Why Finding New Science Fiction Online Is Weirdly Hard Now

I sat down the other day with a simple goal: Find something new to read.

Not search for a specific title. Not hunt down an author I already knew. Just…browse. Wander. Poke around in science fiction the way readers have always done.

Twenty minutes later, I gave up.

Not because there aren’t books, but because browsing, actual discovery, has quietly vanished.

Amazon Isn’t Broken. It’s Optimized.

Amazon still works beautifully if you already know what you want. Type in a title. Click buy. Done.

But if you want to explore? Drift through a genre? Stumble across something unexpected? Good luck with that.

What used to be shelves are now funnels. Instead of “show me what’s here,” the system asks, “what should we push at you next?” The result is the same handful of high-velocity titles, over and over, wrapped in ads and recommendations that look helpful but aren’t.

That’s not a bookstore. That’s a vending machine.

Why Everything Feels the Same

If you’ve noticed that science fiction on Amazon feels repetitive lately — same covers, same tones, same vibes — it’s not your imagination.

The system rewards:

Fast-selling series
Recent releases
Books already converting well
What you (or people like you) bought last time

It quietly filters out:

Older titles
Backlist gems
Quieter, stranger books
Authors you don’t already know exist

Which means discovery gets narrower, not broader.

You Can’t Browse Categories Anymore.

This is where I gave up. I used to like doing deep dives into a category. I’d click my way through to the space opera category (for example – I had five or six categories that were good for finding stuff).

This isn’t the same as the top 100 best sellers in a category, which you can find easily. Amazon stuffs that best seller list with recommendations, and Kindle Unlimited titles dominate. Plus, there are only 100 books on the list. If you’re a prolific reader (ahem), you’ve probably read everything in the top 100 already.

That’s why I like (liked, it turns out) the actual category listings. You can show them in “relevant” order, in order of release, in order of reading ratings. But the point is, those category lists didn’t stop at 100 titles. You could drill deeper and deeper, for pages.

And that was often where I found the gold. Excellent titles that Amazon had not favored with its pinch of algorithmic dust.

But Amazon has quietly made it next to impossible to find those lists anymore.

They only want you browsing in the best seller lists, where they can stuff titles they want you to see, where KU dominates, and where paid-for titles interupt like TV ads.

So Where Do You Find the Good Stuff?

You have to broaden your net. Deliberately. Some ideas that actually work:

Try other retailers.

Kobo, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble don’t all carry the same books. Each has titles you won’t see elsewhere. Browsing at these stores doesn’t commit you to buying there (but I buy there, anyway. Why not?)

Follow authors, not platforms.

When you find a book you like, “acquire” that author. Check their backlist. Visit their site. See what else they recommend.

Via authors, you will hear about author-built anthologies and bundles, and off-retail titles.

Use reader-first ecosystems.

BookFunnel and StoryOrigin exist to connect readers with books, not ads. They’re messy, weird, and full of surprises. That’s a feature.

Visit author stores.

Some of the most interesting science fiction now lives off the big platforms entirely. Exclusive stories, side novellas, experimental work, straight from the source.

Judge by covers and blurbs again.

Yes, really. That instinct still works. Trust it.

Amazon Doesn’t Have All the Books

It has a lot of them. It has many exclusives. It does not have everything. Plus it no longer helps you find things you didn’t already know to look for.

That doesn’t mean discovery is dead. It means readers have to do what they’ve always done, just more intentionally now.

Explore sideways. Follow curiosity. Wander beyond the walls.

The good science fiction is still out there.

You just won’t trip over it by accident anymore.