Forum: Author Hangout

After Amazon purchased "Good Reads" (and promised not to upset the trusted book rating site), promptly instituted all new rules.

The once free book giveaway program (where readers bid to receive a free book in exchange (theoretically) for book reviews on the site, will now cost serious bucks. $120 for the 'Basic giveaway package) and $599 for the 'Premium' giveaway package!

Amazon is now demonstrating what it thinks of the sites it takes over, promising independence. It strips off the parts it likes for their own Kindle Prime service, and then remove the features that readers/fans admire in the sites (like the CS book store, where authors earned more than they do under Amazon's Kindle service).

They're no longer even listing the $599 Premier Giveaway package, but both are related to the number of books you can give away for free (hundreds or thousands, as opposed to the few they allow for their traditional Free giveaway offers). These are primarily used by traditional publishers to blanket newspaper, magazine and other media book reviews with free copies. There's no word on whether Amazon will extend the traditional reach of the Good Reads programs to the broader Amazon users or not.

The upper limits also extend to multiple book mailings (dozens, hundreds or thousands of books shipped out to dozens or hundreds of reviewers. Still no plans to offer the service to Good Reads authors yet.