JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 30 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
The alter-ego of a mild-mannered bookseller, Bookseller Chick (known to those who love and hate her as BS Chick) fights for literacy, freedom, originality, and a paycheck in the corporate confines of a retail book chain.
Statistics for Bookseller Chick
Number of Readers that added this blog to their MyJacketFlap: 14
Every time I run across commentary on DRM and ebooks I'm reminded of the xkcd comic on DRM and music. This time it was Smart Bitches column DRM-free publishers that triggered my quick search of the xkcd archives. The idea that readers would want to read something on whatever device the own? Absurd!
Everyone knows those computer thingies will never catch on!
The quote from Elizabeth of Dreamspinner press as it gets to heart of books and readers:
Ultimately happy customers buy more books and the type of reader that seeks out free pirated titles isn’t going to buy them in the first place.
So true. Although the key words here are "free pirated titles." As the SB column goes on to drive home (in both the column and the comments) it's that a lot of people stripping DRM from ebooks are doing so because they've already bought the content but want/have to--for whatever reason--switch it to another device. It's not because they want to send it to everyone in their family or give it to the population of China, they just want to put it on their Sony reader from their Kindle.
Or download it onto their new laptop.
God forbid we would want to reread the book.
0 Comments on Please (sort of) Steal This Book as of 1/1/1900
Since the move I've been visiting the library a great deal more than I used to and I've been reminded of what a great catalog we have here in Portland. My reasons for library-ing it instead of buying are many-- the proximity, the economy, the fact that I no longer receive free books--but the result is the same:
I'm wait-listed, like everyone else.
It seems the world has rediscovered free:
Check out all the coolness of the most wonderful library comic of all at Unshelved.com.
Too bad a crappy economy means that while circulation is up, the money for library budgets is probably in the tank.
2 Comments on It lives...at the library, last added: 4/6/2009
I work for a large system, with multiple branches - and circulation has spiked the most in those areas that we consider our more "affluent." Circulation at our "working class" branches has held steady - but then these are the communities that have always traditionally used the library. Whether the economy is going gangbusters or in the toilet.
I haven't had a chance to look at hard Internet usage numbers - but the librarians in the field tell me that computer usage is through the roof. A scary thought since it's never exactly been slow for us.
And yes, budgets are tanking. We're "OK" where I work at for the moment - but a new fiscal year is coming up for us in July and we're all crossing our fingers.
It doesn't surprise me that it is just the affluent areas experiencing the spike. As a kid we always went to the library, that's where we got our books, and I don't remember making the transition to bookstores until the family business really caught on.
When I walked into our local branch the other day, there were lines to use the computers and the holds shelves were packed. For the first time in my library patronage my hold was actually pulled on time, instead of still being there when I arrived a day late.
If you do run across any hard numbers that you would like to share I would love to see them. I would also love to know which books are getting checked out more just to see if it correlates to anything.
Merry Holidays everyone. We've been in the new house a few weeks, but we just got the kitchen up and there are still no bookshelves (so it feels really, really naked). I'll be back after New Years!
I've been in the process of moving for the last few days so I apologize for the belated Thanksgiving (to all those in the United States, a very, very belated Thanksgiving to all you Canadians, and to everyone else, happy weekend). Between getting the house ready to move into and trying to weed through four years of accumulated stuff, blogging has been the last thing I've had energy for. Once we get internet at the new place though we should be back up and running.
0 Comments on Happy Belated Thanksgiving as of 1/1/1900
I’m hanging out in a bookstore the other day, waiting on a car swap when I happened to overhear a cell phone conversation going on a couple sections over. A woman with serious cell phone voice* was talking to her daughter.
“What table was it on?”
She asked this about three times as she circled some display tables.
“I don’t see it, what was it called again?”
More circling of the tables before wandering into the children’s section.
“Honey, I don’t see any book by that title.”
Back when I was bookselling this would have been my cue to pop over and ask if she needed help finding anything, but as I was no longer bookselling I just continued to eavesdrop as it was obvious that the daughter WANTED THIS BOOK (yes, the caps were necessary).
“Honey, I just don’t see a book called Twilight anywhere. Are you sure that’s the title?”
Suddenly it was all becoming clear—but even clearer then the daughter’s need to read the book all of her friends had was the huge display of Stephanie Meyer’s books on one of the tables the woman had looked at. I’m talking gigantic, with the books in a water fall display down over the side of the table to the floor with Twilight in both paperback editions playing a central part.
“I just don’t see it. You’re going to have to come to the store with me next time and we’ll look then.”
Call it latent bookselling syndrome or whatever, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed a copy of the trade sized Twilight** off the table and walked over to where the woman was still talking.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I think you’re looking for this.” I held it out to her in a manner—now that I think of it—reminiscent of the book’s cover with its apple. As I walked away I heard her tell her daughter:
“Some girl heard us talking and just found it for me.”
She also handed you the more expensive copy, lady, but bookstores can use all the up-sells they can get right now.
*Cell Phone Voice: the phenomenon where cell phones users voice automatically becomes three decibels louder when they are having a conversation on their phone. Note: Studies have shown that Cell Phone Voice is not necessarily a reflection of the quality of reception the user is experiencing.
