Where The Previews Are

I announced yesterday Scriblio‘s integration of Google’s new book viewability API that links to full text, previews, or additional book information (depending on copyright status and publisher foresight). Now that it’s live with Plymouth’s full catalog, I spent a moment browsing the collection and taking note of what books had what.

I get no preview for A Baby Sister For Frances, but another of Russell Hoban‘s books, A Bargain For Frances. has one, even if the image quality is poor. My friend Joe Monninger has just one book that includes a preview, A Barn In New England.

Ironically The Search, Designing The Obvious, and A Passion For Books don’t (neither does Online Pornography, though it’d likely be a let down for most of the people looking for it). I’m glad to see that An Introduction To Book History and The Future Of The Book both have online previews.

It’s good stuff, and if I was smarter I’d get stats on how often the preview link was clicked. And if I could do it without tracking more information than I want, I’d love stats on how often the preview leads to a checkout or in house use. (I’m confident, however, that more frequently previewed books will be among the more frequently use books).