April 1, 2013
What Will the Goodreads Acquisition Mean for Amazon?
To many in the publishing world, leading readers to find their new books has become harder as the category has shifted to largely online purchases from the neighborhood bookstore.
Last week’s news that Amazon was acquiring Goodreads, the internet’s largest book-recommendation site, again brought up this "discoverability" challenge.
In a February review of the Goodreads website, New York Times journalist Leslie Kaufman summed up the problem: "The digital age has created online retail sites that are overflowing with new books, leaving readers awash in unknown titles. At the same time the number of bookstores has shrunk considerably, depriving customers of the ability to browse or ask staff members for guidance."
To some, the answer to improving online discovery is richer and more accessible online reviews, a specialty of Goodreads.
Founded in 2007, Goodreads enables its members to list, rate and review books they’ve read as well as discover new books by using the site’s recommendation tool. It has amassed more than 23 million reviews. In over just the past 90 days, members have added more than four books per second to their "want to read" shelves.
With the acquisition, Amazon can tap into the leading social network of active readers and its busy recommendations engine to boost its book and Kindle sales. With its own reviews under scrutiny amid accusations of manipulation, Goodreads provides a more credible and expansive review base.
Writing for Forbes, David Vinjamuri added that Amazon could target Goodsreads’ members based on their preferences, better identify key influencers, and cross-promote.
On the downside, some Goodreads users may defect, given Amazon’s fractious relationship with publishing. Other user concerns included how their content would be used as well as Goodreads’ "neutrality" with Amazon as its parent.
On the Goodreads blog, CEO Otis Chandler assured users that Goodreads would remain independently run. Benefits include better integrating Kindle with Goodreads and the ability of readers to more easily sharing their review/recommendation content on Amazon’s website.
Amazon’s resources and scale also promises to help Goodreads "move faster" to spread its experience. Mr. Chandler wrote, "We’re looking forward to inspiring greater literary discussion and helping more readers find great books, whether they read in print or digitally."
- Amazon.com to Acquire Goodreads – Amazon.com
- Exciting News About Goodreads: We’re Joining the Amazon Family! – Goodreads
- Read Any Good Web Sites Lately? Book Lovers Talk Online – The New York Times (tiered sub.)
- Why online book discovery is broken (and how to fix it) – Paidcontent.org
- Three Hidden Benefits of The Amazon Acquisition of Goodreads – Forbes
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What does the pending acquisition of Goodreads mean for Amazon.com and what does it say about the importance of online reviews? Is “discoverability” an issue in categories beyond books, especially those also facing greater online purchases?
Poll
There are two problems here. First is advising readers of new books to the market. No book store stocks all new books, but some have lists for customers to order from. The publishing house spends more on their key authors than others which helps drive sales.
Second is where to buy the book. We have accounts with Amazon and Apple. Buying a new book for the iPad is a task. What do I want to read and then who has it? The purchase market is more fragmented than most think. Many authors are selling books direct from their own web site, etc. Since publishers don’t have to arrange shipment to all arrive on a single day for a new title launch, they need a better process for communicating all new titles.
I love this idea. There is no doubt that finding good books to read is a real challenge, and it isn’t helped by the fact that writers are now dealing in trilogies or series. How to decide which ones to buy into?
I know I’m not the only one who’s bought a book that seems interesting, only to discover it’s a romance novel (YIKES!). This is a bit like an online book club, and I like it.
So many books—so little time. How to decide? There are a few websites that I use, but honestly they provide more than enough new titles so had not looked at Goodreads.
Agree with Paula regarding trilogies and series. My beef with them is when I buy a book thinking it is a self-contained novel only to get to the end and find it’s not.
While there is plenty of skepticism about how well Goodreads members will take to Amazon, this is a smart move for both customer communities and organizations. Amazon has been and continues to be the leader is customer-centric retail and this membership base and corresponding data set will extend Amazon’s lead as the smart place to shop for books.
Online reviews are only valuable when they are reliable. The acquisition of Goodreads establishes an independent channel for readers to find reviews, but this independence must be maintained with sublties fully transparent.
Discoverability is definitely an issue beyond books; almost all categories have this issue be it fashion, home goods or electronics. The choices are overwhelming and often lead to user fatigue. The shopper has no easy way out other than making a large number of decisions.
From a behavioral science perspective, making these choices often leads to making no choice at all and cart abandonment. The relevance of the search in the user context has been a holy grail of online. Especially when the web is flooded with reviews both positive and negative and lack of a personal touch of the store associate, makes shopping online tiresome decision making process for the shopper. Solutions like Goodreads makes it easy to make a choice and that’s exactly what Amazon needed to make the whole experience easier, more shoppable, and enjoyable.
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There are two problems here. First is advising readers of new books to the market. No book store stocks all new books, but some have lists for customers to order from. The publishing house spends more on their key authors than others which helps drive sales.
Second is where to buy the book. We have accounts with Amazon and Apple. Buying a new book for the iPad is a task. What do I want to read and then who has it? The purchase market is more fragmented than most think. Many authors are selling books direct from their own web site, etc. Since publishers don’t have to arrange shipment to all arrive on a single day for a new title launch, they need a better process for communicating all new titles.
I love this idea. There is no doubt that finding good books to read is a real challenge, and it isn’t helped by the fact that writers are now dealing in trilogies or series. How to decide which ones to buy into?
I know I’m not the only one who’s bought a book that seems interesting, only to discover it’s a romance novel (YIKES!). This is a bit like an online book club, and I like it.
So many books—so little time. How to decide? There are a few websites that I use, but honestly they provide more than enough new titles so had not looked at Goodreads.
Agree with Paula regarding trilogies and series. My beef with them is when I buy a book thinking it is a self-contained novel only to get to the end and find it’s not.
While there is plenty of skepticism about how well Goodreads members will take to Amazon, this is a smart move for both customer communities and organizations. Amazon has been and continues to be the leader is customer-centric retail and this membership base and corresponding data set will extend Amazon’s lead as the smart place to shop for books.
Online reviews are only valuable when they are reliable. The acquisition of Goodreads establishes an independent channel for readers to find reviews, but this independence must be maintained with sublties fully transparent.
Discoverability is definitely an issue beyond books; almost all categories have this issue be it fashion, home goods or electronics. The choices are overwhelming and often lead to user fatigue. The shopper has no easy way out other than making a large number of decisions.
From a behavioral science perspective, making these choices often leads to making no choice at all and cart abandonment. The relevance of the search in the user context has been a holy grail of online. Especially when the web is flooded with reviews both positive and negative and lack of a personal touch of the store associate, makes shopping online tiresome decision making process for the shopper. Solutions like Goodreads makes it easy to make a choice and that’s exactly what Amazon needed to make the whole experience easier, more shoppable, and enjoyable.