Posts tagged books
The Counterintuitive Guide to Ebooks, Books and Larger Bodies of Work
May 12th
Like many content creators the task of creating ebooks, books and large bodies of work used to be a real challenge for me. I would start many potential projects but I could never finish them. Over the last year I developed a creative process that unlocked the ability to write books, ebooks, manifestos, and other [...]
Author information
The post The Counterintuitive Guide to Ebooks, Books and Larger Bodies of Work appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
View full post on Search Engine Journal
A Goodreads Spoiled: All Your Books Are Belong To Amazon
Apr 3rd
Last week, Amazon bought the social book-discussion site Goodreads for an undisclosed sum. My immediate Twitter reaction was, well, cynical:
Basically, all of your book related social activity on Goodreads just became advertising fodder for Amazon. Congrats and good luck!
— Brian Ford (@brianericford) March 28, 2013
My second tweet was still snarky, but more on the money:
“Our goal is to be an open place for all readers to discover and buy books from all retailers…” – Goodreads 2012 paidcontent.org/2012/01/27/419…
— Brian Ford (@brianericford) March 28, 2013
Basically, those two tweets — about which more in a moment — are the two best reasons to think the Goodreads acquisition will be bad for the company and bad for readers… but very, very good for Amazon.
Your Diversity Will Be Assimilated Into Our Own
First and foremost, one has to question whether Goodreads’ commitment “to be an open place for all readers to discover and buy books from all retailers, both online and offline” remains in place.
I contacted Goodreads, and Suzanne Skyvara, its global consumer communications executive, offered encouraging words: “Re: the links to other retailers, we have no immediate plans to change the Goodreads experience.”
Let’s be real, though. No one in Goodreads’ position has ever responded to buyout concerns with “we totally expect [buyer] to subvert our pre-buyout goals” and it’s simply not in Amazon’s best interests (or DNA) to promote the content of other booksellers.
Jeff Bezos has been very open in saying that Amazon will make its money on content. Goodreads provides Big Book nothing if not a resource to promote and sell content.
To be clear, I’m not being critical of or calling anyone at Goodreads a sellout. When I was running Lendle, a Kindle lending startup I co-founded, it was always our goal to run a fair lending site on our own terms. If Amazon had offered us enough money we’d have sold in a heartbeat, even with the expectation that our terms would no longer be a priority for Amazon. In a lot of ways, Lendle as an Amazon property would have been a much better service.
With that said, we were an Amazon-only company by design and our goals never involved or promised support for multiple ecosystems. Unlike Goodreads, which links to many online retailers.
Once You Got ‘Em By The Books, Their Hearts And Minds Will Follow
And that brings us to that second tweet. That was a Goodreads “company” quote from early 2012 explaining its decision to move away from Amazon’s API — the software interface that lets sites like Goodread access Amazon’s enormous book database — in favor of one over which it would have more control. Or, more to the point, one that couldn’t be yanked away from it at a moment’s notice, effectively on a whim.
At the time, I was still a co-owner of Lendle, which was also built on Amazon’s API. We understood all too well the perils of relying on the dataset of a large corporation because, at one point, Amazon abruptly turned off the tap and with it, our entire lending service.
Eventually we addressed the issue, our API access was restored, and lending resumed. Still, the damage was done. Every decision we made (or did not make) from that point forward was based around our lingering fear that Amazon could shut us down at any time, for basically any reason.
In the end, we sold Lendle to a 3rd party because we couldn’t comfortably do anything we really wanted to do with it. Amazon’s restrictions sucked the fun out of running our startup.
To say that we admired Goodreads’ decision to go it alone would be an understatement. They were making a decision we weren’t able to make, because they had the numbers to make it work and that meant they’d be able to take risks we simply couldn’t take.
More from paidContent in 2012 about Goodreads and the Amazon API:
Goodreads’ situation illustrates the risks of building a site around any retailer’s API, since that retailer can change its terms at any time. Amazon’s Product Advertising API license agreement has not changed since April 2011 but “the terms now required by Amazon have become so restrictive that it makes better business sense to work with other data sources,” the company told me.
Specifically, Goodreads found two requirements of Amazon’s API licensing agreement too restrictive. Amazon requires sites that use its API to link back to the Amazon site exclusively. So a book page on Goodreads would have to link only to its product page on Amazon, and not to any other source or retailer. Amazon also does not allow any content from its API to be used on mobile sites and apps.
Going it alone was risky. Amazon’s API gives sites access to a vast library of book covers, titles, authors, and even reviews. It’s easy to see why sites put up with a restrictive environment to take advantage of that access. Walk away and you’re suddenly facing broken links where book covers once existed, and that’s just the start.