**I’m anti Movie Tie in (MTI) covers as for the most part they are ugly. The Twilight MTI cover makes me think that Robert Pattinson is contemplating eating my face.
0 Comments on Can’t see the Books for the Trees: A bookstore experience as of 1/1/1900
I hate movie tie in covers too! Or TV tie ins. I actually didn't buy a book last week (Tanya Huff) because it had a hideous TV tie in cover. Sick I know, but I couldn't get past it. I wanted the BOOK! Not the book sold because of the short-lived TV show. I'm hoping there are still copies in the world without that cover. Things like this make me worry about myself, so it's nice to hear others mention it...
I had a similar experience just yesterday-I was in a B&N and a woman went up to the cashier,asking for a books about "Bees." After a moment,it became clear that she was looking for The Secret Life of Bees,which was displayed near the entrance with a number of other books that had movie tie-in covers.
The Bee seeking woman wasn't alone,she was attending to a person in a wheelchair(who appeared to be paraplegic,judging by the way she was positioned).
The register clerk told her to go to the Customer Service counter,which is located in the middle of the store. It's not bad for regular walking around but tricky for someone conveying another person thru the various display tables and large racks of stuff.
I grabbed up a copy of the book and went over to the Bee woman,before she had to make that trip. She was pleased to get it so quickly and paid for it right away.
As a former book seller myself,I can understand if the cashier wasn't allowed to leave her station to offer some hands on assistance but considering that this lady had a wheelchair bound person to attend to,I don't see why the clerk didn't tell her that the book was right up front there.
Perhaps the clerk didn't know,but I still don't see how she could not know that-the book's been a big bestseller for awhile,plus the movie only came out a few weeks ago!
See what you started here,Linsey? Folks will be just helping out strangers all over the place:) Oh,and yes,I did give her the dreaded MTI cover edition(I personally don't mind those)-the words are still the same,right?:)
I do that with people in bookstores all the time. I don't know what it is about me; I've never worked in a bookstore. I just look like I know about books, somehow (which is actually true, I do know about books, but how does my demeanor convey that?).
Every now and then I can annoy the heck out of an information person, though. In Powell's City of Books the other day (in my estimation, the best bookstore in the country), I was looking for The Adventures of Amir Hamza, but couldn't remember the name of the book for the life of me. All I could remember was "Amir," and I thought it was "The Tales of Amir [Somebody]." The person at the desk, not surprisingly, couldn't find it on her computer, even when I helpfully added that it was either Modern Library or Library of America.
After asking, and not getting, I trotted myself over to the Middle Eastern section of the bookstore and found it. Which is what I should have done in the first place. And what, I suppose, the person at the information desk should have done, too.
I know that it has been (the living) dead around here lately, for which I apologize for the shallowness of another link post, but in honor of the holiday I wanted to post these links:
In case you were on the fence about buying it, the SF Signal reviews the zombie anthology The Living Dead as well as several other Halloween appropriate books. Somehow I don't think my mustket will protect me...Note to self: Buy crowbar.
In honor of Zombies, how about a little Yuppie Brain Juice from i09. Yum!
While you're having a drink, you can check out Bookgasm's review of Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide to plan your movie viewing during los dias de los muertes (which I believe is the name of a very bad zombie movie I saw on the scifi channel not too long ago, but I could be wrong).
I've been in painting lala land the last several days (someday we will be able to move into the house, I know we will), but this had to be posted. An agreement has been reached in the Google Book Search dispute and you can read the actual settlement here. The O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing blog has a round-up of blogging reactions to the the settlement. If you've got the time, it's worth reading how people are taking the news, and how they think it will impact the future of how we read.
Personanondata, Michael Cairns, has posted his own thoughts as well.
The Science Fiction Genre has been a hot topic on the interwebs these last few days. To catch you up:
First we have io9s Why Science Fiction Still Hates Itself--a look at science fiction shows on tv and their attempts to distance themselves from their genre.
Here is my take on the Borders decision: SciFi probably isn't the only section affected. Their new concept stores are based on the idea of fewer titles to allow for more face outs. More face outs means a better chance at that title catching a browser's eye, but it also means there is not as much shelf space for other titles and authors, especially stock that may run one or two books per store.
This doesn't stop people from special ordering a book for in store pick up. I've read that booksellers are saying they can't order the books in, but personally, I read that as booksellers can't order books in to put on the shelves. If you want a Tobias Buckell title, they can special order it for you in the store or you can set it up via their website. If they show a high number of special orders then they might change their mind about a particular title. I could be wrong--I have been before and will be again--and these titles might not show up even on the website, but it is worth a try.
And is there a moratorium against ordering SciFi on all the stores? That depends on the management. If you've got a bookseller who thinks they can really hand-sell a title, it’s up to the manager whether or not they order in the book be it from the warehouse or from Partners West, etc. While big box stores don't specialize to the level of the independents you do have to know your customer base. We were crazy about ordering specifically for our clientele at my old store, and we had the sales numbers to back it up.
