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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 1,951-2,000 of 2,216 (2216 new)
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..."
Thank you for answering. But you have dodged the issue of how or if our reviews here will also show up on Amazon or if Amazon will have any sort of veto power over them (I've never written an Amazon review in my life and don't plan to, but those who have and then seen reviews disappear in a puff of cyber-smoke have a genuine point, to my mind). Not to mention comments, stories, and the like.
Frankly, I would not like to see my words show up there; I put them here and only here for a reason. Maybe Amazon could just put a link up to the book' page here so people could read (relatively) honest reviews and just leave it at that?
I really don't want to see Amazon interfering with how we do things here. I automatically distrust juggernaut companies who just keep acquiring other properties. Blame it on my education.
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."
Well, it would help if you actually answered the questions a lot of people have been asking, rather than repeating the corporate-speak.
Will Amazon be able to delete reviews from GoodReads without (or even with) warning, as it does on its own site?
Will Amazon censor reviews on GoodReads as it does on its own site?
Will GoodReads authors be prohibited from reviewing books in "their genre" as on Amazon.com?
I have a lot of other questions but those three are pretty big.
We've always had a policy that you can write whatever you want in your review, as long as it fits within our guidelines.
Yes, but that was the policy of GoodReads. Amazon now owns GoodReads. People are reacting to that. I really do think that's what you need to address. Amazon and GoodReads have really, really different review and commenting policies. If Amazon is going to impose its own standards on GoodReads, you need to say that. If not, you need to say that. If you keep being unclear about this, I think more people are just going to keep pulling their reviews and going elsewhere.
Moira wrote: "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."
Well, it would help if you actu..."
Thank you! Those are the exact questions that need to be answered.
Very ambiguous. Saying so much but without giving us much insight. Oh well, I guess you had to do what was best for your family. I know the Amazon/Audible merger went smoothly and I haven't had any problems, so maybe....no, hopefully this one will be smooth sailing too.
Hey, Otis, hey?
Just wondering what you make of this comment to Kindleboards, Writer's Cafe, where the authors frequently hang out? Quite interesting.
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topi...
So, does Amazon already have our data? NOW? Because she says an old Goodreads review is now up on Amazon beneath her book. Just wondering, you know...this is entirely a coincidence, I am sure. At least that is what you'll say.
Goodbye Goodreads. And Goodbye Amazon reviews too. I neither trust you or them anymore.
Just wondering what you make of this comment to Kindleboards, Writer's Cafe, where the authors frequently hang out? Quite interesting.
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topi...
So, does Amazon already have our data? NOW? Because she says an old Goodreads review is now up on Amazon beneath her book. Just wondering, you know...this is entirely a coincidence, I am sure. At least that is what you'll say.
Goodbye Goodreads. And Goodbye Amazon reviews too. I neither trust you or them anymore.
Micky "CafeAuLait" wrote: "Very ambiguous. Saying so much but without giving us much insight. "
This was the exact problem I had with the wishy-washy response I had to emails about the Amazon buy-out. A lot of "we have no plans at this point" kind of talk but no "yes" or "no" answers.
I started out with a "wait and see" attitude at the beginning of this discussion, but the kind of non-answers we're getting have been a big contributing factor in my decision to just get out.
This was the exact problem I had with the wishy-washy response I had to emails about the Amazon buy-out. A lot of "we have no plans at this point" kind of talk but no "yes" or "no" answers.
I started out with a "wait and see" attitude at the beginning of this discussion, but the kind of non-answers we're getting have been a big contributing factor in my decision to just get out.
Im focusing on philosophy of reading. We are all here because we love reading! Even from a yellowish, dusty old book which we saw at our grandparents library!Sorry, but no-one can expect from me good feelings of this company after making this little search in wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_K...
"On July 17, 2009, Amazon.com withdrew certain Kindle titles, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, from sale, refunded the cost to those who had purchased them, and remotely deleted these titles from purchasers' devices after discovering that the publisher lacked rights to publish the titles in question"
"In December 2010, three eBooks by author Selena Kitt were removed due to violations of Amazon's publishing guidelines. For what Amazon describes as "a brief period of time," the books were unavailable for redownload by users who had already purchased them. This ability was restored after it was brought to Amazon's attention; however, no remote deletion took place."
