Peter Boody's Blog: Inside Out: a not-so-smalltown editor's life - Posts Tagged "amazon"
uh oh. The gorilla eats
So I read in the Huffington Post that Amazon has struck a deal to buy Goodreads for an undisclosed sum.
I don't hate Amazon but it's Walmart-like impact on independent bookstores troubles me and its voracious appetite is a fearsome thing.
The profit motive, and unbridled power, are not a good combo.
Goodreads has been a good resource but I always had some suspicions about the motivations behind it. Sure, it was good for readers and writers but it also seemed an easy, low maintenance way for somebody to make some good money, sooner or later.
Can't hold that against anybody.
But if we believe that any service-oriented site is all about doing good, we are dopes. Everything is always about money.
I don't hate Amazon but it's Walmart-like impact on independent bookstores troubles me and its voracious appetite is a fearsome thing.
The profit motive, and unbridled power, are not a good combo.
Goodreads has been a good resource but I always had some suspicions about the motivations behind it. Sure, it was good for readers and writers but it also seemed an easy, low maintenance way for somebody to make some good money, sooner or later.
Can't hold that against anybody.
But if we believe that any service-oriented site is all about doing good, we are dopes. Everything is always about money.
Inside Out: a not-so-smalltown editor's life
Bits and pieces from my newspaper column as well as some riffs on the horrors of novel writing and trying to get one's work the attention it deserves.
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