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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 1,151-1,200 of 2,216 (2216 new)
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Joan
(new)
Mar 29, 2013 06:38AM
This is really bad news. Kindle is a proprietary format and the Kindle reader does not support the public domain format, ePub (Nook does). This means that Kindle owners can't directly avail themselves of public domain ebooks from Google, etc. I guess this is a done deal, but you may end up driving out a fair portion of GR members by this move.
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I join all your members who are distressed by this decision. I'm certain that Goodreads will gradually be altered beyond recognition and that its simplicity will eventually be swallowed up by Facebook-like arbitrariness and commercialism. It is sad: no place, online or off, is free from it.
Centrehalf wrote: "Christa wrote: "This sounds like exactly what I've been needing. I agree with Catherine. When I buy a book on Kindle/Amazon I'd like it to automatically get added to my to read or reading shelf (u..."
Don't you ever give books as gifts? I do.
Matt wrote: "This announcement comes off as a little odd to me since we had all the mess with not being able to grab book data from Amazon for the Goodreads database last year. I can understand and appreciate a..."I know I'm an author and having an overactive imagination is my job but I can't help imagining a conversation a bit like this...
Ammy after the covers debacle: "You've seen what we can do so it's up to you, we'd like to help you but you're either with us or against us... how much would you like for goodreads? Let us offer you an insane amount..."
Goodreads owners: "Yeek"
Let's see... one year... a takeover with two teams of American lawyers negotiating. Hmmm.... is my imagination so overactive? I don't know.
Cheers
MTM
Lauren wrote: "I must admit I was disappointed to hear about this. I have worries of tainted recommendations and worried this will stop being about the books and be about the money instead. Plus I have NOOK. What..."Lauren, you make a good point. When you talk Kindle/Nook, it just made me laugh (not that this is really funny), but almost sounds like a political campaign. The one with the most votes or most money can be the winner! Then the supporters are the ones who suffer. ;)
I hope that there won't be any major changes to the site following this announcement. Also I feel like since Goodreads is a general book site, it shouldn't show favoritism as to where you buy books. If integrating Kindle, they should do the same for NOOK, Kobo, and other eReader brands. I wasn't happy to hear about this news as a Goodreads lover and NOOK owner.
"Amazon supports us" Yeah, Amazon is known for their philanthropy, open-mindedness and munificence.
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 would NOT want books added automatically, since about half the books I buy through Amazon are for gifts. I wouldn't mind a button that says "add this to my Goodreads to-read shelf" or something like that, though.
Sashu wrote: ""Amazon supports us" Yeah, Amazon is known for their philanthropy, open-mindedness and munificence."
LOL
I relied on Goodreads to be a more accurate in the area of reviews. Amazon seemed to tilt reviews and promotions towards book they wanted to sell. The reviews on Goodreads were more accurate and not written to sell more books. I hesitate to think this will work but, only time will tell. What happens to the options of where to buy books? No way will Amazon allow that competition to remain. I just don't know about this. It's just a big Amazon but I guess so is your bank account now.
As an author getting back into the writing business after a 30-year career with the State Department, I am looking forward to having these two excellent sites linked. Selling books is a Kafkaesque experience at present, not that it always wasn't. This joining of two "greats" should help us reach a wider audience and then the readers can decide if we sink or swim. I agree, however, that the sites should continue to act "independently", but close enough together to allow each to gain strengths from the other.
I second many of the suggestions above. Let's see how it goes and comment on developments when necessary.
Too bad, I refuse to use Amazon & Kindle because they are so restrictive and the company is so awful to its employees, authors, and readers. This feels like something that is focused in the US, as opposed to the rest of the world (ie. in Canada, Kindle is currently one of the least popular ereaders).I'll see how this pans out, but if it turns into something that's trying to sell me things (and only through Amazon or only available for kindle) or ends up screwing with the authors and publishers I like, then it will be au revoir (which is too bad, because I like GR and use it all the time - it's useful and isn't a commercial site).
Mel wrote: "Seriously?! A year ago you completely split from amazon because of how demanding they were, and now you are being owned by them?? Are you freaking kidding me?! Ugh. If I thought I was done with GR ..."agreed.
