goodreads

File:Otis Chandler.jpg

Goodreads founders Otis Chandler and Elizabeth Khuri Chandler first met while studying at Stanford (Engineering and English respectively). After university Chandler initially worked as a programmer in on-line businesses,{{Cite web |date=January 2012 |title=Book Buddies |url=https://stanfordmag.org/contents/book-buddies |website=stanfordmag.org}} including dating sites,{{Cite web|url=https://mixergy.com/interviews/goodreads-otis-chandler/|title=How A Quiet Developer Built Goodreads.com Into Book Community Of 2.6+ Million Members - with Otis Chandler}} and Khuri Chandler as a journalist.{{Cite web|url=https://news.usc.edu/trojan-family/a-well-read-trojan-goodreads-co-founder-builds-a-literary-community/|title=Goodreads Co-Founder Builds a Literary Community|first=Tim|last=Greiving|website=USC News|date=March 2016 }} Chandler and Khuri both grew up in California. Chandler is a descendant of the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Otis Chandler.{{Cite news |title=Goodreads: Otis and Elizabeth Chandler |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/02/04/1078415544/goodreads-otis-and-elizabeth-chandler |access-date=December 16, 2022}}

Goodreads was founded in 2006. The idea came about when Otis Chandler was browsing through his friend's bookshelf. He wanted to integrate this scanning experience and to create a space where people could write reviews regarding the books that they read.{{Cite web|title=About Goodreads|url=https://www.goodreads.com/about/us|access-date=December 1, 2020|publisher=Goodreads}}

Goodreads addresses the “discoverability problem” in the digital age by providing a platform for readers to find, discuss, and share books, using user-generated reviews, recommendations, and community features to guide consumers toward titles they might enjoy. In recent years, Goodreads has faced both praise and criticism for its discoverability tools. While it remains a major source for book recommendations, critiques have pointed to a dated interface and navigation challenges that may hinder deeper engagement.{{Cite web |last=Kwak |first=JeeEun |title=Design Critique: Goodreads – Good Books Meet Bad UX (iOS App) |url=https://ixd.prattsi.org/2024/09/design-critique-goodreads-good-books-meet-bad-ux-ios-app/ |website=Pratt Institute |date=September 2024 |access-date=April 4, 2025}} In response to evolving reader needs, new platforms like The StoryGraph have emerged, offering more personalized and data-driven recommendations.{{Cite news |last=Cain |first=Sian |title=Amazon beware? How a young female developer is taking on Goodreads |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/16/goodreads-amazon-nadia-odunayo-the-storygraph |newspaper=The Guardian |date=February 16, 2025 |access-date=April 4, 2025}} Additionally, the rise of social media trends like #BookTok has reshaped the landscape of book discovery, as visually-driven, community-centered spaces gain influence in shaping reading habits.{{Cite magazine |last=Wang |first=Emily |title=How Book Clubs, Book Bars, and #BookTok Are Changing the Way We Read |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/book-clubs-book-bars-booktok-trend-analysis |magazine=Architectural Digest |date=April 24, 2023 |access-date=April 4, 2025}}

Before gaining much traction, Otis and Elizabeth Chandler grew the platform through their friends of friends where it reached 800 users. Eventually, it gained attention through the media such as Mashable and other various blogs.{{Cite web |last=Narula |first=Svati Kirsten |date=February 12, 2014 |title=Millions of People Reading Alone, Together: The Rise of Goodreads |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/02/millions-of-people-reading-alone-together-the-rise-of-goodreads/283662/ |access-date=January 8, 2023 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}} During its first year of business, the company was run without any formal funding. In December 2007, the site received funding estimated at $750,000 from angel investors. This funding lasted Goodreads until 2009, when Goodreads received two million dollars from True Ventures.{{cite news|last=Kellogg|first=Carolyn | title =What Goodreads will do with its new millions|url= http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/12/goodreads-venture-capital-millions.html |access-date= August 6, 2012| newspaper= Los Angeles Times|date= December 14, 2009}}

In October 2010, the company opened its application programming interface, which enabled developers to access its ratings and titles.{{cite web|work=Read write Web|date=October 2010|url=http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2010/10/goodreads-launches-social-read.php|title=Goodreads Launches Social Reading API|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126035249/http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2010/10/goodreads-launches-social-read.php|archive-date=November 26, 2010}}

