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Friday, March 29, 2013

Special Report: Amazon buys Goodreads?


Goodreads has been a pretty big part of my spare time in the last few years.  You don't get to be the #6 reviewer of all time in America by just dabbling here and there.  Anyway, it was a pretty big jolt when it was announced yesterday that Amazon was buying Goodreads.

I'm not sure what to think at this time.  It could be good for Goodreads but how often does a corporation buy something and then not make sweeping changes?  I'm not jumping ship yet but it never hurts to have several escape plans in place.  I might start using Bookish as a backup.  It's run by Simon & Shuster, Penguin, and Hatchette so it might be a good way to get free stuff.

I'm trying to be optimistic but Amazon buying Goodreads is a lot like that Spider-Man story where Doctor Octopus got engaged to Aunt May. You knew something bad was on the horizon but at least Aunt May got to be happy for a little while.
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3 comments:

  1. Bob/SallyMarch 29, 2013 at 1:55 PM

    I've never tried Bookish, but LibraryThing is a similar service to Goodreads that I started using this year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The LibrarianApril 10, 2013 at 6:11 AM

    Are you kidding me!
    I like the sound of free things tho, but I'll probably head over to library thing as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dan SchwentApril 10, 2013 at 6:14 AM

    I played with Bookish for a few minutes and decided I hated it. Right now, I'm sticking with Goodreads but also writing at www.shelfinflicted.com with some of my Goodreads chums.

    ReplyDelete