Borders is making a business decision, but if a particular store can prove the stock is necessary to not miss out on the business (e.g. you are the Borders in Gregory Frost's home town), then an argument could be made to stock a title or author on a case by case basis. Lord Tophet, for example, is available on the Borders website.
This is not a defense of the Borders decision, so much as a perspective. Do I agree with the decision? Not in the way it has been phrased, a bookstore is there to sell books, and the best bookstores know their customers. As a company Borders has a tendency to forget that by simplifying everything down to price per item, upselling at the register, and other numbers that forget about the very human aspect of bookselling. The best booksellers are people who love books and know how to talk books to other people. The best booksellers have titles that they would walk across hot coals to hand-sell--to convert the non-reader to whatever the bookseller loves.
0 Comments on Entering the SciFi Zone as of 1/1/1900
YOu are correct that Borders isn't stopping special orders, however due to training/management slip ups, readers of mine reported to me that they were told so (though that is *not* policy, it's indicative to me of how far off Borders has fallen in training/management/quality).
My original post, is at: http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2008/09/15/that-borders-thing/
Most people have passed on the message that I'm against Borders, calling for a boycott, and am angry, I would encourage people to please read my neutral, details-oriented post on the details I'd gathered about Borders skipping my books. All I was trying to do was explain to my concerned fans why my latest *hardcover* wasn't to be found at Borders, but my paperbacks were.
Tobias, I didn't read your post as particularly anti-borders. I used your name (to which I've added your link, I didn't include it originally as it is in the SF Signal piece) as an example since you've commented on the policy.
It's unfortunate that the closer you get to the holidays the more slips ups will happen due to the increase of part time holiday help who receive little training before being thrown out on the floor. Most of those employees will work only a few hours a week, and their knowledge, or lack there of, is a reflection on their trainer. It falls then to the customer to know what they can, and cannnot do, which is not how retail operates.
I think that the Borders problems we're seeing today are the result of a lot of decisions made under Greg Josefowicz's reign as CEO. A lot of policies during that time focused on treating books like one would items at a grocery store, and while point of sell and average price per purchase are important things to think about, it ignores the heart and power that engaged booksellers bring to the buying public. This doesn't stop managers out there from hiring excellent booksellers and allowing to build their pet sections, but it does bind those employees who are hired by management that thinks in the same supermarket terms.
When I first heard about Internet Explorer's new Incognito Mode, I reaked out. Immediately I emailed all my techie friends with questions like "What does this mean?" and more importantly, "How will I ever get an accurate viewer number from my Google Analytics program now?"
Reactionary? Very much so. Not only was I not posting with any regularity at this moment (nor had I been for some time), but I wasn't looking at the big reader picture. Why should I care whether or not someone is using a version of the Incognito mode to read my blog when there are already many other possible readers I can't quantify?
Google Analytics, as well as any other analytics programs, can only measure hits to my actual web page and therefore cannot measure any syndicated content or people reading via RSS feeds. This means that not only can I not measure any possible readers on JacketFlap or LiveJournal (where this site is syndicated), but I can't "see" anyone using bloglines, Feed Burner, Google Reader or another program. Since I've authorized a full content feed the only reason someone would need to visit my actual URL would be to comment or to view content that doesn't transfer (e.g. Flash content like Sprout is not viewable in Google Reader), and even then the information I receive is negligable as you can see below.
So is there anyway to measure your RSS feed readers?
You can always look on the blog reader sites. A quick search of Google Reader the following information regarding my blog and others.
But whether people are actually reading the content, skimming, or even using the Google Reader account anymore remains to be seen.
You can set up a web bug (a concept I don't really understand in practice) or a bounce page to measure anyone who signs up for you blog through a certain reading device. Still this tells you nothing about who is reading your content and what they would be interested in reading next. Are they readers? Your family? That creepy person who won't leave you alone on Facebook?
In the end, unless you are really looking to make money from your blog (via click throughs on ad content, etc) numbers won't matter as much to you. Instead you should keep the following in mind:
If you are referencing something in the side bar, that side bar will not be visible to anyone using sydicated content, so you'll need to be specific so readers can decide if they want to click though to see it.
If you're just posting flash widgets, let people know, as with Google Reader at least, no one will see it.
If you're using a blog reading device yourself, I would suggest you sign up to follow your own RSS feed. This way you can see how long it takes scheduled content to actually hit your reader* and also to see what (if anything) does not transmit (that's how I found out about flash).
Analytics programs can be addicting if only for the randomness of why someone clicks on your blog,** I know I'm a recovering addict, but as an author don't let your readership drive your content unless it is something you are interested in writing about. Blogging shouldn't be something you dread.
*Edited to add: for example, this post didn't hit my Google Reader until three hours after its scheduled post:
** For the person who keeps searching with the term "the sale of this book without its cover" I can tell you that means the book was stripped and therefore cannot be sold legally.
0 Comments on Measuring the Immeasurable: The Who, What, Why Edition as of 1/1/1900
Stephen King talks about what makes "Manfiction," although I know a lot of women who read these books as well.
readergirlz has been celebrating YALSA Teen Read week all week with Night Bites, and tonight they are hosting a fit of fantasy. Go chat with Holly Black, Ted Naifeh, Dia Calhoun and Tamora Pierce at the readergirlz Forum on MySpace.
