Amazon.com to Acquire Goodreads

[DianNC]

Originally Posted by hwlester

Yes, Amazon picked up Woot a while back (two years ago?).

Thanks.

And my thanks to fjtorres for the CBS article. I'm not a regular Wooter (Wootress?) having bought exactly one item there (my much loved PE). Still, I can't believe I missed this news.

[SeaBookGuy]

As someone involved in a couple of very active groups there (moderator of one of those), the consensus seems to be that a few folks hated the idea, and are (pretty much) gone, some other folks are willing to stick around, but moaning how they "fear" things might go, etc. Most either outright don't care at all, or say that they're fine unless they feel bombarded with (targeted) advertising.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

As someone involved in a couple of very active groups there (moderator of one of those), the consensus seems to be that a few folks hated the idea, and are (pretty much) gone, some other folks are willing to stick around, but moaning how they "fear" things might go, etc. Most either outright don't care at all, or say that they're fine unless they feel bombarded with (targeted) advertising.

Sounds a lot like people's reaction to DRM:
A few zealots crusading to extinguish it, some of us grudgingly dealing with it, and most people shrugging it off until it bites them...if ever. (Not everybody remembers the DRM disasters of the pre-K era.)
A lot of folks just want to find good books and not sweat the possibilities.

[taming]

One resource that many people could use is Bibliocommons . This is the on-line catalogue that many libraries in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand now use. People write comments or reviews of books using Bibliocommons and can create reading lists and do some social sharing through it.

While there is no guarantee that Amazon won't buy it, too, it doesn't seem very likely. Here is a link to their about page: http://www.bibliocommons.com/about/about-us

I use my public library as my entrance into it.

[SeaBookGuy]

My public library uses it, but I've never really felt compelled to use it for keeping lists, rating books, and socializing.

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Going on three.
Interestingly enough, their rationale was similar to the Goodreads buy, reaching out to people who *weren't* well-served by teir existing webstore.
Here's CBS' take at the time:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505124_1...-surprise-you/



As I said, Amazon finds value is the oddest of ways.

I was thinking it had been more than two, but wasn't sure. I've been at my current employer for two years next week and was thinking that happened before I left my previous employer. I'll have to say that Woot and Amazon seems to have been a good match from a customer service perspective. I've returned/exchanged a few items at Woot and they took care of return shipping and shipping the replacement (even before I sent back the old one). I recently had to do an exchange with Amazon and it was just as painless. I've also had to contact their MP3 customer support and they took care of me.

Like others here, I don't want to see them become the only retailer of ebooks, though. If they sold EPUBs, I'd buy from them to support my Sony Reader, though.

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

As someone involved in a couple of very active groups there (moderator of one of those), the consensus seems to be that a few folks hated the idea, and are (pretty much) gone, some other folks are willing to stick around, but moaning how they "fear" things might go, etc. Most either outright don't care at all, or say that they're fine unless they feel bombarded with (targeted) advertising.

I mostly fall in that last group. If I feel things change too much that it's no longer useful to me, then I'll leave.

[foreverjuly]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

As someone involved in a couple of very active groups there (moderator of one of those), the consensus seems to be that a few folks hated the idea, and are (pretty much) gone, some other folks are willing to stick around, but moaning how they "fear" things might go, etc. Most either outright don't care at all, or say that they're fine unless they feel bombarded with (targeted) advertising.

This is pretty much how I thought it would turn out, but it's good to get the scoop from an insider. I doubt Goodreads will change all that much, and the sales links to book sites have always been a mess anyway, but I might not notice any real changes because it's not a site I frequent anymore. It can certainly be fun if you've got a great group of people around though, but time passes and groups grow and whither.

[BearMountainBooks]

Just as a side note, especially for those thinking B&N and Kobobooks are near death--B&N just released a new upload interface for ebooks and kobobooks has been offering more features on theirs. That means they are putting money into programs and making an effort.

I view it as good news that they are still working on being competitive at least with the ebook division. Both sites are talking about offering ad opportunities.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Just as a side note, especially for those thinking B&N and Kobobooks are near death--B&N just released a new upload interface for ebooks and kobobooks has been offering more features on theirs. That means they are putting money into programs and making an effort.

