*waves* I’m Amy, thanks for having me Rebecca!
Today I’m discussing the Amazon/Goodreads deal…
Firstly, it seems like a bigger deal for me because quite frankly Amazon are going uber sibling (let’s face it, they are even trying to put Google to shame) & making Goodreads seems like the “little sister”. Am I OK with this? I don’t even know Amazon’s full catalogue of sites, they might be better than Google, but they’re definitely not learning from Google’s “leaf” – they aren’t doing in gently, they’re just taking our data and telling us that it’s so they can reinvent reading.
Reinvent reading?… Let’s think about that. Wait, I can’t- I don’t understand that. Do I feel like I am part of something that is reading reinvented? Nope. I feel like I’m part of a big change (which is thankfully not a merge).
Yes, I’d rather them be siblings than as one. So it could be worse. It could be better- owned only partially by Amazon, would that protect it?
Fact is siblings aren’t going to think the same all the time, there are going to have to be compromises- and if Amazon is a good sibling it won’t tell Goodreads that it’s right just because it’s bigger. It doesn’t take brains to figure out that that would be catastrophic.
It’s not a massive issue right now, not when we can see BENEFITS. So what if they want to make more money? We’re clever consumers.
They can see what we’re reading but quite frankly so can pretty much anyone. It’s a choice we made & I’m all too aware that Goodreads as it was couldn’t be set in stone. In this world things/people that are neutral can quite often be seen as weak. This proves it, doesn’t it?
I just hope that we can stay strong and won’t lean too much towards Amazon. This will aggravate many and I don’t want a massive issue.
These are the things I do want:
· Awesome shelves. I joined Goodreads for the shelves but synced with Amazon & some insta-updating or something? That’d be amazing. I’d quite like when you number your TBR shelf or whatever that it appear like that to place on your kindle (or good shelving idea for Kindle Fire- they said kindle integration!?)
· Ebooks on Goodreads to not be completely taken over by Amazon, Amazon could just allow PDF’s, mobi & ePub if they liked but those three as a minimum if the author allows. Not just mobi! What will they do about the creative writing? I wonder.
· Ebook Giveaways (see above partly). On Goodreads there are the paperback ones but not ebook- Amazon could help this (for Amazon authors/publishers) providing a cheaper option for book giveways which will rival other places & keep them both in business. It’ll be different to free ebook promotions but I’ll love it just as much!
· Reviews to be able to still be commented on (I think that you should be able to delete comments, I’ve not experienced Amazon comment issues but it’s likely)- they can take away everything else. I don’t mind- it clashes & there are issues with both ‘liking’ reviews & marking it as (un)helpful!
· No stupid Amazon covers because the covers shouldn’t be pushy in the database & they should recognize what quality image the cover needs to be.
· NO advertising style emails as a result, at least this should be automatically switched OFF. It’s one thing them putting in ads for books which’ll probably just be ones that’ll help them the most but another deciding to spam us & not include all books by our authors as e-mails are now. They could easily personalize goodreads mails just as well as sidebars advertisements to showcase mainly (or only) popular books & also self-published newbies which may be of interest to us.
I think that’s it. I will keep Goodreads as long as I feel it’s still a good way to catalogue books & review them (without unwarranted censorship). I probably will link them up when/if I can (opinion may change) & I understand it’s not for everyone, it should be optional! How does it impact you? What worries you?