You may have noticed that the recommendations leading up to this Halloween have been a little Zombified. This is not due to any great love I have for the horror genre in general, but due to a very personal fear I have of zombies specifically.
You see, right up there in the top five things that I fear above else—ranking higher than spiders and abandonment even—resides zombies.
Of all the mythical out-to-get-me creatures, I find zombies to be the most horrifying. Vampires seem like someone you might be able to reason with (or perhaps he’ll spare me due to realizing that I’m the other half of his tortured soul), werewolves can be stopped with bullets (if you shoot them, do they not yelp in pain?), but Zombies are unstoppable unless you whack off their heads and even then its questionable. With no pain censors or thought process to convince them of possible failure they just keep mwaaaaahing along, eventually knocking through walls, crashing through fences or otherwise compromising your safety zone.
Yes, I know they are not real. Fast zombies from 28 Days Later are not going to get me, I should not worry about the possible creation of a Monster Island.
Yes, I know I should worry more about the economy being in the crapper and the possibility of going broke. Even someone breaking into my apartment is a much more likely scenario, but that is not what haunts my Benadryl-fueled nightmares. That is not what lurks in the shadows and follows me down dark streets at night.
Zombies scare the hell out of me, and because they do, I’ve found myself oddly fascinated and unable to turn away from Zombie related literature. I swear, it knows my neuroses and calls to them.
At the store I became the defacto zombie expert because we didn’t have a horror fan working for us at the time, and through this I found David Wellington and Max Brooks before they became the Zombie lit go to guys they are today. And while I don’t sell books any longer, I still seem to be subconsciously on the lookout for Zombie related stuff which may very well tie in to my constant vigilance for actual Zombies.
Part of my sick fascination/fear dichotomy with Zombies has to do with a need to understand the science behind them. If you buy into the idea that they are, in fact, out to eat your brains as opposed to your flesh, then how do they create more Zombies? If the brain has been devoured what’s sending out signals to those jittery body parts to keep them moving in the drive for replacement brain sustenance? If in fact Zombie actually just crave flesh, why do they stop eating the body so that new Zombies arise? Why don’t they eat it all?
Is it like the fact that we don’t the whole pig/chicken/cow?*
And then the little part of me that contains the remnants of my biology degree starts thinking about Zombieism and how it would relate to Creutzfeldt-Jakob, Kuru, and other spongiform encephalopathic diseases. What if the need to eat brain is due to the disease’s need to replace the misfolded prions with untainted nerve matter? If so, wouldn’t that make Zombies much more likely to attack children as nerves cells continue to grow and produce up until a human is seven years old (at least I think that is the age)? And if that is the case, could you treat zombieism as a disease by injecting the infected with nerve cells grown in a lab environment?
Which makes me want to know if this would lead to Republicans finally backing stem cell research as a way to keep their kids from becoming Zombie snacks?
Welcome to my brain. Could I overthink this anymore?
Why, yes, yes I could.
But I’ll keep it to myself and instead provided some more zombie related books and merchandise that will have you craving raw brain (with or without the Chianti and fava beans):
Check out a youtube video of Max Brooks talking about Zombie Survival.
If you buy into the whole zombieism as a rage disease, then you should browse Scott Sigler's new novel Infected.
Please feel free to add your zombie recommendations and add to my related neuroses below.
*And were we to do a zombie survey, would we discover that humans taste like any or all of the above? Does it matter whether or not the person ate meat?
0 Comments on Please Pass the Brains as of 1/1/1900
Ruth said, on 10/16/2008 11:00:00 AM
Check out the book Zombie CSU for lots more zombie talk. This one takes you from the alleged zombie crime scene through interviews with forensics experts to military opinions on fighting zombie crime. It's filled with illustrations from a variety of disturbed artists, and contains author commentary from an avid zombie fan since childhood.
You're not the only one overthinking. My best friend comes up with a Zombie Escape Plan for every place she stays overnight. She looks around the place and decides what she'll do if "28 Days Later" becomes real life. Basically, we'll get in the car and go to my parents' secluded mountain house.
First, let me say that I love your blog and read it religiously, but I haven't commented before now, because I didn't have anything useful to add. Your perspective and advice on the business? Priceless. Your entertaining writing? MORE priceless.
I can add, however, that I went out and bought a crowbar after reading World War Z because a crowbar is the best civilian weapon against the zombies. Yep. A real crowbar. In response to a fictional book.
John Green's cohort Alan Gratz has posted a free online version of his Young Adult mystery novel, Something Rotten, on his website. This freebie is brought to you by its sequel--the forthcoming Something Wicked--Hamlet and the letters W and S.
0 Comments on Free Online Young Adult Novel as of 1/1/1900
OT, but I wanted to tell you, Bookseller Chick, that it's good to see you posting here again. I'm a longtime lurker, and I missed your posts while you were gone from the blog.
Thank you, Katherine. I'm trying to get back to the blogging swing of things so hopefully you'll be reading a lot more posts in the future, but it really means a lot to me that you've stuck around. If you thoughts for those future posts, please let me know.
