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Exciting News About Goodreads: We're Joining the Amazon Family!
When Elizabeth and I started Goodreads from my living room seven years ago, we set out to create a better way for people to find and share books they love. It's been a wild ride seeing how the company has grown and watching as more than 16 million readers from across the globe have joined Goodreads and connected over a passion for books.
Today I'm really happy to announce a new milestone for Goodreads: We are joining the Amazon family. We truly could not think of a more perfect partner for Goodreads as we both share a love of books and an appreciation for the authors who write them. We also both love to invent products and services that touch millions of people.
I'm excited about this for three reasons:
1. With the reach and resources of Amazon, Goodreads can introduce more readers to our vibrant community of book lovers and create an even better experience for our members.
2. Our members have been asking us to bring the Goodreads experience to an e-reader for a long time. Now we're looking forward to bringing Goodreads to the most popular e-reader in the world, Kindle, and further reinventing what reading can be.
3. Amazon supports us continuing to grow our vision as an independent entity, under the Goodreads brand and with our unique culture.
It's important to be clear that Goodreads and the awesome team behind it are not going away. Goodreads will continue to be the wonderful community that we all cherish. We plan to continue offering you everything that you love about the site—the ability to track what you read, discover great books, discuss and share them with fellow book lovers, and connect directly with your favorite authors—and your reviews and ratings will remain here on Goodreads. And it's incredibly important to us that we remain a home for all types of readers, no matter if you read on paper, audio, digitally, from scrolls, or even stone tablets.
For all of you Kindle readers, there's obviously an extra bonus in this announcement. You've asked us for a long time to be able to integrate your Kindle and Goodreads experiences. Making that option a reality is one of our top priorities.
Our team gets out of bed every day motivated by the belief that the right book in the right hands can change the world. Now Goodreads can help make that happen in an even bigger and more meaningful way thanks to joining the Amazon family. (And if you want to be part of this, please check out our Jobs page for open positions. We've got a lot of hires to make!)
This is an emotional day for me. Goodreads is more than a company to me – it's something that Elizabeth and I created because we wanted it to exist. Since then it has grown a lot and become a place we love working at, full of incredibly smart and passionate people who also believe in our mission. I feel a little like a college graduate – happy to come to this milestone, nostalgic for the past amazing seven years, and incredibly, incredibly, excited for the future.
Otis
P.S. For the more official version of the announcement, here's the press release that went out today.
P.P.S. Please let us know – what integration with Kindle would you love to see the most?
Today I'm really happy to announce a new milestone for Goodreads: We are joining the Amazon family. We truly could not think of a more perfect partner for Goodreads as we both share a love of books and an appreciation for the authors who write them. We also both love to invent products and services that touch millions of people.
I'm excited about this for three reasons:
1. With the reach and resources of Amazon, Goodreads can introduce more readers to our vibrant community of book lovers and create an even better experience for our members.
2. Our members have been asking us to bring the Goodreads experience to an e-reader for a long time. Now we're looking forward to bringing Goodreads to the most popular e-reader in the world, Kindle, and further reinventing what reading can be.
3. Amazon supports us continuing to grow our vision as an independent entity, under the Goodreads brand and with our unique culture.
It's important to be clear that Goodreads and the awesome team behind it are not going away. Goodreads will continue to be the wonderful community that we all cherish. We plan to continue offering you everything that you love about the site—the ability to track what you read, discover great books, discuss and share them with fellow book lovers, and connect directly with your favorite authors—and your reviews and ratings will remain here on Goodreads. And it's incredibly important to us that we remain a home for all types of readers, no matter if you read on paper, audio, digitally, from scrolls, or even stone tablets.
For all of you Kindle readers, there's obviously an extra bonus in this announcement. You've asked us for a long time to be able to integrate your Kindle and Goodreads experiences. Making that option a reality is one of our top priorities.
Our team gets out of bed every day motivated by the belief that the right book in the right hands can change the world. Now Goodreads can help make that happen in an even bigger and more meaningful way thanks to joining the Amazon family. (And if you want to be part of this, please check out our Jobs page for open positions. We've got a lot of hires to make!)
This is an emotional day for me. Goodreads is more than a company to me – it's something that Elizabeth and I created because we wanted it to exist. Since then it has grown a lot and become a place we love working at, full of incredibly smart and passionate people who also believe in our mission. I feel a little like a college graduate – happy to come to this milestone, nostalgic for the past amazing seven years, and incredibly, incredibly, excited for the future.
Otis
P.S. For the more official version of the announcement, here's the press release that went out today.