Terri wrote: "My concern is that amazon already limits and removes reviews for many reasons - will they be able to do this with goodreads?"One of the reasons is that many reviews are obviously "fake" in that they are marketing statements rather than true reviews. I applaud amazon's efforts to remove those kind of reviews from their site.
I am sure Otis Chandler realizes that any sensible reader can't take this news as EXCITING. So manipulative...he's now truly a businessman in the grown up world.
So I hope you made a lot of bucks for selling your sole to the devil. Sad day....
Denise wrote: "E.W. wrote: "Too bad the members were not clued on this decision. I would have paid a fee to keep this site independent. Now all I can do is wait and see."I would have paid too! That said, I'm ..."
Yes, I'd be happy to pay a fee too !
This is just sad news.
i was giving up writing reviews, because i get tired copying-pasting to a bunch of sites. i'm all for the integration factor. while i might feel a bit disgruntled over another corporate crushing, we're a long way from the glory days of the internet where there were zillions of sites. this is the way we're going and i fully expect the internet to one day be a single site fully integrated. which will be sad. it often seems, though, that the majority demand things simpler. easier. more functional. all in one place. so it's good/bad. see how it goes, but the lazy man in me would be happier for some simplicity in regard to reviews. then i can get back to doing them.
Considering some of Amazon's practices, I'd rather Goodreads had stayed independent. I'm a customer of Amazon, but their reach and control worries me.
I agree with this post. I'll have to see, but if the site changes into Amazon too much, or if I feel to pressured to buy from Amazon, I will probably leave as well
We have enjoyed GR for years without paying a penny. Thank you GR for providing that for us. But we should know there is no such thing as a free ride, and we have no right to expect one. We should view this new GR/amazon venture as a means to continue what we have enjoyed in an affordable way, albeit with some changes. We should also give it a chance, see how it works out, before engaging in what may prove to be unfounded criticism.
Wow, I'm surprised at the strong negative thoughts! I'm thrilled at this news . . . it's a marriage of my two favorite things! Contrary to some, I believe Amazon has done some wonderful things for authors and readers. I found many of my favorite books and authors because of Amazon self publishing. Consider the thoughts of Hugh Howey, an fantastic author who is on his way to becoming a household name--only because of Amazon. http://www.hughhowey.com/amazon-and-g....I'm excited to see things like:
--Automatically add books to my Goodreads "to-read shelf" when I buy them from Amazon.
--Allow status updates to post to Goodreads directly from within the book I'm reading on my Kindle.
--Post book reviews to both Goodreads and Amazon at the same time...one review for both.
--Give back the book covers!
Looking forward to some great new features!
Here's the thing. If GoodReads wants to show good faith, it will allow all booksellers the same opportunity - for example, creating an open API that would allow Amazon or Barnes and Noble to pull in GoodReads reviews; would allow Kindle users or Kobo users to sync their reading progress.A lot of people won't like that - I see from the comments that many want their reviews to stay only on GoodReads. But if that's not going to happen, at least make it fair. That would be a clear demonstration of an Amazon interest in readers, and not just sales. (Nothing wrong with sales and profit, but until now that hasn't been what GoodReads was about.)
Personally, I'd be interested in being able to rate or review a book on GoodReads direct from my Nook - whether I bought the book on Amazon or B&N or downloaded from Guttenberg.
I'm side-eyeing all the "well =I= I don't care how evil amazon are, I like them anyway lol, so you better calm down" comments. Man, you guys really are a prime example of what's wrong in the world.
I could not be more excited about this!!! The integration roadmap is endless! In the first rollout I would love to see the ability to purchase when I mark something "to read"...especially for yet to be released books. Also, if the Kindle Shopping experience could integrate with my friend list so that if I am considering something to buy for my kindle, I want to see if any of my friends have read it and what they rated it, not what the general public has to say because I trust my friends more than the masses.SO EXCITED! If you need any help planning your roadmap please let me know (I am a web product manager in my day job :) ).
I've seen posts from a number of authors whoa re now going to leave Goodreads because of the Amazon sale. I am saddened by this move.