Up with this will GR let them built a department of cencorship to our reviews?For me amazon is an ordinary ecommerce site just like others. I wish they can make lots of profits from buying and selling stuffs.
But as romans said: Cui bono? "to whose benefit?"
"Someone" needs to convince us that this is for GR users benefit. Seriously.
Vivl,I totally understand. I am just puzzled about what Amazon is going to do with yet another review site when they practically ignored Shelfari.
I am going to start seriously looking at the other sites too in order to see where I might hang my hat.
Shera (Book Whispers) wrote: "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 Woo..."
How did they ruin BookDepository? I still use it?
Umut wrote: "Up with this will GR let them built a department of cencorship to our reviews?For me amazon is an ordinary ecommerce site just like others. I wish they can make lots of profits from buying and se..."
Amazon is a great company with unbelievable customer service. Why would anyone think that a company which pays such careful attention to its customers would suddenly treat the Goodreads members badly? I think we should 'wait and see' before hitting the panic button.
I just posted 4 of my GR reviews to amazon, something I have done periodically since becoming a GR member. Although I am a published writer, I take no proprietary interest in my reviews. I write them to share my views with other readers - on GR or amazon - and hopefully to enhance other readers' experiences. I am really taken aback by the attitude of many GR reviewers to sharing their reviews on amazon. If you have something to say, why not share it more broadly? If you think the review is "yours" and you have a proprietary interest in it, then you are being just as money-oriented as you accuse amazon of being.
I just don't get your attitude regarding reviews. Feel free to explain it.
I think one of the main problems is Amazon's constantly declining image.Amazon treats its employees badly, Amazon tries to get out of tax payments, Amazon treats writers and publishers badly (a writer posted somewhere in this thread how the math of profit worked for him with Amazon and it wasn't hood), Amazon makes you pay for ebooks which you don't own (you only buy the right to read them) and, and, and...
If you are interested, I can send you many articles about these and other issues. On top of that, GR was always for all kind of ebook readers, with Amazon in the picture and kindle-centered features, do you think that will still hold true? It's like a slap in the face for everyone that doesn't want to buy a kindle and you can't really blame peoplefor being upset about this.
Of course, we are all adult enough to know that money owns the world. And while it's understandable that people try to make profit of their work (including the work of liberians who worked for free when Amazon pulled their stunt - another problem with Amazon in the picture), it's also understandable that people are upset about this because they don't trust Amazon (see the reasons mentioned above).
And GR will continue to allow ebook formats that are universally used, like epub for Nook users, right, Otis? We will see about that...
What disastrous news this is. I know that Goodreads users don't own the site, but it is in essence a co-operative venture because you depend on subscribers for the value of what you peovide. Yet no one (as far as I'm aware) asked if selling out to Amazon is a good idea. It isn't. Amazon exists to control and dominate the book trade, it doesn't pay taxes in the same way that bookshops have to, and it is squeezing out independent suppliers. Of course, there is a place for Amazon and I use it myself, but it's in no one's interests for Amazon to become an even bigger monopoly than it is already, nor should it gobble up services like Goodreads.
Lewis wrote: "I just posted 4 of my GR reviews to amazon, something I have done periodically since becoming a GR member. Although I am a published writer, I take no proprietary interest in my reviews. I write th..."I do have concerns about the Amazon buyout but I multi post too, mainly as a number of authors who I follow started to write that Amazon was the most influential site with regards to sales. However I adapt my review for Amazon as I assume a more general audience. I'd be worried if they were automatically pulled across.
Otis wrote: "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. "That's interesting. The particular review in question was one of mine; it was of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light. And I noticed something odd today: although I can still go directly to my review, and it displays in the "My Review" section when I look at the general entry for that book, it no longer appears among the reviews for that book. In other words, anyone who clicks on Lord of Light in GoodReads in order to see what members think of it will not see my review. Nor will they see another, similar review which also protested the sale and linked to the complete version elsewhere, on a blog.
I looked it up on several friends computers. Sorted by newest; my review, and that other recent review, weren't there. This is a particularly insidious form of censorship; we can put in the time and effort to write our reviews, and it will look as if they're available to the public. Our friends on GR will see them when they look up our profiles. But no one ELSE will see them.
