Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

I just read in the m/m romance forum that Amazon purchased Goodreads.

Personally, I am not thrilled.

I like that Goodreads is an independant forum and not influenced by outside FOR PROFIT organizations. Way too much room for Amazon to get involved in my reading habits and purchases. Not to mention, I am a nook user not kindle.

This should be an interesting change, although I'm not certain how positive. I hear a lot of folks worried about how their reviews may be influenced or hidden.

I'm a Kindle user and I'm not even thrilled about it. I come here for honest reviews and opinions on books. I feel that I don't get that from Amazon reviews.

The only thing I could see being a positive is for Kindle users...them syncing up some how (like if I purchase from Amazon or download a book using whispernet) the title going on my to-read. Or my wishlist of books moving to my to-read list.

Rosanna wrote: "This should be an interesting change, although I'm not certain how positive. I hear a lot of folks worried about how their reviews may be influenced or hidden."

Until I read about this, I wasn't aware that Amazon tinkered with reviews, do tell ... are you aware of any detail regarding this?

I want to be happy about it, I really do. But I can't. I have been here for almost four years and it would pain me to leave, but the minute downvoting shows up here, Amazon starts shoving their ads in my face everywhere, and/or decides they now own our reviews, I will delete my account.

Kristin wrote: "I'm a Kindle user and I'm not even thrilled about it. I come here for honest reviews and opinions on books. I feel that I don't get that from Amazon reviews.

The only thing I could see being a po..."

Since I don't use Amazon for book purchases I am kind of in the dark ... does it seem they remove or hide reviews to increase sales? Is it more than that? I am curious.

It will be a model like Zappos. Amazon own Zappos, but keep it as a stand-alone business. Amazon buys GR may not increase revenue, but will probably cut off sale to other company. With this move, GR dethrone Facebook is not impossible.

Shawn wrote: "Kristin wrote: "I'm a Kindle user and I'm not even thrilled about it. I come here for honest reviews and opinions on books. I feel that I don't get that from Amazon reviews.

The only thing I coul..."

They censor reviews and great reviewers tend to not review on Amazon because they no longer "own" the review once they hit that submit button. Plus your review has to be approved before it shows up. That's just what I know, I am sure there is even more to it then that.

Kristin wrote: "Shawn wrote: "Kristin wrote: "I'm a Kindle user and I'm not even thrilled about it. I come here for honest reviews and opinions on books. I feel that I don't get that from Amazon reviews.

The onl..."

Wow .. I hope that does not happen here.

I am afraid Goodreads will lose many members and that would be a shame.

Thanks for the info!

Kristin wrote: "Shawn wrote: "Kristin wrote: "I'm a Kindle user and I'm not even thrilled about it. I come here for honest reviews and opinions on books. I feel that I don't get that from Amazon reviews.

The onl..."

All of this. In addition, users get to up vote or down vote reviews. If enough people down vote a review it will be hidden. What often happens is that friends of authors, sockpuppets, or fans downvote perfectly respectable reviews until they get hidden just because they don't like what they say.

~Thena~ ♥Machar ♥ Spade ♥ Ethan ♥ Harry♥ wrote: "Kristin wrote: "Shawn wrote: "Kristin wrote: "I'm a Kindle user and I'm not even thrilled about it. I come here for honest reviews and opinions on books. I feel that I don't get that from Amazon re..."

Yes!!! This too! So many times there are only glowing reviews for a book on Amazon and then I will log in here and see the REAL reviews.

Shawn wrote: Until I read about this, I wasn't aware that Amazon tinkered with reviews, do tell ... are you aware of any detail regarding this? "

I think an author can petition Amazon if they receive an unfair review or one that is insulting or degrading. For example, if a reviewer gave them a 1-star because the book was damaged in shipping or the review contains expletives.

What I like about Goodreads is the transparency. Some companies are selling reviews to authors where they pay readers to read and review their books. The more reviews they have, the more the book stands out to potential readers—especially for new authors. This is okay if the reviews are unbiased. But I heard that several companies were guaranteeing positive reviews. With Goodreads, you can click on the reviewer and see their page and what they've reviewed before and have on their bookshelf. I think this helps in making a buying decision because you can see if this reviewer is legitimate and has similar tastes to you.

However, I could be missing something as well. I'm not sure if there are other cases of Amazon directly tampering with reviews.

Shawn wrote: "Rosanna wrote: "This should be an interesting change, although I'm not certain how positive. I hear a lot of folks worried about how their reviews may be influenced or hidden."

Until I read about ..."

Hi Shawn. Although it hasn't happened to me, a lot of authors have found their reviews for other authors have mysteriously disappeared from Amazon. The feeling is they were removed to discourage authors from posting fake reviews to support their friends. Of course, this is just people talking. Like I said, hasn't happened to me.

