Readwise takes on Amazon’s Kindle and Goodreads with its new app for book lovers

You can now buy and read e-books from a new independent store that tracks your reading in detail.

Readwise, known for its read-it-later app and digital reading companion, has launched Readwise Books, a new app that enters the e-book market, directly challenging Amazon's Kindle and Goodreads. The app functions as an e-book store, allowing users to buy, read, and track their progress, similar to Goodreads but with more detailed reading analytics. It aims to offer richer data such as words read, pace, depth, immersion, and session tracking, likening its metrics to "Strava for reading." The store offers millions of e-books from major publishers, initially in the U.S., with plans for international expansion, and also includes print books and some audiobooks. Readwise Books provides features to track reading from other platforms, including Kindle's Cloud Reader and physical books via photo uploads, and supports DRM-free EPUB uploads. The app will also incorporate AI-powered features like session recaps and lookups, with some advanced AI functionalities expected to move behind a paywall later.

Readwise is disrupting the established e-book landscape by directly competing with Amazon's dominant Kindle platform and Goodreads' social reading features. By offering a unified experience for purchasing, reading, and analyzing book consumption with detailed metrics, Readwise aims to capture users seeking more insight into their reading habits beyond simple tracking. The company's focus on detailed analytics, likened to "Strava for reading," could appeal to a segment of readers who value quantifiable progress and data-driven self-improvement, potentially challenging the status quo set by Amazon's end-to-end ecosystem.

The launch signifies a growing trend of independent platforms attempting to carve out niches within the tech giants' empires, leveraging open technologies and community building. Readwise's embrace of a public API and support for AI agents hints at future integrations and customization possibilities for power users and developers. While Harper Collins is the only publisher currently supporting advanced AI features, this partnership, coupled with Readwise's open approach, could encourage other publishers to explore similar collaborations, potentially fostering a more fragmented yet feature-rich e-book market.