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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 1,901-1,950 of 2,216 (2216 new)
Sorry to hear that. Amazon will have its hands all over Goodreads. It's not about books, it's all about profit.
My wife and I don't own Kindles, we own another better brand. Sorry you went for the big money and not going the route that serves all ebook readers. Deleting account today. I hope you have not hidden the delete option super deep on the website. Bye.
I have begun the migration to BookLikes. The import function works well (if a little slowly due to the influx of new librarians!), the interface is simple, intuitive and attractive, it's easy to search for people and books, and the blog function is nice. The only thing missing is the ability to comment on posts and reviews, but I believe that is coming soon. I'm sorry to lose the comments and connections, but better that than ownership by Amazon. Anyone interested can join me at: http://mrbultitude.booklikes.com
Thanks for the memories!
Not a good thing. $$$. Why GR didn't have a poll or vote to see how many GR people would be willing to pay to be a GR member? I would have gladly paid an annual payment. What a shame! We weren't even ask and it was members that built it.
Linda D. wrote: "Not a good thing. $$$. Why GR didn't have a poll or vote to see how many GR people would be willing to pay to be a GR member? I would have gladly paid an annual payment. What a shame! We weren't e..."Well said! I agree100%
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 partnershipWell sure, if you are the kind of customer Amazon caters to. They don't offer me what I want, and actively seek to destroy the businesses who do give me the buying experience I want (physical bookstores).
Michael wrote: "I have begun the migration to BookLikes. The import function works well (if a little slowly due to the influx of new librarians!), the interface is simple, intuitive and attractive, it's easy to s..."Lovely blog!
With Amazon you have to have an Amazon account and have purchased something through it to post reviews, this isn't so on Goodreads, and I've gotten many more reviews on Goodreads because of it. I'm concerned that Amazon will police too much of Goodreads activity making it harder for those who are not Amazon users to use the site.
Kirsten wrote: "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 not only ruined Woot they ruined The Book Depository.
16 million users, estimated $150 million sale price = We are each worth $9.38. About the price of a higher end fast food meal. Welcome to the McDisneySoft world.
I'm not sure if anyone has passed on this information yet, but the past few days at LibraryThing have seen a massive improvement in book importing facilities etc. As a result of the problems being experienced by ex-Goodreads members, major changes have been pushed through at top speed and now all reviews, started and end dates, shelves etc are reportedly importing correctly. If you've already imported your library unsuccessfully, you can do a new import telling it to "sync" with your existing library and it will just add the missing information.
I've found the chat threads on LibraryThing EXTREMELY friendly and have met more people in my first few days there than I did in two years at Goodreads. Perhaps that's partly because I came to Goodreads primarily to connect with friends I already have "in real life", whereas being a stranger in a strange place in LT has made me more gregarious. In any case, I'm at a loss to understand why anyone would find the site unfriendly. The 'Welcome Goodreads Refugees!' threads (which start here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/152048) are extremely warm and supportive.
I wanted to share this information, and my impressions, in order to provide some counter information to posts suggesting LT is unfriendly, but on the other hand I don't want to blindly talk-up LT just because it's worked for me. It's a more complex site than Goodreads which can be great if you're a mega-perfectionist or annoying if you want a simple way to keep track of what you read. I don't want to judge either category of reader--both are valid approaches; I just happen to fall into the former category. The site is also not as pretty and user-friendly as Goodreads. Indeed, my reaction on first viewing the site was "Oh lord, what a complicated mess! I can't stand this!", but a bit of time spent fiddling around has turned me into a convert. So, it's not for everyone, but I really do recommend people looking for a new site give it a good go before ruling it out.
I've found the chat threads on LibraryThing EXTREMELY friendly and have met more people in my first few days there than I did in two years at Goodreads. Perhaps that's partly because I came to Goodreads primarily to connect with friends I already have "in real life", whereas being a stranger in a strange place in LT has made me more gregarious. In any case, I'm at a loss to understand why anyone would find the site unfriendly. The 'Welcome Goodreads Refugees!' threads (which start here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/152048) are extremely warm and supportive.