In 2011, Goodreads acquired Discovereads, a book recommendation engine that employs "machine learning algorithms to analyze which books people might like, based on books they've liked in the past and books that people with similar tastes have liked."{{cite web| last= Hopkins| first= Curt| title = Goodreads Buys Recommendation Service Discovereads | url = http://readwrite.com/2011/03/10/goodreads_buys_recommendation_service_discovereads | publisher = ReadWrite| date= March 10, 2011}} After a user has rated 20 books on its five-star scale, the site will begin making recommendations. Otis Chandler believed this rating system would be superior to Amazon's, as Amazon's includes books a user has browsed or purchased as gifts when determining its recommendations. Later that year, Goodreads introduced an algorithm to suggest books to registered users and had over five million members.{{cite news|last=Frassica|first=Matt|title=For ebook devotees, reading is a whole new experience|url = https://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2011-07-03-digital-library-ebooks_n.htm |agency=The Courier-Journal (Louisville) | work= USA Today | access-date =July 28, 2011|date= July 2, 2011}} The New Yorker{{'}}s Macy Halford noted that the algorithm was not perfect, as the number of books needed to create a perfect recommendation system is so large that "by the time I'd got halfway there, my reading preferences would have changed and I'd have to start over again."{{cite magazine|last=Halford|first= Macy|date=November 2011 | title= Getting Good at Goodreads|url = http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2011/09/getting-good-at-goodreads-1.html |magazine= The New Yorker|access-date=November 15, 2011}}

As of 2012, membership was required to use but free.{{cite news|last=Zukerman |first=Erez |date=March 5, 2012 |title=Find New Favorite Books With Goodreads |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/251286/goodreads.html |work=PCWorld |access-date=August 26, 2019 }} In October 2012, Goodreads announced it had grown to 11 million members with 395 million books cataloged and over 20,000 book clubs created by its users.{{cite news|last=Fidelman|first=Mark|title=These are Top 25 Book Reviewers on Goodreads | type = infographic |url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2012/10/16/goodreads-ceo-these-top-25-book-reviewers-represent-the-future-infographic/ |work= Forbes|access-date=October 22, 2012 |date=October 16, 2012}} A month later, in November 2012, Goodreads had surpassed 12 million members, with the member base having doubled in one year.{{Citation |date = November 8, 2012 |last = Greenfield |first = Jeremy |title = Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler on the Future of Discoverability and Social Reading |url = http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/goodreads-ceo-otis-chandler-on-the-future-of-discoverability-and-social-reading/ |newspaper = Digital Book World. |access-date = November 15, 2012 |archive-date = November 14, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121114051630/http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/goodreads-ceo-otis-chandler-on-the-future-of-discoverability-and-social-reading/ |url-status = dead }}

In March 2013, Amazon made an agreement to acquire Goodreads in the second quarter of 2013 for an undisclosed sum.{{Cite press release | url = http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1801563&highlight= | title = Amazon.com to Acquire Goodreads | publisher = Corporate IR | access-date = March 28, 2013 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130413171310/http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1801563&highlight= | archive-date = April 13, 2013 | url-status = dead }}.{{Citation | url = https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/413-exciting-news-about-goodreads-we-re-joining-the-amazon-family | title = Goodreads | contribution = Exciting News About Goodreads: We're Joining the Amazon Family!}}.{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/business/media/amazon-to-buy-goodreads.html?_r=0 |title= Amazon to Buy Social Site Dedicated to Sharing Books |work= The New York Times | first = Leslie | last = Kaufman | date = March 28, 2013 |access-date=March 29, 2013}} Amazon had previously purchased the competitor Shelfari in 2008,{{cite news|last=Kaufman |first=Leslie |date=March 29, 2013 |title=Amazon to Buy Social Site Dedicated to Sharing Books |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/business/media/amazon-to-buy-goodreads.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 26, 2019 }} with the Goodreads purchase "stunning" the book industry. The Authors Guild called it a "truly devastating act of vertical integration" and that Amazon's "control of online bookselling approaches the insurmountable." There were mixed reactions from Goodreads users, at the time totaling 16 million members.{{cite news|last=Flood |first=Allison |date=April 2, 2013 |title=Amazon purchase of Goodreads stuns book industry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/02/amazon-purchase-goodreads-stuns-book-industry |work=The Guardian |access-date=August 26, 2019 }} Goodreads founder Otis Chandler said that "his management team would remain in place to guard the reviewing process" with the acquisition. Chandler continued running Goodreads until 2019. The New York Times noted that Goodreads, at the time of the acquisition, had a more reputable reviewing system than Amazon's.{{cite news|last=Kaufman |first=Leslie |date=February 13, 2013 |title=Amazon to Buy Social Site Dedicated to Sharing Books |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/books/goodreadscom-is-growing-as-a-popular-book-site.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 26, 2019 }}