I was not informed of this restriction. I consider that dishonest. My review did NOT include commercial links; it linked to the complete text on two other book-review sites, plus to the free and noncommercial community "Escaping Amazon" (at https://plus.google.com/communities/1... ), plus the public Google spreadsheet listing and describing alternatives to GoodReads and Amazon, which is at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/c...
So tell me, Otis. Why has my review been "disappeared"?
And if you're going to treat GoodReads members that way, members who put in hundreds of thousands if not millions of hours in aggregate to give YOU an insanely high profit (although that certainly wasn't what most of us intended, and you didn't have the courtesy to tell us that you were in negotiations with Amazon even when you begged us to save GoodReads FROM Amazon fifteen months ago), why should anyone stay here?
What credibility do you and Amazon have, if you're weighting the scales while trying to sell us books?
I look forward to an answer. Not holding my breath, mind you, but...looking forward.
P.S. - Since no one will be able to see what I'm talking about, I'm including a direct link to my review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Anna wrote: "Lewis wrote: "I just posted 4 of my GR reviews to amazon, something I have done periodically since becoming a GR member. Although I am a published writer, I take no proprietary interest in my revie..."That's a good point. I also modify my reviews for amazon.
I would still like to have my reviews be from me as a blogger from my blog with a link. Amazon doesn't allow this - will it continue as is?
Peter wrote: "Otis wrote: "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 som..."Hopefully GR adds a new rule that if you write a review that is irrelevant to the book it may be hidden to the GR public.
No one interested in the book or has read the book wants to hear your rant about Amazon and GR instead of actual opinions about the book.
That rule would be a good change for sure.
Amy wrote: "Peter wrote: "Otis wrote: "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 (tryi..."I agree. I won't look at any review (on any website) that wants me to click elsewhere to actually get to the review or isn't about the book. Very annoying.
Lewis wrote: "I just posted 4 of my GR reviews to amazon, something I have done periodically since becoming a GR member. Although I am a published writer, I take no proprietary interest in my reviews. I write th..."I think they just want to be credited for the review and not have it arbitrarily changed.
Penney wrote: "Shera (Book Whispers) wrote: "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 gr..."They used to have AMAZING deals. Real discounts.
It is more ethical to buy directly from a small press.
Yeah. Sometimes you can't though.
I think it's interesting that so many are worried about the damage to the "publishing industry" Amazon is causing. Any publishing company worth it's salt would recognize (can't afford not to) that the democratization of the publishing industry is inevitable and successful publishers will get on board. For so many years a tiny few decided what got published and what did not. Now, there are more choices and that's better for readers. I'd much rather find out what is worth reading from other readers than from publishers that pay to have their books on best seller lists. Instead of a publisher/book sellers deciding what is worth reading, we as readers get to decide.
This is another step in the natural progression from a seller's market to a reader's market. Sure there may be kinks to iron out but I believe Goodreads and Amazon will work together to keep their focus on readers and their interests, not publishers and booksellers.
My two cents...
Wow. I am incredibly disappointed! I loved that this site only had book/intellectual ads. It was so refreshing to come here and not be bombarded with tasteless spam-ads. Just saw my first trashy/flashy ads on here today. The Amazon takeover is likely why. I will be closing my account as soon as I can figure out how. As far as I am concerned, this was the death of Goodreads. Poor choice. Very very disappointed in both of you.
I believe that reader reviews will ultimately reduce Literature to a status of little more than the newest video game. Book reviews should be published by professional independents, such as the Missouri Review or Midwest.
Robert wrote: "I believe that reader reviews will ultimately reduce Literature to a status of little more than the newest video game. Book reviews should be published by professional independents, such as the Mi..."I respectfully disagree. Why silence critical opinions from perusers of books and stifle discussions and diversity of opinions? No one review will kill interest in a book. Book sales are consumer driven, and consumers have the right to voice their opinions to other consumers/readers. You take away that voice and what's left? I don't think professional independents always represent the things that I wish to read, and certainly don't speak for the majority of people that are out there. I would rather hear from friends, collegues, people whose tastes are similar to my own, as well as the professional opinion as an option, not as the only resource. I would rather have the diversity of options to peruse on my own than not.
My two cents, though.
Robert wrote: "I believe that reader reviews will ultimately reduce Literature to a status of little more than the newest video game. Book reviews should be published by professional independents, such as the Mi..."I have never, ever, read a book because a "professional" review. Probably never will.
