Anyone tracking Audible changes to alsobots?

[angela]

Friends with audiobooks you're actively marketing, have you noticed anything changing in November? There's something specific I think happened mid-month, but I wasn't wise enough to keep screenshots for comparing now. Please chime in if you have ideas.

ETA: I tried using Wayback now to see if I can go back in time, but the index doesn't seem to go very deep.

[TimothyEllis]

Is this anything to do with the huha about promo codes?

Have they been removing the also-boughts of any use of those codes?

Just guessing.

[angela]

Is this anything to do with the huha about promo codes?

Have they been removing the also-boughts of any use of those codes?

Just guessing.

That may have been the intent.

What I see now is a mix of alsobots that are more like what you'd see on Amazon, with books by that author and books released around the same time. Previously, I swear they weighted it heavily to give extra visibility to book 1's of series.

[TimothyEllis]

Is this anything to do with the huha about promo codes?

Have they been removing the also-boughts of any use of those codes?

Just guessing.

That may have been the intent.

What I see now is a mix of alsobots that are more like what you'd see on Amazon, with books by that author and books released around the same time. Previously, I swear they weighted it heavily to give extra visibility to book 1's of series.

That's possible then. If the codes were mainly for book 1's, they would have been showing up more than anything else.

Still guessing though.

[angela]

That's possible then. If the codes were mainly for book 1's, they would have been showing up more than anything else.

Still guessing though.

Hmmm. You mean those internet marketers with their 3 hours and 2 seconds gibberish books were labeling their nonfiction titles as book 1's of series? I don't think so.

I imagine it was just a rejuggling of the alsobot algorithms, like what Amazon is always doing with the ebooks. They'll see how it affects consumers' buying behavior.

A change like this would give more visibility to newer / more active series with more frequent releases. Which subtly nudges the content providers like us into smaller units of content to gain visibility and not the 8-10+ hours books audiobook fans love.

ETA: I think we can count on one universal trend moving forward: Less organic (free) visibility on all platforms.

[TimothyEllis]

Hmmm. You mean those internet marketers with their 3 hours and 2 seconds gibberish books were labeling their nonfiction titles as book 1's of series? I don't think so.

No, I don't know what you're talking about there.

I'm talking about promo codes, for which some authors got banned from using them again, supposedly for overuse or something.

If they were mainly for book 1's, they would show up on the also-boughts. Remove them, and they vanish.

I've not heard anything about gibberish books on audible.

[angela]

Hmmm. You mean those internet marketers with their 3 hours and 2 seconds gibberish books were labeling their nonfiction titles as book 1's of series? I don't think so.

No, I don't know what you're talking about there.

I'm talking about promo codes, for which some authors got banned from using them again, supposedly for overuse or something.

If they were mainly for book 1's, they would show up on the also-boughts. Remove them, and they vanish.

I've not heard anything about gibberish books on audible.

Backstory info dump: Because Audible pays for the codes 100%, internet marketers were uploading minimally viable content of 3 hours, paying low rates to audio producer, then using black hat tactics to redeem all their promo codes, turning a guaranteed profit on every title. They were pillaging Audible the way people do KU, only the payment doesn't come from a fixed pool, it's based on title length.

It's an issue, but a separate one, and I don't think it's related to the alsobots changes I'm referencing.