~Thena~ ♥Machar ♥ Spade ♥ Ethan ♥ Harry♥ wrote: "I want to be happy about it, I really do. But I can't. I have been here for almost four years and it would pain me to leave, but the minute downvoting shows up here, Amazon starts shoving their ads..."

Amen ... I will be right behind you!

J.T. wrote: "Shawn wrote: Until I read about this, I wasn't aware that Amazon tinkered with reviews, do tell ... are you aware of any detail regarding this? "

I think an author can petition Amazon if they rece..."

Thanks for sharing .. that is really sad.

Rosanna wrote: "Shawn wrote: "Rosanna wrote: "This should be an interesting change, although I'm not certain how positive. I hear a lot of folks worried about how their reviews may be influenced or hidden."

Until..."

I see ... Well the good news is, some of the moderators are statimg that there is no intention to change things any time soon. I, for one, hope this is true. Though, one would think it is an eventuallity ... Amazon wouldn't have purchased Goodreads if there was no money in it.

I am annoyed. I don't want Goodreads being apart of the Amazon family. I don't look at reviews on amazon or B&N because most of the time they are only good reviews. And that's all good and dandy if the book is good. The only honesty I know I will find is here on goodreads. I am afraid that will change. I like my reviews being mine and mine only. I also don't want to see good reviews on a book only to read it and find it is awful. I spend my hard earned money on these books, I should be able to talk about how bad a book is and not have it deleted.

Jessica wrote: "I am annoyed. I don't want Goodreads being apart of the Amazon family. I don't look at reviews on amazon or B&N because most of the time they are only good reviews. And that's all good and dandy if..."

From what I know about Amazon, they won't delete a review because it is negative. You can definitely voice your opinion and not be censored. It's only if the review is unfair in that it wasn't the fault of the author (book damaged) or the review is offensive to other readers (i.e., lots of cursing or insulting).

I am not too happy about this. I have a kindle, but rely on Goodreads for reviews. I guess I will have to see how things go and hope Goodreads doesn't change.

I will wait and see.

Hoping to see the change in Goodreads is not significant...even though I use both Goodreads and Amazon, and read/purchase most of my books via Kindle I'm still a bit worried.

I am wary (and a little disappointed) of the change, though when Amazon bought Woot.com that site didn't change a lot, it got more massive but the concept and delivery is still pretty much the same.

This is very distressing. I love GRs because it is for the people by the people. And there aren't a million ads being shoved down your throat and slowing down the page loading speed. I don't have a kindle and refuse to purchase one. To me they have a monopoly on ebooks (most of the good ones anyway) and that irritates me. I sincerely hope this isn't going to be a horrible change for GRs as I'd hate to leave and find some other site to keep track of my books and such.

I am going to download my booklists and shelves just in case something unpleasant happens.

J.T. wrote: "Jessica wrote: "I am annoyed. I don't want Goodreads being apart of the Amazon family. I don't look at reviews on amazon or B&N because most of the time they are only good reviews. And that's all g..."

Good to know, still wish it wasn't teaming up though.

I dbnt like that idea of goodreads being bought by amazon for the fact its gonna change. Be one bigger and you'll get a lot of people who we really eouldnt want. It's like comparing FB to Google+ . I hate FB but on G+ you don't have gossip and irritating ignorant people whiamazon will bring with it. As for reviews I have nevervhad a review deleted because they didn't like it. If they do this ice never heard of it. But you can get some rude ppl I'd rather goodreads stays as it is. I don't own a kindle either I go with nook but I do review,a lot of books on here and amazon for authors. I'd rather goodreads stays independent. You'll no longer have just goodreads connections u chooses you'll have everything thrown at you. It would cause me to leave and I love goodreads.

I have numerous thoughts on this subject, some positive, mostly negative.

How can it be a good thing that the largest bookseller in the world now controls the largest book recommendation engine in the world?

Can anyone possibly see a conflict of interest in that?

Here's my blog post on it:

http://thenightlifeseries.blogspot.co...

I'm waiting to see what will happen. Not going to complain till then and it may benefit goodreads a lot.

There was one article that pointed out that Amazon 'owns' several 'non-partisan' websites, like IMDB (or however you spell that movie site)

There are other examples of ones they 'own' but did NOT spew Amazon all over it. They could end up leaving GR 'as is' mostly, but just use the marketing numbers it will get from it. Every book added, star marked, heck EVERY COMMENT in any group, regardless of 'secret'/private/or public they can see and use in a Big Brother type marketing strategy without destroying GR in the process.

I can only hope that GR will remain separate from Amazon, separate from the manipulation of reviews done there, and what-not. We'll see.

I will admit I'm not a happy camper about it.

I have been trying to process this since I found out yesterday and honestly, I still don't know what to think. I like the reviews here and love that I can look up my "friends" who I trust and get their honest review on books I am interested in. I honestly trust Goodreads for reviews more so than Amazon, although I do check both.

I really hope this doesn't mean a censorship on reviews. The way Goodreads so far handles review (for the most part, with a few exceptions of people rating books without actually reading them) is pretty honest. I would really hate to see that change.