Shera (Book Whispers) wrote: "Robert wrote: "I believe that reader reviews will ultimately reduce Literature to a status of little more than the newest video game. Book reviews should be published by professional independents,..."eek. hard to respond to an unread post but I never read professional reviews because I don't think they are independent. I'd way rather listen to the voice of the everyday reader.
Hi, Otis, and All, Re message 2130: I don't think threaded conversations would be more useful here. I think the reason people are questioning the same ramifications over & over again are that most members have little confidence in the reassurances/answers being given, at least not in the medium to long term. I've gone from deep sadness and grief (well I'm still there) to anxiety/panic. I'm not feeling reassured by what I'm being told.
Since so many members have multiple concerns, instituting threaded conversations here would force many to post in multiple threads instead of in one at a time.
I have been a member of GR since 2007 and it is VERY important to me. People tend to be fearful of change, and that includes me. Obviously I am uneasy about the sale, but heck we must not assume the worst is going to happen until it happens. At the same time we must, all of us, be vigilant. For me the most important aspect of this site is that all opinions on books must be seen as equally valid. Both the negative and the positive must be expressed. If that is no longer possible I see no reason to come to this site.
Robert wrote: "I believe that reader reviews will ultimately reduce Literature to a status of little more than the newest video game. Book reviews should be published by professional independents, such as the Mi..."I totally agree. Even on the B&N site I read the reader reviews to get a feel for a book!
Lisa wrote: "Hi, Otis, and All, Re message 2130: I don't think threaded conversations would be more useful here. I think the reason people are questioning the same ramifications over & over again are that most ..."Based on experience, I can tell you most people just arriving aren't going to plow through over 2000 comments!
Peter wrote: "So tell me, Otis. Why has my review been "disappeared"?"Peter, I removed your review from the community book page as it was not, primarily, a review of the book. It will still appear to your friends, but will not be shown on the book page to signed out members or to people who are not friends with you. Our members have told us, repeatedly (including in this thread), that they want reviews of the book on the book page.
For more on our review policy, please refer to our review guidelines.
If joining the Amazon family is such an exciting occasion, why did you not send a message to all GR members, but only to the librarians? And why is it not mentioned on the web-site's home page?
Ns wrote: "I'm worried if Amazon will in the future target out members with a good reach within the GoodReads community (ex. members with many friends, many likes etc) and offer them "incentives" to read book..."That's what worries me the most. I use GR mostly for book recommendations as there are so many choices and I don't think the recommendations in Amazon is objective.
I just want all the books (ebooks, paperbacks, and hardbacks) I've ever bought (and will buy) on Amazon to be automatically added to my shelves privately, with the options for me to make certain shelves public if/when I choose, and to be able to sort on which shelves the books Rest. Oh, and automatic sortable shelves by author would be great, too.
For me, I would never want to read a novel just for entertainment. Sure, I want to enjoy the read, but if that is all the story has -- I want a refund and certainly would not "put it on my shelf." If I owned such a novel, by analogy, I'd hide it like a porn mag under my mattress and hope that my mommy wouldn't find it. I sure wouldn't want anybody else to know that I'd bought it -- even if that other person enjoyed it too. Maybe some of our views depend on how one defines the role of Literature within our cultural advancement / stagnation. This certainly is a critical time for Literature, and maybe similar to us in the U.S. living long enough to see our first Black president elected, this point in Literature will go down in history.
I prefer sites that treat all e-readers as equal, and all paper books as equal to them, so as not to single anyone out. Unfortunately, Amazon has done a lot of harm to publishing, and they care way more about profit than they do the health and safety of their employees. As has been said, Amazon is not a family--they are corporate evil who works hard and spends a lot of money to make themselves look good so that people who don't pay attention think they are a great company.
The longer I think about it my main concern is this (and a weird one it may be):
When I start reading a book and don't enjoy it as much as I feel I should, I look up the reviews on goodreads and seek out THE BAD REVIEWS mostly. I want the dirty! I want the gritty! Amazon tends not to be a fan of real talk. How can I be sure that I get the real from real people anymore and not some watered down version?
When I start reading a book and don't enjoy it as much as I feel I should, I look up the reviews on goodreads and seek out THE BAD REVIEWS mostly. I want the dirty! I want the gritty! Amazon tends not to be a fan of real talk. How can I be sure that I get the real from real people anymore and not some watered down version?