P.P.S. Please let us know – what integration with Kindle would you love to see the most?
Comments Showing 1,351-1,400 of 2,216 (2216 new)
I'm concerned about this, as I intentionally avoid amazon whenever there are other options. I'll reserve judgement til we see what happens. But I agree with people stating they don't want their reviews used on the amazon site. They've built up a solid review system over there, so hopefully they don't feel the need to pull from here. If others want to opt in to sharing reviews both places, that would be a great option for them, but I hope we aren't required to do so.Had this been an amazon site originally, I would never had joined nor encouraged my friends and family to do so. I've very much enjoyed the site thus far and so am torn now as to what my level of support and enthusiasm will be going forward.
I'm not sure how I feel about this news... my instinctive reaction is to groan... much as I DO use Amazon's site - I rarely purchase from them.. not a fan of Amazon owning EVERYTHING....My biggest fear is that our reviews will be own and controlled by Amazon - who's number one priority is to SELL... which might in turn affect our ability to write honest reflections...
I guess I'll have to see how all of this pans out....
Ruby wrote: "I log into goodreads every single day, usually multiple times a day, so like many of you I am very troubled by these changes despite owning a kindle and despite generally enjoying what amazon has t..."Keep in mind that yGoodreads reviews also went to worldcat.org, a non-profit site that lets you find free books in libraries, print and electronic. So, if you don't share from Goodreads any longer, you still want to post them into worldcat.org directly.
I will be looking for other independent places to post as well, some good suggestions in these discussions already.
Katharine wrote: "Here's my list-in-progress. Please do not consider this an endorsement of any site in the list -- it's only a compilation of places I'm investigating to find the best fit for me.In alphabetical o..."
Thank you - very helpful!
I hope that I will only need to write one review and it will go on both sites rather then having to do it individually on both.
Katharine wrote: "Here's my list-in-progress. Please do not consider this an endorsement of any site in the list -- it's only a compilation of places I'm investigating to find the best fit for me.In alphabetical o..."
Thanks!
Am I the only one puzzled by this outcry in the comments? If you don't want interaction with Amazon just don't provide your details at GR and the other way round - basically the same as with FB. If you want to synch your reviews and shelfs do - and again, as with FB you will most likely have a button to turn features on or off individually (at least that's my guess - everything else would not make good business sense). I could very well imagine something like the "Top 100 of GR" on the Amazon page in addition to the NY Times and every other dodgy hit list. Not sure what the harm is - GR could even make Amazon better...
I am a Kindle user since the first day it was finally delivered to Europe, never looked back. I would love to synch my remarks and annotations with GR - and here is the only point I agree (as of yet) with the critical voices: I would not want them to be published on my Amazon account.
I always liked reading but never liked books and I am quite happy that Amazon proved to the reluctant and rather backward publishing industry that there was actually a market for e-books. And now they can get their reward - I am fine with it.
Katharine wrote: "Here's my list-in-progress. Please do not consider this an endorsement of any site in the list -- it's only a compilation of places I'm investigating to find the best fit for me.In alphabetical o..."
Thank you for this list. Personally speaking, I like being a part of different book communities, so it may be that I end up using this as a reference anyway, perhaps to add to the list of communities I'm already a part of.
And I'm a member of a few of these, so it's nice to see them mentioned here. :)
Rebecca wrote: "Is it possible to delete all my reviews without closing my account? I want to keep my account only to keep in touch with some people in groups. I want to ensure Amazon will have no access to my rev..."I just went to "my books", selected "all", exported them (down the list on the left) then deleted all books.
Nikki wrote: "*checks date*F***. It's not April Fool's Day. This is real!?"
Lol.
Silke, you might want to actually read the comments explaining what's wrong with amazon and why we dislike supporting them. I don't really see how your preference for buying ebooks there (something that was hardly invented by amazon) has much to do with it.
I want integration with ALL e-reading devices, not just KINDLE! Don't let Amazon be a monopoly.
Janosch wrote: "Dear Otis,please ensure that we will be able to rate the books HOW WE Like it.
Please make sure we still will be able to rate a book one star.
I fear that with amazon readers will be forced to ..."
Amazon doesn't force readers to rate books 5 stars on their site as it is.
Well it was good while it lasted. I have nothing against Amazon, but this combination spells disaster for Goodreads and what it is.
Jacquie wrote: "for me, I would like to be able to post one review and have it go to both sites"I second that!
Katharine wrote: "Here's my list-in-progress. Please do not consider this an endorsement of any site in the list -- it's only a compilation of places I'm investigating to find the best fit for me.In alphabetical o..."
