Readwise, the maker of a read-it-later app and digital reading companion that keeps track of your highlights across services, is now taking on Amazon’s e-book empire with its latest app, Readwise Books. The app is an e-book store also helps you track what you’ve read, similar to Amazon’s Goodreads.
The bootstrapped startup described the new app as “a cross between Kindle and the Goodreads apps,” as it offers a single place to buy, read, and track books. However, Readwise Books aims to offer more detailed reading stats, than the dates you read a book and whether you finished it. It lets readers visualize richer reading data like words read, pace, depth, immersion, and sessions.
Meanwhile, its new store offers “millions” of ebooks from the big five publishers and others, initially in the U.S., with more countries to come. Print books (fulfilled by Bookshop.org’s distributor) and some audiobooks are available as well, the company notes.
The launch comes at a time when there’s been an explosion of new reading apps and book trackers, all hoping to challenge Goodreads by introducing new…