I wanted to share this information, and my impressions, in order to provide some counter information to posts suggesting LT is unfriendly, but on the other hand I don't want to blindly talk-up LT just because it's worked for me. It's a more complex site than Goodreads which can be great if you're a mega-perfectionist or annoying if you want a simple way to keep track of what you read. I don't want to judge either category of reader--both are valid approaches; I just happen to fall into the former category. The site is also not as pretty and user-friendly as Goodreads. Indeed, my reaction on first viewing the site was "Oh lord, what a complicated mess! I can't stand this!", but a bit of time spent fiddling around has turned me into a convert. So, it's not for everyone, but I really do recommend people looking for a new site give it a good go before ruling it out.
Valancy wrote: "I hope there is an option NOT to sync between Goodreads and Kindle!! I have books on Kindle I do not want appearing on my GR feed for all to see!"THAT.
If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all just gonna be for profit now :(
Malissa wrote: "If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all just gonna be for profit now :("That's a really ignorant line of reasoning. Goodreads has always been free. That's one of the basis of social networking websites, free access in return for ads/user data mining.
Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all just gonna be for profit now :("Th..."
No need to be rude
Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all just gonna be for profit now :("Th..."
Control your demeaning comments. You can make your point without those first seven words.
I wonder if Otis even reads this or if he has stopped after the first page...
Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all just gonna be for profit now :("Th..."
And I agree with the others. No need to be completely and utterly rude towards another person who is posting her fears!
Shera (Book Whispers) wrote: "The not only ruined Woot they ruined The Book Depository."They also ruined Askville, although that's a general advice (and shopping) site rather than specifically for books. I did give advice about books there before it all went to hell, though.
As for my opinion on all this, I've summarized it in this review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
For those who are planning on leaving, don't give up on the idea of reviewing your books on a social site. There are other options which work - not necessarily in the same way, or with all of the same features, but well enough. Or at least, that's my opinion.
And if you want to see a list of alternatives, with information about moving your GR data to some of them, see the review.
David wrote: "I love the idea from my friend Peter who I have never met, but must be my friend now! He is posting the first bit of his book review on Goodreads now and then saying you can read the rest 'here' wi..."I hope that some people will do just that, David. But since there's doubtless a chance that doing so may result in GoodReads deleting the accounts of those who post them, I strongly urge anyone who does so to make sure that they have an absolutely current CSV file at all times.
To back up your books and reviews, click on http://www.goodreads.com/review_porte...
CSV files can be uploaded to a number of other book-review sites, although the process is not always seamless. It's also worth noting that many competitors to GoodReads are particularly backed up right now, as they are being flooded with huge numbers of GoodReads members (or former members). So it can take a little time, depending on the size of your CSV.
Unfortunately comments and discussions are not included in CSVs, so comments will be lost if an account is deleted. At least, that's my understanding. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will gleefully tell me so. :D
Malissa wrote: "Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all just gonna be for..."No need to be stupid.
This is okay. And I want to be able to see book trailers on Goodreads!!
Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all j..."You should change your name to Dense Nothing. Second reminder: You don't need to make demeaning comments.
Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all j..."Have you read even a fraction of the comments here? A lot of people are worried about the take-over and not just for the potential of data-mining and possible plagerism of reviews. Amazon is for-profit; fine, it's a business, we expect that. GR was non-profit (I think) and kindly did not charge us either way.
While I think it is an unlikely scenario, her concerns are valid in that this wonderful free site might end up charging under the new management. Nothing that's been officially said (and that's dang little since the original announcement) has guaranteed that the site will remain free. And until we see otherwise, either through reasoned arguments or simply time, I can't entirely dismiss her opinion as "ignorant" or "stupid."
So lay off and stop acting trollish.
David wrote: "Thanks Peter - I have already got my books over to Booklikes - only still got a GR account to keep tabs on this topic - if they delete my account it will save me doing it - I'm already off to all intents and purposes - not comunicating on any other group or service. "Of course, David, I should have remembered - I saw you over there!
I will say, though, that one lesson that I am taking away from the sale of GoodReads is not to entrust my time or efforts to any single site. So I'm posting my reviews (currently) to three of my own blogs (on Dreamwidth, LiveJournal, and Google Plus) as well as to BookLikes and LibraryThing.
True, Amazon could buy them all. But I don't think they'll bother. Surely there must be a limit to their hunger to control the entire world of books?
...perhaps I'd better not count on that. So I am also looking and hoping for a solution that will not depend on the goodwill and self-control of any mogul or site owner. Some sort of peer-to-peer, decentralized service that could never be acquired or sold. There must be a way.
I hope.