I'm going to stay positive and assume this is a great thing for the Goodreads community, for now. There is a lot of potential for cross-pollination between the networks. My only concern is that the competitor agnostic state of Goodreads will change, and we will stop seeing content from other sellers like B&N. It wouldn't be a terrible thing for me, since I do own a Kindle, but I like being able to come to one place and see reviews from all over the web. Whatever happens, I am certain Readmill will remain my favorite in this space, and I encourage Goodreads members to check it out! Another alternative is Slice's new Bookshelf website. It recognizes when you buy books (and other media) and will automatically add it to your library. Check it out!
I feel that I have to add my voice to those that are not excited by this news. You've built a wonderful community platform, one that I've thoroughly loved using since 2007. Amazon has long since been out of the business of being a bookseller and their reviews are notoriously a problem. No surprise that they would want to acquire a site that does well something that they have failed at. I will be looking into ways to migrate my data elsewhere, even if it's just printing it out and going back to a paper system of recording what I read. Thank you for the many years of dedication to readers and booklovers.
So now that you're no longer indie, I wonder who will take your place in that department. Seems what you've forgotten what your customers liked about you.
Jacquie wrote:for me, I would like to be able to post one review and have it go to both sites
Not for me. If this is implemented, I hope it's something each GR member can choose to opt in.
Kathleen wrote: "Anne wrote: "I'm an amazon customer and certainly don't hate the company and I am happy that people who took the initiative to put goodreads together are being rewarded financially. That said, thi..."My thoughts exactly. I really hope GoodReads remains am independant entity. I have no good or bad experiences with Amazon. But I have seen a couple of good communities deteriorate due to too much advertising and 'data stalking', after a *merger* with a commercial party.
I also have concerns about how Kindle-centered GoodReads is going to become. I'm from the EU (where Kindle is NOT the mayor player) and I'd like to continue using Goodreads the same way I previously did. I'm hoping us readers with other devices (that are not a Kindle) won't be excluded from certain aspects of GoodReads.
Dan wrote: "Wow, I'm surprised at the strong negative thoughts! I'm thrilled at this news . . . it's a marriage of my two favorite things! Contrary to some, I believe Amazon has done some wonderful things fo..."I agree. We should not expect a free ride on GR, and we should wait and see before flaming up a critical response.
Congratulations! I love Goodreads and Amazon and look forward to what you can do together!
Jennifer wrote: "Now I know on Amazon your reviews are no longer your own, but Amazon's, does this mean that my reviews on GR will belong to Amazon?"Amazon doesn't "own" the rights to reviews posted there, but the terms of use do give Amazon "a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content..."
While that does give Amazon a nonrevocable license to do pretty much whatever it wants with content you post there, it doesn't give them ownership. You still retain copyright (provided you copyrighted your content in the first place.) That means you can also do whatever you want with the content you created -- republish it anywhere else you want, modify it, whatever.
I checked Goodreads' terms. They are virtually identical, and have been since at least April 2010, the last time the terms were modified. You can see them here, under 3. License Grant.
David wrote: "Sandy wrote: "I've seen posts from a number of authors whoa re now going to leave Goodreads because of the Amazon sale. I am saddened by this move."Yep- I'm one of them. Already taken down an e-..."
I think it is possible you will have far more opportunity to connect with readers as a result of this new affiliation. Why quit GR before seeing how it works out?
I don't have anything against Amazon, but I do think it a conflict of interest when a book seller gets involved in the business of reviewing books. I'm going to reserve judgement for now, but, if I start seeing Amazon ads, or see that my reviews have been deleted, for whatever reason, I'll have to find another book community. I'm really disappointed that you've felt the need to sell out this way. I'm certain many of us would have paid to keep you from this decision.
David wrote: "Sandy wrote: "I've seen posts from a number of authors whoa re now going to leave Goodreads because of the Amazon sale. I am saddened by this move."Yep- I'm one of them. Already taken down an e-..."
Wait, why would you do that? If I were an author I'd be thrilled at the prospect of having exposure to Amazon's networks of book-hungry customers. I can only think of ways Amazon has HELPED authors and readers find each other.
I'm excited for this marriage of my two favorite things!
Kimberly wrote: "...I hope Amazon merges my "To read" list with my Amazon Wishlist."Yikes! Not me. My GR to-read list is around 500 books by now, and there is no way I will be buying them all. Merging the lists would make my already unwieldy Amazon wish almost unusable.
