PW asks: Can Gather.com Get Book Lovers Online? [No.]

December 17, 2005 by wfzimmerman | No comments

Can Gather.com Get Book Lovers Online? - 12/12/2005 - Publishers Weekly:

It’s no secret that publishers have yet to figure out the best way to leverage the marketing power of the Internet. The Web remains something of a technological pi�ata for the industry: it has the promise of yielding great rewards if only someone could find a way in. Gather.com thinks it has.

Established in November and now with a membership of just over 5,000, the Boston-based dot-com is a mix between a lifestyle portal and a content aggregator. Offering users the opportunity to publish their own content and then rate that of other members, Gather’s founders hope the site will give users something that the blogosphere-at-large does not: a built-in audience. [Huh?]

While much of Gather’s staff comes from outside of publishing, the company has hired former B&N.com executive Carl Rosendorf as president and COO. Rosendorf’s appointment is a move Gather publicist Lisa Hurd-Walker (herself a former staffer at Barefoot Books) said demonstrates the site’s dedication to the book space. “Developing relationships with publishers is one of our highest priorities.”

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Publishers Weekly bizarrely gave this startup with a tiny audience a full-page spread.

It looks like they want people to contribute free content so they can make money from selling advertising.

I see absolutely no reason for either publishers or readers to bother with this site. The action is in the blogosphere and this startup is massively clueless.

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