It appears that Goodreads reviews and ratings, will no longer appear on Kobo book pages.
In March 2013, Amazon purchased Goodreads, but it seemed Kobo would continue to use their reviews. Mainly due to a lack of their own review structure.
This is no longer the case. It also appears it was a decision by Kobo, not Amazon.
Reviews are really important for indie authors. Now on Kobo, you have none.
Without more on this, it is hard to judge what Kobo is thinking. It appears to be a strange move without having a replacement system in place.
What do you guys think about this? I want to hear your opinion in the comments. It affects you more than anybody.
Here is the article on gigaom.com
Very interesting. I wounder what the reasoning was behind this. Reviews benefit Kobo as well as the author since they help to sell books, and Kobo is in the business of selling books. It would be one thing if they were launching a review platform of their own, but that doesn’t seem to be the case..
Trish McCallan It certainly does seem odd. I assume they have something in the works, but to remove the reviews prior to that being ready to go live? Or at least announcing that it is coming.
It is early days. Kobo might come out with something tomorrow. But right now people are not happy/freaking out.
Oy vey. Seems dumb. At least without another way of leaving reviews.
GarrettRobinson The problem is, people may be on Kobo see a book,, then go elsewhere for reviews/opinions. They may never come back to buy it, getting it on Amazon or somewhere else instead. Seems silly for Kobo as well.