Amazon snaps up book recommendation site Goodreads

By Trevor Mogg Published March 29, 2013

E-commerce giant Amazon has been shopping. The Seattle-based company said Thursday it’s set to acquire book recommendation site Goodreads, a move it hopes will help drive more Web traffic its way and ultimately help it to sell more books, both print and digital. The deal, the value of which was not disclosed, will be finalized in the coming weeks.

Goodreads CEO and co-founder Otis Chandler said the acquisition would help his site to “move faster in bringing the Goodreads experience to millions of readers around the world”, adding that he looked forward to integrating the Goodreads and Kindle experiences, something he said many of the site’s 16 million users have long been asking for.

Recommended Videos

Commenting on the deal, Russ Grandinetti, Amazon’s vice president of Kindle content, said in a release, “Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world.”

He continued, “In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike.”

The deal is all the more interesting for the reason that it comes just over a year after Goodreads stopped using Amazon’s API to source basic book data. In the book recommendation site’s opinion, Amazon’s terms of use had become too restrictive, forcing Goodreads to link back to Amazon books exclusively. While Goodreads continues to link to a number of online retailers, one wonders what changes are on the horizon now that Amazon’s pulling the strings.

Goodreads, a social network for book lovers, began life in Chandler’s living room seven years ago. Together with wife Elizabeth, the pair worked to build a community of readers passionate about books. Today, the San Francisco startup has more than 30,000 book clubs on its site and holds information on more than half a billion books, with some 23 million reviews added by bookworms from all around the world.

In a message posted on the Goodreads blog on Thursday, Chandler reassured members of the site that it would continue in much the same way as before, and despite moves to integrate the Goodreads and Kindle experiences, would not be abandoning print readers.

“It’s incredibly important to us that we remain a home for all types of readers, no matter if you read on paper, audio, digitally, from scrolls, or even stone tablets,” Chandler wrote.

Goodreads’ headquarters will remain in San Francisco, Amazon confirmed.

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.