UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
General Chat - anything Goes
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Amazon to acquire GoodReads
Ah, Amazon only released the PR 50 minutes ago - GR got there first ;)I thought GR had some issues with Amazon in the past.
I'm not sure whether it is good news or not, though I'm tending toward Michael's view...
Not happy about this at all. I hope Simon and Patti change the settings so you have to ask to join our group, so we don't have to go through the nastiness of the Amazon forum...
I just posted this on KUF:I wonder if they'll try to close down the forums on Amazon's sites and redirect them to GR. If that's the case, I can see a whole lot trouble coming GR's way. I hate change and I think there will be lots of it.
I don't know about this Amazon business as I see more grief than gain for readers and authors on GR. GR is a very civilized community, whereas Amazon has the ambience of a Tesco on very crowded night.
I'm scared that indie authors are going to get shoved out of sight in a 'meet the authors' club that we aren't allowed to stray outside of...
I was thinking that too, D.d. Also, will it be Kindle dominated? I know this forum has Kindle in the name, but I know a lot of other groups are Nook or other ones. Wonder where they will stand?
What happens to Kobo...all reviews for books on Kobo are generated through GR?
I can't think of a single benefit to Goodreads members. Amazon only spends its money where it sees the chance to make more.
I'm not sure this is a bad thing for indie authors - the vast majority of ebook sales are on Amazon, and a better, more high-profile integration of GR and Amazon could facilitate those sales.
Paul wrote: "I'm not sure this is a bad thing for indie authors - the vast majority of ebook sales are on Amazon, and a better, more high-profile integration of GR and Amazon could facilitate those sales."What if Amazon deletes authors reviews of books they've read? Or if any hint of talking about an author's own books/writing is banned except in a 'Meet Our Authors' thread?
Paul wrote: "I'm not sure this is a bad thing for indie authors - the vast majority of ebook sales are on Amazon, and a better, more high-profile integration of GR and Amazon could facilitate those sales."If that was all it was, I might agree with you. But all the undermining that Amazon has been doing, the censoring and deleting of reviews particularly, and the policy changes that make KDP less attractive and less lucrative (not that it ever really was) all say this is bad for Indies.
The key thing is, we can no longer trust Goodreads.
Don't panic, chaps! I'm sure life will carry on more or less the same way as it always has...
My first reaction to this news was 'great!'. There's going to be good as well as bad things from this deal, hopefully more of the good (the sheer hugeness and $$$$s of Amazon) and less of the bad (their terrible forum for example).
If you're an author on here, pretty soon it'll be like playing Dodgeball.
Everyone will jump ship to KUF, it'll become quiet as the grave here and then Amazon will close it down. No spending required, and a thorn in its side removed.
Tim wrote: "But all the undermining that Amazon has been doing, the censoring and deleting of reviews particularly, and the policy changes that make KDP less attractive and less lucrative (not that it ever really was) all say this is bad for Indies."From where I sit - a moderately successful traditionally published author since the late 1990s, and with books on Kindle brought out by an indie publisher just last year - I see Amazon KDP as at very least a breath of fresh air for authors, and in many ways a revolution in publishing which has given authors all kinds of opportunities not available even five years ago.
My fear is the same as someone else above mentioned - that it will bring all the ****s from the Amazon forums over here to spoil everything. I mean I know we authors have to be careful here as well that we don't step too far over the line, but at least there are places on Goodreads where the word 'author' doesn't make everyone hiss like demons.
So I suppose we will become the unpaid moderators of amazon. Let's see how it pans out but I have been looking into an alternative to Goodreads for a while. I just prefer the added value of Goodreads to the usual forums....
This is a big deal... Keep posting here and tell us what you think about it all....
I don't think it's a good move, I can't put my finger on why exactly.
I think this is a worrying move, for many of the reasons others have given above.And on a wider level, it's concerning that the world's largest bookshop, which was already well on its way to becoming one of the world's largest publishers, is now going to control one of the world's biggest platforms for the discussion of literature. I just can't see any way in which that's healthy.
I'm with Andrew on this one. Perhaps they hope that if they get big enough, they needn't pay any tax at all
If they get big enough, we'll have to pay them taxes...As a company, Amazon would not buy GR if there wasn't any profit for them in it. It remains to be seen how they will access that profit
just saw this. i need to do some research but my gut reaction isn't good.Im thinking we should get a new forum sorted asap so we all know where to go before anything too awful happens
I'm fairly distressed by this. I've finally found somewhere I feel comfortable, where I respect everyone here, and can join in with friendly banter. And I can see that being eroded in the near future.So, if there is a way to create somewhere new, that replicates the good vibes we have here, then I'd be very interested.
I can just see this place being swamped by people who've already made Amazon forums uninhabitable for those of us who write.
I expect they will leave it much as it is except for Amazon adverts and links. It could be better if our kindle content could be linked to Goodreads....
don't worry Andy. it'd still be us. :-)
Simon (Highwayman) wrote: "It could be better if our kindle content could be linked to Goodreads...."as long as that remains an option and we don't "have" to link our amazon account to our goodreads one...
totally get that this will be great for some people, but i personally like to keep things separate :)
Simon & Patti - glad to read your comments. As you can see from the highly negative reaction on the main Goodreads board a large number of people will be keen to escape the icy grip of Amazon - especially if it's a forum that welcomes users of all makes of ereader.
personally id like them to sort out manage my kindle before they starts faffing with anything else. but that's a whole nother issue
i need a live link to that board. links in here don't work on my phone. perhaps someone with my email address could send it to me please? of course if we opened a new forum outside of goodreads visibility would be a huge issue. we all have to help to spread the word and to help each other with getting to grips with a new site. would hate to lose a single groupite because they found a new site too confusing.
i expect Simon is beavering away looking at options as we speak as he's been doing for a while. :-)
I'm going to wait and see what happens with this... if they leave things mostly the same but have the money and people to make a few things easier to use (maybe an update to the app so you can add book links or that sort of minor thing) then I don't have a problem. If they start messing with things that work well or introducing rules and things that cause problems, I'll start having a problem. Which is a pity because I love this site and spend waaay too much time on here!!
