Popular Series Tracking Site FictFact shutting down tomorrow

[Paperbackstash]

According to their Facebook website 2 hours ago, people have until tomorrow to back up their information.

I know many have used FictFact for years to track new releases of their favorite series due to their interactive calendars.

The Facebook post announcement

[Dopedangel]

ouch I have been using it exclusively to track my series for almost 7-8 years now I joined it around Sep 2010. Any one know of any alternatives this was probably the best and easiest way to find out of new releases from authors I like.

[haertig]

I never heard of FictFact until reading this thread. Wow, I wish I would have known about them sooner.

Prediction: If the Facebook post above is accurate about Amazon giving no warning then denying an appeal, "I predict" that Amazon has been planning on coming out with a competing service, and is now shutting down the old to be replaced with their new very soon.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by haertig

I never heard of FictFact until reading this thread. Wow, I wish I would have known about them sooner.

Prediction: If the Facebook post above is accurate about Amazon giving no warning then denying an appeal, "I predict" that Amazon has been planning on coming out with a competing service, and is now shutting down the old to be replaced with their new very soon.

They already own goodreads and good reads already has ability to track author releases etc so I don't see anything new coming out from Amazon

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

They already own goodreads and good reads already has ability to track author releases etc so I don't see anything new coming out from Amazon

But series handle in goodreads is much clumsier than ficfact for sure.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by haertig

I never heard of FictFact until reading this thread. Wow, I wish I would have known about them sooner.

Prediction: If the Facebook post above is accurate about Amazon giving no warning then denying an appeal, "I predict" that Amazon has been planning on coming out with a competing service, and is now shutting down the old to be replaced with their new very soon.

Amazon shutdown authoralerts without coming out with a competing service. I suspect they are just trying to dump the small time associate sites to save a couple of pennies since the feel like they don't need them anymore.

If I was a snarky sort of guy, I would say that Bezos has to pay for his upcoming divorce, but I would never do that.

[Paperbackstash]

I'm suspecting the speed this is happening is due to something legal or something with Amazon. This site has been around a long time and is pretty popular so this short notice is very unusual.

[DiapDealer]

Surely tracking your favorite author's new output would be enough, no? I'm trying to imagine one of my favorite authors having enough separate series going that I would need series-tracking software to keep up.

Using Amazon's "Follow Author" service has been more than enough for me to keep up with the new releases of my must-read authors. They may not always get the alert out to me before a release, but they've always been in the ballpark. My reading habits don't require me to buy the new releases immediately anyway. I typically only buy when I'm ready to read.

Still... I feel for those who used the service regularly. It stinks when something you've come to rely upon goes away suddenly.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Surely tracking your favorite author's new output would be enough, no? I'm trying to imagine one of my favorite authors having enough separate series going that I would need series-tracking software to keep up.

Some people get very into series and can tend to get confused on keeping track without additional help, especially if it's mainly the same genre and they read 20-30 books per month. I know two groups I'm a member of use these websites for the New releases folder in the groups, so it's a big help for research projects and such.

Goodreads tells new releases but it's not very customizable, you can't track by genre (well, the list is short and not at all conclusive)

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Surely tracking your favorite author's new output would be enough, no? I'm trying to imagine one of my favorite authors having enough separate series going that I would need series-tracking software to keep up.

Using Amazon's "Follow Author" service has been more than enough for me to keep up with the new releases of my must-read authors. They may not always get the alert out to me before a release, but they've always been in the ballpark. My reading habits don't require me to buy the new releases immediately anyway. I typically only buy when I'm ready to read.

"Follow Author" is a crappy service for me. Usually, I get notice of the book I want a couple of weeks after I've purchased/rented/whatever. Perhaps it works well for some authors but for my use case, is similar to nothing.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

"Follow Author" is a crappy service for me. Usually, I get notice of the book I want a couple of weeks after I've purchased/rented/whatever. Perhaps it works well for some authors but for my use case, is similar to nothing.

As I said; I don't need to get a notice before the book is released. As long as I get notified sometime within a few weeks of the release date, I'm good. I understand that other readers needs may vary. I'm just saying that I only need to know that a favorite author of mine has come out with a new release. I don't need advance notice of the event in order to prepare. Follow Author accomplishes that for me. Once I know it's out there, it will be added to a Good Reads shelf and prioritized accordingly (and purchased when I'm ready to read it).

[ShortNet]

They will be missed! First Authoralerts and now this. It looks like Tracknewbook is the only site left (other than goodreads). Strangely, there is nothing on FictFact's website nor anything mailed out to users telling of the pending closure.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by ShortNet

They will be missed! First Authoralerts and now this. It looks like Tracknewbook is the only site left (other than goodreads). Strangely, there is nothing on FictFact's website nor anything mailed out to users telling of the pending closure.

I found that odd as well. I checked their website and Twitter feed, they only announced on Facebook. Frustrating. Right now the website is still up.

[Paperbackstash]

...Edited

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

"Follow Author" is a crappy service for me. Usually, I get notice of the book I want a couple of weeks after I've purchased/rented/whatever. Perhaps it works well for some authors but for my use case, is similar to nothing.

Follow Author has been pretty hit and miss for me. Sometime they tell me when first comes out, sometimes it's several days or weeks later, sometime it's never. They do seem to do better for major authors, seem to do worse on backlist books or Kindle only books, but there is no real obvious pattern.