From Newsbreaks, it looks like the Big Six (or at least three of them) are finally waking up to what they should have started doing ten years ago: "Bookish, set to launch this summer—though no one is saying exactly when that will be—is backed by such industry heavyweights as Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group (USA), and Simon & Schuster."
All of these giants have had their issues with Amazon.com in the past, and it's no surprise that they finally joined forces to come up with an attractive way to promote their books.
But what sets them apart in an age where Amazon has brand recognition and consumer confidence?
According to Newsbreaks, "Part online community, part recommendation engine, part bookstore, Bookish seems to be doing a little bit of everything."
This makes it sound like publishers are looking to combine Amazon.com, goodreads.com, and librarything.com into a site designed to help readers decide what to read next. Is there a need? Is this really anything new? Maybe not. However, if Bookish offers greater interaction with leading authors readers might not be able to access through other sites, and offers exclusive content about and from said authors, Bookish could build a following. Otherwise, the site doesn't seem too dissimilar from what's already out there.
It's summer--pretty far along in summer--and the site isn't up and running yet. When it does go live, we'll see if Bookish lives up to all the buzz.
No comments:
Post a Comment