Noting that some authors had been "too aggressive in their self-promotion" (as Goodreads admitted in an email) and that some readers had responded with aggression,{{Cite news|last=Petri |first=Alexandra|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/09/23/is-good-reads-new-policy-really-censorship/|title=Is Goodreads' new policy really censorship?|date=September 23, 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 19, 2020}} in September 2013, Goodreads announced it would delete, without warning, reviews that threatened authors or mentioned authors' behavior.{{cite web|url=http://the-digital-reader.com/2013/09/20/goodreads-announces-new-content-policy-now-deletes-reviews-mention-author-behavior/|title=Goodreads Announces New Content Policy – Now Deletes Reviews Which Mention Author Behavior|work=The Digital Reader|date=September 21, 2013}} As of April 2020, the site's guidelines still state that "reviews that are predominantly about an author's behavior and not about the book will be deleted."{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/review/guidelines|title=Review Guidelines|publisher=Goodreads |access-date=April 19, 2020}}

In January 2016, Amazon announced that it would shut down Shelfari in favor of Goodreads, effective March 16, 2016. Users were offered the ability to export data and migrate accounts.{{cite web|website=The Reader's Room|title=Amazon Kills Shelfari |url=http://thereadersroom.org/2016/01/12/amazon-kills-shelfari/ |date= January 12, 2016 }}{{better source needed|date=November 2017}} In April 2016, Goodreads announced that over 50 million user reviews had been posted to the website.{{cite web|url=http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/04/07/goodreads-reaches-new-milestone-fifty-million-reviews/ |title=Goodreads Reaches New Milestone: Fifty Million Reviews|work=The Digital Reader|date=April 7, 2016}}

On the Goodreads website, users can add books to their personal bookshelves, rate and review books, see what their friends and authors are reading, participate in discussion boards and groups on a variety of topics, and get suggestions for future reading choices based on their reviews of previously read books.{{cite web | title= Goodreads| url= https://www.goodreads.com/ | access-date =November 29, 2012}} Once users have added friends to their profile, they will see their friends' shelves and reviews and can comment on friends' pages. Goodreads features a rating system of one to five stars, with the option of accompanying the rating with a written review. The site provides default bookshelves—read, currently-reading, to-read—and the opportunity to create customized shelves to categorize a user's books.{{cite web | title = Groups| url = https://www.goodreads.com/group |work=Goodreads | access-date=November 15, 2011}}

A popular phenomenon on the site is the so-called reading challenge, where users commit to reading a certain number of books per year and track their progress through the platform. Recent research in literacy studies shows that such challenges encourage participants to read more in their free time.{{cite web | title= Embarking on the online reading challenge: adolescents' participation motives, gains and impacts on reading routines| url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/382824549 | work = Literacy | last=Dera | first=Jeroen | date = 2024 | access-date=August 12, 2024}}

Goodreads users can read or listen to a preview of a book on the website using Kindle Cloud Reader and Audible.{{Cite news|url=http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2015/05/media/audio/audiobook-samples-added-to-goodreads/|title=Audiobook Samples Added to Goodreads|last=Klose|first=Stephanie|date=May 7, 2015|newspaper=Library Journal Reviews|access-date=October 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012075913/http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2015/05/media/audio/audiobook-samples-added-to-goodreads/|archive-date=October 12, 2016|url-status=dead}} Goodreads also offers quizzes and trivia, quotations, book lists, and free giveaways. Members can receive the regular newsletter featuring new books, suggestions, author interviews, and poetry. If a user has written a work, the work can be linked on the author's profile page, which also includes an author's blog.{{cite web|last= Strickland|first= Jonathan|title= How Goodreads Works | url = http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/networks/goodreads.htm | work =How Stuff Works |access-date=November 29, 2012|date= July 14, 2009}} Goodreads organizes offline opportunities as well, such as in-person book exchanges and "literary pub crawls".{{cite news|last=Kellogg|first=Carolyn|title=Goodreads reaches 10 million users|url = https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2012-aug-14-la-jc-goodreads-reaches-10-million-users-20120813-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times| access-date=November 29, 2012|date=August 14, 2012}}