I can't use B&N because I'm in the UK, but I haven't noticed any new features on Kobo Writing Life. What have I missed?

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by avantman42

I can't use B&N because I'm in the UK, but I haven't noticed any new features on Kobo Writing Life. What have I missed?

The one I noticed with my last upload was the ability to list your book for pre-order. I was unable to try it because there was a BUG, but I was only trying to use pre-order for a week. By the time they responded and everything was straightened, I was ready for release. (Always glad to be of help when it comes to breaking things and sending software/hardware into the weeds... )

There was also a survey they did a few months ago asking about things like pre-order and other features.

B&N released an entirely new interface with tools to edit within the process (a much more powerful 'sandbox' if you will).

Both of them have been looking at how to draw indie writers into the advertising boat.

I'm not saying all the ideas are good ones or things I want to use, but they have bodies assigned to these tools. I'm guessing that also means they are working with trad publishers on whatever platform exists for them as well.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

The one I noticed with my last upload was the ability to list your book for pre-order.

Interesting, thanks. It'll be a while before I release another book, but I'll have to look into that when the time comes.

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

B&N released an entirely new interface with tools to edit within the process (a much more powerful 'sandbox' if you will).

I heard about that, and also saw this blog post complaining about the revised contract. It's only of vague interest to me, though, because they won't let me upload direct, so I have to go through Smashwords or someone similar.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

B&N released an entirely new interface with tools to edit within the process (a much more powerful 'sandbox' if you will).

It's an interesting idea, but from most reports kind of half baked and needs work. Not working for a lot of folks at all they just get errors, once a book is published you can't edit/update it without publishing the book as a new book again losing all raitings/reviews and such (& I'd guess depriving your readers of the updated/fixed version).

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It's an interesting idea, but from most reports kind of half baked and needs work. Not working for a lot of folks at all they just get errors, once a book is published you can't edit/update it without publishing the book as a new book again losing all raitings/reviews and such (& I'd guess depriving your readers of the updated/fixed version).

I said they were putting an effort in--not that it was a good one or that they got it right...

They are worlds behind Amazon in a lot of it and the old system didn't work badly. Frankly I didn't see anything of use to me--I pretty much format and upload. I don't need to mess around too much and I'm not collaborating with anyone (that is the main new feature. You can have a collaboration effort going on so that more than one person can access and beta read and so on). I run all that privately, along with all the editing. Everything gets done before uploading.

However, if they are expending actual resources, I take that to mean they haven't thrown in the towel. Be it a dirty, torn towel or not...

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by avantman42

Interesting, thanks. It'll be a while before I release another book, but I'll have to look into that when the time comes.


I heard about that, and also saw this blog post complaining about the revised contract. It's only of vague interest to me, though, because they won't let me upload direct, so I have to go through Smashwords or someone similar.

B&N's contract has never been as good as Amazon's. They don't pay the same 70 percent commissions and have not offered it from the start. I completely understand why many authors go exclusive. It gets more and more tempting EVERY SINGLE DAY, trust me.

As for that blog post, the differences aren't that great from the old one--all the contracts are basically saying "no agency model, we can change your price at any time." What is not clear from the B&N contract is who takes the haircut. Amazon clearly states that if they are price matching a deal they see on another site, the author takes the haircut. If AMZN does a sale, Amazon takes the trim.

B&N plays the game opposite Amazon. Amazon does everything possible to attract backlist authors and yes, even indie authors. B&N won't match the 70 percent of the two largest retailers (commissions) and they have put in minimal effort when it comes to programs to get the word out. They did do a very nice job with review bloggers and author matching -- but that program ran once about a year plus ago. I haven't seen them try it again. That was kind of a big lottery to create a review program and was nice because it highlighted bloggers with Nooks. But again, if they ever ran it a second time, I didn't see it. They need more reviews on all products.

They also don't pay commissions for ebooks for associates who talk about the products. That's a deal-breaker for any reasonable associate who talks mostly books. Instead of bringing people to their side, well, they kind of shut them out.

I keep hoping they will get some new projects going. But we'll see.