I am still undecided. I've had a quick look at Librarything and don't feel excited about it like I did when I first discovered Goodreads. Nevertheless thank you to all the people posting here. Really interesting and informative. Nice to know there ARE other options and how to swap.Am I right in thinking that 'ownership' is more of an issue for serious reviewers and authors? I just do it for fun and for my own 'records'...
To all those who have expressed fears Amazon will use their reviews for commercial purposes...Why not just wait and see? And if they do such as dastardly thing, then just bill them for the $99 they will surely owe you for each 800+ word review!
Will 'recommendations' based on books we've enjoyed become more like 'adverts' based on books Amazon would like to sell? I hope not...
Anna wrote: "I am still undecided. I've had a quick look at Librarything and don't feel excited about it like I did when I first discovered Goodreads. Nevertheless thank you to all the people posting here. Real..."That's what I'm thinking. I'll wait and c as well.
Malissa wrote: "Lord Nouda wrote: "Malissa wrote: "If I ever have to buy something from Amazon to use this site then I will just leave. I love it here but the Amazon thing has me worried it's all just gonna be for..."I agree. It was one of the reasons I decided to stay after I came here. Members were polite.
Do any of you really great book people know anything about a site called "The Reading Room"? Many thanks! It looks like a friendly place...but, I'm looking for some other people's ideas.
Peter wrote: "Shera (Book Whispers) wrote: "The not only ruined Woot they ruined The Book Depository."They also ruined Askville, although that's a general advice (and shopping) site rather than specifically fo..."
After you click on that.....what do you do to back up files?...
Karen wrote: "Do any of you really great book people know anything about a site called "The Reading Room"? Many thanks! It looks like a friendly place...but, I'm looking for some other people's ideas."I haven't, but several members of Escaping Amazon have. There have been some issues (that's basically unavoidable); as I understand it, they're being worked on. I'm not aware of a resolution yet.
Apparently TRR has a lot of features. They do ebook sales, possibly physical books too. The site representative has been very responsive, but right now they all are, of course. The proof will be in the pudding.
Peter wrote: "David wrote: "Thanks Peter - I have already got my books over to Booklikes - only still got a GR account to keep tabs on this topic - if they delete my account it will save me doing it - I'm alread..."P.S. good idea!
Thanks Peter! Right now, I think like a lot of us, I am looking at a lot of options.
I have over 900 books listed here on Goodreads. Will it be easy to transfer to a new website? Anyone?
Linda wrote: "I have over 900 books listed here on Goodreads. Will it be easy to transfer to a new website? Anyone?"I seem to have transfered over a 1000 to Library Thing. Didn't take long. But I still can't quite figure the whole new site out.
Kathy wrote: "I seem to have transfered over a 1000 to Library Thing. Didn't take long. But I still can't quite figure the whole new site out."Neither can I. And to my dismay, I'm feeling less comfortable with LibraryThing every day. Ironic, since I just shelled out the $25 for a lifetime membership. Today I actually went to the "delete my account" page over there, and looked at it long and hard.
I'm sick of this whole thing. Really sick of it. But maybe I'm just over-tired tonight.
Still, the idea of just posting reviews on my own blogs is starting to seem more appealing. I'd get little to no feedback on them, of course, and far fewer people would read them. At the moment, however, that almost seems like a plus!
LibraryThing makes me feel as if I'm living in a foreign country, and not a friendly one. BookLikes...it needs more functionality, and I just don't feel secure there - not yet, anyway. GoodReads is not only unacceptable to me for various reasons but some of the members are turning out to be surprisingly nasty. I've cataloged 53 replacement sites and tested several, and I have to say that I'm just plain tired. And discouraged.
Peter wrote: "Kathy wrote: "I seem to have transfered over a 1000 to Library Thing. Didn't take long. But I still can't quite figure the whole new site out."Neither can I. And to my dismay, I'm feeling less co..."
very sorry Kathy. hang in there
Peter wrote: "Kathy wrote: "I seem to have transfered over a 1000 to Library Thing. Didn't take long. But I still can't quite figure the whole new site out."
Neither can I. And to my dismay, I'm feeling less co..."
Hi Peter & Kathy,
Have you had a good wander around the three "Welcome" threads and asked questions? I was utterly bewildered when I started at LT, but the friendly and responsive older members/site majority owner on those threads answered all the questions I had and ones I didn't even know I had! (I have to admit their "Help/FAQ" pages aren't the most useful things I've ever clapped eyes on.)
