Exciting News About Goodreads: We're Joining the Amazon Family!

Hey all,

Here are some answers to questions that a lot of people on this thread and others have had.

> Also, they already own shelfari. What does it mean when they want to own both?
> Great its Shelfari all over again.

Shelfari was a totally different story. It was six people, and my understanding is Amazon has used it for the meta-data - they even call it "A community powered encyclopedia for book lovers" - which is very different from what Goodreads is. Goodreads is focused on helping people find books through their friends, through community, and through our recommendation engine. We are currently 40 people, hiring fast, and excited about building a bigger and better service.

> Not The Michael: As a general rule I like Amazon, but unless they take an entirely 100% hands-off attitude toward Goodreads I find it hard to believe this will be in the best interest for the readers. There are simply too many ways they can interfere with the neutral Goodreads experience and/or try to profit from the strictly volunteer efforts of Goodreads users.

I understand why you'd question that. But let me reassure you that I believe it will be very good for readers. Amazon has a long history of letting independently run subsidiaries flourish - just look at Zappos, Audible, IMDB, or Diapers.com.

Let me further reinforce that one of the most important things about Goodreads is that it's a place for readers of all kinds (print, digital, audio, etc), and that is something incredibly important to us, and one that I think would hurt the site to remove. I have no plans to change that, and the guys at Amazon feel the same.

> I'm also concerned as a Nook user. I'm already feeling boxed into a corner because Amazon is trying to dominate the ebook market, and I certainly don't want to be further discriminated against because I don't have (nor ever want) a Kindle.

See above - we value readers of all platforms, and consider that something important to the heart of what Goodreads is, and don't plan to change it.

> I've yet to see a company/site join Amazon and things change for the better.

See my note above about Zappos, IMDB, Audible, Diapers.com, and many more.

> I hope that GR will not censure reviews, delete reviews without notice etc as Amazon does.

Our policies have not changed. Our philosophy is that readers should get the best and most relevant reviews. We actually are excited now to have more resources to focus on improving the order of our reviews (I would hope that one day they can be personalized!).

> I fail to see how it helps Goodreads do what Goodreads does well

I think there are huge opportunities for Goodreads to create social experience on the Kindle. That is huge for Goodreads, and huge for Kindle. We'll also be able to drastically improve our meta-data, and leverage many other resources Amazon has to improve Goodreads.

> Does this mean that the weeks and months of work we put into repairing the catalog last year was for nothing?

I know there are a lot of mixed emotions going around on this board about this. We greatly appreciate all the heartfelt work librarians have done in terms of improving our catalog for the use of the greater community, both in general and revolving around repairing the catalog last year. Does this mean your work was for nothing? No. You helped save lots of other members' data from being destroyed. Even better - Amazon data will be coming back - this is a good thing, as we will get back the KDP data, and a ton of international data.

In fact, we now plan to focus more on improving our catalog with respect to separating international editions, and having better librarian tools to do that. I think Goodreads has one of the best book catalogs around, largely thanks to the community here, and changing that would not be in our best interests.

> Can I ask what this means in terms of ownership of our reviews?

Our policies have not changed. You still have full control of your reviews, just ask you always have.

> I made the choice to not review books on Amazon a long time ago and I will not have that choice taken away from me.

Where you review books is your choice. Your Goodreads reviews are under your control to manage.

> I wouldn't mind some bits of integration between Goodreads and Kindle users along the lines of updating reading progress or viewing Goodreads book pages straight from a Kindle book, etc.

We're looking forward to building that!

> I have to say that this (Amazon's share) has not ruined LibraryThing at all (from my point of view as a user), so we can be optimistic about Goodreads too?

I'm very confident that Goodreads is going to get a lot better. Think about Google buying Youtube, or eBay buying Paypal - I think it's going to be the same kind of thing here.

> Will goodreads be under the same constraints that Amazon has enforced on their site - namely censorship of topics they deem inappropriate reading material?

We will be continuing to make policy decisions based on what we feel is best for the Goodreads community.