If you're looking for something a little gory and different check out this very cool looking photo novel called Night Zero (thanks to Skidmore Bluffs for recommendation). I don't know how often the artist/writer posts, but Zombie-esque disease taking out most of Seattle and the rest of the world looks to be keeping with the Halloween spirit.
0 Comments on More Zombie fun...For Free! as of 1/1/1900
Thanks for the link, Bookseller Chick! Night Zero updates every Monday-Wednesday-Friday. We actually have the whole first episode (43 pages) ready to post, and Episode Two is being shot now.
Within the next couple months we'll also have it available in print, which really gives the high-definition images the punch they deserve.
The Zombie Apocalpyse...in Legos because Lego Zombies really were the final frontier. While you're hanging at i09 you can also figure out if you'll survive a real zombie apocalpse (because while you definitely be able to out run the legos, books and movies in recent years have let me to believe that the real things are a bit faster.
0 Comments on Just in time for Halloween as of 1/1/1900
For book lovers everywhere, you can check out "Interesting Inscriptions" from famous writers at Abe Books.
Cory Doctorow is offering up his newest book Content for free. Unlike his other works, this is filled with the nonficiton pieces he's written over the years. What's even better is that readers have created different formats of the book which are all available at his site. Go,Read!
0 Comments on Free books, Books for the presidential campaign and more as of 1/1/1900
Unless we’re reading aloud, reading is an inherently solitary act; however it doesn’t stay that way. Whether we love the book or hate it, more often than not we then discuss what we’ve read with friends and family, our book group, or via some other venue (email, blogging, etc). By cataloging our books through an online library program we have another way to take the reading experience from its private state and make it communal. It allows us to create a visual or textual database to view, rate and review our collections, and share that process with others.
"My friend just turned me on to this site: www.goodreads.com. It's like if myspace didn't suck and was occupied by book nerds. Crack, I tell you. Crack." — kxm (GoodReads.com Press page)
Finally the literati have a place to congregate and talk about what they love—books. From 2006 on, online book cataloguing sites like Shelfari, LibraryThing and GoodReads have provided venues for readers to connect with other readers. What may begin with the simple act of uploading an ISBN or entering a Title or Author into a site search engine can evolve into a review, discussion, friendship or newly discovered favorite author. And through that same ability that allows a reader to find other readers who liked (or hated) a particular book an author can connect with their fan base.
In my previous post “GoodReads, Shelfari and LibraryThing: a Features Comparison” I outlined some of the similarities and differences in the features found on each site. For anyone just looking for a place to load their books and keep track of what title is loaned to which friend, the choice of site will be a matter of taste. But for an author, these sites can become a place to cultivate and connect with readers on and offline, so it’s important to decide based on the options they provide.
Since not all social book networking sites are built equally, for the sake of this discussion we are going to focus on the two that are really working to connect authors to readers: LibraryThing and GoodReads.com. Shelfari, while visually appealing, does not appear to have any programs in place to bridge the author/reader divide.
The LibraryThing Early Reviewers program allows the author to get their book out there before publication date and build word of mouth via reviews. The book giveaways are organized on a monthly basis, with the new book list added near the beginning of every month. Each book is posted along with a corresponding flag representing the countries the publisher is willing to ship to. Once the winning names have been chosen, LibraryThing provides the publisher with the names and address of the winners so that the books may be sent out.
The GoodReads Book Giveaway program operates similarly to that of LibraryThing, although it is not organized on a month to month basis. As with LibraryThing, the publisher or person who listed the book is responsible for the books distribution to whatever countries they indicated. Any discussion regarding the title will then appear on the books page along with any reviews the giveaway might prompt.
While book giveaways and early reader programs help generate word of mouth, events listings give the author an opportunity to connect with fans offline as well. An event placed in LibraryThing Local will appear on the home page of any reader within five miles of the address. These events are also reflected on the author’s own profile for their fans to read should they click through. LibraryThing Local also includes a comprehensive list of bookstores found in the reader’s area, and this function can be useful to authors looking to plan formal signings or drop ins.
GoodReads also has an event program, and this event program links to individual reader homepage that fall within a radius of the event site. The event listings are not as comprehensive as those found on LibraryThing which has actively cultivated relationships with local bookshops. Also local bookstore listings are currently no where to be found on the GoodReads site, but as GoodReads gains in popularity and continues to grow, this may change.
Active LibraryThing user authors are distinguished from their non-participating counterparts by an emblem, which comes with the possibility of being highlighted as featured author, inclusion on the LibraryThing author page, and allows the author complete control over their author profile. LibraryThing Authors can also participate in LibraryThing’s new Chat program. These chats are scheduled over a series of days (two weeks max) to allow authors to talk up their new books or just open up discussion with readers.
Unfortunately LibraryThing Author Chat does not seem to have a corresponding link to the authors profile at this time, which means the author would have to publicize the chat in some other fashion. Authors could advertise their Chats on other social networking platforms, blogs or websites and that their fans will be able to access the ongoing conversation without having a LibraryThing account. Please note, however that they will not be able to comment unless they are a member.
