Book Business Extra! Q&A -- The President of LibraryThing.com Talks About the Web Site’s Growth
Extra!: Social networking sites on the Internet seem to be all the rage these days. Why do you feel book lovers have taken to the Web when there have traditionally been book clubs, libraries and book stores where people can congregate and discuss books?
TS: You can, perhaps, ask people at a cocktail party whether they’ve read “Harry Potter” or “Memoirs of a Geisha.” But you can’t sidle up to someone and inquire about “Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army.” There are eighteen people on LibraryThing I can talk to about that book. The best analogue to LibraryThing is when you go over to someone’s house and spend time browsing through their shelves. You can get a picture of the whole person and talk about where your connection is strongest.