ETC SEE ALSO GENERAL

Archive: Online bookselling

When I'm cataloging books I often fill in keywords like I'm writing to attract Google's eye. Since it isn't mechanical and can be slightly creative I often enjoy working on the keywords. My goal is to sell a book, though I'm not sure if my efforts have ever achieved that.

If you use cataloging software that retrieves the keywords specified by the publisher the list is often testifies to impoverished imagination, laziness and habits best left in old drawers of library catalog cards and not online bookselling.

General

One of the least useful words. Without a military leader or corporation's name attached nobody would use it. It appears in the data for so many books it probably makes attempt to search for those things nearly impossible.

“Fiction General” is an instance of laziness. Fiction is funny, serious, regional, can be described with many nouns and adjectives. I've been told that sometimes the information is filled in my clerical staff who may only have the review slip to look at. Then it is the marketing folks who are at fault for not providing the press release that usually accompanies the slip. They could provide a list of keywords but who trusts people in marketing?

Near kin to this is the list of words for most contemporary poetry: “Poetry Poets Authors Individual General.” You hear it said there are more poets than poetry readers nowadays. That won't boost readership. Simply adding state and region would be worth the few extra keystrokes. Possibly the biggest surprise I got when entering the used book trade was how nutty some people are for reading people local to their area.

Etc See Also

Shouldn't leave the card catalog or its electronic equivalent. No one has ever entered those words in a bookselling site's keywords field. Even when I don't add fresh keywords I usually delete them. Many sites only look at the first ten or so keywords. The more specific words that follow “etc. &etc.” are usually lost.

Mind Body Spirit

I bet this trio showed up one day when a librarian was trying to figure out what to do with nutty new age books (sadly the trashcan wasn't an option). A book about reading Kierkegaard while you are on the treadmill fingering your rosary beads?