Goodreads offers a "My Year in Books" report in which a user can review their reading history from the prior year. The Goodreads tradition, created by Fionnuala Lirsdottir in 2014, encourages users to reflect on their past reading, by offering statistic of the number of pages read; the number of books read; the user's average book length and their average ratings.{{Cite web |title=Goodreads Year in Review Series by Various |url=https://www.goodreads.com/series/194938-goodreads-year-in-review |access-date=August 22, 2024 |website=goodreads.com}}

The website facilitates reader interactions with authors through the interviews, giveaways, authors' blogs, and profile information. There is also a special section for authors with suggestions for promoting their works on Goodreads.com, aimed at helping them reach their target audience.{{cite web| title = Author Program | url= https://www.goodreads.com/author/program| work= Goodreads |access-date=November 29, 2012}} By 2011, "seventeen thousand authors, including James Patterson and Margaret Atwood" used Goodreads to advertise.

Users can add each other as "friends", enabling them to share reviews, posts, book recommendations, and messages.

Goodreads has a presence on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and other social networking sites.{{cite web|last= Ha | first = Anthony|title= Reading Is Alive And Well At Social Reading Site Goodreads, Which Just Hit 10M Members|url= https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/13/goodreads-10-million-members/ |work= Tech Crunch| date = August 13, 2012| publisher= AOL Tech| access-date= November 29, 2012}}{{cite web| title= Goodreads | url = https://twitter.com/goodreads | work = Twitter | access-date=December 20, 2012}}{{cite web|title= Goodreads |url= http://pinterest.com/goodreads/ | work = Pinterest | access-date =December 20, 2012}} Linking a Goodreads account with a social networking account like Facebook enables the ability to import contacts from the social networking account to Goodreads, expanding one's Goodreads "Friends" list. There are settings available, as well, to allow Goodreads to post straight to a social networking account, which informs, e.g., Facebook friends, what one is reading or how one rated a book.{{cite web|title=Goodreads|url=http://www.goodreads.com/|website=Goodreads|access-date=June 15, 2014}}

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (version 2) and Kindle Voyage feature integration with Goodreads' social network via a user interface button.[https://techcrunch.com/2013/09/03/amazons-next-kindle-paperwhite-outed-ahead-of-official-launch-via-amazons-own-leak/ Amazon's next Kindle Paperwhite outed ahead of its official launch via Amazon's own leak] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905204323/http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/03/amazons-next-kindle-paperwhite-outed-ahead-of-official-launch-via-amazons-own-leak/ |date=September 5, 2013 }}.

Book catalog data was seeded with large imports from various closed and open data sources, including individual publishers, Ingram,{{cite web|access-date=January 9, 2017|title=Goodreads Librarians Group – New Ingram Import|url=https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/894961-new-ingram-import |publisher=Goodreads}} Amazon (before 2012 and after 2013),{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1620164-large-book-data-import|title=Goodreads Librarians Group – Adding New Books: Large Book Data Import (showing 1-50 of 472)|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=September 20, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/776968-amazon-is-going-away-as-a-data-source| title= Amazon is going away as a data source| quote=At Goodreads, we make it a priority to use book information from the most reliable and open data sources}} WorldCat and the Library of Congress.{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/766331-announcement-goodreads-to-import-worldcat-library-of-congress-data-to|author= Patrick |title= Goodreads Librarians Group discussion – Announcement: Goodreads to Import WorldCat & Library of Congress Data Tonight|date=January 9, 2012}}

Goodreads librarians improve book information on the website, including editing book and author information and adding cover images. Goodreads members can apply to become volunteer librarians after they have 50 books on their profile.{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/6-what-is-a-goodreads-librarian|title=What is a goodreads librarian?|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=October 11, 2016}} Goodreads librarians coordinate on the Goodreads Librarian Group.{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/220-goodreads-librarians-group|title=Goodreads Librarians Group|publisher=Goodreads|access-date=October 11, 2016}}