Thanks!
Angela wrote: "Not sure how I feel about this and I am an Amazon Customer. What I lOVE about GR is that it's truly crowd-sourced. Amazon is not a family- it's a profit making machine. Quoting Anne (message 33) "..."I second this too!
Phillip wrote: "Very disturbing news after all the trouble with Amazon last year."Amazon probably planned it this way to put in the squeeze. It could well be that people may go to other sites now.
I'm not sure I'm very happy about this news! What about us Nook lovers? Will we eventually need an amazon account to log onto GR?
Oh sure. 1400 comments and everyone is simply flying-off-the-handle, worrying-abo..."I didn't say 1400 comments of flying off the handle. Granted, the number of well wishers was far outweighed by the "douchery". You're douches because you THINK you know the policies of said large corporate behemoths and more importantly because you THINK that the people who gave you this site to begin with "SOLD OUT" without any consideration to the people that they've worked so hard for all this time to take care of and please. Like I tried to say in my earlier statement, Have some faith and trust in the people that have tried their best, so far, to take care of you on this site. If it does indeed change then leave, but if it doesn't change for the worse then you are just disloyal bandwagoners who weren't worth the effort of keeping. I'm gonna go back to my nap now cuz you are all sooo much smarter than me.
I've updated my profile. And I'm deleting my account on April 15th.
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/21...
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/21...
Thanks for the info re Library Thing. I went ahead and opened an account, but looking at some of my favorite books, I notice there are a lot fewer reviews on that site than here on GR. Does anyone have suggestions for sites with a decent amount of reviews?
karla is leaving wrote: "It looks like librarything is offering free membership for a year if you sign up by Sunday. https://www.librarything.com/blogs/li..."
This eases my sadness somewhat, but I am still hedging my bets. If I decide to import my books to Librarything does anyone know if they are deleted here? I don't want that to happen, at least not yet
Neil wrote: "Feature Request: Mark as 'Want To Read' on GR and the book gets added to Amazon Wishlist, and vice-versa."NO! Feature request: Add a wishlist to GR, which gets sync'd to Amazon if you wish, but not the To Read. Lots of members use To Read for books they already own!
Cyn wrote: "FYI - Any review you post on nearly any site no longer belongs to you. It's generally in the terms of service for any place that permits you to comment. So whether you're weighing in on a book or a..."This isn't true. When you post on a blog, say, on Livejournal or Blogger, your blog posts don't become the property of the blog platform, do they?
Many people put considerable effort and artistry into their book reviews, trying to write something expressive and entertaining. If our book reviews become the property of Amazon, then I am happy to stop posting reviews here and to start posting them to a personal blog instead.
Carrie wrote: "Chandler and Elizabeth -- I'm the executive director of the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association, which represents 200 indie bookstores across the Midwest. Every bookseller I've talked to is..."
Thanks for this post Carrie and see you at Common Good Books on Thursday! Keep us posted on where MIBA folks end up post-Goodreads. We've created a facebook event to do a group account delete on April 15th if you're interested. Such a bummer.
https://www.facebook.com/events/12752...
Thanks for this post Carrie and see you at Common Good Books on Thursday! Keep us posted on where MIBA folks end up post-Goodreads. We've created a facebook event to do a group account delete on April 15th if you're interested. Such a bummer.
https://www.facebook.com/events/12752...
Babs wrote: "Did I miss something but I didn't see when this is supposed to happen."To be completed by end of Q2 2013 translates as Before July 1, this year.
The problem is I did not want interaction with Amazon - and they just bought ALL my data - it was not my choice to provide my details! Silke wrote: "Am I the only one puzzled by this outcry in the comments? If you don't want interaction with Amazon just don't provide your details at GR and the other way round - basically the same as with FB. If..."
Not too happy about this.I'm not a Kindle owner. I use a different platform. How will this affect me?
I'm a frequent Amazon customer, but I do like purchasing stuff from other sellers. How will this affect me?
One aspect of Goodreads I like is the ability to look for availability of titles from different sources/booksellers. How will this be affected by you joining Amazon?
By not being partners with any one company, Goodreads always allowed me to trust the sincerity of the reviews created by the users. How can you assure me that this will continue? (Note: Amazon has always been suspect of inserting 'reviews' to favor given titles/products).
Will my reviews still remain MY reviews, or will they be used by Amazon for whatever purpose they have?
Will I start getting junk mail linked to whatever books may be on my shelves?
Not happy at all.
Katharine wrote: "Here's my list-in-progress. Please do not consider this an endorsement of any site in the list -- it's only a compilation of places I'm investigating to find the best fit for me.In alphabetical o..."
