Goodreads vs LibraryThing

2023. Goodreads introduces new Giveaway marketing tool for authors



In the vast, improbably complex universe of bookish endeavors, Goodreads has embarked on a curious new adventure, launching the U.S. Giveaways program—a cunningly designed initiative packed with features that might well baffle even the most seasoned Vogon poet. This masterstroke of literary marketing wizardry comes in two gleaming packages, each engineered to propel books into the hyperspace of discovery while enticing readers to leave their invaluable reviews. Authors and publishers, long clamoring for more robust tools to dazzle audiences, will find their wishes granted with seamless audience connections and the magic of automatically updated Want-to-Read lists. For Kindle Direct Publishing authors, the previously mythical ability to host Kindle ebook giveaways is now a thrilling reality. At a mere $119, the Standard package boldly delivers up to 100 copies—Kindle or print—while the $599 Premium package boasts not only these same perks but also a dazzling "Featured" spotlight on the Giveaways page, perfect for showcasing your magnum opus to the galaxy’s most voracious readers. Ford Prefect would probably approve, though he'd insist on a towel being part of the deal.


2019. Goodreads starts Giveaways to help authors promote their books



The new tool Goodreads Giveaways provides valuable support for authors aiming to launch their debut book, maintain momentum for their latest release, or reinvigorate interest in a previous title. This platform serves as a creative tool utilized by authors and publishers to promote their books to potentially millions of readers, injecting an element of excitement into their marketing strategies and allowing readers to introduce their favorite books to friends. Goodreads Giveaways offers numerous marketing benefits, including the opportunity to expand your audience and increase book discovery. Giveaways are prominently featured in the popular Giveaways section of Goodreads, enabling readers to stumble upon new and exciting titles. Furthermore, your giveaway is prominently showcased on your book page, encouraging more entries and further growing your book's audience. Additionally, your followers on Goodreads and individuals who have already added your book to their Want-to-Read list receive automatic notifications about your giveaway, maximizing the reach of your promotion.


2018. Goodreads launched new Android App



Goodreads has introduced a new ebook discovery and social community app for Android. Whether you're looking to scan covers to quickly locate a book on Goodreads, explore personalized recommendations, or add a book you've just completed to your Reading Challenge, using Goodreads on your Android device has never been so straightforward, efficient, or enjoyable. The app’s updated design and interface also work well on tablets.


2018. New Goodreads app for Android is available



GoodReads, the largest social book community owned by Amazon, has updated its Android app. The GoodReads BETA app has been redesigned to be faster and more user-friendly. It now offers an improved appearance on mobile phones and tablets. The app allows users to search for, rate and review any book from a catalog of over 12 million titles. You can view book reviews and updates from your friends, comment on them, post status updates and page number updates for books you're currently reading and use the barcode scanner to quickly add all of your books to your GoodReads shelves.


2018. LibraryThing gets Alexa skill


Online book catalog service LibraryThing now offers a Skill for Amazon Echo, Dot and other Alexa devices. The LibraryThing Alexa Skill is an unusual but straightforward way to add books to your LibraryThing account. Simply stand in the foyer with a stack of new books or on top of a creaky bookshelf ladder in the attic and say: Alexa, tell LibraryThing to add [Book Title] by [Author]. Alexa will attempt to add the book. If it doesn't succeed, for better results, skip the title and author and just read the barcode or ISBN number from the back of your book: Alexa, tell LibraryThing to add [Barcode or ISBN Number]. There are also a few other commands like: Alexa, ask LibraryThing how many books I have. At least you can impress your friends with your smart personal assistant and your extensive library.


2017. LibraryThing gets own Android app



LibraryThing, the online service for managing personal libraries, has launched an app for Android. It replicates the iPhone/iOS app. You can explore and search your library overall and by collection, add books, CDs and DVDs by scanning barcodes (barcode scanning is EXTREMELY FAST), add items by searching by title, author, ISBN, etc., browse and upload covers using your Android’s camera and perform minor editing, such as adding books to collections and rating them (major editing is done via a link to LibraryThing.com). It’s designed for a phone but will also function on your Android tablet. Additionally, LibraryThing is offering lifetime memberships to anyone who uses the app.