User data becomes proprietary to Goodreads{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/about/terms|title=Terms of use|quote=By posting any User Content on the Service, you expressly grant, and you represent and warrant that you have a right to grant, to Goodreads a royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide ....}} though available via an application programming interface, or API,{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/776968-amazon-is-going-away-as-a-data-source|title=Goodreads Librarians Group – Amazon is going away as a data source (showing 1-50 of 1,601)|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=September 20, 2018}} unlike similar projects like The Open Library which publish the catalog and user edits as open data. In December 2020, Goodreads deactivated API keys more than 30 days old and said it would no longer be issuing new API keys.{{cite web|url=https://joealcorn.co.uk/blog/2020/goodreads-retiring-API|title=Goodreads plans to retire API access, disables existing API keys|date=December 13, 2020|access-date=December 15, 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://blog.stephanieawilkinson.com/posts/2020-12-10-yonderbook-and-goodreads/ |title=Goodreads shutters all APIs, breaking my open source app|date=December 10, 2020|access-date=December 15, 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Mek |title=Importing your Goodreads & Accessing them with Open Library's APIs |url=https://blog.openlibrary.org/2020/12/13/importing-your-goodreads-accessing-them-with-open-librarys-apis/ |website=The Open Library Blog |access-date=May 16, 2021 |date=December 13, 2020}}

In January 2012, Goodreads switched from using Amazon's public Product Advertising API for book metadata (such as title, author, and number of pages) to book wholesaler Ingram. Goodreads felt Amazon's requirements for using its API were too restrictive, and the combination of Ingram, the Library of Congress, and other sources would be more flexible. Some users worried that their reading records would be lost, but Goodreads had a number of plans in place to ease the transition and ensure that no data was lost, even for titles that might be in danger of deletion because they were available only through Amazon, such as Kindle editions and self-published works on Amazon.{{cite web|last=Owen|first=Laura Hazard|title=As Goodreads Ends Sourcing From Amazon, Users Fear Lost Books|url=http://paidcontent.org/2012/01/27/419-as-goodreads-ends-agreement-with-amazon-users-fear-lost-books/|work=Paid Content: The Economics of Digital Content|publisher=Gigaom|access-date=November 29, 2012|date=January 27, 2012|archive-date=April 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419041648/http://paidcontent.org/2012/01/27/419-as-goodreads-ends-agreement-with-amazon-users-fear-lost-books/|url-status=dead}}

In May 2013, as a result of Goodreads' acquisition by Amazon, Goodreads began using Amazon's data again.{{cite web|author=Rivka|title=The Announcement You've All Been Waiting For |url=https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1338564-the-announcement-you-ve-all-been-waiting-for|work=Goodreads Librarians Group forums|publisher=goodreads.com|access-date=July 17, 2013|date=May 23, 2013}}

In 2012, after a receiving a poor review on her novel The Selection, author Kiera Cass encouraged her Twitter followers to "knock [the review] off" the front page of Goodreads' section on the book. This sparked public outrage and started a discussion on the relationship between authors and reviewers on Goodreads.{{cite journal |last1=Matthews |first1=Jolie C |title=Professionals and nonprofessionals on Goodreads: Behavior standards for authors, reviewers, and readers|journal=New Media & Society|date=July 9, 2016|volume=18|issue=10|pages=2305–2322 r|doi=10.1177/1461444815582141|s2cid=26264609 }} That same year, Goodreads received criticism from users about the availability and tone of reviews posted on the site,{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Laura|title=How Amazon and Goodreads could lose their best readers |url=http://www.salon.com/2013/10/23/how_amazon_and_goodreads_could_lose_their_best_readers/ |work=Salon |date=October 23, 2013 |access-date=August 5, 2017}} with some users and websites stating that certain reviewers were harassing and encouraging attacks on authors. Goodreads publicly posted its review guidelines in August 2012 to address these issues.{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Patrick |title=Review Guidelines & Updated Author Guidelines |url=http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/983509-review-guidelines-updated-author-guidelines|publisher=Goodreads |date=August 6, 2012|access-date=September 9, 2012}} After Amazon's acquisition of Goodreads, this policy was modified to include deletion of any review containing "an ad hominem attack or an off-topic comment".{{cite web|last=Erikson|first=Kara|title=Important Note Regarding Reviews|url=http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1499741-important-note-regarding-reviews |publisher=Goodreads |date=September 20, 2013|access-date=September 21, 2013}} Several news sources reported the announcement, noting Amazon's business reasons for the move:

{{quote|Where authors were threatening a mass account cancellation to protest the bullying, many of the reader users who commented on the announcement are now threatening the same thing. And while much of this might seem like nothing more than petty playground behavior between children who honestly do not have a clear good guy or bad guy, keep in mind that several e-book retailers incorporate the Goodreads' API into their sales pages, effectively posting book reviews that many in the Goodreads community know to be false, and nothing more than an act of revenge against an author; real-world sales decisions have been made by consumers based on these reviews.|Mercy Pilkington|Good E-Reader News{{cite web| last=Pilkington|first=Mercy|title=Goodreads Modifies User Terms to Prevent Author Bullying, Reviewers Outraged |url=http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/goodreads-modifies-user-terms-to-prevent-author-bullying-reviewers-outraged |publisher=goodereader.com |date=September 21, 2013 |access-date=September 21, 2013}}}}

Regarding the 2013 Amazon acquisition of Goodreads, The New York Times said that: "Goodreads was a rival to Amazon as a place for discovering books" and that this deal "consolidates Amazon's power to determine which authors get exposure for their work".{{Cite news |last=Kaufman |first=Leslie |date=March 28, 2013 |title=Amazon to Buy Goodreads |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/business/media/amazon-to-buy-goodreads.html |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=October 11, 2016}}

{{main|Goodreads Choice Awards}}

{{:Goodreads Choice Awards}}

Critics have assailed Goodreads' lack of development and maintenance, coupled with its dominant position in the book-review marketplace.{{Cite web|author=Sarah Manavis|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/social-media/2020/08/better-goodreads-possible-bad-for-books-storygraph-amazon|title=Why Goodreads is bad for books|website=New Statesman|date=September 10, 2020}}Caroline O'Donovan, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/01/amazon-goodreads-elizabeth-gilbert/ Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bought it.], Washington Post (July 1, 2023).{{Cite web|url=https://onezero.medium.com/almost-everything-about-goodreads-is-broken-662e424244d5|title=Almost Everything About Goodreads Is Broken|first=Angela|last=Lashbrook|date=September 10, 2019|website=Medium}} For example, Goodreads' recommendation algorithm was increasingly seen as primitive. The StoryGraph was established in 2019 as a competitor to Goodreads.

Goodreads' review system is more easily "gamed" than other online book-review platforms, although Goodreads remains by far the most popular website for book reviews. Amazon.com does not allow reviews to be posted for most books that have not yet been released, and Amazon book reviews indicate whether the user leaving the review purchased the book. By contrast, any registered user on Goodreads (which Amazon purchased for $150 million in 2013) may rate or review a book, even before publication, and even without receiving an advance copy. Goodreads' system, as well as lax content moderation, has been criticized. The moderation system is manual and faces a backlog of flagged reviews.

Manipulative reviews ("review bombing") have occurred, with novels flooded with negative (one-star) reviews, sometimes even before publication.{{Cite web|author=Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris|title=How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It's Published |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/books/goodreads-review-bombing.html |newspaper=New York Times|date=June 26, 2023}} Such "weaponized" reviews have been described as a form of cyberbullying and targeted harassment of authors.{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/6078993/goodreads-review-bombing/|title=How Extortion Scams and Review Bombing Trolls Turned Goodreads Into Many Authors' Worst Nightmare|first=Megan|last=McCluskey|date=August 9, 2021|magazine=Time}} Author Gretchen Felker-Martin's debut horror novel, about a trans woman, was review-bombed in what she suspected to be an organized campaign. Young adult fiction authors Keira Drake and Amélie Wen Zhao delayed publication of their fantasy novels after facing a tsunami of criticism on Twitter and Goodreads from users who deemed their fantasy universes to be racially insensitive. Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, was flooded with negative ratings on Goodreads for her not-yet-published novel The Snow Forest from users who objected to its setting in 1930s Russia. Cecilia Rabess, a Black author, was flooded with negative reviews on Goodreads for her debut novel Everything's Fine, which focuses on a young Black woman who falls in love with a bigoted white fellow employee at Goldman Sachs; the negative reviewers had not read the work, yet deemed its premise to be racist. Some scammers and cyberstalkers have used "review bombing" threats as part of extortion campaigns, threatening to flood a work with poor reviews unless an author pays.

Goodreads said in 2021 that it takes "swift action to remove users when we determine that they violate our guidelines" and were developing technology to "prevent bad actor behavior and inauthentic reviews in order to better safeguard our community." However, authors have criticized the website's lax moderation; fantasy novelist Rin Chupeco has noted that authors from marginalized groups are often a target, saying that Goodreads only enforces its rules against reviews that specifically target "the authors with big enough marketing and publicity teams to demand these removals."

