bookishThe social media site Bookish has been acquired by Zola Books, Publishers Weekly reported on Monday.

The site went live in 2013 backed by three of the five big publishers: Hachette, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster.

Zola founder and CEO Joe Regal told PW:

“Zola and Bookish share a vision of a richer reader experience, connecting readers to their favorite books, authors, tastemakers they trust, and of course to other readers. E-books are becoming personal social networks. Not only can we can read them on phones and devices that we carry with us, but we can also share and comment right inside the reading apps themselves.”

Bookish faces stiff competition from Goodreads, the most popular book sharing site on the web with millions of users. Goodreads allows recommendations that are often found through other readers.

Bookish has a recommendation technology using an algorithm, which seems to be its biggest asset.

Publishers Weekly added:

The recommendation engine Bookish has built will be incorporated into Zola’s site and this, Regal thinks, “is going to be really significant.” While Regal could not share details about how the Bookish algorithm would be added to Zola, he said it will happen “in the months to come” and he could explain more once “we have more insight into their technology.”

Book sharing sites face a difficult task in trying cut into Goodreads’ users. Many were ready to jump off the site when Amazon announced it purchased it last year. However, not much has changed yet since Amazon has taken over and the buzz surrounding the criticisms has died a bit.

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