The default book link
Just a quickie post, but have you ever realized that Amazon.com is the default book link of the web? The vast majority of instances when anyone links a book title online, they're pointing to Amazon. Two fairly obvious reasons why:
1. Their selection is so broad, they almost certainly have a page for the book you're referring to.
2. Meta-info and community book reviews make their pages feel useful for readers. It's almost like it's not even an online store. Almost!
Wouldn't it be amazing to become the default music link (iTunes)? The default reference link (Wikipedia)? Are there other content-type or general category defaults like these?
You overlooked another reason amazon is the default book link: they have a great affiliate program that lets you get a little money if someone buys stuff after following your link.
Posted by: Ned Batchelder | April 28, 2008 at 09:21 PM
Other bookstores do in fact have affiliate programs (Powell's, Booksense, BN) but Amazon is just so entrenched for the reasons Joshua mentions that I think it's hard for them to get a hold. TypePad (and probably other blogging software) also makes it far easier to link to Amazon than anyone else.
Posted by: Kevin | April 28, 2008 at 11:58 PM
Thank you both for the comments. It's true that Amazon has a good affiliate program, but my guess is most bloggers earn such little revenue with it, it's not a major factor in why they point to Amazon.
I'll have to try the TypePad integration Kevin ... I've been linking the old fashioned way.
Posted by: Joshua Ledwell | April 29, 2008 at 09:44 AM
IMDB is the default movie link. Google is the default search link.
For books, I much prefer a link to librarything.com. That's because I like their site more as a bibliographic source. But Amazon tends to be my default for actually buying books online (probably for the same reasons it's the default link).
Posted by: Joel | May 09, 2008 at 12:58 PM