The GoodReads author discussion program suffers from the same disconnect. While the discussions can be started informally at any time (to last a maximum of two weeks) they do not correspond to the writer’s profile. This means that once again the reader must actively search for it, the author must update their profile to reflect it, or have advertised through some other social venue to bring in readers. This is slightly easier on GoodReads as they offer applications for Facebook and MySpace (as well as applications for various web blogging sites) whereas LibraryThing has just finished their beta versions of their LiveJournal and MySpace applications.
An area that GoodReads has used to differentiate their own author program from others is to enable authors to post excerpts or samples of their writing. Any GoodReads member can post writing on the site, but for authors this allows an opportunity to provide more for their readers by posting first chapters, short stories, scenes, etc. These writing postings are then reflected on the author’s profile for anyone who clicks through to view.
Authors can also add book trailers to their profile. These trailers also appear on the GoodReads author page where a round up of all GoodRead authors are placed. GoodRead members can comment on their effectiveness by voting for whether or not they enjoyed the trailer and also by commenting on the author’s profile (if the author has enable comments).
Unlike LibraryThing, GoodReads appears to have an option for ebooks, which would make it perfect for the writers who currently have published works only in that category. However it doesn’t appear that the system will be able to find it unless a Kindle edition is listed on Amazon (its default book library) or if it has been added by someone with Librarian status.
After several days of research and exploring I believe that LibraryThing currently has the most comprehensive author program when viewed in conjunction with LibraryThing Local, however GoodReads offers several options that LibraryThing does not and looks like it will continue to improve in the future. If using either site appeals to you as an author I would suggest exploring all the options, and don’t be afraid to sign up for both.
The positive return found in using either of these sites depends solely on how much work the author (or possibly the publisher) intends to put into it. Just taking control of the author page and not updating beyond the first book makes the profile a static entity with little to draw in readers. It also gives nothing back to the social community on which these sites are based. By updating your events, adding trailers and excerpts or by giving away titles you can reach out to the people who are interested in the same thing you are: Books—specifically yours. Through these actions you can not only build your presence within the site, but your readers will be able to take their response and post it elsewhere through widgets, reviews and comments and thus increasing the spread of people the information can reach.
You are the only true authority on you, and so rather than leaving your author profile up to be changed wiki style by anyone who comes through, you should take control. Take advantage of the formats these sites offer for free to help publicize what you have created.
Great post, Linsey. I agree maintaining an active presence on a book networking site is worthwhile for an author; I'm on GoodReads, and I like it a lot. The problem (as always!) is time. Then again, time is always the problem, isn't it? Just gotta deal.
I had been a member of GoodReads, posted excerpts and loved the author part. Until I received a bunch of so and so wrote a story about you and they were nasty, trash talking and vindictive. All from people I didn't even know! One I could delete and I deleted her from my friends list. More than one and not even worded the same so I couldn't blame the first person for some reason even starting this, no. It was easier to delete my profile there. If they think it's funny, they're very wrong.
Kevin, I think being an author is hard enough without having to figure out which social networks best for you. One of my goals for the blog is to really explore all of them and lay them out in how an author can use them without expending tons of their own energy. One thing that I found fascinating about GoodReads that I didn't mention (because I'm not sure where I saw it) is that you may be able to syndicate your blog content their via RSS feed.
Christine, it is a time bandit, that's for sure. As I mentioned above to Kevin, I think that you can syndicate your blog to GoodReads if you wish which would take some of the work out of updating.
Linda, that's horrible. I think that you can turn off that function of the profile, but one of the evil side effects of the internet is people can just dog pile on the negativity while feeling removed from the process. As that function is part of almost all the book network sites, I'm not sure it would get any better.
GoodReads does have reviewing policy so if any of the negative things they were saying devolved into personal attacks on you, you can bring that to the site monitor's attention. While I support people's right to write negative review, attacking anyone is not right. You can also turn off the alerts sent directly to you.
Someone once told me that xkcd was a comic for nerds and geeks and I didn’t qualify enough for either category to be a believable fan. I had to respectfully disagree.*
While some of the physics humor is far and above my level of schooling, more often than not Randall Munroe manages to produce a comic that is both intelligent and accessible. And he’s not afraid to skewer anything, hence the comic above. Sure, there are a few notable exceptions to that graph (see: Tolkien, J.R.R.) if I didn’t know better I would say he got a hold of a self published novel that one of our stores did an author event for.
There are many wonderful self-published novels out there as POD-dy Mouth proved during her blogging tenure, but sadly this novel wasn’t one of them. It was so filled with misspelled words, bad grammar, made up words (again see the comic above), and mishmash of every famous fantasy novel out there that it hurt my brain to even look at the thing when a coworker who worked at both stores brought a copy in.
And it wasn’t like I could avoid the thing as said coworker insisted upon reading passages aloud and then identifying the origin.
“Tolkien. It’s Tolkien. Could he make it a little less obvious?”
“Did he think we wouldn’t have heard of a little thing called Dune?”
This in and of itself would not be that interesting. Books hold author events for all types of authors and booksellers world wide mock one book or the other. It is the circle of book life. What made this interesting was that this author talked our fellow manager into ordering in 700 copies of his title, swearing he could sell them all.