Goodreads, though, had built up a vast network of book lovers and was capable of weathering a temporarily weakened core to build something far more valuable: An in-house dataset subject to none of Amazon’s restrictions. The numbers, according to Amazon’s press release announcing the acquisition:
Founded in 2007, Goodreads now has more than 16 million members and there are more than 30,000 books clubs on the Goodreads site. Over just the past 90 days, Goodreads members have added more than four books per second to the “want to read” shelves on Goodreads.
Now consider Goodreads’ existing developer API. As of last week, all of the data Goodreads had amassed since moving away from Amazon was available to developers via a public API. This meant you or I or anyone else could use that information in interesting ways, subject to Goodreads’ terms which, presumably, were far more open than Amazon’s:
The Goodreads API allows developers access to Goodreads data in order to help websites or applications that deal with books be more personalized, social, and engaging. The API can be used in many ways, including…
In short, an API attached to a relevant dataset is power. Prior to the switch, the power belonged to Amazon. After the switch, it belonged to Goodreads.
If You Can’t Control ‘Em, Buy ‘Em
From that perspective, moving away from Amazon may have been the best way to ensure a buyout by Amazon. (What’s that old saying? “If you love someone, set their API free?”)
When I contacted Goodreads, I also inquired about the future of its API, and Skyvara offered no specifics: “We don’t have more information to share at this stage.”
I’ve been reading the tea leaves, and the days of Goodreads offering a powerful API that allows developers to “personalize an ecommerce store, power recommendations, show a widget of a member’s favorite books, build a mobile or desktop client app, and more” are probably numbered.
In short: All that data was readily available and if Amazon does what Amazon tends to do, it won’t be long before it simply doesn’t exist.
Cogs In The Amazon Machine
Changes aside, millions of Goodreads members are about to become advertising fodder for Amazon. It’s one thing to promote books on a site that doesn’t sell them or even care where you buy them — it may be another to do so for the largest bookseller in the world.
The most depressing aspect of all this is that Amazon probably doesn’t care one way or the other. With Goodreads and its data swallowed up, where would you go, anyway?
There aren’t many popular social sites for books that aren’t in some way or to some extent under Amazon’s thumb: Shelfari, Goodreads, AbeBooks, and LibraryThing are all owned or partially owned by Amazon. Amazon’s brilliance is in allowing these purchased sites to run quasi-independently: The illusion of competition is there, but it’s just that and, ultimately, all roads lead back to Amazon.
In the coming weeks, expect Goodreads to say all the right things, but pay close attention. Read between the lines, and lets revisit their post-buyout honeymoon optimism in a year or so.
Lead image via paul prescott / Shutterstock.com
View full post on ReadWrite
For the Reader: Top 10 Best SEO and Social Media Books – Search Engine Journal
Mar 12th
 Econsultancy |
For the Reader: Top 10 Best SEO and Social Media Books
Search Engine Journal Top 10 Best SEO and SMM book More and more people are turning to the Internet when it comes time to learn a skill or learn more about a topic; however there is not denying that books (actual in-your-hand, turn-the-page books) have their benefits. SEO & Content Marketing: Two Sides of the Same Coin SEO, Link Building and Google Analytics SEO 1 Medical Offers Doctors and Physicians Risk Free Medical Marketing … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
For the Reader: Top 10 Best SEO and Social Media Books
Mar 12th
More and more people are turning to the Internet when it comes time to learn a skill or learn more about a topic; however there is not denying that books (actual in-your-hand, turn-the-page books) have their benefits. Those who really want to sit down and read extensively about something often find that it is easier [...]
Author information
The post For the Reader: Top 10 Best SEO and Social Media Books appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
View full post on Search Engine Journal
Updated List of Best Books on SEO for 2012 / 2013 Released by JM Internet Group – PR Web (press release)
Feb 5th
 Business 2 Community |
Updated List of Best Books on SEO for 2012 / 2013 Released by JM Internet Group
PR Web (press release) The JM Internet Group (web: jm-seo.org), a leader in providing SEO courses for small business online, is proud to announce its updated list of top SEO Books for 2012 / 2013. Jason McDonald, director and founder of the JM Internet Group, has created a … New “Social SEO Strategies” eBook Empowers Marketers to Get Social and Get … SEO for Your Small Business Website Starlet SEO Introduces Monthly SEO Service |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Facebook Posts Are More Memorable Than Faces and Books
Jan 17th
We may pine for the days when reading a long article transported us to a new world or gave insight into something we’ve never thought about, but apparently our brains aren’t wired for that kind of communication. The most accurate peek into the chatter of our inner minds, in fact, is Facebook status updates.
That’s the conclusion of a new study from UC San Diego, published in the journal Memory and Cognition.
