Sign in with Facebook
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 1,851-1,900 of 2,216 (2216 new)
Tom wrote: "I think Diaspora was supposed to fill that open-source social media niche (at least I thought so when I contributed to their Kickstarter campaign way, way back)..."Last I had heard, that project had effectively failed - unfortunately.
What I dream of would actually have greater scope. But I suppose it's impossible. And if it wasn't, it would probably end up being illegal. :/
I would like the actual option of not including all the books that I buy on Goodreads. Sometimes I want to get into the book a little bit before I even put it on my list. But wow, this is amazing news. Congrats!
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) "..."Also my concern with this change
Moira wrote: "Is there going to be an opt-out if I don't want my reviews shared with Amazon? I posted those reviews here for the GoodReads community. I didn't write them so Amazon could use them and profit off m..."That's exactly what I want to know and in fact made it my request for a feature (they want to know? I'll tell them what I want). I want to be able to opt out from Amazon sharing.
Side note: I went into my account and under "Settings," there is a box that says: "Goodreads allows some partner sites access to book reviews via an API. This access is granted in the spirit of openness with the goal of spreading the love of reading. Current partners include Sony, Alibris, Stanza, WorldCat, Powells, and more. Uncheck this box if you don’t want the text of your reviews to appear on these sites."
I just unchecked it.
As an early commenter on this news, I've followed this discussion with interest. I have decided to export my book list and will most likely delete all my reviews (even though this is probably only a token gesture as I'm sure the data grab already happened). I am exploring similar functionality at, of all places, my public library's site. You can add books to 3 standard shelves (completed, in progress and future) as well as add items to custom lists. I'm not sure how easy it will be to import my book list from GR to the library nor does the library site seem as feature-rich. But at least I am aligned with an organzation whose main objective is to promote reading (as opposed to promoting books for profit).
Does anyone else feel like a family member just passed away? Or a friend suddenly stopped calling? I just imported my books into LibraryThing. Not thrilled about the minority Amazon ownership, but so it goes. The interface is clunky, but I'll party like it's 1999.
It's nice to remember we do have power. Our love of books made this valuable and we can take that love elsewhere.
Mary Beth wrote: "I am exploring similar functionality at, of all places, my public library's site."Me too! :o) My library's site has a comment feature where people post reviews. It's time for me to start reading and maybe even contributing them. Push comes to shove, people where I live are part of my community in more real ways than they could be here.
Four years ago I started my own real-life bookclub, and last year joined a couple others through meetup.com. I have met good folks, been exposed to new books, and had a lot of fun at these.
And no one is going to be able to recommend books better than someone with whom you can interact face-to-face: friends, family, a librarian, or someone at your local bookstore.
Connie wrote: "Does anyone else feel like a family member just passed away? Or a friend suddenly stopped calling? I just imported my books into LibraryThing. Not thrilled about the minority Amazon ownership, bu..."
For all that it feels overly dramatic to say so, it sort of does. It at the very least feels a bit like a betrayal because the reason I loved Goodreads so much was that it was a largely non-affiliated site, and as a librarian when I pull up recommendations and reviews I really don't want to be relying on just Amazon.
Automatic updates of status and books to read
Brixton wrote: "Mary Beth wrote: "I am exploring similar functionality at, of all places, my public library's site."Me too! :o) My library's site has a comment feature where people post reviews. It's time for me..."
sure that's true but I've belonged to a local club for years and what I so adored about GoodReads was the international aspect of it. Reviews from everywhere and so many.
Tom wrote: "Peter wrote: "Val wrote: "None in my town either. I still want someone to approach Paul Allen or Oprah and see if they'll foot the bill for starting an independent (always) book review site. "The..."
hmmmmm, have not heard of them, googling them now
well, I still can see some philanthropist wanting to start an independent reading site. it would be of such value to society. books make us better, smarter, deeper, and entertain us in healthful, non threatening ways. yeah, I know it sounds so idealistic but still.
The international aspect is what's missing from a lot of the sites I visited and that's what makes me the most sad about potentially losing GR. Also why I'm leaning towards Anobi. There are just not that many sites out there that are open to all kinds of books in many different languages from many different places. I am not in the US and sites like Bookish and Booklikes do thing for me.
