Aye mateys, I wanted to share this with you as you may be interested in a discussion on having annas-archive linked to the fedi.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9006151
Hello everyone,
Books are still one of the most important sources of information we have as a human species. However, the media on which this information has been stored has changed considerably over time and with it its accessibility and influence on our society.
Nowadays you can find an enormous range of books and texts online. Most of the time, however, access to them is extremely fragmented, difficult to find, subject to a fee, incompatible with the software platform of your choice or, in the worst case, goes under with its provider over time.
To counteract this, annas-archive was founded to make the knowledge stored in the texts and books openly accessible and to preserve it for future generations. On the other hand, there are platforms such as Goodreads that aim to simplify the joy of reading and the exchange of information, as well as the review and discussion of books and texts.
Unfortunately, Goodreads is a centralized, proprietary solution that in addition also happens to be owned by Amazon. BookWyrm is a decentralized, open source alternative in the fediverse that steps in right here.
Now here’s the kicker: what if we combined the power of both platforms? What if we combined the enormous book database of annas-archive with the fediverse, i.e. BookWyrm? Annas archive could benefit from reviews and discussions about the books and BookWyrm could expand its still very limited database many times over.
From my point of view, this would be the perfect combination of two already great projects. What do you think?
TL:DR What do you think about combining annas-archive with the fediverse (BookWyrm)
Seems like a really cool concept. Something I’d be curious about is if there are ways to encourage people to support the authors as well.
I’ve been reading the Honor Harrington book series from my local library system but I noticed them on sale in Amazon. The Kindle versions of the books are “DRM-Free at the request of the author”. That right there convinced me to buy the books.
A way to “tip” the authors anonymously would be a great addition.
I’d love an implementation where under each book you would have the option to donate a custom amount to directly support the author and/or the library.
I know some people (albeit mainly writers of gaming-related and gaming-adjacent works) use itch.io for this, because it has a built-in ability to let people pay what they want with a minimum amount to get the product.
Edit: Now that I think about it I’ve seen comics there too.
Honor Harrington books in the Baen free library were what got me into ebooks!
I would hope that donations to the author or something could be a way to fix that at least a little.
Yeah thought about it too. Maybe annas archive could develop into a book publishing platform one day?