Working for Free: Reviewing Books for Goodreads and Amazon

A while back, I read Whitman’s Hitler’s American Model and took a few notes, intending to write a review. I decided not to finish the review (the notes are here) but before I stopped working on it, I looked it up in Goodreads I was struck by their high quality. there were many reviews in the 500 to 1000 word range and they’re very good. People are just giving away this work. In the old days these reviews would’ve been published in newspapers and the authors paid. Goodreads is owned by Amazon, which is one of the richest and most successful corporations in the world. And here we have these erudite, knowledgeable authors giving Amazon work for free? Really?

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