As an example of willingness to bend over backwards to help out new members, I plumbed the depths of stupidity by deciding to delete and reimport my entire collection (to take advantage of the various tweaks that have been made/are being made to the import mechanism) without first saving the dozens of new reviews I'd written since joining LT. The abyss was staring me in the face. I posted about it on one of the "Welcome" threads, not expecting anyone to save me from my idiot action but simply to vent, and the site majority owner appeared within minutes and sent me a text file cache copy of the reviews attached to all my recently deleted file. I was astounded and thankful beyond words.
As a result of the assistance I've had in discovering/understanding the facilities of LT, I've become more and more satisfied and, indeed, excited as time has passed, so have turned into a bit of a broken record here, constantly banging on about my new favourite book site. This is purely subjective: LT just happens to do pretty much all I want a reader/book network to do, but for others it will fall short. That's the way the world is, and there are horses for courses. I'd just like to encourage people to give it a really good go, and ask around if they are having problems, before giving up.
PS: Look me up on LT if you get stuck and want whatever assistance I can give you, even if it's just pointing you in the direction of people much more knowledgeable than I!
Neither can I. And to my dismay, I'm feeling less co..."
Hi Peter & Kathy,
Have you had a good wander around the three "Welcome" threads and asked questions? I was utterly bewildered when I started at LT, but the friendly and responsive older members/site majority owner on those threads answered all the questions I had and ones I didn't even know I had! (I have to admit their "Help/FAQ" pages aren't the most useful things I've ever clapped eyes on.)
As an example of willingness to bend over backwards to help out new members, I plumbed the depths of stupidity by deciding to delete and reimport my entire collection (to take advantage of the various tweaks that have been made/are being made to the import mechanism) without first saving the dozens of new reviews I'd written since joining LT. The abyss was staring me in the face. I posted about it on one of the "Welcome" threads, not expecting anyone to save me from my idiot action but simply to vent, and the site majority owner appeared within minutes and sent me a text file cache copy of the reviews attached to all my recently deleted file. I was astounded and thankful beyond words.
As a result of the assistance I've had in discovering/understanding the facilities of LT, I've become more and more satisfied and, indeed, excited as time has passed, so have turned into a bit of a broken record here, constantly banging on about my new favourite book site. This is purely subjective: LT just happens to do pretty much all I want a reader/book network to do, but for others it will fall short. That's the way the world is, and there are horses for courses. I'd just like to encourage people to give it a really good go, and ask around if they are having problems, before giving up.
PS: Look me up on LT if you get stuck and want whatever assistance I can give you, even if it's just pointing you in the direction of people much more knowledgeable than I!
Peter wrote: "Karen wrote: "Do any of you really great book people know anything about a site called "The Reading Room"? Many thanks! It looks like a friendly place...but, I'm looking for some other people's ide..."Trying it out. Seems a bit clumsy but friendly and helpful. I get the impression it's much smaller - fewer minority groups.. Some issues and not sure how to copy across files. Will probably run a dual membership for a while to see if it grows on me.
I am enjoying LT. It suits me quite nicely. Currently I am continuing to use GR as well. It doesn't take me much more time to update both sites.
Thanks Anna, I am looking at a couple of the sites now, I'm not in a hurry. So want to really check them out.
David wrote: "I personally cannot spare the time to evaluate lots of different alternatives to Goodreads so I have focussed my attention on Booklikes - my key consideration is to be away from Amazon! - I got my ..."After this announcement, I saw a reference to Booklikes in this thread and hopped on over there, but they're all linked up with Amazon, too -- and it's (to me) a lot more prominent. They have a little "shelve it" button for my toolbar, so if I find books around the web I can add them to my Booklikes shelf . . . but the button doesn't work when I try to "shelve" a book from Barnes & Noble, Google books, or Powells Bookstore. It says it does not support import functionality from that site. I haven't tried it at Amazon yet, but given that Amazon is a default search tool in their search engine and given that all the books are linked to the Amazon page, I'm willing to bet I could "shelve" books from Amazon.
Long story short, I'm pissed that Goodreads did this, and I'm worried about what this will mean for the future of this site, but Booklikes doesn't seem to be the answer either. Someone else mentioned Library Thing, and I might go there. I might join a G+ circle where the posters keep a feed of the books they've read and their reviews. Or I might just give up on all of this and delete my accounts.
I'm waiting to see what Goodreads does with this. I'm hoping it's more of a silent partnership, like Microsoft funding Nook, and that we won't see a larger Amazon presence.
