Is there an equivalent to Amazon's now-deceased "Eyes?"

May 7, 2013 12:58 PM

For a while, Amazon had a service called "Eyes." You could type in an author's name and they would email you when a new book by that author was published. It was great if you were following, say, a couple dozen detective series at once and wanted to stay on top of new additions. Then they discontinued it. Does anyone know of an equivalent service? Google Alerts doesn't work because you get a ton of stuff not related to just-published books. And i can't find anything that was as simple - and effective - as Eyes. Thanks.
posted by holdenjordahl to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Best answer: I use Author Alerts but it's linked to Amazon's listing and it's not 100% accurate for authors with similar names. Also, it tends to notify me when there is a paperback edition or re-printing too.

It's required to create a account, but I then I can subscribe to the RSS feeds when it updates.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 1:02 PM on May 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Goodreads lets you know when authors you have read have a new book out (they do it monthly) -- it's a service I particularly like of theirs.
posted by jeather at 1:14 PM on May 7, 2013 [8 favorites]

Best answer: Yes, Goodreads works splendidly for this, though it does also let you know about authors you never intend to read again and they need some way to mark those people do not notify. Or Cassie Clare neds to stop writing stuff.
posted by Stacey at 1:40 PM on May 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you go to an author's page on Amazon (example #1, #2), there's a link in the top right (below the sharing bar) that says "E-mail me when there are new releases by [author]." I suspect it's the engine underlying the "Author Alerts" service that chrono_rabbit pointed out (with its attendant limitations) but it might be worth a shot.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 1:41 PM on May 7, 2013

Best answer: Fictfact does this but only for series. I think it was made by a mefite. When a new series shows up with an author of a series I have followed, I get an email.
posted by soelo at 2:24 PM on May 7, 2013

Best answer: IIRC the Goodreads TOS allow multiple accounts (as long as you don't stuff the ratings). Just sign up for another using [e-mail] as your account name. It won't conflict with any other Goodreads account you have, and you can just mark the relevant authors' books as read there. You'll get the email notifications in your usual inbox, because a feature of email is that anything after a plus sign doesn't signify an account name, just a tag your inbox can sort on.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 2:25 PM on May 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: That "after the plus sign" rule cited my Monsieur Caution is not universally true. I know it works in Gmail, but plenty of other email services (or employer-based email accounts) don't work that way.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 10:59 AM on May 8, 2013

Response by poster: signed up for Amazon Author Alerts and Goodreads.
thanks, folks!
posted by holdenjordahl at 12:36 PM on May 8, 2013

Oh, sorry, yeah this is beside the point of the question, but since you're set with a solution, apparently Exchange is a major MTA that (still?) doesn't support email plus-addressing. It's been a common configuration choice for open source MTAs for decades, though, so you can reasonably hope for it at most major email providers, not just Gmail.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 2:15 PM on May 8, 2013

Hm, so far I can't get ANY of the "e-mail me" setups on Amazon to work. Anyone else?
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:54 PM on May 8, 2013