Goodreads facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Goodreads

Type of business	Subsidiary
Type of site	Book reviews
Available in	English
Founded	December 2006; 19 years ago (2006-12)
Owner	Amazon
Founder(s)	Otis Chandler Elizabeth Khuri
Commercial	Yes
Registration	Optional
Current status	Active

Goodreads is a popular website where people can share their love for books. It's like a giant online library and book club all in one! You can find information about millions of books, read what others think, and even write your own reviews. It's also a great place to keep track of what you've read and what you want to read next.

Goodreads was started in December 2006 by Otis Chandler and Elizabeth Khuri Chandler. They wanted to create a place where readers could connect and discover new stories. By September 2023, over 150 million people from all over the world were using Goodreads. It is now part of Amazon, a big online company.

The Story of Goodreads

Who Started Goodreads?

Goodreads was created by Otis Chandler and Elizabeth Khuri Chandler. They met while they were students at Stanford University. Otis studied engineering, and Elizabeth studied English.

Before starting Goodreads, Otis worked as a computer programmer, and Elizabeth was a journalist. They both grew up in California. Otis Chandler comes from a family known for publishing the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

Why Was Goodreads Created?

Otis Chandler got the idea for Goodreads in 2006. He was looking through his friend's books and wished there was a way to do that online. He wanted to build a place where people could easily find new books and share their thoughts on what they read.

Goodreads was made to help people discover books more easily in the digital world. It gives readers a platform to find, talk about, and share books. It uses reviews from other users and recommendations to help you find books you might like.

How Goodreads Grew

In the beginning, Goodreads grew slowly, mostly by people telling their friends about it. They started with about 800 users. For its first year, the company didn't have much money.

Later, they received some investments to help the website grow. In 2011, Goodreads bought a company called Discovereads. This company had a smart system that could suggest books you might like. It learned from the books you had enjoyed before.

Goodreads also created its own system to recommend books to its users. By 2012, Goodreads had grown to 11 million members. Users had added 395 million books to the site and created over 20,000 book clubs.

Goodreads Joins Amazon

In March 2013, Amazon, a very large online company, bought Goodreads. This news was a big deal in the book world. Some people wondered what this would mean for Goodreads.

Otis Chandler, the founder of Goodreads, said that his team would continue to manage the website and keep the review process fair. He continued to lead Goodreads until 2019. At the time, many felt Goodreads had a very trustworthy system for book reviews.

After the purchase, Goodreads made sure that reviews stayed focused on the books themselves. They created rules to remove reviews that were not about the book or that were unkind to authors. These rules help keep the community a positive place for everyone.

Recent Years and Updates

In January 2016, Amazon decided to close another book website called Shelfari and encouraged its users to move to Goodreads. By April 2016, people had posted over 50 million reviews on Goodreads.

In 2023, there was a situation where some books appeared on Amazon and Goodreads with incorrect author names. These books seemed to be made by computer programs. Amazon and Goodreads worked to remove these incorrect listings after the issue was brought to their attention. This showed how important it is to have accurate information about books.

Cool Things You Can Do on Goodreads

Discover New Books

On Goodreads, you can add books to your own virtual bookshelves. You can rate books with stars and write reviews to share your thoughts. You can also see what your friends and favorite authors are reading.

The website suggests new books for you based on what you've enjoyed in the past. You can join discussion boards and groups to talk about books with other readers.

Join Reading Challenges

A fun activity on Goodreads is the reading challenge. You can set a goal to read a certain number of books each year and track your progress on the site. Studies show that these challenges can encourage people to read more in their free time!

Access Book Content

Goodreads lets you read or listen to previews of books right on the website. You can also find quizzes, interesting quotes, book lists, and even enter giveaways for free books.

Members can get a regular newsletter with new book suggestions, author interviews, and poetry. If you're an author, you can link your books to your profile and share your blog.

Connect with Other Readers

Goodreads makes it easy to connect with authors through interviews and their blogs. There's even a special section for authors to help them share their books with readers. Many famous authors use Goodreads to connect with their fans.

You can add other users as "friends" to share reviews, posts, and book recommendations. Goodreads also connects with other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. This lets you share what you're reading or how you rated a book with your friends on those platforms. Some Amazon Kindle devices even have a special button to connect directly to Goodreads.

How Book Information is Organized

Goodreads gets its book information from many sources, including publishers, libraries, and Amazon.

Goodreads has volunteer librarians who help keep the book information accurate and organized. They edit book and author details and add cover images. If you have added 50 books to your profile, you can apply to become a volunteer librarian!

Keeping Reviews Fair

Goodreads wants to make sure that all reviews are fair and helpful. In 2012, there were some discussions about how authors and readers interact on the site. Goodreads then shared clear guidelines for reviews.

These guidelines state that reviews should be about the book itself, not about the author's personal behavior. This helps keep the focus on the stories and ensures that discussions remain respectful and positive for everyone.

Goodreads Choice Awards

The Goodreads Choice Awards are annual awards given to the best books of the year, as voted by Goodreads users. These awards celebrate popular books across many different categories. Readers can nominate their favorite books and then vote for the winners. It's a fun way for the Goodreads community to recognize amazing stories and authors each year.

See also

In Spanish: Goodreads para niños