I will take me a while to unweave everything from here but I believe I have settled upon an approach. I have, as mentioned above, embraced Book Collector (http://www.collectorz.com/book/) as my database of choice. I have also started a blog to keep track of more lengthy (or not) reflections on my reading activities. http://sitswithabook.blogspot.com/ I will miss the social aspect of GR as I have found the comments and reviews of others helpful in book selection; particularly for book club choices. Once I've onboarded everything to BC, notified my GR friends (not sure they are following this thread...) and deleted my books here, I'll be deleting my account.
The only other thing will be to see what Ann and Michael from Books on the Nightstand do with the discussion group here. I rather hope they set up a proboards site.....otherwise, I'll just continue to follow their blog!
Happy reading to all!
Hey all,I apologize for not chiming in lately. One thing I’m realizing as I read the comments is that we need a better way to converse on this site. Some of the same points are coming up even though we have responded earlier in the conversation. I'm starting to research threaded conversations. They may not be appropriate in every case, but they can help a person orient themselves when there are lots of different conversations being discussed in one thread.
> It [librarian] is volunteer work - that means the only control GR has of our activities is what kind of edits librarians are allowed to do. Frankly, it is the one area where I can see Amazon imposing a change to a more restrictive policy.
We have no plans to make any changes to our librarian program. Our long term goal with the program, which is one that Amazon shares, is to build as high quality a book catalog as we can so that our members can search for, find, rate, review and catalog any book ever published in the world. If we make any changes, it will only be to help us pursue that goal.
> I'm concerned that Amazon will police too much of Goodreads activity making it harder for those who are not Amazon users to use the site.
I've heard this concern a lot in the past week. Let me reiterate and reassure you that it is very important to us (and to Amazon) that Goodreads flourishes and grows and remains successful. It would be shooting ourselves in the foot to change Goodreads in any way that removed support for people who read on other platforms. That said, for people who do use Kindle I expect there will be some valuable and fun integrations coming. But they will be totally optional.
> Just tell me that my recommendations list won't suddenly become a list of the books/authors that Amazon are trying to promote and make more money off of, that is my biggest fear with this.
We've said this before, but I'll say it again. Absolutely not! Goodreads currently works with many authors and publishers to promote their books, and we'd treat any work with do with Amazon Published books or KDP books in the same manner, by marking them as "sponsored books", or promoting them via ads on the site. It's very important to us that we distinguish between organic recommendations (those recommendations based both on the books you’ve shelved on Goodreads and the data on what other Goodreads members think of the books you like and the books they like) and sponsored (or paid-for) recommendations, just as Google clearly separates its organic results with paid results.
> He is posting the first bit of his book review on Goodreads now and then saying you can read the rest 'here' with hyperlinks to other book sites! Love it! Wonder how long before Amazon shut that down if it takes off as an idea - let's all do it and see how they react!
We've always had a policy that you can write whatever you want in your review, as long as it fits within our guidelines. If you link to something that is commercial (trying to sell something), that is against our guidelines. Linking to the rest of your review (or another copy of your review) is fine. In fact, many book bloggers do this already.
This is terrible news. I've been a customer of theirs, but Amazon has made it pretty clear that it doesn't love books OR authors. They just love to exploit their customers, impose their own weird rules on reviewers, and crush their competition with grossly unfair business practices. They're in it for the money, nothing more. I thought better of Goodreads, honestly. I understand you need money, but I would've happily paid for a Goodreads account before seeing Amazon get its claws into yet another piece of the independent reader community. Time to start searching out other options. :P
Otis wrote: "Hey all,I apologize for not chiming in lately. One thing I’m realizing as I read the comments is that we need a better way to converse on this site. Some of the same points are coming up even th..."
I'm trying hard to be optimistic. It's difficult when dealing with a mega-corporation like Amazon to think that it's out for anything but more money. I hope what you are saying is true. GoodReads is one of my loves.
The interface looks less smooth than BR, but for me (an international user with books in many languages) it works well. I can add obscure books to my shelves, even add books manually like here on GR.
Like many others have stated already, now I will gradually leave GR, the competing, polling etc. which was not something I really needed, I'll be going back to basics, back to what it is all about for me: reading books, finding new books, in third place that is interacting with other users and only last, posting in groups or competing with others.
Liking message 2053 by Brixton; 2067 by purple and 2100 by Lynn :-)