Readwise launches Books app with AI features to rival Amazon

Readwise has launched a new application called Readwise Books, aiming to compete directly with Amazon’s dominant position in the digital reading market, according to the published report The bootstrapped startup describes the product as a hybrid of Kindle and Goodreads, offering a unified space for buying, reading and monitoring literary consumption.reported

The evidence

TechCrunch reports that Readwise described the new app as a cross between Kindle and Goodreads.reported It offers a single place to buy, read and track books. The platform provides access to millions of titles from major publishers, initially available in the United States. The store also includes print books fulfilled by Bookshop.org and a selection of audiobooks.

The decision

The company is attempting to build a community around reading without selling dedicated hardware devices. Instead, it focuses on software features that allow users to share progress with friends and track books across different ecosystems. This strategy challenges Amazon’s end-to-end model, which includes proprietary readers and a dominant market share.

The takeaway

Readwise differentiates itself through detailed analytics, likening the experience to Strava for reading. Users can visualise metrics such as words read, pace and immersion levels. These features go beyond simple completion dates, offering deeper insights into individual reading habits and session data.

Building on this

Users can leverage Readwise Books’ ability to track external reading sources. The platform supports syncing with Amazon’s browser-based Cloud Reader, allowing for progress tracking without requiring users to abandon their existing Kindle accounts. Additionally, the support for uploading DRM-free EPUB files enables users to aggregate content from diverse sources. The text-to-speech capability offers another interface for reading ebooks aloud.