Judy Penz Sheluk: On Reading: 2024 Books

 Judy Penz Sheluk: On Reading: 2024 Books

The Guardian: ‘God forbid that a dog should die’: when Goodreads reviews go bad

 The Guardian: ‘God forbid that a dog should die’: when Goodreads reviews go bad

TheMessenger: Debut Fantasy Author Allegedly Review-Bombed Competitors’ Books on Goodreads

 TheMessenger: Debut Fantasy Author Allegedly Review-Bombed Competitors’ Books on Goodreads

TIME: How Extortion Scams and Review Bombing Trolls Turned Goodreads Into Many Authors’ Worst Nightmare

 TIME: How Extortion Scams and Review Bombing Trolls Turned Goodreads Into Many Authors’ Worst Nightmare

Meduim: Almost Everything About Goodreads Is Broken

Meduim: Almost Everything About Goodreads Is Broken

Blood-Red Pencil: Writers Gotta Read, Right? Thanksgiving Day in the...

Blood-Red Pencil: Writers Gotta Read, Right? Thanksgiving Day in the...: Home to Thanksgiving. George Henry Durrie [Public domain] Published by Currier and Ives. Thanksgiving is upon us—the season for gratit...

Smart Girls Read Romance: 2016 Holiday Gift Guide For Writers

Smart Girls Read Romance: 2016 Holiday Gift Guide For Writers: It's that time of year again, and every year I update the gift guide for writers. For those of you who have writers in your life (and w...

Anne R. Allen's Blog: Public Shaming, Cyberbullies, and the Hive Mind: F...

Anne R. Allen's Blog: Public Shaming, Cyberbullies, and the Hive Mind: F...: by Anne R. Allen L ots has been written about the pain caused by online bullying of children and teens—and that stuff is horrific—but w...

Renowned Author Calls Out Randi Harper’s Amazon Trolling

Renowned Author Calls Out Randi Harper’s Amazon Trolling

The Southwest Armchair Traveler: Jason Mosberg: The Desert, Desert Cities, and my Y...

The Southwest Armchair Traveler: Jason Mosberg: The Desert, Desert Cities, and my Y...: Today I welcome my first guest  author, Jason Mosberg. I read an Advanced Reader Copy of his new novel, Grift , and loved it. It's a...

Via Flavorwire-- Goodreads Doesn’t Care If You Read the Book You Reviewed

Goodreads Doesn’t Care If You Read the Book You Reviewed

Via Salon--- Battle of the trolls: Kathleen Hale reveals the war raging between authors and readers

Battle of the trolls: Kathleen Hale reveals the war raging between authors and readers

Via Claude Nougat's Blog: Today's Publishing Nightmare: Drowning in Indie e-...

Claude Nougat's Blog : Today's Publishing Nightmare: Drowning in Indie e-...: Nightmare film (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) An article published on Forbes by David Vinjamuri with the arresting title "Publish...

Amazon Buys Goodreads

In case you have not heard, Amazon has bought Goodreads. Having had issues at Shelfari after Amazon bought them which led to my closing my account, I am not thrilled at the news. And as one who has worked for small operations bought by giant competition, I know that what is promised at take over time is rarely in place later. Lots of good things are being promised in the announcement today.

Time will tell if it is true.

At this point, I am taking a wait and see approach. I am not one of those who is shocked/appalled/claiming the world is about to end folks. However, having recently had a review removed from MIND SLICES by Amazon with absolutely no meaningful information as to why and no recourse, I don't believe the argument put forth by some that this is going to help Amazon with their reviews problem. The same things that have been crictcized about some Goodreads reviews and reviewers happen on Amazon on a far larger scale.

I do agree with Chuck Wendig in his post today that opening fire on the Amazon monolith is easier than ever. I think some of that is self inflicted. I also think that there is a genuine fear that Amazon is slowly seizing control over every aspect of publishing. It does make one think.

Time will tell how this shakes out.