Amazon acquires Goodreads

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Boon or Bust for Small Publishers?

Just dreaming of a quiet Easter, when one after the other news message comes in:

Marketingpilgrim.com
“Goodreads now has 16 million members and a book rating and reviewing system that can’t be beat. In addition, there are genre specific social groups, groups for writers and hundreds of daily book giveaways. “Over just the past 90 days, members have added more than four books per second to the “want to read” shelves on Goodreads.”
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Amazon explains:
“Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading,” said Russ Grandinetti, Amazon Vice President, Kindle Content. “Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike.”
Goodreads says: 
“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.”

New York Daily News Blog writes:

Amazon now owns both Audiobook retailer Audible and Goodreads, as well as its own robust publishing arm. This should improve the Seattle-based giant’s position against competitors, which lack their own supporting social media networks. Barnes & Noble, in particular, is set for challenging times, with Nook sales are set to suffer even further.

“Out of all the commenting about books, Goodreads was the most powerful ecosystem for recommending what you read next and Amazon was a close second. Now it’s just Amazon… With the collapse of the Nook, [Barnes & Noble have] lost the online game and we just have to count out the final steps,” said Thad MacIlroy, a Vancouver-based publishing consultant, in an interview with Digital Book World.

Salon.com author Andrew Leonard writes:  “A shudder went through the entire world of publishing Thursday afternoon, after Amazon announced the purchase of the social reader site Goodreads. When people who normally eschew Hitler analogies compare an Amazon move to the Nazi invasion of Poland, it’s time to pay attention. Or as author Alex Irvine immediately tweeted,“Next, publishers will be required to dig own graves.  Goodreads, according to Salon’s own publishing maven, Laura Miller, “was the single major readers’ community independent of Amazon.” But maintaining that independence has not been easy.”

And now, they have been acquired by Amazon… More in news:

Exiting news about Goodreads

An emotional day for the co-founders of Goodreads
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