GOODREADS.COM
Goodreads.com is a social media site for finding and sharing titles that has 15 million members, is
exploding in popularity and rivaling Amazon.com as a platform for promoting new books.
The site allows passionate readers to share what they are reading, rate books they have already read
and list what they are considering next. They can do this publicly or among only a self-selected
network of online friends. The site is also host to roughly 20,000 organically occurring online book
clubs for every preference — from people interested in only Proust to those who prefer history and
Tudor-period fiction. There are 314 clubs for paranormal romance fans alone.
Goodreads and smaller similar sites are addressing what publishers call the “discoverability” problem:
How do you guide consumers to books they might want to read? 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.
For a long time Amazon, the largest online bookseller, dominated the digital discovery zone through
its book reviews, recommendations and displays on its home page. But Amazon has lost some trust
among readers recently amid concerns that its reviews and recommendations can contain hidden
agendas.
The theory behind Goodreads and its two main — albeit much smaller — competitors, Shelfari and
LibraryThing, is that people will put more faith in book recommendations from a social network they
build themselves. Amazon was convinced enough by the concept that it bought Shelfari in 2008. It
also owns a portion of LibraryThing as a result of purchasing companies that already owned a stake
in the site.
Goodreads members represent a small portion of all book buyers, and it is not immune from some of
the politicking that goes on elsewhere — authors are not prevented from reviewing their own books,
for instance. But advocates consider this acceptable because readers can choose their own
reviewers.
“Because Goodreads is not a publisher or retailer, people feel that the information is not getting
manipulated,”
Goodread.com was founded by Otis Chandler, grandson of the last family owner of The Los Angeles
Times, and the woman he later married, Elizabeth Khuri Chandler.The couple began creating
Goodreads in 2006 from Mr. Chandler’s apartment, and it made its debut in 2007. By 2009 they were
doing well enough to raise $2 million in venture capital and then open offices in San Francisco. As the
site grew, they added features: a recommendation engine, author video chats, book giveaways and a
newsletter that fostered a sense of community.
Slowly the site became the largest source of independent reviews on the Web, with 21 million and
counting.
Goodreads has been particularly crucial for self-published authors, many of whom would never have
had success without it. But even authors with publishers are setting up their own Web pages on
Goodreads to promote future books — as essential as Twitter or Facebook
— and to connect with readers while not on tour. Source. Read Any Good Web Sites Lately? Book
Lovers Talk Online By Leslie Kaufman. Nytimes.com/2013/02/13 / books/goodread.com
Goodreads.cpm has since been acquired by Amazon.com.
Wadah Perpustakaan Bil.6 Jun 2013
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