> And there will also likely be a "like" and a "don't like" button for both comments and reviews.

I like the idea of a "like" button for comments actually. But a "don't like" would be too negative.

> What does this mean for Goodreads users? I don't hate Amazon but I don't use t for a reason. Goodreads, is my place to find UNBIASED reccomendations for books. I don't want to log into Goodreads and see a billion Amazon ads hacking stuff at me. How will this merg effect Goodreads specifically? Am I expected to log in with my Amazon info? Am I expected to only add "kindle" editions to my "To Be Read" shelf?

I think you'll find that very little changes on Goodreads itself, other than changes and improvements we would have been making anyways. We plan to eventually give members the option to connect their Goodreads and Amazon account, in order to be able to pull your purchase history in and rate/review your books. We also plan to add various integrations on Kindle devices and apps to make it easier for readers to share what they are reading.

> What BunWat said, among others. I am certain Otis and company don't PLAN for any changes -- but once the papers are signed and the power shifts, what they plan and what becomes fact may have no relationship to each other.

All I can say to this, is that Amazon shares the goal we have of growing Goodreads into a larger, more vibrant community. It's the reason they are buying us, and I am personally excited to innovate with them on what the future of reading looks like.

> If they could say we are getting re-reading option, and a-b-c bugs fixed,

Not sure about the priority of re-reading, but we expect this will enable us to focus a lot more on exciting new features for the community, and bug fixes too.

> We're providing you feedback, begging you to provide answers as to what this means. If you're listening, why aren't you answering the questions with actual information rather than platitudes?

We are doing our best, which is all we can do. I remain committed to this website, and this community, and appreciate your patience. We will continue to communicate with you and share updates as we have them.

> Goodreads does not exist independently of its members. You are Goodreads. I am Goodreads. We are Goodreads. We made it the attractive commodity it has become.

I love that you said that, it's exactly how I feel. Goodreads is indeed the sum of the amazing people here. It's something I cherish and treasure, and am honored to be the steward to help it continue to grow. I wake up every day thinking about Goodreads and how to make it better.


As you might imagine, it's been a big day, and the team has been working hard. I'll be online tomorrow to answer more questions.

Otis, you say you are excited about this 'takeover' (lets be honest - its not a merger) for 3 reasons. Oh,please!!! you are excited about this takeover for ONE reason: you're making a bucket full of money. No other reason would a company give up its business but to make a motza. So, please, dont treat us like idiots. Its a money making exercise and nothing else. Just say it.

This is terrible news. Amazon's impact on the American literary landscape has been devastating. I'm very sorry to hear that Goodreads is being absorbed into Amazon.

Catherine wrote: "Feature Request: When I buy a book on Amazon I'd like it to automatically get added to my to read or reading shelf (unless I click a box to not post it, which I would do if it was something like a ..."

I agree, and I would also like to see the status on GoodReads be automatically updated from my Kindle... So if I am 50% through a book you can see it here.

I'm curious to see what "GENIUS" member of GR is going to develop a site similar to this one. Hurry up, aren't you developing it yet. We need a place to go!!!!! I'm sure it will be developed pretty dang quickly and GR will die out just like Shelfari did.

I'll be happy as long as I'm not pressured to buy my books from Amazon to access features that Goodreads would otherwise eventually have given to all users.

I think the syncing to Amazon should be an option, not a requirement. Helpful either way though.

The sharing directly from the Kindle (via highlighting like it is now) would be EXTREMELY beneficial.

Syncing read progress would be nice too. You know how when you finish a book on the kindle it asks you to rate it and share your thoughts? If that part was synced directly with Goodreads too, that would be great. Rate & review while it's fresh in your head, and you don't have to get up from the couch!

Oh.

What I want to know is, if I choose to keep an account here for community/groups/friends purposes only, do I have to delete all of my reviews first to ensure none of them are shared on Amazon's website? I don't think I will be posting new reviews here anymore regardless, but I want to know if I need to go through and delete everything.

