Kirkus Reviews closed today, taking away about 5,000 book reviews a year–a tremendous loss for the publishing industry. In a world without these useful reviews, how will people find out about new books?
This week, Goodreads, the social network for readers, just scored $2 million in new financing with the help of True Ventures. Publishers Weekly has the scoop: “Goodreads will use the new funds to improve the site and create more features around reading ranging from quizzes to bookswaps to e-book support tools.” Goodreads has a booming community of 2,600,000 readers, who have panned and celebrated 64,000,000 books.
As traditional review outlets disappear, online communities may be one of the last places where readers can go to find out about new books. Here at GalleyCat we would love to create some sort of a community book review feature for our readers. Email us if you are interested in joining the conversation.