I am an Amazon customer and a Kindle owner and I think that buying Goodreads was the stupidest decision Amazon could have made. I came to Goodreads a little over a year ago because I found the Amazon site increasingly difficult to use to find new books. The recommendations were obnoxious and somehow the books they threw at me seemed to interest me less and less. The reviews included people who had never read the book, often turned nasty, and were filled with complaints from reviewers whose negative reviews had been deleted. I also had so many very poorly written self published books pushed at me that I began checking publishers before even reading the reviews. I liked the convenience of buying from Amazon but they got in the way of finding good books to enjoy.
Then one day, I stumbled across this site. And for more that a year now, I have been in book heaven. In my first 11 months (2012) on this site, I almost double the number of books I read during the previous calendar year. (Yes, I kept track on paper of every book I read each year since I was in JR high.)
I trusted the recommendations here because they were independent. Comments stay polite because when there is no profit motive, there is no motive to be nasty or to lie. The result is that I bought more books and became a more satisfied book buyer. (I even bought and enjoyed self published books, something I thought would never, ever happen! A good editor is a precious resource!)
What many large corporations don't realize is that you can't buy integrity. You can, however, earn it by supporting independent book sites like Goodreads use to be and by supporting libraries. Unfortunately, that is not what Amazon or the founders of Goodreads choose to do.
Will you be picking book reviews from Amazon? As an author I am a little frustrated that Amazon.uk where I have some reviews does not have them picked up by Amazon.com. Only when readers post on one and have it picked up by all will it really help authors and readers alike
@Dan: How exactly are you not aware how detrimental amazon is to most authors, publishers & obviously any independent form of a bookstore?
Jennifer wrote: "Now I know on Amazon your reviews are no longer your own, but Amazon's, does this mean that my reviews on GR will belong to Amazon?"When you change your EULA, please be VERY CLEAR about what kind of user data (i.e. history and reviews) you will be selling to /sharing with Amazon. Thanks!
Not completely thrilled about this news... and I love my Kindle Fire HD. It worries me when big companies buy wonderful little ones. So often, the big companies buy their competition merely to destroy them (Tweetdeck/Twitter). I have loved this site for so long. It has been a place to escape from the commercialism of Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc., etc. On a positive note, I am somewhat relieved that Facebook didn't scoop you up. I hope my feelings of doom and gloom are unwarranted and you will continue to be a haven of comfort and inspiration. On the other hand, like other Kindle users, I would like to have the ability to share reviews, notes, quotes, etc to Goodreads from my Kindle device. We shall see.
Can we get an automatic notification when something on our to-read shelf goes on sale as an e-book?
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 ..."Great idea. Just to expand. I purchase books but don't necessarily read them right then. How about an option when purchasing from Kindle (or Amazon) to place it in the bookshelf that I choose?
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 ..."
What the hell ?
You could rate books 1 star in Amazon.com
Jacquie wrote: "for me, I would like to be able to post one review and have it go to both sites"I also 2nd this.
Like several other posters, I'm an Amazon customer, and I'm not terribly happy about this news. Goodreads' independence is one of the things I liked most about it. I'm concerned that Amazon will not, over the long haul, allow GR to remain independent. I'm particularly worried that that a) Amazon will mine our Goodreads data and b) they will use the site (and any integration with Kindle) to get people to buy through Amazon. Amazon knows a lot about me already; I don't really want them to know all the books I've marked as "read" and all the books on my to-read shelf. Frankly, they already send me enough email as it is; I don't need more email pushing me to buy books on my Goodreads list.
I'm also concerned about the integration with Kindle because it favors Kindle over other e-readers. I currently use an older Sony Reader. While I've debated replacing it with Kindle when it dies, I haven't made a final decision on that yet... in part because of the Big Brother nature of Kindle (and for that matter, Nook.) If you connect wirelessly, Amazon can see everything in your Kindle. I'm not entirely comfortable with that degree of privacy invasion, and I don't want to feel pressured into choosing Kindle because of Goodreads.
I don't plan to leave Goodreads at this point, but I will be watching to see how extensive Amazon's involvement becomes. I love the Goodreads community, and would be sorry to leave it... but even as an Amazon customer, the extent of their reach and growing power in the publishing industry is beginning to worry me.
Sara wrote: "Can we get an automatic notification when something on our to-read shelf goes on sale as an e-book?"This is a great idea I hadn't thought of. 2nd!