Very sad. Amazon has never played well with independents. Too bad you caved, Goodreads. I will have to find a new site.

I don't know about you, Robin, but I've seen booklikes.com suggested on earlier pages of this thread, and I quite like the look of it, though it appears to be invite-only at the present time. I might join that. Either way, I'm backing up my content here and if there is ANY sign of Amazon screwing around with either content or function of this site, I'm outta here.

Well it was a good site while it lasted

NO! Goodreads cannot die out! GOODREADS IS AMAZING! So why join up with Amazon what's the backstory?

genesee wrote: "I will be abandoning my account here and migrating to Google Books."

I didn't even know that existed. I'll be checking it out now. Thanks!

I just hope they get rid of that Horrid kindle.amazon.com site and replace this site with that. You guys do such a great job, and it would be a gross mistake to just buy you and erase you.

I find this very upsetting and sad news. I really liked feeling like Goodreads was a non-biased reviewer of books, and linking up with Amazon concerns me quite a bit. I hope you don't start requiring that the accounts be linked, and I also hope you don't stop having links to other booksellers and e-readers. I've really enjoyed being able to easily link to sites that will sell epubs for my Nook. Most of all, I hope you haven't sold out to become yet another marketing arm of Amazon -- remember, Kindle isn't the only ereader!

Richard wrote: "If we have to start paying for things I'm out."
Lol, i know, right. Im out too.

From the email sent to GR's librarians of this news, I get a strong impression that GR's librarian work is going to be restricted in some new ways or perhaps simply terminated in favour of auto-importation of amazon data.

Hundreds and hundreds of librarian volunteers worked mightily around the clock for days and days to save Goodreads's ass last year when Goodreads supposedly opted to not submit to Amazon's desired monopolisation of absolutely everything book-related on and off the internet. I was proud of Goodreads the day they supposedly told amazon to take their exclusivity contract and shove it. Today I feel betrayed and used.

I notice the email has a lot of words but does not actually contain any information. It's a perfect example of a corporate communiqué:

1) they are going to "invest more in things"-- ooo, neat, we're going to get "things."
2) "invent more services"-- services? do I need services?! I don't recall complaining there weren't enough "services"...??
3) "add lots of new features"-- Oh, great, we're going to have "features", I always wanted more "features." I've always said, Goodreads doesn't have enough "features." Now we'll have "lots"!

The message is an amazing display of snowblinding readers with "new" and "great" and "just for you" so that readers won't see the message's meaninglessness-- and look for information in what Goodreads is NOT saying. So when I look at the new jobs page, I am not surprised to see that Goodreads was essentially hired to hire people to push proprietary product. Marketing, marketing, marketing, data collection and management, product development and promotion. I have no doubt this merger is designed for amazon to use Goodreads to find and sell AMAZON services and products.

The message to librarians tries to sell us on the idea of a renewed relationship with amazon by stating that amazon's metadata will return to Goodreads. We already proved last year, WE DID NOT NEED AMAZON FOR BOOK DATA. I feel quite sure that this merger is not about Goodreads gaining book data from amazon, it's about amazon gaining consumer data from Goodreads.

I am not happy to have helped build and promote a site/community that sold itself to amazon. I can't celebrate Goodreads returning to an "abusive partner", like amazon has been to Goodreads, authors, readers, publishers, brick and mortar stores, their own employees, and every citizen of a state in which amazon refuses to pay taxes.

When amazon has taken everything it needs from Goodreads and exploited it to its greatest profit margin, I will want to know: .wasitworthit?

I call this news tragic. I love using Goodreads but I boycott Amazon. Goodreads costs nothing to use and, assuming it stays that way, I will not be giving any money to Amazon by continuing to use it. I do not, however, like the idea of Amazon using my data to make sales. Am I hypocrite if I continue to use Goodreads?

Already downloaded my data. I have no real interest in providing book reviews for Amazon (a monopolistic company I've grown to trust very little), and we all know -- despite the assurances of independence now -- that this will eventually become an Amazon sales channel.

