Yeah, I agree on all three those points. And they seem like strong reasons for alternatives to exist, but wondering why it seems like a non-contested product category. Wonder what we are missing that gives it such a strong moat.
It is super super hard to make this work financially, where as for Amazon the 370 people they have at Goodreads are a rounding error.
If you want to support what I am doing at Shepherd I'd love some new Founding Members, that is helping me a lot but we are still not break even on monthly costs: https://forauthors.shepherd.com/membership