My biggest concern is Goodreads becoming more like the Zoo forums. However, I do think that our group is close knit enough that we would be spared most of it as we wouldn't let people like that get a hold in the group. I really don't understand why Goodreads stepped away from amazon as a source for books (or whatever that palaver was) if they have just gone ahead and jumped into bed with them now. It does worry me what all might change. I don't want GR to change at all, I don't want every book I buy to appear in my TBR list on here I hope we get the option of not connecting our accounts.
Goodreads didn't "step away", they were pushed, hard and aggressively. Which has led some to speculate that there was lawyer type pressure exerted on the owners to sell to Amazon.
I too am concerned about the impact on us authors. At the moment, we can engage happily with readers in lots of groups here. Will that be allowed to continue? And let's not forget there are already plenty of unpleasant people here on GR, just we don't see them in this group. Thanks be.
I think that the biggest thing for me is whether the predominantly friendly atmosphere here on goodreads will be destroyed and become like the amazoo forums. *Shudder*
The difference is of course that most GR forums are moderated.
I only ever visit this little corner of goodreads, but as far as I understood, there are loads and loads of groups like us that don't interact with each other, that are mini forums set up by individuals and anyone (?) can set up a forum.So from the forum point of view nothing really should change?
The books and libraries are a different area of GR and Amazon will probably tinker with that.
In times gone past I was a member of a forum set up on Yuki which anyone could set up a forum on.
Well as long as Patti and I are moderators this group will not turn into a war zone. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the linking restrictions come over here though.
D.D. wrote: "I think that the biggest thing for me is whether the predominantly friendly atmosphere here on goodreads will be destroyed and become like the amazoo forums. *Shudder*"
That's my concern as well. The banter on this site is friendly, and never seems to cross the line. I'll be honest with people, one of the main reasons for joining goodreads was to promote my work as a writer, but I'm also a reader who (obviously) loves reading books and talking about them. On sites like this there is a line you never cross i.e you don't ram your promotions/attempts at publicity down people's throats. I just hope this site doesn't end up like the amazon forums with spam, bad attitude, and the constant drop and runs.
Our forum will never be like the Amazon ones. There have been a few bad taste posts in here before and those members soon learnt (in a nice way) that we didn't want that kind of attitude or atmosphere so I'm confident that wouldn't change. I just hope none of our regulars leave because of this and we can stay in our own little bubble of happiness. I don't know what I'd do without this group.
Guess we'll have to wait and see... Hope we can still keep the friendly atmosphere, whatever they do.
Sorry,I added my tuppenceworth in the announcemments thread above before seeing this one. I had some concerns about authors reviews but never even thought of us being linked with the Amazon forum or the potential impact on interaction with our authors now I am getting worried.
I am going to wait and see. I tend to find people behave rashly and get all hot under the collar before all the facts are known. People jump ship etc and then nothing much untoward happens and it all blows over. Sure it is worth keeping one's options open for other forums.It is certainly true the Zon forums are an acerbic place but the author forums on KDP aren't much better. I can't see Amazon would change much here, chasing authors away, or readers for that matter would be bad.
The forums here are moderated, and the Zon ones mostly aren't. Even so there have been some outbursts here and there are forums where being an author means you have to work twice as hard to get accepted even if you never mention your book. There are cliques etc on both sites.
After all if someone from the Amazon forums comes here and causes trouble to mods will kick them, how do we know that hasn't already happened? My Amazon username is not even close to mine here so who is to know. Neither site asks for a real name.
If there is a forum where authors are welcome and suddenly people join and start misbehaving then they can be warned and removed. I can't see them linking the two forums to be honest.
I am reading a lot of people being worried about what happens to their reviews, info etc and sharing with Amazon (more on the other groups)well GR share with Kobo so what is the difference? And what do people think GR do with the info? Anywhere anyone buys, browses or deals with stuff online your info is there, and companies share it. How often have you got a random marketing email for some company you think you have never visited, well some company you have may be an affliate or have shared or whatever.
Until we know what will happen it is all conjecture, it could simply be things are left largely as they are and kindle people get some perks. This group is friendly and easy to be around and I can't see that changing. Amazon don't check their own forums why would they interfere here?
The whole review thing on Amazon is skewed, that much is true but the press releases said nothing is planned to change so authors can still review other authors books. At least that is how it appears.
Yeah, I agree with Alexandra, and everyone should calm down. The reaction is a bit over the top, all this me-too-istic wailing and gnashing of teeth over the need to preserve the group's integrity, etc., and keep nasty aliens out, is coming close to a mass or 'group' hysteria. Before you know where you are you'll be posting bits on the necessity of preserving the purity of your Aryan stock...only joking...but I do advise the Brits amongst you to sit down and have a soothing cup of tea and the Yanks to have a revivifying glass of Coke...It's not the end of the world, folks. Everything will be fine. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose..
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