When I cancel my account and withdraw my data, will it be removed from the site?

Brixton, there's a librarian email? I don't think I received that... *frowns*

Otis wrote: > If they could say we are getting re-reading option, and a-b-c bugs fixed,

Not sure about the priority of re-reading, but we expect this will enable us to focus a lot more on exciting new features for the community, and bug fixes too.

I don't know if this will even get seen, but I just have to say.. I know you mean you don't know about the priority of re-reading as a new feature, but I feel like it's one of top, if not THE top feature people want and feel is lacking on goodreads.

Please keep the "online stores" section found on each book page. I like the option of comparing prices and having access to different vendors such as Book Depository, Smashwords, Amazon, B&N, etc. from one click.

Catherine wrote: "Feature Request: When I buy a book on Amazon I'd like it to automatically get added to my to read or reading shelf (unless I click a box to not post it, which I would do if it was something like a ..."
THIS

Would be lovely.

As a Goodreads addict I think this will improve the service even more! I'm sure Amazon won't force anything into Goodreads, just like they did with IMDb.

Will Goodreads Librarians stay?

As a Nook owner, I do have concerns. I prefer not to post all of them publicly & would like specifics given to us who may have limited access & privileges if we do not own a Kindle. Good move for Amazon, but maybe not so much for Nook owners. I have f2f book club members who have joined Good Reads at my recommendation that are also Nook owners.

I'm a little concerned as a reader, I like to post reviews for works that I enjoyed and telling others why. But because I'm an author, I've had my reviews from works within my genre removed. Will the same thing happen here?

Otis, if this is what you've been working towards as a business goal then I am happy for your success (sincerely so), but as a user I will reserve judgement until I find out what it means to me.

Otis Wrote: "P.P.S. Please let us know – what integration with Kindle would you love to see the most?...

Meaningless to me as I read books. What I would love to see from from your acquisition by Amazon is the preservation of the fruits of the hundreds of hours of free labour I've given to you as a Librarian, that all this work isn't wiped out by an ill-considered data import.

I've removed the link for Goodreads from my profile on various sites I belong to. For the time being I can't in good conscience recommend this site to anyone.

Very sad news (for a lot of reasons others have already covered).

As an author, I would love it if reviews went directly to Amazon (or to Goodreads from Amazon).

I think you should better clarify what this will mean to the average Goodreads member. I have been linking to this website when I discuss books elsewhere because it meant I did not have to link to B&N or Amazon.

If this will now be Amazon, there is no point in my keeping a separate membership here.

Catherine wrote: "Feature Request: When I buy a book on Amazon I'd like it to automatically get added to my to read or reading shelf (unless I click a box to not post it, which I would do if it was something like a ..."

Agreed!!! Me too!

time to move on.

I am nook owner, so I know I'm now SOL. But, to me the bigger picture is why i joined Goodreads to begin with. I LOVED the idea of an independent, one more time, independent book site. I loved the idea of a place where authors (of all kinds, and readers could get together to share books. That's done. Over. Finished. I guess my best hope is that someone will create a new Goodreads where all us dissenters can go. Sad news.

Catherine wrote: "Feature Request: When I buy a book on Amazon I'd like it to automatically get added to my to read or reading shelf (unless I click a box to not post it, which I would do if it was something like a ..."

I agree! Or when I add a book to my wish list on Amazon- it would be wonderful for it to show up on my To Read list!

Congratulations on this. All the best with Amazon Integration.

I'm... concerned. That, and I think we deserve some answers to the repeated questions: are we just becoming free labor for amazon? We read, we rate, they get the data?

Great news! I'd like to be able to add titles to my Currently or To Read as I buy for Kindle and change to Read and rate when I finish a book on my Kindle.

Kate wrote: "To say "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" when partnering with Amazon is a contra..."
That was the same thing i thought. I wish i could take my books off amazon because of the huge cut they get from stories they didnt contribute in making, but its popular and hard to distance from being an indie author. I try to balance it out by publishing to other places.

SAD.

