Rescue Your Books on Goodreads!

I stumbled upon a thread on the Kindle Boards forum the other day where authors were talking about Goodreads purging books if the main source of information was provided by Amazon. The purge will happen on Monday, January 30, so if you are a Goodreads author go to the site, click on your books and see if the "Rescue Me" banner appears. If it does, you or your press will need to provide title, author(s) name, ISBN (if applicable), synopsis, publication date, page count and upload a new cover image. Luckily, Goodreads will keep all the ratings and reviews intact for books.

Yesterday, I received an official email from Goodreads alerting me that a couple of my books published with small presses were in danger of being deleted. It only took a couple of minutes to provide the new information. It appears that small presses and indie authors who rely on Amazon to provide this basic book info are the most in danger of being caught up in the purge.

Here's part of the Goodreads email: For years, we've used Amazon's data, and while they have always had certain restrictions and requirements, those terms have gotten harder and harder to adhere to. We have been working diligently to find a new, independent source of data. Amazon has given us until January 30 to stop using their data, and we have to meet this deadline. So what does this mean for you, the author? First, please be assured that your books will not lose a single rating, review, or to-read shelving. We know how important reviews are to you, and we promise that 100% of that data will remain after this switch. 

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up in case you missed the email or it went to spam. I have been a Goodreads author for a number of years now and I find the site invaluable. I post all of my book reviews there now and have had some wonderful interactions with authors and readers. If you're not on Goodreads, you should be. While this rescue bit might be a pain in the ass, Goodreads untangling itself from Amazon is probably a good thing.