Amazon has discontinued several services in recent months. They announced they were sun-setting Kindle Vella, a short-form book reading service initially launched to compete with Wattpad. It is also the end of the line for Amazon’s free ad-supported streaming service, Freevee, a no-cost TV service. Amazon also announced in September they were killing off Kindle Flashcards. This was a program to help you study, increase your vocabulary, and have many options. Will Amazon Book Clubs be the following service to get the axe?
Amazon Book Clubs went into early access in late 2020. Readers can join public groups focusing on specific genres, such as mysteries, romance or science-fiction. Book Clubs can be private and invite-only or public. Each club has a little blurb on the focus and their number one recommendation. Clicking on the recommendation takes you to the Amazon listing. I think this is an interesting new system that should have plenty of new features before it officially launches. Many of the top Amazon editors and famous authors have their book clubs recommending a monthly title.
Amazon Book Clubs landing page allows you to search for a book club, start a book club, or configure settings. I like the ability to start a page and have my friends upload books they read or recommend. Amazon also emails you when you join the first club, informing you about key features. It is a simpler and and elegant system. There are many top clubs with over 100,000 readers that have joined it.
Creating a club is simple. From the Amazon Book Clubs landing page, click Create a Club. You’ll be able to customize your book club details and set the privacy for your club. As the club’s creator, you will automatically become a club administrator, which allows you to update your club information, add current and upcoming books, add books your club has read in the past, and manage your club’s members and suggestions.
Amazon has never advertised their Book Club service, not even a press release, when it first launched. The company does not promote it, nor are they courting well-known or best-selling authors to start their club to reach critical mass. It remains unclear if any of the top book clubs are making any money with people buying print or digital books on Amazon, or earning affiliate fees?
This makes me think this will be another Amazon service that will also be discontinued. It has quietly launched and been running, and most readers don’t even know it exists.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.