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A website that organizes book collections surpassed a milestone last week by reaching 30 million cataloged books — the same week its major investor got acquired by Amazon.com Inc.
Portland, Maine-based LibraryThing Inc. received a majority investment two years ago from Canada-based online bookseller AbeBooks Inc. And though last week’s deal won’t give Amazon any say in LibraryThing’s operations, founder Tim Spalding said he looks forward to talking with the giant online bookseller.
LibraryThing members catalog their books and can see what they have in common with others. The company, which has 460,000 members, was founded in 2005 and adds as many as 1.5 million books a month, Spalding said.
Members who list more than 200 books pay an annual membership fee of $10 or a lifetime fee of $25. The company also generates revenue by selling data to libraries and bookstores.
About 40 companies operate online book catalogs, including Missouri-basd GuruLib, California-based BookBump, and Visual Bookshelf, a Facebook application. Seattle-based Shelfari.com, which launched in 2006, is LibraryThing’s chief competition, Spalding said. Amazon invested an undisclosed amount in Shelfari last year.
Spalding broadened to social networking when he noticed members sharing reading lists. “Now, it’s the Facebook for the bookish,” he said.
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