This insidious Kindle extension is making your reading worse

There is so much to love about owning an e-reader. Mainly, you have a world of stories at your fingerprints, ready when you are to discover new stories and worlds. While there is so much to love about the convenience, that e-readers are connected to an online world creates some issues. Kindles are synonymous with e-readers, which is great for Amazon, but Kindles in particular have an insidious component: Goodreads.

Acquired by Amazon in 2013, Goodreads is a social app designed to support readers and authors by allowing users to track reading, discover books, and share thoughts and reviews with others. Goodreads has taken a lot of heat in its time under Amazon’s wing, and with good reason. Here’s what you should know about Goodreads, and why you should jump ship.

Goodreads puts Amazon first and foremost

Purchases and subscriptions take precedent over reading

Perhaps the biggest problem with Goodreads is the direct connection to Amazon and all its tentacles. It’s meant to be a haven for book lovers, with social and tracking components that allow you to keep tabs on your books and discover other stories and readers. You can search, leave reviews, and share your progress with friends.

All of this hangs under the shadow of Amazon, which has the sole goal of keeping you in its ecosystem and ready to make purchases. Amazon wants you to buy ebooks from its marketplace and enroll in subscriptions to Kindle Unlimited or Audible. It’s also promotes books it wants you to read, a ploy that’s not really in the spirit of discovering new books. The search function isn’t great and neither is the algorithm, but Goodreads will certainly promote things it wants you know exist.

It’s a platform that’s similar to everything else Amazon puts out there, including Prime Video. It wants to keep you on the platform and eager to make purchases.

Goodreads has a poor interface

Amazon has no incentive to fix issues

Another issue with Goodreads is that Amazon seems to consistently overlook it, and the lack of care is evident when you’re using the app (a lot like Prime Video). Amazon doesn’t seem to want to invest too much time and effort into the app, and it’s largely been the same for years on end. You can find books, track them on your account, and leave reviews, but even those core features seem limited.

Goodreads has a dated feel. It’s been around for over 20 years, and it doesn’t feel like much has changed. It can be slow and cluttered, and navigation isn’t always intuitive. It’s generally unnattractive, and it’s lacking a quality and modernity found in so many other apps that have far fewer resources.

There’s also the question concerning the quality of its algorithm that goes back to whether Amazon really wants you to discover things on your own. I don’t think it does.

Amazon abandons authors and allows for scams

Goodreads fosters bad actors who threaten careers

For those who love to read and support their favorite authors, it’s worth knowing that Amazon could do a lot more to help writers out. There isn’t much to embrace about the Goodreads system, and that starts with reviews. There have been complaints by authors about getting bad reviews or review-bombed even before review copies of their books become available. That doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Similarly, the app has been accused of failing to remove bad-faith or spam reviews in any kind of timely manner. There were even reports of extortion against certain authors, with scammers and cyberstalkers using the power of the platform to compel authors to pay ransom or risk hurting their career.

Authors rely on word-of-mouth and online communities that are uncovering and promoting books. Social apps are a huge source of support for authors, especially new ones, and if Amazon is not going to curtail the bad behavior of some of its users, authors are going to end up pay the price. Goodreads doesn’t seem to care.

Critics and spammers tarnish the experience for booklovers

Credit: Goodreads/Pocket-lint

A lack of support for authors points to a problem with some of the people who use the platform. A vocal part of the Goodreads community is just not making the site the best experience for the majority. Amazon seems intent on supporting the more intense segment of its audience who voice antagonistic opinions and leave bad reviews, even if they’re not actually reading any books or offering any kind of thoughtful, constructive commentary. Amazon prioritizes engagement, which leads to money, over anything else. In its eyes, it’s better to leave a bad review of a book you’ve never read and that hasn’t been released yet than make no comment at all.

It can certainly make those who have a genuine love for reading and curiosity about books feel unsupportive and confused when using Goodreads. Reviews can’t be trusted and there doesn’t seem to be a shared belief around championing books. After all, Amazon’s boss just derailed the Washington Post with countless layoffs, so it shouldn’t be surprising that Goodreads doesn’t actually support the act of learning and reading.

Ditch Goodreads for better alternatives

The Storygraph, Hardcover, and others support tracking and community

Fortunately, despite all these problems, you don’t need to use Goodreads! More to the point, you shouldn’t! There are plenty of better alternatives that do all these things you might be looking for in an app, and the best part is, you can export your Goodreads info so that all your tracking stays with you.

The Storygraph is a popular alternative that has a better interface, detailed information about your reading habits, and a more supportive community. It also lets you import your profile from Goodreads. Hardcover is another app that offers you all the necessary tracking and search features writers are looking for as well. Bookworm is another social and tracking app that is a proud alternative to Amazon, while Litsy and Booksloth lean more into the community aspect of reading. There’s also Bookly for those who want to develop better reading habits while cataloging their progress.

All of that means you don’t have to stick with Amazon. Which means you can stick it to Amazon, at least a little bit, by finding an app that supports your needs and engages your storytelling passions.