GoodReads versus Amazon's Seattle Store
Talk Books in 2025: The Future of the Book World
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1elenchus
Buried deep in yet another Best Of 2015 article, a snippet on the publishing industry:
Amazon's brick-and-mortar store in Seattle amounts to an Amazonian admission that there’s a piece of the bookselling equation it still hasn’t mastered: discovery. People readily head to Amazon when they want to buy a particular book, but they don’t go there to browse or ask for recommendations. Independent booksellers, however small their slice of the total book sales pie, are still essential to introducing new authors to the reading public. Indie booksellers have made their case to readers over the past few years, pointing out that unless customers shop with them, they'll no longer have a neighborhood place to survey new releases and get suggestions from a human being who understands their tastes. That campaign—combined, granted, with the shuttering of so many superstores—has succeeded for many of them.
I'd be more interested in what Amazon's business strategy with GoodReads. Redoubled investment? Or continue as they have, focusing instead on this new store?
Amazon's brick-and-mortar store in Seattle amounts to an Amazonian admission that there’s a piece of the bookselling equation it still hasn’t mastered: discovery. People readily head to Amazon when they want to buy a particular book, but they don’t go there to browse or ask for recommendations. Independent booksellers, however small their slice of the total book sales pie, are still essential to introducing new authors to the reading public. Indie booksellers have made their case to readers over the past few years, pointing out that unless customers shop with them, they'll no longer have a neighborhood place to survey new releases and get suggestions from a human being who understands their tastes. That campaign—combined, granted, with the shuttering of so many superstores—has succeeded for many of them.
I'd be more interested in what Amazon's business strategy with GoodReads. Redoubled investment? Or continue as they have, focusing instead on this new store?