We told the other manager he was a fool. We asked if he were sure he could return them. In short, we gave him hell based on the quality of the book.
A book that the author managed to sell every single copy of.
That’s right. Despite everything working against this book—self-published, bad editing, poor plot—the author hand sold every single one. I’m sure it didn’t hurt that he was an attractive man, but the sales were due to his relentless drive to build word of mouth about the event. He publicized it on his website and talked it up at this day job. He wandered around the store and talked it up to the customers as they came in. He had his elevator pitch down so that it sounded natural and he managed not to come across as overtly pushy.
That novel, which stands out in my mind as one of the worst books I’ve ever had the misfortune to listen to/read, which proves the theorem of the xkcd graph, gave that bookstore one of its highest sales days outside of a Harry Potter release.
I learned a week ago that the bookstore has been closed down, and I have no idea what the author is up to now, but that event lives on in my mind as an example of the power of what an author can do if they're willing to try.
That is absolutely amazing. That man (the attractive one) missed his calling. He shouldn't have been an author but rather should have gone into sales of a more lucrative product like diamonds or copy machines or weapons of mass destruction. :) I mean, it sounds like he could sell anything.
Taking into account Dear Author's "10 Things Epublishers Should Do for Readers" if:Book would like you to join the ebook dialog on what can be done to make ebook readers more attractive to readers. More specifically they would like you to focus on these areas:
1) Is it more convenient in a pocket-sized device like one of these phones, a Kindle-sized screen, an iRex-sized screen, or a desktop screen? Are you inclined to stick with paperback-sized pages when you read an eBook?
2) Are there certain types of books you would read on one screen rather than another? I assume there are - do you use The Pynchon Test or some other method to determine the best possible reading device for your material?
3) Are there certain features in one of these that really works for you? Specifically, do you care about turning the pages? Scrolling? Reading inside or outside a browser?
4) Do you feel more compelled to buy a digital book if it is scarce? Libraries seem to be wondering whether to loan one ebook out at a time, or take advantage of the infinite resources the digital world provides.
5) Is the problem that screens are too closely associated with your workplace, and that you're afraid of your reading being interrupted by popups, email, etc.?
6) Most importantly: Is there some mysterious intangible thing that books have and eBooks don't? If so, can you describe it? (That library smell and your great-grandfather's marginalia in your prized first-edition don't count.)
Go to if:Book and offer your thoughts. I'll be giving my own opinion after I stop lusting after Tom Stoppard's portable book case.
After I wrote my GoodReads post the other day, I decided that I needed to take another look at the different library programs out there. Bright, new and shiny aspect aside, what made GoodReads different from Shelfari and LibraryThing other than the fact that I liked the layout?
When too many books happen to good people...
So confused by all the programs out there wanting to help you catalog your library? Overwhelmed by the project before you? Trying to figure out what will work best for you as a reader or an author? Well, benefit for my one day of comparison--all findings based on what I could actually find on the website without any outside research for possible hacks and the like.
GoodReads:
Owned by: Otis Chandler (privately owned)
Membership: Free
Source for book Information: Amazon (by clicking on a book you can choose where you look it up directory-wise, but it appears that GoodReads gets all of its default information from Amazon)
Widgets: Flash, HTML, Javascript
Widget applications: Specifically for MySpace, Facebook and Bebo (also most blogging software)
Amazon Bookmarklet application: allows you to add books from Amazon to your Goodreads account through the Bookmarklet
Note: You cannot change the visual presentation of a Shelfari widget, but you can submit any design ideas through Shelfari Feedback.
For Authors:
Featured Author Sheflari profiles on Author page (anyone can edit wiki style)
Writing groups: sub-category called "Shameless Self-Promotion"
LibraryThing:
Owned by: Tim Spalding, 40% owned by AbeBooks (which was recently bought by Amazon)
Membership: first 200 books free--Yearly or Lifetime membership opportunities afterwards
Source for Book Information: Library of Congress, Amazon, over 80 libraries
Widgets: HTML
Widget Applications: Does not work on LiveJournal
Your Amazon ID can be entered in your Widget
For Authors:
Author Chat
Early Reviewer program
LibraryThing Authors: Authors who also have are LibraryThing Members
Author Members receive feature
LibraryThing Local
Allows you to look up local events in your area by plugging in your zip code
Brings up all the bookstores in the area that have been added to the LibraryThing database
You can add a venue or event
Do not have to be signed in to use the LibraryThing Local feature.
EDITED TO ADD: I just found out that Kristi J--a book cateloger of long standing--did a wonderful break down (with pictures and graphs) of these sites as well. Please check out here post "Book Cataloguing--An Analysis of Online Sites." Brings to mind this quote by Chuck Palahnuik from the new intro for Fight Club:
"Now this is the first rule of fight club: There is nothing a blue collar Nobody in Oregon with a public school education can imagine that a million-billion people haven't already done... "
Coming Monday (10/13/08): What works best for readers? Authors? Publishers?
0 Comments on GoodReads, Shelfari and LibraryThing: A Features Comparison as of 1/1/1900
Hi - just coming over from the link on DearAuthor. Interesting comparison. I could add a warning about Shelfari:
The Shelfari system can be a bit obnoxious in that when you join, it asks for access to your email address book in order to run a search and let you know which of your acquaintances are already on Shelfari.
