To many people, Amazon is the last word in book selling. Yet it recently forked out $150 million for Goodreads, a book recommendation site. Heres why, according to Jordan Weissman:

• The publishing industry relies on super fans; those who read far more than the average person. 19% of Americans accounted for 79% of all books read in 2010 (other than for work or school)
• Personal recommendations are important and becoming more so. 14% of books were found by personal recommendation in 2010. This was up to 19% in 2012.
• Goodreads offers the opportunity for personal recommendations on a huge scale; ‘in the world of books, Goodreads is about as influential as Facebook’
• As of yet Amazon’s plans for Goodreads are unknown. The problem of writers buying good reviews may mean the new purchase is simply a large store of trustworthy opinions.

For helpful diagrams and the percentage of Americans who  read no books for pleasure in 2010 click here

Source: The Atlantic