I'm checking out Riffle, you have to request an invite. Many offer the option of connecting to Facebook, but it doesn't mean it's required
Ayhan wrote: "Lol The notification to this discussion has been removed from the homepage."Guess it's not going well.
Kathryn wrote: "Is it going to be required to use your Amazon login to get into GR, then?"That would actually be sloppy security as there is no reason at all to associate your billing information (which is part of your amazon login) with any of your goodreads account information. If you do not want to link the accounts, you should not have to. Considering the current hacks and attacks online, I would think amazon/goodreads would honor this.
Of course, you shouldn't have to have a Facebook account to login to websites that aren't Facebook but... some web developers and designers are lazy.
I'm not going to try to engage in the back-and-forth here on this topic. It just seems a tad contentious for my taste.Rather, I hope the PTB read, consider, and take into account all the feedback here as plans are made and go forward. I'll throw out my thoughts as they occur to me.
A few initial ones:
As steps to integrate and have more Kindle-friendly features develop, don't turn this into a Kindle-only playground. I read in many different ways (new, used, out-of-print, library books, purchased online, in-store on the spur of the moment, e-books, B&N NST, Kindle Android app, Aldiko app, Comixology app). Goodreads is the place all those can come together and exist on a level playing field for me. Don't spoil that.
As many are voicing hesitancy to automatically share info, as this becomes a reality, make it an opt-in, not an opt-out or required situation. If I want to share my reviews between accounts, or sync my reading progress, or what have you, let that be my option.
Despite some people's vehemence (that will never be swayed) I think many others would likely buy into the benefits of sharing if given the choice to do so, rather than a choice not to or no choice at all.
I like Amazon in some ways. As with any large organization, they have made decisions I am less happy with. But overall my experience with them has been positive. We'll see how this next step goes.
More to follow, I'm sure.
The primary concern in joining sites etc is that this actually exposes your users to more attacks and security risks than it did in keeping the two companies and sites separate. Amazon already had one foul up last year which allowed a hacker (using the term loosely) to wipe an entire cloud account and remotely wipe a machine which belonged to an Apple user. I strongly suggest you keep goodreads and amazon accounts as distinct entities lest Amazon screw you up.
"We truly could not think of a more perfect partner for Goodreads as we both share a love of books and an appreciation for the authors who write them."But a complete disregard for independent bookstores and the people they employ and how they enrich their local communities in ways that Amazon never can. This was a bad decision.
To the extent that the (hopes for the) Nook was keeping Barnes & Noble afloat, and that competition was keeping the publishing industry vital, this marks the likely end of Barnes & Noble and harm to the publishing industry. Tragic that a medium and industry (books and book publishing), and our discussions about them-- so vital to our democracy (not to mention edification and entertainment)-- is going to be dominated by a behemoth. Tragic that a real, true books-oriented site is no longer going to be independent.I should also say that Goodreads is a business. And so we can't really blame them for looking out for their own interests and making profits. Those things are good. It's just sad that the sale was to a company so dominant.
Ayhan wrote: "Lol The notification to this discussion has been removed from the homepage."Otis a little surprised about the negative reaction? Well, go listen to your community!
Sara wrote: "Can we get an automatic notification when something on our to-read shelf goes on sale as an e-book?"You are forgetting all of the users of this site that use the To Read shelf as a shelf for books already owned but not yet read.
How about adding a wishlist shelf for this purpose?
Wow I looked at this last night at about 4 pages now it is 32. A lot of feeling here...
I couldn't be more depressed. GR was the one place I could go to, to trust that the reviews were reasonably unpressured, honest, factual, and to converse with other readers. I obtain materials from many sources including Amazon and Audible, B&N, Sony, Smashwords, Gutenberg, etc, etc, etc. GR was literally a place all it's own, not tethered to any other entity, nor constrained by any other entity. I suppose it was a good business decision for you, but the direction has entirely changed the philosophy of GR for me.
Aves wrote: "I'm starting to wonder if the "positive" feedback is written by amazon/goodreads employees and shills. They sound about as authentic as the "authentic" reviews on amazon.com."Their appearance was rather sudden, as well, I thought.
Claude wrote: "I don't find this exciting at all. I like amazon, and I like GoodReads, but I hate the idea that big companies are trying to domineer the Internet. I left FaceBook and will leave GoodReads if it b..."
Too late. It already has. It will be finalized in less than 3 months.
I am back to Facebook. This website had helped me cure my Facebook addiction now I hate being here. Never thought it would come to this...bloody sellouts. Not a shred of honor.