Great, another independent thing is now owned by a big thing.

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If I can't get it on my NOOK COLOR....it's of no use to me.

Actually, it blows my mind a bit when people say Amazon has had a devastating impact on the literary landscape. I assume they mean the bookselling landscape

Well, believe it or not, some of us readers have a strong preference to buy our books at physical stores because we *gasp* prefer/enjoy that experience over online shopping. So yes, from my perspective, what Amazon has done and will continue to do in the future is devastating. Barnes & Noble and Borders at least replaced one physical bookstore with another physical bookstore; Amazon won't be doing the same. Barnes & Noble is the only bookstore left in my area with a decent selection, and I am terrified for them and heartbroken by the possibility of not having a bookstore anymore, not having a place to take my future children to buy books the way I loved as a child, and so on...

When Amazon took over Shelfari and integrated the login information for the two sites, my Shelfari login quit working. I contacted customer support to help reset or sync my passwords, two months went by before I got a response. I have not been back on Shelfari in years. In the meantime, I joined Goodreads and had a great experience. I am really sorry to hear that you are becoming part of Amazon.

Tria wrote: "Brixton, there's a librarian email? I don't think I received that... *frowns*"

Subject: Goodreads Joins the Amazon Family
Date: Mar 28, 2013 4:02 PM

Hello Brixton,
Today is a very big day for all of us at Goodreads. As you may have seen on our blog, we are joining the Amazon family.

We greatly appreciate all you do as a Goodreads Librarian so we wanted to reach out to you individually since you play an important role in our community.

You'll be glad to know that this announcement is great news for our catalog. Amazon metadata will be returning to the site, and we will have an even more comprehensive record of self-published books, as well as more complete records of international books. We will continue to link to a variety of sites on our book pages, of course, including OCLC WorldCat for library data. All of your reviews and ratings will remain on Goodreads.

By joining the Amazon family, the Goodreads team will be able to invest more in the things that our members care about. We'll also be working together on inventing new services for readers and authors. As part of this, we'll be increasing the size of our team over time, and will be able to add lots of great new features that members and librarians will be excited about!

I can't make this clear enough – we plan to continue growing Goodreads and investing in making it a great community for librarians, and everyone else.

We said in our blog post that 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 as part of the Amazon family.

Here's to the next chapter!

Otis, Elizabeth, and the Goodreads Team
###

Amber the vamplover! wrote: "NO! Goodreads cannot die out! GOODREADS IS AMAZING! So why join up with Amazon what's the backstory?"

Really?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Catherine wrote: "Feature Request: When I buy a book on Amazon I'd like it to automatically get added to my to read or reading shelf (unless I click a box to not post it, which I would do if it was something like a ..."

That's a great idea. I'd love to see that happen.

I'm trying so hard not to feel bummed about this, but...

I don't want GR integrated with Amazon. For starters, Amazon's interface is ugly. But more importantly, on Amazon reviews are make-or-break for a product, so authors send their armies to boost the rating. I liked GR because it was a place where bookish people like me talked about books.

I'll keep an open mind, at least until there are some bad changes around here, but I am less than thrilled with this.

Like many people, I read this announcement with a certain amount of dismay. Amazon seems to take advantage of their consumers a lot, whether it's deleting and censoring reviews or abruptly removing legitimately purchased e-book content from consumers' Kindles without warning or reason. They're also not library-friendly, refusing to make their e-readers compatible with library digital content. I would have preferred Goodreads form some sort of partnership with library associations like the ALA and CLA to integrate and sync GR ratings, reviews, and social features into library catalogues -- not something Amazon would ever support though, I imagine. :c

Amazon has proved over and over again that they are one of those businesses that don't actually have any interest in the wellbeing of their customers, despite what their vision, mission, and core values insist; their first and only priority seems to be money. I'm afraid that Amazon having hands in the Goodreads brand will have little benefit for the GR user community.

What a bummer. I liked the fact that Goodreads was an independent entity. It feels like my favorite indie bookstore was bought out by Walmart...