This NYTimes article explores word of mouth networking for book lovers and its impact on the business of bookselling. Many of you are already familiar with Goodreads. The website’s success is attributed to readers’ ability to access honest reviews, untarnished by the ulterior motive of companies trying to sell books. As the article states, “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?”
Another aspect of this discussion is that several years ago Amazon bought all of Shelfari and part of LibraryThing– how has that affected the independence of the sites? (See this old post by LibraryThing’s president for one rather heated opinion on Amazon’s initial incursion into this arena.)
Shira S.