PopSyndicate.com

Online retail giant Amazon is reported to be the proud owner of Seattle-based Shelfari. The social network allows avid readers to share what’s on their bookshelf, recommend reads to other readers, and gives authors another venue to connect with fans and new readers. The announcement has not been officially confirmed, but it does fit with Amazon’s recent mass purchases to knock out competition and create a monopoly in the online book world. This year, Amazon purchased AbeBooks and it stopped allowing self published and POD authors from selling via the site unless they had used Book Surge.