Purple wrote: "The international aspect is what's missing from a lot of the sites I visited and that's what makes me the most sad about potentially losing GR. Also why I'm leaning towards Anobi. There are just no..."Just checking: BookLikes is apparently based in Poland, and there are definitely people reviewing books there in other languages than English. Some of them are following me, though god knows why.
Peter wrote: "Purple wrote: "The international aspect is what's missing from a lot of the sites I visited and that's what makes me the most sad about potentially losing GR. Also why I'm leaning towards Anobi. Th..."Well, I tried a few of my "standard" titles there and nothing popped up. Maybe if I had some Polish literature on my shelves, I'd have more luck!
Congratulations to the Goodreads team! As an avid Goodreads user, I'm quite excited by these developments. Obviously, your focus will be Kindle integration (yay!), but don't forget Audible audiobooks. For those of us who read and listen (and sometimes do both), it would be great to sort, rate, and review specific to format.For what it's worth, I worked at Audible.com when the company was acquired by Amazon in 2008. I'm happy to report it was a remarkable professional experience. Amazon was true to its word, supporting Audible's independence, style, and unique culture, while at the same time granting us access to the amazing technology, resources and business philosophy that make Amazon such a success. In short, I think this is great news for the Goodreads team and to the wonderful community of Goodreads users.
[Pause]
Oy! I wrote this note as a knee-jerk reaction to the acquisition news, which I just read about today. I was about to post and then scrolled through user comments (past the first page). Folks! Calm down; it's not that bad.
I, for one, am looking forward to seeing how the product evolves!
Rock on Goodreads!
I suppose I can't complain. I did use GR's services for free afterall.
Brixton wrote: "... I believe I'm having that moment of awakening I hear some people have at the breakfast table, when they look at their partner of many, many years and suddenly wonder who the hell that person is and what they've been doing with them all this time. "A fine post, very well expressed!
Douglas wrote: "Brixton wrote: "... I believe I'm having that moment of awakening I hear some people have at the breakfast table, when they look at their partner of many, many years and suddenly wonder who the hel..."I think I love your Profile Icon XD
Sarah_loves_books wrote: "Purple wrote: "Peter wrote: "Purple wrote: "The international aspect is what's missing from a lot of the sites I visited and that's what makes me the most sad about potentially losing GR. Also why ..."I did open an account at LibraryThing. I'm not loving the feel of it, though, and its collection is not as extensive as the one here, although I suppose that would be a problem anywhere. Anobii has more reviews of the books I work with, though, which is a plus. If the reviews are on LT, I can't find them. Oh, and I misspoke earlier. I haven't fully checked out booklikes because I haven't requested an invite yet. I think I might just need to wean myself from reading sites and go back to reading in my own little corner.
Sarah_loves_books wrote: "Have you looked at Library Thing? It looks international to me, and I kind of like it, although I do feel as if I were back to 1999, lol."I've looked at 47 alternatives to Goodreads in the last few days! I feel as if I have book review and shopping sites coming out of my ears. LibraryThing was one of the first among the many.
(The spreadsheet summing up the group experiences with those 47 is publicly viewable at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/c... )
But my experience at LibraryThing so far has not been positive. I didn't have a very large import file, only about 250 books, but many of my reviews and ratings didn't make it through.
And I, like some others, have found it to be somewhat unfriendly. I'm not asking for a dumbed-down and tarted-up Facebook-like interface; I was on the internet back in 1985, so stark or simplistic design doesn't frighten me.
No, the problem is that people just don't seem very friendly there. But I'll keep trying, when I have a little time.
On the other hand, BookLikes is very friendly; I'm pretty sure they see this as their big opportunity, so they're going all-out to be welcoming to Goodreads expatriates. And visually their site is really appealing. The problem is that they seem to lack certain functionality which I really expected. The site owner has been very responsive, and says they'll be adding features in as quickly as possible. But of course I'm taking a "wait and see" approach.
farewell goodreads..
see you guys on BookLikes!
see you guys on BookLikes!
I would live to see the RETURN of BOOK SWAP! I miss being able to swap old books with one another! That was such a cool feature, and I hope that having Amazon behind this, you can FINALLY bring it BACK!
I seriously doubt that a company which makes its living selling books is going to encourage book swapping which effectively loses them money......
