Goodreads - Save Your Books!

I was surprised to find an email from Goodreads this morning, stating that as from 30th January 2012, they were no longer allowed to import book information from Amazon, so the information on some books will be missing. Goodreads was excellent, in that they told me the exact book on my shelves, which would lose some of it's information. Getting that info back was easy. Go to your account and click a few buttons. I was pleased to find that I was actually saving a friends book. All I had to do was get the image of the cover from her website and load it on to Goodreads. Easy.

Amazon haven't given Goodreads much time to complete this task and it looks to be another website war. It's not as though there are only a few of us mere mortals using the internet is it? Goodreads, in my opinion have handled it very well. I will still buy my books from Amazon and review them both on Goodreads and Amazon. I don't see the big issue. Goodreads is a site that brings book lovers together and if I read a friends review I really like, I jump straight on Amazon and download it. To me it's a great mutual relationship. It's a shame it had to end.

If you haven't been on your Goodreads account for a while, it's worth logging on to see if you need to save any of your books. Below is the statement of explanation on Goodreads.

Dear Rebecca,

At Goodreads, we make it a priority to use book information from the most reliable and open data sources, because it helps us build the best experience for our members. To that end, we're making a major change.

On January 30, Goodreads will no longer display book information that comes from Amazon.

This includes data such as titles, author names, page counts, and publication dates. For the vast majority of book editions, we have imported this data from other sources. Those few remaining editions for which we haven't found an alternative source of information will be removed from Goodreads.

Your data is safe.

Your ratings, reviews, and bookshelves are safe, but your data may be moved to a different edition of the book. If we can't find a matching edition, then your review will be attached to a book with no title or author

Luckily, you can help us find alternate sources for book editions and rescue those editions.

Rescuing a book is easy.

Just click the "Rescue Me!" button next to each book edition that needs help, and fill in the information on the following page. A few keystrokes can help preserve these book editions for millions of future readers.

Thanks for helping Goodreads remain the special place it is!

Sincerely,