Why Goodreads is getting rid of Amazon info (PS: They still need your help!)

Hi everyone!

I'm posting again on Goodreads to try to explain more about what I think is going on as well as another plea for people to help out.

What's been going on with this is that from what I can gather, Amazon has been getting more and more restrictive on what Goodreads can do with the information from their site. I've heard that GR is paying Amazon some amount of money (not sure if this is true or not), which would also factor into all of this.

Whatever the restrictions were, they were obviously getting to the point where Goodreads just couldn't deal with it anymore. I have a suspicion that Goodreads listing book availability on several merchant sites rather than just Amazon might have had something to do with it as well. (No basis for this, just common sense that a big merchant site would like to be the only option listed for purchases.)

In any case, there's still thousands of books that are in danger of getting deleted. One of the areas that I've seen is most likely to be in danger are foreign language books. I'm a huge fan of Japanese manga and I've noticed that much of the manga I'd reviewed came up as "rescue me". ESPECIALLY those series that haven't been officially translated into English.

I know that some might be figuring "oh, you can add them afterwards" but aren't realizing how much work it is to add a book that isn't on the system. It's a difference between filling out about 12 fields versus only having to fill out 3-4 at most. (The rescue books do have more fields, but at most you only have to verify 3 fields, one of which is a link to whatever source you're using.) It's just time consuming, plus you have to figure that hundreds of reviews are going to be lost for whatever book you're going to add after the 30th. I hate guilt tripping people, but there's a huge amount of work left to do. (Wish that Goodreads would offer one big list along with the smaller, more user oriented lists!)

EDIT:

I found a blog by Abel Keogh that gives a little more information (click here).

One of the users posted this:

My understanding is that Amazon has changed its terms of service for use of its API (the bit of code that allows third parties to access its database) and have basically forced GR into this new stance – a similar thing has also happened with Barnes and Noble. I guess Amazon has built up intellectual capital in its database construction and it is under no obligation to allow others to mine that data (and it doesn’t much matter where amazon gets its data from as presumably they have an arrangement of their own for that)

I followed a link to this page (here) and it looks like my hunch about the possibility of Amazon wanting to be the only site Goodreads linked to might be spot on.

Under (C) Linking and Diversion

2) You may not link any of the Amazon.com Properties presented on your Web site to (a) any commercial page of a Web site other than the Amazon.com Web site, or (b) direct traffic to any commercial page of a Web site other than the Amazon.com Web site; and

3) You may not utilize the Amazon.com Properties in a way that could divert sales from the Amazon.com Web site, including but not limited to, merchandising products not offered on the Amazon.com Web site.

This does seem to explain a lot. Neither side has mentioned anything, so I do have to stress that all of this is purely hypothetical.

Goodreads rescue!

Goodreads needs you. No seriously, they do.

The reason being, on January 30th Goodreads will stop getting their data from Amazon. I'm re-posting the message from Goodreads: (click here to go to the original link)

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.

Amazon's data has been great for us for many years, but the terms that come with it have gotten more and more restrictive, and we were finally forced to come to the conclusion that moving to other datasources will be better for Goodreads and our members in so many ways that we had to do it. It may be a little painful, but our aim is to make it as seamless as possible for all our members. Amazon data that we will stop using includes data such as titles, author names, page counts, and publication dates. For the vast majority of book editions, we are currently importing this data from other sources. Once the imports are done, those few remaining editions for which we haven't found an alternative source of information will be removed from Goodreads.

Member 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. But the good news is that there's a way you can help.

Today, we are announcing new tools to help Goodreads Librarians source data for the books that need rescuing.

To view these new tools, click here and click "rescue me!" next to any of the books on the list. You will then see a form with data to fill in and some helpful guidelines for where to locate said data.

Early next week, we will be importing a database of 14 million ISBNs from a new source, so many of the books that seem to need rescue today may not actually be in jeopardy. We won't know until we import this new data source. So please don't spend a lot of time rescuing books—we don't want you to do unnecessary work. What we really need is for everyone to try rescuing a few books to see if the tools are working as we hoped. That way, once next week rolls around, we'll be ready to get down to the business or rescuing the books that actually are in jeopardy.

Thanks for helping Goodreads remain the amazing resource and special place it is. Hopefully all of this work will result in an even more robust Goodreads database, a database that, with your help, is already one of the best book databases in the world, and will last the ages. The rescue link: http://www.goodreads.com/rescue_books/at...

What this means for authors is that there's a chance your book might get moved to a page with no name or author on it. The reviews will still be there but the book won't have a title.

Luckily there are things we can all do. If you have a Goodreads account and have a few reviews under your belt, you can become a Goodreads Librarian and help rescue the books. All you have to do is use a physical copy or look the information up on a site that isn't a merchant site. I've been using WorldCat, which is basically a lookup of library sites.

If you don't have a Goodreads account and want to become a librarian, all you need to do is sign up, review 50 books, and then apply to become a librarian. (Click here for a link to the application.)

It only takes minutes to save these books as they are now, but it'll take a lot longer to upload them after the 30th.

EDIT:

Updating this to say that if your books are only on sites such as Amazon or B&N, all you really have to do is verify that you have a physical copy and vouch for the information. I figure that even if the copy is a Kindle version or from a self-published source, it still qualifies. From what I've gathered from the GR post, all that the site really wants is to verify that the information is correct and true.