Goodreads founders Otis and Elizabeth celebrate joining the Amazon family.
On March 28th, Goodreads co-founder Otis announced their partnership with amazon in a letter on the popular social network for book lovers. Rather than mention the reported $150 million Amazon spent to purchase the site, Otis says,
“Today I’m really happy to announce a new milestone for Goodreads: We are joining the Amazon family. We truly could not think of a more perfect partner for Goodreads as we both share a love of books and an appreciation for the authors who write them. We also both love to invent products and services that touch millions of people.”
While Goodreads is making the merger sound quite peachy, many are unconvinced. Book lovers, buyers, sellers, etc. all know the impact Amazon has had on the traditional bricks and mortar selling structure. Indies and the big six alike are weary of the power Amazon holds over the market. What does Amazon buying Goodreads mean for the publishing industry?
First, it is important to fully understand Amazons reasons behind the expensive purchase. Jordan Weissman at the Atlantic wrote a very comprehensive article, The Simple Reason Why Goodreads is So Valuable to Amazon, which outlines very simply Amazon’s most important motivations. The first reason, which is on the forefront of everyone’s minds, is that Goodreads is quite simply, the holy grail of consumer data in the book world. But, as Weissman points out, there is an even bigger reason:
Today, the publishing industry survives on super fans — book worms who read far more than most Americans, and who tell their friends what to read as well. By picking up Goodreads, Amazon gets to tap into those super fans. Simple.
As the book market moves more and more online, the book displays at B&N mean less and less in the consumers’ eyes. Book buyers are making their choices based on word of mouth, and as our whole society moves online, so do recommendations. The recommendations on Amazon.com or other book seller websites, however, are not as well-trusted as those written on social media sites by readers for readers, which is exactly where Goodreads comes onto the playing field. And just like how a very small number of Americans do the major reading, a small number do the recommending as well, and they are all on Goodreads (now at about 16 million members).
Weissman reports as astonishing number:
Roughly 29 percent of Goodreads users told Codex they’d learned about the last book they bought either on the site, or at another book-focused social network.
And presents a number of incredible charts and graphs. This one in particular really shows where our top buyers are and where they get their recommendations.
Now that we all understand the reasons behind it, it is time to ask what this all means for the future of our industry. Will readers trust the site now that its data will be used for the benefit of Amazon?
While many readers are furious, and speak out quite openly against Amazon, the fact of the matter is that most Americans simply do not care. They want the best product, as fast as possible, and for the lowest price. In other words: America loves Amazon. It’s that simple.
The book world, however, has many more martyrs willing to fork out the extra five dollars, and a quarter tank of gas to get to their local indie book shop. Will those reads leave Goodreads? What will that mean for the rest of Goodreads’ users?
What do you think? Do you use the social network? Do you care about Amazon?
This will be a huge mile marker for the future of publishing, and it will be important to follow where the consumer goes, and what trends we see in book sales. This is the future happening right now, people. Don’t be too afraid to jump in and find out for yourselves.
Unwritten 