Now I wonder what books will be the most viewed. :)
Internet retail giant Amazon.com Inc. AMZN.O now lets you do just that, at least to the extent that it is possible in cyberspace.
As of Wednesday, the company"s Web site has a "Look Inside the Book" feature that includes images of covers, flaps and actual pages for some 25,000 book titles.
Amazon said it started the feature in response to a huge number of customer requests, but the move also comes as it grapples with slowing sales growth in its core books, music and video division.
"It"s something that customers have been telling us they"d like to do," Steve Kessel, vice president of Amazon"s media division, said in an interview. "It"s sort of the next logical step for them in terms of making a purchase decision."
The feature, which Amazon said would be available for all categories of books, is marked by a special tab saying "Look Inside!"
"For art and photography books, people can check the quality of the images," Kessel said. "They can look at children"s books to see what the graphics look like and how big the font is and whether it"s suitable for their child; they want back covers of mystery books so they can see quotes from other mystery writers."