I know with as many comments as you have on this thread the chances of mine being read are slim.I'm refusing to automatically assume the sky is falling. I will give one strong piece of advice to the team handling the growth and changes that will happen after this.
PLEASE PLEASE survey the hell out of the current goodreads users before any change goes so far in development that it enters "Well we aren't going to kill it now, we spent too much" stage. (Focus groups don't count, they are too small and subject to group think.) Send out surveys to the GR librarians, the small authors, a selection of the general membership for everything. If people have a voice and don't feel like changes are being forced on them, they will stay.
Wow, people really need to get educated before freaking out. I am seeing a lot of comments regarding the "mining" of data. Most of us have open profiles that have been and will continue to be ripe for "mining" if that is what corporations want to do. Further, I'll place bets that most of the complainers are also on various social media platforms and very likely linked to their Goodreads account. I seriously doubt that Amazon wants to alienate the people who use this site by imposing Amazonian rules. That makes no logical business sense - as they will gain nothing. As for those that are deleting their accounts and staging a "mass" deletion on 4/15 (as far as I can tell the whole 50 of you) - your loss will hardly be noted in the scheme of things as you are few among millions of users - but I hope it makes you feel better. Hey maybe one of you will put forth the effort to develop your own book site, work for nothing for years, and then stand-up to the corporate world by not selling your hard work for a well-deserved financial reward. Welcome Amazon - you have made my shopping easier, my books more manageable (e-books), and my video streaming as easy as the click of a button.
Not me. I and others have cited strong examples for exactly the opposite.
(⊙_◎) wrote: "There is no reason why you would need an Amazon account to log into goodreads, why you would need to hook your facebook up to Amazon, why you would need to have your Amazon profile tell anyone anything about your goodreads usage."
No reason? Tell IMDb that. They stridently promote Amazon accounts as a way to support IMDb accounts. I can't believe you have to ask 'why'? Business data exchange, foo.
(⊙_◎) wrote: "Anything you put on the internet generally stops belonging to just you. It was already a fact of goodreads before this (unless you knew to opt out, which many did not), and it's part of many other sites where you post content as well."
That still doesn't make Goodreads participation even remotely akin to the horrible site management for reviews or forums on both Amazon or IMDb. GR is different. It could have continued to be different and maybe more people would learn about the power of 'opt-out'. We could have a different kind of internet if people get educated as to their choices.
(⊙_◎) wrote: "Goodreads has been steadily growing hugely in popularity. It's becoming known as THE go-to site for reviews, recommendations, and socialization with books. It's only a matter of time where crappy things that go on with Amazon reviews (sock puppets, etc) come here, whether Amazon is part of goodreads or not."
So your advice is to just give up even before the battle?
(⊙_◎) wrote: "I'd really be interested in knowing WHAT SPECIFICALLY they think will happen to the goodreads site. I know the one thing is that people fear their reviews will be posted on Amazon without their permission and that Amazon will have their information (but to be honest, they probably already have a lot more information than you ever realized) so I don't know, but that kind of stuff doesn't actually change the goodreads experience. ..."
See my message #1369 on page 28 of this thread for specific changes which might come to Goodreads, already ruining another Amazon family site.
Here's a reprint.
a) IMDb pounds our eyeballs with relentless, annoying, incessant advertising. It also blitzes you with constant exhortation to 'stream media' from Amazon whenever possible. Pushes 'all the latest' movies and tv shows right up in to your face, in a frantic attempt to get you to click through to the 'mother- site'.
b) IMDb has terrible site management; unresponsive helpdesk and tech support; and is run with old/outdated back-end programming; and the user-experience is littered with rules and strictures.
c) IMDb constantly makes arbitrary decisions about the presentation of movie-related data without caring how the site's users feel about any issue.
d) The forums on IMDb are a free-for-all; rampant with muckrakers, shouting kids, ugliness, vendettas, trolls, schisms, feuds, battles. Utter chaos. IMDb attracts so many users that it simply can't keep on top of the mayhem this 'doors wide open' policy created.
e) IMDb (thanks to the above concerns) has therefore had to implement draconian security measures; there are logins upon logins which must be verified to your phone via SMS or via your Amazon account. [How convenient!]. And every movie page zooms you directly to Amazon whenever you show the slightest hint of making a purchase.
f) In fact--on IMDb--you can't even mention any other means or source for buying a movie (say, in chat conversation to another user) without the conversation being deleted. How about that? Amazon products AND ONLY Amazon products are allowed to be discussed.