In the wake of Amazon’s acquisition of Goodreads, we’ve had some blow-back on the fact that LibraryThing charges for a membership to add more than 200 books. In fact, when you go to pay, it’s pay-what-you-want. The money helps pay for the site, and keeps us advertisement-free for members. Also, we believe customers should be customers, with the loyalty and rights of customers, not the thing we sell to our real customers.
However, some people don’t like it. And we want everyone. So, as a test and a welcome, we’re giving out free year’s accounts to everyone who signs up through the end of Sunday. We’ve also upgraded everyone who signed up since 4pm yesterday.
Here’s what the profile comment looks like. You should get it pretty quickly:
Photo by flickr member chamisa flower.
Much appreciated, thank you!
I abandoned LT and moved to Goodreads when it was clear a decent iPhone application was never going to appear. 🙁
Is that available for good old users like myself?
You’ve just made a very sad Goodreads user a bit happier. I will indeed be buying a t-shirt; at least!
So, how exactly do you add your free year? It still asks for payment info when you go to that form.
A script runs every minute and upgrades any new accounts to an annual membership.
Hi there,
I only add books that I have read and want to review – can’t see me reading over 200 books! Just noticed your top contributor has over 65,000 books – I would have to do without food or sleep to reach this figure!
Bad news about Goodreads, well done for jumping into the breach with this special offer.
With Google abandoning Google Reader I’m happier than ever to pay for a service I use. However a mobile app would be great. If the Goodreads app didn’t crash on my phone I’d be using that. All I want to do is scan a barcode when I start reading a book and scan it when I finish and voila, it appears in my library.
How about all the old users who already have free accounts? (like myself)
I thought you guys have been extremely reasonable with your fee. Paying for it makes me feel like you have a certain accountability to me as a customer, so I was glad to become a member. Thanks for the good work!
Thank you! I’ll go over and buy a t-shirt to show my appreciation.
I signed up for LT waaay back in the day, but am pretty much the most inactive user ever. I would really like to take advantage of this free offer to try a membership for a year in the wake of this GR fiasco. Is there any way us old free members could get grandfathered in?
Thanks!
I already discovered this site but the lack of a mobile solution sent me packing to Goodreads. I’m not thrilled about Amazon’s purchase of Goodreads; I’m not an alarmist either. Librarything’s a great site if you sit behind a computer. It’s just not ‘portable’ ; it’s not a match for Goodreads.
What about old free accounts? Will we automatically be upgraded as well, or do I have to create a new account?
LT is the best site. Tim, Jeremy, Abby and all are fantastic people. I’d donate $25.00 again to join but I already belong. Thanks all you wonderful people Happy Easter 😉
All you people when you join don’t forget to add Library Thing to your twitter account. Lots of good information
The $25 I paid LibraryThing 6 years ago this month for a lifetime membership was the best investment I’ve ever made. Not only did I get to catalog my books, but I got to join intelligent reading groups, have made many friends around the world, “won” at least a dozen books from the Early Reviewer program (probably worth more than 10 times my initial investment), and been introduced to all kinds of books I never would have found through the NYTBR or other mainstream reviewing sources.
While it’s much appreciated, I was planning on buying the lifetime membership anyway (and will shortly). It didn’t seem worth it when I was a poor college student, but the longer I’m online the more value I see in being a paying customer for a service instead of being a source of ad data. That, and as a librarian, I’m a huge fan of the LibraryThing for Libraries projects. Thanks, guys, for continuing to be awesome.
I have the free account and don’t list all my books in order to stay under 200. The free-for-a-year offer is tempting, but after a year it’s not free, so that’s no deal. I’ll have to delete too many books. No thanks. Goodreads is free, for now at least.
Yes, what about old free accounts? I forgot about my LT account for a long time but will now probably join the exodus from Goodreads.
Does LT have a way to import the data that is exported from Goodreads?
I’m a long time Goodreads user with hundreds of books read, rated & reviewed.
Sure, see http://www.librarything.com/more/import
Tim – I’m already a lifetime member, but I think it’s fantastic that you’re doing this. 8)
I’ve loved using Librarything for many years. It’s a good incentive to keep track of all the books I read. And I like using it to set up a wishlist or check on reading prospects. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Jeremy, your userbase just grew by 1 user, and GR shrank by 1 user.
Welcome aboard!
Hi, thanks for the offer, I just signed up. I do not know how library thing works, but once I get the hang of it, would it be possible for me to get a life membership before the year is out (in the next few weeks, really)?
Yes, you can do that anytime.
I have several lifetime memberships (personal library, work library, and shopping list library) and still find this a wonderful idea!
I belong to Goodreads as well, but find that it seems to be a book-site for illiterate people. I’ve yet to see any sign of intelligence on that site…
see this discussion of GR and LT at Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/TheBookFrog#!/TheBookFrog/posts/357705741013499
Jeremy, thanks – perhaps I’d better go over to the forum to ask how to do this in practice 🙂
My account still asks for payment
An account created in the last couple days?
I can’t find the free upgrade promised. Where is it?
See your LibraryThing profile page for the notification comment 🙂
I’m a lifetime member since February 12th, 2011. Because my brains work far more better on images than on words I chose LT because I can add images of the front page of the book. Seeing them, I do remember the book… (don’t give me a title). It seems to be a common thing for architects – as I am.
Living in Amsterdam, and mostly reading Dutch books, I have to add quiet a few by hand. I don’t mind this, because its my contribution to the world catalogue 🙂
I want to sign up for the FREE upgrade you are offering but don’t know how? It’s already Sunday so please tell me how or just sign me up. When I go to upgrade it asks for money.
If you’ve created a new account since Thursday afternoon, it’ll be credited automatically.
Can someone point me to explicit directions to import books from Goodreads? I tried and it didn’t work but it did bring up a data file. What should I do from there?
Head over to http://www.librarything.com/import and try uploading your file (you’ll see a “Choose file” button near the top of the page). If you’re still having trouble, feel free to email info@librarything.com with the file and your username and we’ll help out.
great, I enjoy LT better than goodreads, though I am on both, and have paid the lifetime fee. just waiting on the Kindle app LOL
You guys are right! Goodreads was too commercial…all they wanted was money!
Now…where do I pay my membership and buy a t-shirt…..?
Like a couple of others, joined way back and have never regretted the cost. For a price of a couple of paperbacks I can keep track of everything I read forever – not to mention all of the authors I’ve discovered since joining. $25 for a lifetime account that comes with as much or little socializing, suggestions and great online support is a bargain.
Thanks I will enjoy the account!