Re:The enshittification of Amazon paperback books
by RobGR on Monday March 16, 2026 @11:29AM
(#47400315)
I've ordered books that were print-on-demand and had them arrive in 3 days. Some of the Amazon ones will have the exact date in the back, and I can see they were printed the day I ordered it.
For what it's worth, I think print-on-demand is a win overall, while there are lots of low quality stuff out there, the ability of small authors to get published and readers to find rarer stuff out weighs that.
I'm starting to get a feel for a pattern - the books tend to be more expensive, and also take longer on average to deliver (a few weeks, instead of a few days). The latter would be normal for rare editions and some third-party sellers, but if I'm ordering a popular book and it takes longer than usual to deliver I can kinda smell the dead rat. But the only way to know for sure is to open the box in disappointment.