2017. GoodReads is rolling out the ReRead system



Many GoodReads users set a reading goal for the year. Sometimes you just want to revisit the Harry Potter series or one of the Divergent books, but previously, these would not count towards your goal. This has changed with a new BETA ReRead feature that will be introduced globally in the coming months. Next time you decide to reread a book that you've already marked as Read on Goodreads, simply label it as Currently Reading. When you finish, just mark it as Read. You can do this from the Goodreads iOS and Android apps, on Goodreads.com and also in the About the Book feature on Kindle.


2016. LibraryThing allows to export your home library to excel



Online library management tool LibraryThing is introducing a “true” Excel export feature for your book catalog (after years of CSV and TSV exports). It’s a basic, straightforward implementation. The developers made the headings bold, adjusted some column widths and designated some columns as text and others as numbers, but otherwise kept the data unchanged. They have tested it, but with so many versions of Excel available, they would welcome feedback from users as well.


2016. Amazon is closing book cataloging service Shelfari, merging it with Goodreads



Amazon is to close Shelfari, a social network for book lovers with various recommendation and cataloging features. Since Amazon purchased Goodreads back in 2013, it has been neglecting Shelfari for years and now it’s officially getting the ax. If you login to Shelfari you get greeted with the following message: "Shelfari is in the process of merging with Goodreads and is no longer accepting new accounts. We recommend joining Goodreads.com if you haven’t already done so". Calling it a merger is just a nice way of saying Shelfari is closing down for good.


2015. LibraryThing released iOS mobile app



Online service for book collection management LibraryThing has launched an official iPhone app. This initial version is limited to performing the basic tasks necessary for cataloging. You can browse and search your library, add books by scanning barcodes, search for books, browse and upload covers using the iPhone camera and make minor edits such as changing collections and ratings. LibraryThing is offering free lifetime memberships to anyone who uses the app within the next month. You need to create a new account using the LibraryThing app.


2015. LibraryThing unveiles an online tool for small libraries



LibraryThing, the online personal library organizer, has introduced TinyCat—a robust, user-friendly online catalog for smaller libraries (fewer than 20,000 titles). These smaller libraries—such as churches, synagogues, small schools, community centers and academic departments—have been utilizing LibraryThing to organize their collections for nearly a decade. This tradition continues with TinyCat. TinyCat provides a refreshed way to view the catalog, offering a cleaner interface focused on helping patrons find and explore books in your library. LibraryThing developers recently added numerous new features, many of which were crucial for making TinyCat possible (including Barcode Support, Circulation, Advanced Search and now the new MARC Import feature). TinyCat incorporates the best and most useful enhancements LibraryThing can provide—more than nearly any “big-library” catalog offers.


2015. Goodreads adds Audible integration to let you listen free audiobook samples



Amazon's Goodreads now allows users to listen to free audio samples of 180,000 titles on its platform through a new “Listen” button powered by Audible’s digital audiobook catalog. These samples will be accessible to all Goodreads users, regardless of whether they are Audible subscribers, but the new feature includes an offer for a 30-day free trial of Audible, which, like Goodreads, is owned by Amazon. The streaming function will be available to users on the Goodreads website, with plans to extend it to the mobile site and apps soon, according to a statement released today. This move is aimed at helping ebook readers discover audiobook content and comes as publishers and retailers explore ways to promote the use of both formats together.


2014. LibraryThing for Libraries advises what to read next



Library users will find it easier than ever to discover what to read next as LibraryThing for Libraries broadens its Book Recommendations feature to include a wider array of “if you enjoyed this, try that” suggestions. The new, free and automatic upgrade for existing subscribers to LibraryThing for Libraries’ Catalog Enhancement Package will showcase book recommendations by the same author, similar authors, genres and more, all based on the library’s current collection. The upgrade improves LibraryThing for Libraries’ distinctive tag-based discovery and links to other book editions and translations, offering more ways for users to find books they will enjoy. Insights from readers, librarians and professionals—through ProQuest’s Syndetic Solutions and Books In Print—are combined to generate the recommendations in LibraryThing for Libraries, creating an unusually rich and balanced service.