Fine and well; this is also what Facebook and some other social networking systems do.
Unlike those other systems, however, Shelfari will pester your acquaintances over a period of weeks with three or four stridently-worded "invitations" sent in your name to join Shelfari. So, as your acquaintances get more and more annoyed with you, you never even know about it.
I haven't had this happen to me, but I've been pestered with invitations from someone who joined Shelfari and had no idea this was happening in her name.
Now, Goodreads, on the other hand, I've found to be an organized, visually appealing, and lively place. LibraryThing seems fine but there isn't much interaction between people.
Not everyone thinks its the publishing apocalypse, it seems. Dennis McDonald over at Social Media Today blogs on Why Books Will Survive.
Why?
Economics may change, societal preferences for news consumption may change, but the need to communicate ideas with enough organization and detail to provide the basis for thought and reflection remains.
0 Comments on A Different Take on the "End of Books" as of 1/1/1900
Last Friday wasn't just International Talk Like a Pirate Day, it was also Blumesday. Read about the celebration in LA here and Diablo Cody's praise to the great Judy Blume here.
PersonaNonData takes a look at HarperCollins UK's new Book Army. Who knows how it will do invading territory already occupied by Shelfari, librarything and GoodReads.
SF Signal has a great round up of item on the genre yesterday including some free fiction and a defense of the genre.
Twovampire links for Marta (if she stops back by) and the rest of you involving the giveaway of free stuff by the Fantasy Book Critic.
Sara Lloyd talks digital publishing and feeling a bit like a gold fish at Eoin Purcell's.
After receiving several invitations over the last few months, I signed up for GoodReads the other day (hence the pretty widget in the sidebar and the one to the left). I wanted to log in all my books as I packed them up to move.*
Why GoodReads in the end? Well, it could be that I couldn’t remember my LibraryThing log in (and I don’t think I still owned most the books I’d originally logged) and I never used my Shelfari widget after DPI, but the truth is I was intrigued by this graph.
Graph from O'Reilly Radar article, "Social Networking for Books: One Ring, or Loosely Joined?" I wasn’t attracted to it for the same reason Tim O’Reilly was, not for the ability to “follow and [be] followed by a small circle of friends and people whose taste in books I trust.” I wasn’t expecting to have any friends when I signed up, I just wanted the ability to catalog my books and check out all of GoodReads functions.
For authors, I’m intrigued by the Book Giveaways section as a way to set up a focus group on a title, which shows up when you click the authors tab (it's the same page includes a link to the stories and writing area where anyone can contribute their content). This would allow an author to post excerpts connected to the book's profile or otherwise work within the confines of the GoodReads.com system. But LibraryThing has an early reviewer system as well which members can sign up for.
As for author pages, from what I can tell only someone who is the author or has the "Librarian's Status" (which can be applied for, although I have no idea what the requirements for the position might be) can edit an author's page, but any member can edit a Shelfari or LibraryThing page.
I'm sure other differences could be discovered upon closer examination, and I have no idea if any of the sites are more likely than another to capture the search engine bots, but I would love to see a side by side comparison. It is interesting to see how high the unique visitor rate for GoodReads ranks so high at the moment, and I would be interested to see if these numbers level off within the next year. Is this spike due to the number of invites floating around or due to people turning from the other two book catalog systems to this one instead.
Or maybe it is the "ooh, new, shiny" aspect and something else will capture our interest soon.
*And one must not discount the "ooh, new, shiny" aspect that appeals to my inner magpie.
You're finally back! I can't tell you how many times I checked this blog while you were taking the publishing course. I thought you had abandoned the site, which made me so sad, because it's one of my faves.
I checked again, just for the heck of it, and am delighted to find that you're back blogging!
Thank you! Not only am I back to blogging, but I'm back to reading blogs. I enjoy reading all the links you've been posting on my blogroll in the mornings and I'm so very excited for The Bride of Casa Dracula.
But I have to say, the internet vacation was nice.
I work for a large system, with multiple branches - and circulation has spiked the most in those areas that we consider our more "affluent." Circulation at our "working class" branches has held steady - but then these are the communities that have always traditionally used the library. Whether the economy is going gangbusters or in the toilet.
I haven't had a chance to look at hard Internet usage numbers - but the librarians in the field tell me that computer usage is through the roof. A scary thought since it's never exactly been slow for us.
And yes, budgets are tanking. We're "OK" where I work at for the moment - but a new fiscal year is coming up for us in July and we're all crossing our fingers.
It doesn't surprise me that it is just the affluent areas experiencing the spike. As a kid we always went to the library, that's where we got our books, and I don't remember making the transition to bookstores until the family business really caught on.
When I walked into our local branch the other day, there were lines to use the computers and the holds shelves were packed. For the first time in my library patronage my hold was actually pulled on time, instead of still being there when I arrived a day late.
If you do run across any hard numbers that you would like to share I would love to see them. I would also love to know which books are getting checked out more just to see if it correlates to anything.
Thanks for dropping by,
Linsey