If it's a book that's already in the system, the search still works (ditto if you just search by author) -- it just defaults into Nirvana if the specific book you're looking for is not in the system. Or are you saying you got a proper "book not found" response for a not-yet-existing book, asking you to add that book as a new one?
A book not in the system! I got the book not found message. I went to check the author page just to make sure there wasn't a different edition. When I didn't find it, I was able to go back and add the book as a new one.