2014. Goodreads mobile app gets a makeover



Amazon's Goodreads has introduced a major redesign on iOS (with an Android version coming soon) – a change that many regular Goodreads users have been requesting. Instead of opening to an outdated, grid-like home screen, the app now immediately shows a “news feed” featuring your friends’ latest updates on the network, including books they've read, rated, reviewed and more. You can easily like and comment on posts from friends, enhancing Goodreads’ role as a social network for book lovers rather than just a tool for tracking your own reading progress.


2014. Goodreads allows to import books, purchased on Amazon



Goodreads users can now automatically transfer the print and ebooks they’ve purchased on Amazon into their Goodreads accounts. One benefit of linking the accounts, according to Goodreads, is that “more books added to your Goodreads shelves means better recommendations to help you discover more great books to read. The advanced algorithm driving our recommendations engine examines the books you rate to provide the best book suggestions tailored to your unique reading preferences.” The linking also allows Amazon to identify which of its customers are Goodreads users, although Goodreads emphasizes that “We give you full control over which books to include so you can avoid adding any books bought as gifts. Any book not rated or added to a shelf will not be included on Goodreads.”


2014. Amazon adds Goodreads integration to Kindle Paperwhite 1



Amazon is rolling out a software update for the first-gen Kindle Paperwhite that introduces Goodreads integration and other new features to the e-reader. The currently available Paperwhite, a second-generation model, already includes Goodreads support, which was added last November. The update also brings Kindle FreeTime, which curates books for children and allows parents to schedule reading time, Cloud Collections for organizing content and Page Flip for browsing through material without losing your spot. The Bookmarks, Highlights and Notes feature can now be accessed more swiftly. The update will be rolled out over the next few weeks to devices in the United States, Canada and Australia.


2014. Goodreads competitor Slice Bookshelf shuts down



Slice Bookshelf, a social platform for readers aimed at challenging Amazon-owned Goodreads by offering a more contemporary experience and one less reliant on manual user input, is closing down. The company states that, moving forward, it will concentrate on enhancing its primary product, the mobile shopping assistant, Slice. With Bookshelf, Slice had explored using its proprietary inbox-scanning technology in a new area: rather than tracking general purchases, it specifically identified your book and e-book receipts. By integrating data from Facebook, the service could automatically compile your library, eliminating the laborious data entry that competitor Goodreads still necessitates.


2013. Amazon integrates Goodreads into Kindle Fire OS



Earlier this year, Amazon began incorporating the popular book recommendation site Goodreads (which it acquired in March) into its tablets. With the latest Fire OS update, Goodreads has been seamlessly integrated into the reading experience, allowing you to engage with the Goodreads community without exiting the book or opening a separate app. Readers can now capture and share their favorite quotes to Goodreads directly from within the book, see what others are reading and rate and review books after finishing them. You can also import all the books you've purchased on Amazon, including print and Kindle editions, into Goodreads, which is useful for those who haven't been actively managing their Goodreads account over time.


2013. Kobo stops showing Goodreads ratings and reviews



As you recall, Amazon acquired the book-review social network Goodreads in March, so it's understandable that Kobo has ceased using the Goodreads API on its website and in its apps. This means no more Goodreads ratings and reviews on Kobo book pages. It appears this decision was made by Kobo rather than Goodreads or Amazon: The company’s chief content officer Michael Tamblyn mentioned to Good E-reader that Kobo may potentially reintegrate the Goodreads API in the future. However, this situation highlights the risks of depending on what is now a rival retailer’s API. Goodreads faced a similar issue in early 2012 when it stopped using Amazon’s API for book data and switched to data from book wholesaler Ingram. Currently, Goodreads states that it utilizes metadata from a combination of sources — Ingram, WorldCat and ONIX feeds.


2013. Amazon to acquire Goodreads



Amazon has announced today that it will acquire Goodreads. Goodreads is the top book discovery platform with 16 million members and over 23 million book reviews. It enables users to join book-discussion groups and share recommendations, reviews, books they've read and liked or disliked, as well as their "want to read" lists. Goodreads also features its own recommendation engine. Currently, the Goodreads site makes it fairly easy for users to download or purchase books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other websites. It's somewhat difficult to imagine that Amazon will continue to permit links to non-Amazon stores in the future.