I have been thinking about this and though I am not ready to delete my account yet if it comes to that I will.I just wish that even though it is the creator's last word that decides, they would have discussed this with us...the ones that make GoodReads GoodReads..the ones who loves this website. I may not have been on here for long but I kind of feel like I've been stabbed in the back. Why not talk to us first, see how we feel, THEN make a decision instead of walking over the ones who actually use this website and jump into Amazon's lap?
Peter wrote: "Sarah_loves_books wrote: "Have you looked at Library Thing? It looks international to me, and I kind of like it, although I do feel as if I were back to 1999, lol."I've looked at 47 alternatives ..."
I'm missing only 6 ratings and 18 books put of 900 on LibraryThing - I'm missing way more on BookLikes.
deleted user wrote: "As an independent bookseller, I am very disappointed to see this as Goodreads stood out as one of the few book-oriented websites independent of Amazon. I will be deleting my account, and sad to se..."Well said.
Daniela wrote: "Congratulations to the Goodreads team! As an avid Goodreads user, I'm quite excited by these developments. Obviously, your focus will be Kindle integration (yay!), but don't forget Audible audioboo..."I agree that good things are likely to happen, and that much of the negative reaction seems overblown.
Would love to see the ability to add books I buy on Amazon directly to my Goodreads to-read shelf. Or some other automatically-created shelf integrated with Amazon.Otherwise, I hope not to see too many changes.
Gabby wrote: "Douglas wrote: "Brixton wrote: "... I believe I'm having that moment of awakening I hear some people have at the breakfast table, when they look at their partner of many, many years and suddenly wo..."Thank you, Douglas and Gabby. And Gabby (or anyone else on board), feel free to use the photo for your own if you like-- folks have to be visible to be counted.
Karen wrote: "I loved GoodReads for all the reasons I hate Amazon. I use it, but do so guardedly. I have to agree with the others who feel that our neighborhood book site has just been eaten up by the cold, con..."I totally agree. I do buy from Amazon occasionally, but I don't trust Amazon at all. What I loved most about Goodreads was the access to unbiased reviews. As others have stated, I'm also uncomfortable with the idea of Amazon owning my information and the reviews I've posted. As a school librarian, I have encouraged students and teachers to join Goodreads as a way of sharing books with each other and with me. I'm definitely having regrets about that now. I also dread the thought of starting from scratch on another site.
Allie wrote: "I seriously doubt that a company which makes its living selling books is going to encourage book swapping which effectively loses them money......"Agreed, and I've wondered if amazon's involvement and/or Otis's goal to sell GRs to amazon wasn't the real reason swap was eliminated. Free books from here certainly would have impacted the share amazon gets off of marketplace sellers. Any bugs or other issues with swap could have been resolved if GRs had valued it as something we enjoyed using.
Well, goodbye and thank you.Up to this point, this has been one of my most enjoyed, go to sites. I understand you have to make a living in a tough economy, and good luck to you. I have no intention of providing Amazon free content or furthering the monopoly.
"...how the product evolves."This is the reason I'm leaving. "Product", not "community".
Another option I am exploring is a PC-based software system called Book Collector. I've downloaded the free trial and am testing it now. http://www.collectorz.com/book/
There seems to options to share your book lists online with either the Pro version (runs about $50USD) and/or the app.
I don't mind paying for a tool like this; I would have willingly paid for GoodReads. I loved it that much. But a stand alone app/program which untethers me from the whims of a cloud-based site might be better anyway.....
Kate wrote: "I would live to see the RETURN of BOOK SWAP! I miss being able to swap old books with one another! That was such a cool feature, and I hope that having Amazon behind this, you can FINALLY bring it..."There's paperbackswap.com, which is nice because you can transfer credits between their other sites (i think a DVD is worth three books, or something like that).
I ONLY buy my books from independent book stores, even though I work for a huge conglomerate bookstore! Yeah I get a discount at my store but I support my local businesses so I guess... I'm a real renegade.
Mary Beth wrote: "Another option I am exploring is a PC-based software system called Book Collector. I've downloaded the free trial and am testing it now. http://www.collectorz.com/book/
There seems to options ..."