Isabella wrote: "How can I be sure that I get the real from real people anymore and not some watered down version?"
That's a big issue for me too. I like to see both sides of the fence clearly. All we're getting from the powers that be is "we have no plans to change our policies". I've just had another email from them today with the same non-committal statement. I say non-committal because, as I said in my reply, what they do or do not plan to do does not mean that policies will not change once Amazon actually owns the joint. It they want to be honest, they could say "Frankly, we don't know what will happen to review policies once Amazon takes over."
The wishy-washy answers tend to lead me to the conclusion that they have had no assurance/promise from Amazon that they will not radically change things, and really why would Amazon give any such assurances? The current owners will shortly be nothing but employees here.
That's a big issue for me too. I like to see both sides of the fence clearly. All we're getting from the powers that be is "we have no plans to change our policies". I've just had another email from them today with the same non-committal statement. I say non-committal because, as I said in my reply, what they do or do not plan to do does not mean that policies will not change once Amazon actually owns the joint. It they want to be honest, they could say "Frankly, we don't know what will happen to review policies once Amazon takes over."
The wishy-washy answers tend to lead me to the conclusion that they have had no assurance/promise from Amazon that they will not radically change things, and really why would Amazon give any such assurances? The current owners will shortly be nothing but employees here.
Robert - You say "For me, I would never want to read a novel just for entertainment. Sure, I want to enjoy the read, but if that is all the story has -- I want a refund and certainly would not "put it on my shelf." Then why do you read a novel? Surely that is one of the main purposes for a story - to entertain?
Burkhard wrote: "If joining the Amazon family is such an exciting occasion, why did you not send a message to all GR members, but only to the librarians? And why is it not mentioned on the web-site's home page?"You mean the big blog post way at the top here?
Even if you agree or disagree the members were informed.
Otis, do you want to know what we, the members of GR, want from this site? Are you interested in what must be provided by the site to make us use the site? I am not annoyed! I just want to know if you ARE interested. IF you are interested wouldn't it be good if you posed that question to the members?
I tried to express what was most important to me in my message 2167. I got no response, so I am unsure if anyone cares what I want and what others want. It would seem to me that whoever owns GR should/would be interested. Don't you want to know what will draw people to the site? Why own this site if no one uses it? So what attracts people to the site?
For me the most important aspect of this site is that all opinions on books must be seen as equally valid. Both the negative and the positive must be expressed. If that is no longer possible I see no reason to come to this site.
Pam wrote: "I think it's interesting that so many are worried about the damage to the "publishing industry" Amazon is causing. Any publishing company worth it's salt would recognize (can't afford not to) that ..."A voice of reason. For years, publishers have made bad decisions and worked solely for their own profit, showing interest mainly in celebrity authors. Amazon has done more to make a great variety of books available to readers than all the publishers put together.
Alexandra wrote: "Burkhard wrote: "If joining the Amazon family is such an exciting occasion, why did you not send a message to all GR members, but only to the librarians? And why is it not mentioned on the web-site..."I meant why the announcement email went only to GR-librarians, not to all GR-members. Also, this blog is not very prominently linked. Overall, unless you really search for it, there is no way of knowing that goodreads is an Amazon subsidiary. But, if that relationship is such great news, as expressed at the top of this blog, why is this fact not printed big over the goodreads home page? - Well, to answer my own question, it's all about branding, and the goodreads brand has in some quarters (especially in the trust-the-review quarter) a better rep than the Amazon brand. And that is all this takeover is for me, a potential loss of trust in the review quality. Obviously, corporations cannot be transparent, and I am not a blind truster.
Some questions:1) Will our reviews be used to sell books now instead of recommend them? If so, will we get commission?
2) Will all of the data that librarians frantically saved (and, in may cases, corrected) last year when Amazon threatened to sue now be overwritten?
3) Will Amazon compensate librarians for that work? This feels like a bit of a slap in the face.
I have other reservations about GoodReads being bought out by a big corporation, even as I recognise that it was probably too good an offer for the owners to turn down. These are my main ones though and I'd appreciate some answers before I decide whether or not to delete my account - all rather sad considering the weeks (months?) of my life I have spent in total editing the GoodReads library, writing reviews and participating in group discussions.
Goodbye, Goodreads, you won't last long.