Monday 30 January 2012

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,
The Goodreads Team

26 comments:

  1. I received this email this morning too. It really does seem as though Amazon haven't given them a lot of time.

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    1. When reading it I didn't realise the 30th was today!

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  2. I got this too yesterday and immediately got to it. I just don't get this me me me attitude of these web moguls to be honest. I'm feeling the same about the whole google thing as well. I don't understand the purpose of the google groups thing and am so confused by it. Somebody on the radio commented it had something to do with taking away market share from Facebook.

    Thanks for coming over Rebecca, I left a reply on my blog for you.

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    1. Thanks Wendy. I think it's all about the money isn't it. Advertising revenue etc. The little people like us just have to go alone with it.

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  3. I don't have a Goodreads account so I guess I'm safe!

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    1. You are Bish. If you decided to join now, everything would be ok and no need to alter it.

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  4. I got this message too. I had three books that needed sorted and them, it was only children's ones. x

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    1. It's a pain having to do it though isn't it. I was lucky with just one book to do. I wonder what the most one person had to do.

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  5. I received the same email. My first job of the day was to rescue the books of friends too!

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    1. It's important isn't it Glynis. I was happy to do it, I'd be sorry to see her slip through the net just because there is a turf war on.

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  6. Hey Rebecca - I wasn't aware of this. Thanks so much for sharing. Need to get my GoodReads page organised!

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    1. I think if you log on, you should have a message waiting for you. You may be lucky and not have to rescue any books.

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  7. I didn't receive an email, but I heard about this and saw a few books on my reading list lose their covers. Double checked my books and all the info was there.
    You say it looks like it might be another website war and I do not get that. You can get books on goodreads, but I imagine most people just pop over to amazon and buy it. That's what I do.

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    1. Yes, I had to add a cover for the book I had to check. I was glad to receive the email.

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  8. That's so sad! I love Goodreads, but I feel as if the site is slightly loosing itself. First the swap, and now information? How tragic. But it's good to know I can 'rescue' books if needed.

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    1. I do enjoy Goodreads, but with everything else online that I do, I'm not sure I get all I could out of it.

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  9. Hi, we received the same email and we saved all the books in our library!

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    1. It's always a good feeling to be "saving" books! :)

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  10. Hmmm, that makes me kind of sad. Can't we all just get along?

    Sarah Allen
    (my creative writing blog)

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  11. I agree with Sarah. It's sad that two such good sites can't play along with each other. :-(

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    1. I know. It's an ever changing world though and I don't imagine it will stop there.

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  12. Seems pretty silly and unfortunate that the two can't work together, but who knows what goes on behind the scenes. Glad you got to rescuing!

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 A-to-Z Challenge!

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    1. I was glad to rescue! It felt good "rescuing" a book :)

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  13. Thanks for sharing this. Haven't seen this notice yet.

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    1. From talking to people, it seems as though the emails were phased out. I imagine Goodreads has a huge number of users. It's worth checking your books are safe though.

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