amazon.com. Strong customer feedback like yours helps us continue to improve the selection and service we provide, and we appreciate the time you took to write to us. If you have any further questions, please visit our Help pages: http://www.amazon.com/help Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com. Best regards, Matthew Fulton Amazon.com Customer Service Amy Gutman is the author of "The Anniversary" and "Equivocal Death." She also runs the website Amy Gutman.com. ©2003 Amy Gutman Home

Write to Moby Letters policy: All letters must be signed. Also, please say where you’re writing from — either an affiliation or hometown. All material not otherwise attributed ©2001, 2002, 2003 Dennis Loy Johnson.