The study started out as an examination of the effects of various emotions on memory. Along the way, researchers found that people had a really good memory for Facebook posts. They decided to take this find to another level by experimenting the effects of microblogging (like Facebook posts) on memory.
Facebook Versus Faces and Books
The first two experiments had undergrads from UCSD in two groups. In the first experiment, one group read Facebook status updates and one read sentences from published books. The status updates came from real people’s pages and ranged from “The library is a place to study, not to talk on your phone” to “I am 7,689 days old.”
The book examples were selected from Amazon’s newest releases and chosen randomly. They were equally easy to read, if not better crafted: “Even honor had its limits,” and “How did he end up in this family?” The second experiment tested Facebook memorability against facial recognition. Two hundred neutral faces were picked from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) facial recognition database, FERET.
During testing, each group was shown one hundred blocks of text. Afterwards, they had to perform a test that mixed all of the sentences they saw among new “lures,” or new sentences, and choose which they saw during the test. The same was done for the pictures of faces. They rated their confidence in those choices at the end. In both cases, those in the Facebook group had more confidence than the other group, they were also more accurate in their recollection of messages.
Two more experiments were done, one that asked testers to link sentences to how much they reminded them of someone they knew, and another that compared Facebook postings to CNN headlines. In each case, the same result rang true: Microblog posts were more memorable.
Natural Speech Patterns Are More Memorable
Facebook posts are generated by regular people, because of that they are closer to tapping into the basic language capacities of our minds than professionally crafted sentences. If you use thoughts expressed through microblogs as an example, the natural pattern of human thinking is similar to gossip.
The study claims, “The relatively unfiltered and spontaneous production of one person’s mind is just the sort of thing that is readily stored in another’s mind.” Adding that while published text may be beautifully written or carefully edited, it doesn’t resonate as easily with our memory as naturally-generated information.
While microblogging isn’t changing anything about our memory, it is giving us an insight into how it works, says Dr. Laura Mickes, a senior research fellow at the University of Warwick and a lead researcher on the project. “I am not sure if microblogging is necessarily changing the way we think,” she says via email, “but I do think that the way we microblog taps into the way we have always colloquially communicated with one another.”
Image Courtesy of Shuttershock
View full post on ReadWrite
7 Books to Read About Building A Community From Scratch
Dec 11th
When a company first starts out, they have many challenges to face. Establishing a brand, marketing themselves to a particular demographic, bringing in the first quarter of profits…it is a lot to handle. Most businesses also spend that time focusing purely on their product, a natural inclination that can have some consequences. It is impossible [...]
The post 7 Books to Read About Building A Community From Scratch appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
View full post on Search Engine Journal
The Google Dracula Logo: Bram Stoker Books
Nov 8th
Is that Dracula on Google’s home page today? Yes it is. Today is the 165th birthday of the late Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, a gothic novel. Bram Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland on November 8, 1847 and died at the age of 64 in London on April 20, 1912. To celebrate his [...]
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
View full post on Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Google’s Moby Dick Logo Takes You To Herman Melville Books Knowledge Graph
Oct 18th
Google’s Moby Dick logo celebrates the 161st anniversary of The Whale novel written by author Herman Melville. There are two special points to be made about the implementation of this logo: (1) Google purposely is taking searches who click on the logo to a search result for [Herman Melville…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
View full post on Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Weekly Wrap-Up: BitTorrent Booming, Social Books, Smart Traveling Without A Smart Phone
Sep 22nd
File sharing lives on despite multiple attempts to terminate with extreme prejudice, how the Web is affecting just about everything we do with books, and the benefits of traveling overseas without a smartphone. All of this and more in the ReadWriteWeb Weekly Wrap-up.
After the jump you’ll find more of this week’s top news stories on some of the key topics that are shaping the Web – Location, App Stores and Real-Time Web – plus highlights from some of our six channels. Read on for more.
BitTorrent Downloads Booming – And Benefitting Musicians
A new report from UK analytics firm Musicmetric pegged the U.S. as the world’s leading downloader of music via BitTorrent. It’s the stuff of Recording Industry Association of America nightmares: Despite industry efforts to shut down BitTorrent tracker sites, the frenzy of file sharing continues. And – surprise! – recording artists are embracing illegal downloads as just another way to do business. BitTorrent Downloads Booming – And Benefitting Musicians.
More Top Posts:
The Social Library: How Public Libraries Are Using Social Media
Like many of you, I’m connected to the Internet virtually every waking hour of my day – via computer, tablet and mobile phone. Yet I still regularly visit my local public library to borrow books, CDs and DVDs. Which made me wonder: are these two worlds disconnected, or is the social Web being integrated into our public libraries? The Social Library: How Public Libraries Are Using Social Media.
