Amazon Launches Look Inside the Book Feature

Posted on October 12, 2001

Amazon.com has launched its Look Inside the Book, which allows customers to flip through the inside pages of books on Amazon.com's website. Amazon.com also says the service offers publishers a new way to showcase their books to Amazon.com customers. Customers can also visit Amazon.com's new Reading Room to access the titles from which they can view inside pages.

Amazon.com's bookstore will feature some interior pages from over 25,000 titles, with more titles to be added later. Some of the pages being displayed include recipes found in cookbooks, illustrations from children's books, full indices of medical textbooks and first chapters from novels. Some of the first titles feautured in the new service include Tiger Woods' How I Play Golf, children's book Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer, and The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior by David Allen Sibley.

``With thanks to publishers -- plus a healthy dose of innovation -- we've created an even better way to showcase books online,'' said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO. ``Flipping through a book's pages online is a unique, powerful way that our customers can find and discover books they'd like to buy.''

Amazon.com is working with several publishing houses for its new service displaying interior pages. The company's publisher partners include DK Publishing, HarperCollins Publishers, Holtzbrinck Publishers, Hungry Minds, John Wiley & Sons, McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Random House, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Stewart House Publishing and Time Warner Trade Publishing.

``Simon & Schuster is excited to participate in the Look Inside the Book program at Amazon.com,'' said Jack Romanos, president and COO of Simon & Schuster. ``Helping their customers crack the spine is simply smart marketing that will allow readers to make even more informed choices.''