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Goodreads Is Broken

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Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#101

Post by kzrdude »

ryeguy_24 wrote: post #84

We set out to build a better Goodreads a while back called Helloreads (my wife thinks we didn’t differentiate our name enough but whatever). It never seemed to get traction probably due to the monopoly and network effect of Goodreads. We thought and still do that Goodreads user interface is terrible, the site is slow, the reviews are too volatile. The one thing that we truly could not compete with them on is the data…

I guess it's a social network, but since this is hacker news — I'd love if your front page would not be just a login screen.

The front page should say something about specific books, something that draws you in! Something from the site itself. And put that book recommendations button higher up (it's not visible on first view for me). :-)

Something that makes you begin browsing and using the site to get recommendations. Then in standard style, somewhere down the line you'll hit a snag where you have to register to use certain features, like commenting, liking, etc.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#102

Post by crystaln »

aklemm wrote: post #41
mmanfrin wrote: post #6

I read quite a bit and generally like Goodreads for what it is, but I agree that it's essentially not grown at all in 12 years. There are parts that are broken, there are features that are lacking, and it frustrates me to no end. Many, many times I've thought of how I'd build a competitor, but it is pointless because Goodread's moat is too big: the integrations with the kindle go a very long way towards cultivating e…

If you can’t bootstrap engagement with the Kindle integrations, maybe you could bootstrap community/engagement by integrating with public library catalogs and checkout records? Patrons could opt in to sharing their activity automatically and the library website could have update options as part of the checkout management process. Might be a nice little niche entrance into a customer base there.

Library consumers don’t seem like the most lucrative customer base.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#103

Post by ryeguy_24 »

justanotherhn wrote: post #96
ryeguy_24 wrote: post #84

We set out to build a better Goodreads a while back called Helloreads (my wife thinks we didn’t differentiate our name enough but whatever). It never seemed to get traction probably due to the monopoly and network effect of Goodreads. We thought and still do that Goodreads user interface is terrible, the site is slow, the reviews are too volatile. The one thing that we truly could not compete with them on is the data…

Interesting, just out of curiosity - does the website still work well? I just signed up with a dummy account and the images for the books are not showing up. I belive this might have something to do with AWS. (It might also be my browser settings)

It should work. Just tried and looks to work on my end. https://imgur.com/a/wU69opo

Could be browser settings but feel feee to shoot us a message. Support [at] helloreads.com

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#104

Post by StavrosK »

CydeWeys wrote: post #53
bredren wrote: post #19

The entire reading ecosystem at Amazon is stagnant. The kindle e-readers have had release after release of subpar hardware with features introduced by now-killed competitors a decade ago. Read reviews of the brand new Oasis, a $300 product featuring a micro USB port. Amazon does not care about readers, probably because they drive so few dollars and the market is won. Reading does not drive prime subscriptions, and an…

At this point, Amazon is treating Kindle like Texas Instruments is treating their graphing calculators. Both have entrenched monopolies and have no need whatsoever to improve their product, which being able to sell them at ridiculous margin. It's laughable how much a new Kindle costs the consumer vs how much it actually costs to manufacture. If this were a non-monopolistic market then many competitors would be leapin…

I'm fully aware I'm the minority, but I only read DRM-free books. What's a good ebook reader I can get these days that has good bang for buck?

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#105

Post by Veedrac »

klintcho wrote: post #59
jwr wrote: post #14

I wonder if people posting on Medium realize that for many of us the articles are inaccessible ("Sign up for a free Medium account, and you’ll get one more story in your member preview this month"). It seems that people missed the change in Medium's business model and still think that it's a site for posting publicly accessible articles.

Even as a member this article is paywalled. Nowadays regardless of the authors intention of keeping the article available or not, the default is paywalled and many people miss it.

Eww, they made this opt-out now? That might actually convince me to migrate...

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#106

Post by imgabe »

Well, boo. Sounds like a terrible redesign is incoming for Goodreads. Personally, I like that it's a list-making app with minimal social aspects. Social networks are terrible. I don't want to "dish about the latest author gossip". I don't want algorithmic recommendations that assume I'll want to read another book that has 90% of the same keywords as the book I just read. Goodreads works fine for me.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#107

Post by aphextron »

qrv3w wrote: post #77

> The recommendations suck, the lists suck — it’s like, 100 lists telling me to read The Handmaid’s Tale and Harry Potter. I had the same experience with GR and also Amazon.com which constantly peddles the vampire romance books when I am looking for recommendations for horror/fantasy. Both Amazon and GR strategy make sense because best-selling books sell the best, so they should recommend them to increase profits. Ho…

Very cool. Two criticisms though; the font is obnoxious, and you could use an autocomplete.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#108

Post by ryeguy_24 »

kzrdude wrote: post #101
ryeguy_24 wrote: post #84

We set out to build a better Goodreads a while back called Helloreads (my wife thinks we didn’t differentiate our name enough but whatever). It never seemed to get traction probably due to the monopoly and network effect of Goodreads. We thought and still do that Goodreads user interface is terrible, the site is slow, the reviews are too volatile. The one thing that we truly could not compete with them on is the data…

I guess it's a social network, but since this is hacker news — I'd love if your front page would not be just a login screen. The front page should say something about specific books, something that draws you in! Something from the site itself. And put that book recommendations button higher up (it's not visible on first view for me). :-) Something that makes you begin browsing and using the site to get recommendation…

I like your idea. This may be something you’d like (more HN style - HN was actually the inspiration for the feature):

https://www.helloreads.com/recommendations/new

But I think your right, should open it up a bit on the main page. You don’t need to log in but I think your right, it could be more appealing on the home page. If enough interest, we may fire up the development again and see where it goes now that we know people other than us are also frustratedly with Goodreads.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#109

Post by icebraining »

inapis wrote: post #94
qrv3w wrote: post #77

> The recommendations suck, the lists suck — it’s like, 100 lists telling me to read The Handmaid’s Tale and Harry Potter. I had the same experience with GR and also Amazon.com which constantly peddles the vampire romance books when I am looking for recommendations for horror/fantasy. Both Amazon and GR strategy make sense because best-selling books sell the best, so they should recommend them to increase profits. Ho…

I face this problem with Netflix, Spotify and Youtube too. These algorithmic recommendations just need one improper dataset to throw everything out of the window. For weeks, my spotify is overloaded with instrumental songs. Youtube keeps on repeating the same stuff. Netflix believes that the only thing I watch is science fiction. I'm dying for human curation.

Criticker is automated, and I find its recommendations amazing. (Not affiliated, just a happy user)

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#110

Post by karabesque »

aphextron wrote: post #107
qrv3w wrote: post #77

> The recommendations suck, the lists suck — it’s like, 100 lists telling me to read The Handmaid’s Tale and Harry Potter. I had the same experience with GR and also Amazon.com which constantly peddles the vampire romance books when I am looking for recommendations for horror/fantasy. Both Amazon and GR strategy make sense because best-selling books sell the best, so they should recommend them to increase profits. Ho…

Very cool. Two criticisms though; the font is obnoxious, and you could use an autocomplete.

the font is actually perfect and fits the theme of the site well, while still being easily readable. what makes it obnoxious, other than it not being some variation on fira mono or whatever?
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