I have always used collectorz book collector so my data would always be my data. I have used shelfari as a backup mainly for insurance purposes and if I for whatever reason lost my local book collector data.
I do not want my reviews pirated by some other site! If I had wanted themon Amazon..... I would have posted them there.
I think that decision
should be up to me!
Will wait and see how it goes. I am not anti-Amazon though I have rarely used the Canadian version. The problem with independent bookstores is that when the owner wants to retire if there is no one who is willing to purchase the business then closing it down is the only alternative.
Tommy wrote: "Mary Beth wrote: "Another option I am exploring is a PC-based software system called Book Collector. I've downloaded the free trial and am testing it now. http://www.collectorz.com/book/
There..."
I'll have to look into this. I'd miss the social aspects, but I didn't join GR for that reason; I joined to keep tabs on both what I've read and what I want to read (been esp good for the latter). Bonus for collectorz: there's a comic book version!
Peter wrote: "No, the problem is that people just don't seem very friendly there. But I'll keep trying, when I have a little time."I signed up with LibraryThing when this sale happened and have found everyone is friendly even when bombared with 'how do I...' questions.
Have explored the groups and found welcome homes and social chatter in many including the 75 book challenge group & the all about LT group. Not to mention there's threads dedicated to welcoming the GR refugees.
I am so grateful to all of you who have the time to investigate alternatives and then post the information. I did open a LT account and will definitely investigate the software Mary Beth posted. And I believe it's Peter who posted the speadsheet; I also opened an account to have access to that information. I am gratified to see others willing to search out viable alternatives and not succumb to the "great all-mighty Bezos regime." This guy is way too scary for me. I don't know...ya think he intends to blast all the books into space and dump them? (He founded and operates a private space exploration company in Texas...) As others have mentioned, I seriously wonder at the DoJ...not like they haven't gone after some big-timers in the past (e.g. Bill Gates). Perhaps they're just so far removed from a "normal" everyday existence they don't care if one person controls everything published and distributed. You must have the capacity to see a bigger picture overall to get that concept and the inherent dangers for us "mere mortals"... I have been trying to scan all my husband's books in, too, for bookkeeping (pun intended! Hah!) purposes. That's one of the big pluses about GR, in my opinion! Do any others offer that option, I wonder? Thanks again to everyone posting additional info; at least for now, out posts are seemingly uncensored--once the deal closes, I doubt that will be true. I assume we have 2-3 months to express ourselves and determine our futures... Just thank you to those of you who also foresee this as a tragic betrayal for making me know I'm not alone in truly pursuing independence as much as possible...wanting to share my reading passion in a non-commercial environment.
Some people have left already. However, it is my impression that many non-GR-librarians are not aware of what is going on. I think before closing shop here, it would be a good idea to tell friends and followers why.
In all of this, there seems to be three points of view, 1) This is great, I can combine my reviews and sync my purchases to my bookshelf; 2) This is terrible, Amazon is out to dominate the book market and goodreads will be swallowed up and turned into a shill to sell books through Amazon; 3) I'm going to wait and see what happens, it could be good or bad.As for me, in spite of all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, I have yet to see Amazon do ANYTHING that negatively affected their customers. They are SO customer-centric, it's amazing. Their customer service is awesome! So, unless they give me a reason not to, I'm looking forward to the partnership.
Brixton wrote: "Because the emphasis on "discovering" (consuming), "reviewing" (influencing), and generally comparing ourselves to and/or competing with one another ("top this-top that") happened one bit at a time over the course of years, values I didn't have, experiences I didn't want, made their way more and more into my relationship with books and reading. "I really hate the "Top reviewers"/"Top reviews"/"Year-end book poll" stuff, and it's always totally gamed anyway. But it looks like the site will be focusing more on that, to bring publicity and therefore money not to books and authors, or even big publishing companies -- but to Amazon. No thanks.
Ugh. Amazon ruined woot.com and now they're gonna ruin goodreads. :( And what about those of us who don't use Kindles? Your ass-kissing for money is gross.
The problem is th..."
I think Diaspora was supposed to fill that open-source social media niche (at least I thought so when I contributed to their Kickstarter campaign way, way back). It still exists but is now a "community" project. It was a little slow in getting off the ground and the effort is still plagued by a lack of clear communication (pretty common with tech startups).