And what is Bookish? you ask. It's a new social networking website, launching this summer, that will be built around the book reading experience, with members sharing their favorite reads, garnering recommendations based on their past preferences, getting news about authors, and so on. Think of a literary version of Pandora, one that provides links to books for avid readers rather than links to audio files for music fans.
Sounds like a good idea if it is done well. And the resources and connections will be there to support it, since Arianna Huffington's AOL, Hachette, Penguin, and Simon and Schuster are all behind it, as this press release explains.
Full disclosure: A close family friend has been part of the team working part-time to help create Bookish for the last few weeks. Much to my frustration he has been utterly faithful to his non-disclosure agreement and so today is the first time I've even heard the name of the furshlugginer thing. But I promise the minute he is authorized to disclose anything more the readers of this blog will be among the first to hear it.
Sounds like a good idea if it is done well. And the resources and connections will be there to support it, since Arianna Huffington's AOL, Hachette, Penguin, and Simon and Schuster are all behind it, as this press release explains.
Full disclosure: A close family friend has been part of the team working part-time to help create Bookish for the last few weeks. Much to my frustration he has been utterly faithful to his non-disclosure agreement and so today is the first time I've even heard the name of the furshlugginer thing. But I promise the minute he is authorized to disclose anything more the readers of this blog will be among the first to hear it.
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Sounds like a combination of the idea behind the goodreads site and author interaction, with a little commerce thrown in. Anything that gets people talking more about books is a good thing, yet I got just a little pang when I read that people will be able to order books right on the site, or through other vendors. If the "other vendors" include my local independent bookstore, great. But I'm guessing they don't. Now wouldn't that be a terrific thing: being able to order the books I want immediately, as I read about them on the site, while still supporting my local bookstore. That, in fact, would encourage me to use it more than I might otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAn independent bookstore is a wonderful community asset. And in theory I have always subscribed to the "support your local bookstore" concept. But in reality I have never been lucky enough to live in a community that had a decent bookstore--which I think describes the situation of a vast majority of Americans. So while I hope everyone who lives within reach of a local bookstore will make a point of visiting it and patronizing it often, I also say, Thank God for Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
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