Book Publishers - Listen Up
February 10th, 2006A great post from The Krafty Librarian:
“I searched both Matthews Medical Books and Rittenhouse and I could not find anything on their site where they have email alert system or an RSS feed for newly published books. Both sites feature new books but only on their web site. Why do I have to go to their web site to look at what’s new? Shouldn’t they have a service that I can sign up for and which sends me an alert of what’s newly available on the market? I realize the amount of books that are published is probably pretty huge, perhaps that list would be too big to send out or display. However, they could display new books that were Brandon Hill Titles, titles that have 3 stars in Doody Core Titles in Health Sciences, or most bought titles.”
I’ve mentioned this to a few book publishers on many occasions (I can’t say who because I keep my word on not blogging conversations unless I get the thumbs up to do so). New book titles via RSS is not only smart, but has amazing marketing potential. Also, libraries can subscribe to these feeds and get updated with new books that these companies are putting out.
Or, as Krafty said, why not use Library Thing? I’m sure Tim Spalding wouldn’t mind charging publishing companies for it 
Plus, they would get all the social software benefits.