That's interesting...but I don't like it.

I'm really uncomfortable with this, but I think Amazon's reason for the purpose is the data. Goodreads will help them mine data to further hone their Amazon site. Hopefully they'll leave it alone, and just work behind the scenes. Or maybe not :(
Either way, I'm getting that big brother kind of feeling here.

Travis wrote: "I have numerous thoughts on this subject, some positive, mostly negative.

How can it be a good thing that the largest bookseller in the world now controls the largest book recommendation engine in..."

Excellent blog! Thank you so much for sharing! I absolutely agee. As I stated earlier ... Amazon would have never made this acquisition if there wasn't money to be made.

Amazon will, likely, wait long enough and make the changes gradual enough to desensitize the Goodreads user to those changes, leaving a good many of the members in tact and gaining new members through their website.

Additionally, a new group of people may create a new forum similar to Goodreads to take advantage of the Amazon/Goodreads deal ... will/can it be soon enough? Hmmmmm .... facebook clobbered MySpace .... could this happen in our reading world .... or is Amazon too big/$$$$ and will they have too much influence since the acquisition?

All I can say is that I am highly disappointed and quite disturbed.

Had no clue this took place. I agree, may GR's stay true to its form and prayyyy that AMAZON leaves it alone.

I love GR as is right now. Honest reviews, a community I can trust... Was not aware of this and NOT happy...
As many stated, may A leave GR as is for our sake

I'm not thrilled about this either, however I have posted negative reviews on books on Amazon and they haven't been removed. So I guess we will see how it plays out.

So as of NOW, GoodReads is owned by Amazon???

Well that's not good news. When I first read the title of this thread, what instantly came to my mind was "Are they gonna ask payment for joining this site?" Sounds crazy but hey, Amazon is not free...

If Amazon is really going to monitor our reviews, then that's terrible news for us. No more freedom. Guess someone has to create a new site similar to GoodReads...

Don't want to leave GR! This is my Facebook! I love this site too much! :(

same here Jen.

The sale is supposed to close at the end of June sometime.

Jen Carstairs wrote: "So as of NOW, GoodReads is owned by Amazon???

Well that's not good news. When I first read the title of this thread, what instantly came to my mind was "Are they gonna ask payment for joining this..."

I agree with you Jen. If I don't like the changes I guess I'll have to make my own tbr list or something. Hopefully things won't change.

I like Goodreads for so many other reasons besides the reviews though. I love the forums and talking to other book lovers and I like keeping in track of what I read, need to read (for blog tours and ARCs, etc.) and for what is coming out soon, and my wishlist.

I hope none of that changes either.

This bothers me because recently my husband started writing a short story series (is that an oxymoron?) and even though I am married to him and could read the first installment for free, I purchased it from Amazon, read it and left a fair review. Amazon removed my review and told me it was a "conflict of interest due to the fact that I have a stake in the financial outcome of the 'book.'"
If they purchase goodreads and tell me I can't review my own husbands books because it's a conflict of interest, I will leave goodreads and stop suggesting it to everyone I meet. I love this place, it's helped me find amazing books that I probably never would have come across on my own.

There's always Wattpad! :)

Shawna wrote: "There's always Wattpad! :)"

I love wattpad! :D Are you another wattpader?

And Joe, I think you'll get blasted for that anywhere that book advertising isn't welcome.

And I'm sort of picturing Amazon as this blob like creature, growing and devouring everything in its path! I sure hope it doesn't change much. Hopefully they're smart enough to know they'll lose readers if that happens.

Joe, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the group's rules. There are very clear, prominently posted rules for self-promotion, and you're very clearly breaking them. Please edit or delete your post, or you'll be deleting from the group for spamming.

Ooops! I've done it again! Please tell me what exactly I should delete.

I got and email saying that amazon purchased good reads its the reason I came to this site and joined . i also have a kindle.

In general I'm an Amazon Fan, Kindle fan & Audible Fan. BUT ya just can't trust Amazon's book reviews. I always count on Goodreads for reviews I can trust. I read member reviews on Audible but haven't a clue how many are eliminated or rejected. I do know they can be..so I always double check with reviews by Audio book reviewers here. Goodreads is handsdown the best book lovers community for sooo many reasons. I really hope Amazon doesn't bleep it up for us.

AND, Amazon has a stake in Librarything, a Goodreads competitor, AND Amazon obviously controls Shelfari, another Goodreads competitor.

Amazon is taking over all the places where we go to find and talk about books.

Amazon and Goodreads: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

http://thenightlifeseries.blogspot.co...

I have not heard of librarything or shelfari. I do look at reviews and the back cover of books. reviews get me to look at the book but they are not what sways to either read the book or not its the back cover does that because it has to catch my interest.so I cant say if you should trust the book reviews on amazon.because I have loked a book but other have put reviews that they don't like.