Smart Traveling Without A Smartphone
My friend Matteo thinks I’m crazy for what I’m not carrying. “Deficiente,” the 31-year-old engineer from Parma, Italy, says. “Man, how can you not have a phone? You must be the only person in Italy without one.” I’m traveling overseas without a phone, smart or otherwise. Many would say it’s not smart. Maybe even dumb. I say it’s one of the best ways to truly get to know a country, despite the inherent communication challenges. Smart Traveling Without A Smartphone.
How The Big Six Book Publishers Are Using Social Media
In the fifth and final part of our series, Social Books, we explore how the “big six” book publishers use social media. So far in the series we’ve looked at the largest social network for book lovers (Goodreads), a new social network for book writers (Writer’s Bloq), how public libraries use social media, and whether book highlights are being successfully socialized. We’ve learned so far that almost everything to do with books – writing them, reading them, borrowing them, making highlights in them – has been impacted by Web technologies. How The Big Six Book Publishers Are Using Social Media.
Why Wikipedia Does Belong in the Classroom
Wikipedia remains misunderstood because many educators have yet to recognize the distinction between Wikipedia as a tool for teaching and Wikipedia as a tool for research. Unfortunately, fear of the latter has blinded most to the possibilities of the former. I believe Wikipedia to be an effective tool for both. Why Wikipedia Does Belong in the Classroom.
Update: Microsoft Patches Internet Explorer Security Bug That Could Have Affected Millions
Microsoft said it was investigating a new zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer that could affect millions of users running the latest versions of Internet Explorer on Microsoft’s most popular operating systems. Update: Microsoft Patches Internet Explorer Security Bug That Could Have Affected Millions.
Finding The Perfect Startup Co-Founder
The ideal startup partner can be as elusive as a compatible mate. And like millions of people have put their love lives in the hands of technology, you can now find your business soul mate online. Finding The Perfect Startup Co-Founder.
15 YouTube Videos That Changed The World
“The Innocence of Muslims,” a trailer for an anti-Islamic film that has served as both an excuse and a spur for the latest round of unrest in the Middle East, is only the latest example of a longstanding YouTube tradition. The Google-owned company has been redefining activism, for better or for worse, since its inception. Here are 15 similarly Earth-shaking videos: 15 YouTube Videos That Changed The World.
Facebook’s 2012 Slide Looks A Lot Like MySpace’s 2008 Demise
Shareholders pushed Facebook’s stock up slightly last week after reassuring comments from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In the process, they overlooked a significant decline in two key areas reported by comScore: U.S. desktop usage, where Facebook has traditionally sold most of its ads, is down 12 percent among younger users (12 to 24 years old), who have always been seen as Facebook’s core users. Could Facebook be heading into a MySpace-like dive? Facebook’s 2012 Slide Looks A Lot Like MySpace’s 2008 Demise.
Apple’s iOS 6 Maps App Falls Short In Early Reviews
Apple made headlines earlier this year when it was confirmed that Google Maps would no longer be the default app for mapping and navigation on iOS devices. That years-old partnership crumbled amid rising tensions between the two companies, mostly due to Google’s entry into the smartphone market. To fill in the gap, Apple acquired C3 Technologies, a company that specialized in building 3D mapping software. At its Worldwide Developers Conference last summer, Apple showed off the slick, immersive result. “Apple’s iOS 6 Maps App Falls Short In Early Reviews.
ReadWriteWeb Channels
- Take My Facebook Password? Over My Dead Body
- Is Microsoft Challenging Google on HTTP 2.0 with WebSocket?
- [Infographic] Social Media Security Basics
- Facebook Friends: How Many Is Too Many?
- Fuzebox, the iPad and the Reality of Simple Unified Communications
- Squashing Bugs: The Many Layered Approach to Mobile App Testing
Cloud (follow ReadWriteCloud on Twitter and join the ReadWriteCloud LinkedIn Group)
- Red Hat Sets a Date for OpenShift Source Release
- Box Launches Its Own Enterprise Cloud Operating Ecosystem
- Google’s Go Programming Language Grows Up: Now What?
Hack (follow ReadWriteHack on Twitter)
- Google Adds New Toys to OAuth Playground
- Trello: Online Collaboration Software at Its Finest
- Revenge of the DevOps: Microsoft Targets Next Visual Studio for Admins Too
ReadWriteWeb Community: You can find ReadWriteWeb in many places online, a few of which are below.
- ReadWriteWeb on Facebook
- ReadWriteWeb on Twitter
- ReadWriteWeb on Google+
- ReadWriteWeb on LinkedIn
- ReadWriteWeb on Pinterest
- ReadWriteWeb on Storify
Subscribe to the ReadWriteWeb Weekly Wrap-up
Want to have this wrap up delivered to you automagically? Subscribe to the Weekly Wrap-up by RSS or by email.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