Late in 2023 author Cait Corrain was discovered to have created fake accounts that posted negative reviews of authors with upcoming debut novels, many of them women of color. Her publisher, Del Rey, cancelled the May 2024 publication of her own upcoming science fantasy debut novel, Crown of Starlight; her agent dropped her as a client. After initially denying the documented accusations, she blamed them on a friend and then finally accepted responsibility.{{cite news|last=Bella|first=Timothy|title=First-time author loses book deal for 'review bombing' authors on Goodreads|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2023/12/12/author-cait-corrain-goodreads-review-bombing-controversy/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 12, 2023|access-date=December 17, 2023}} On X (formerly Twitter), she attributed her actions to worsening depression and the attendant alcohol and substance abuse that had recently culminated in a "complete psychological breakdown", saying she would be going into rehab and apologizing profusely to not only those authors she had disparaged but a friend who had defended her initially against the accusations.{{Cite tweet |user=CaitCorrain|number=1734447140041359751 |title=A sincere apology. I know this is long, but that's because I'm trying to own and openly address every aspect of what I did.}} Some of the authors said she needed to do more to make things right.

Jane Friedman{{cite web |title=Books by Jane Friedman |url=https://janefriedman.com/books/ |website=Jane Friedman .com |access-date=August 9, 2023}} discovered a 6 listings of books, probably written using AI generative models (LLM), fraudulently using her name, on Amazon and Goodreads. Amazon and Goodreads resisted removing the fraudulent titles until the author's complaints went viral on social media, in a blog post titled "I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)."{{cite web |last1=Friedman |first1=Jane |title=I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires) |url=https://janefriedman.com/i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated/ |website=Jane Friedman |access-date=August 9, 2023 |date=August 7, 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Edwards |first1=Benj |title=Author discovers AI-generated counterfeit books written in her name on Amazon |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/08/author-discovers-ai-generated-counterfeit-books-written-in-her-name-on-amazon/ |access-date=August 9, 2023 |work=Ars Technica |date=August 8, 2023 |language=en-us}}{{cite web |last1=Roscoe |first1=Jules |title=AI-Generated Books of Nonsense Are All Over Amazon's Bestseller Lists |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/ai-generated-books-of-nonsense-are-all-over-amazons-bestseller-lists/ |website=Vice |access-date=August 9, 2023 |language=en |date=June 28, 2023}}{{cite news |last1=O'Donovan |first1=Caroline |title=Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bought it. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/01/amazon-goodreads-elizabeth-gilbert/ |access-date=August 9, 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=July 2, 2023}}

{{div col|colwidth=10em}}

• aNobii
• Babelio
• BookArmy
• Bookish
• douban
• iDreamBooks
• LibraryThing
• Open Library
• Readgeek
• Shelfari
• The StoryGraph
• Library 2.0 the concept behind Goodreads and similar sites

{{div col end}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite news|author=Keegan, Victor Keegan|url=http://technology.guardian.co.uk/opinion/story/0,,2107361,00.html |title=It's a new online chapter for books|work=The Guardian|date= June 21, 2007}}
• {{cite news|author=Méndez, Teresa |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0615/p11s02-bogn.html |title=Peer-to-peer book reviews fill a niche|work=The Christian Science Monitor|date= June 15, 2007}}
• {{cite news|author=Roy, Nilanjana S. |url=http://business-standard.com/opinionanalysis/storypage.php?leftnm=4&subLeft=2&chklogin=N&autono=299416&tab=r |title=The world's largest reading room |work=Business Standard |date=September 27, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021053817/http://business-standard.com/opinionanalysis/storypage.php?leftnm=4&subLeft=2&chklogin=N&autono=299416&tab=r |archive-date=October 21, 2007 }} (archived)
• {{cite magazine|author=Sharick, Catherine |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686305_1691167,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212160256/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686305_1691167,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2007 |title=Top 10 Websites of 2007|magazine=Time|date= December 11, 2007}}

{{commons category}}

• {{Official website|goodreads.com}}

{{Amazon|state=expanded}}

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Category:Amazon (company) acquisitions

Category:American review websites

Category:Book review websites

Category:Companies based in San Francisco

Category:Internet properties established in 2006

Category:Library 2.0

Category:Social cataloging applications