If you like books and reading but haven’t heard of
Goodreads.com then you are in for a treat. It is the best website on the
internet for books, period, and it is completely free. That’s not to say there aren’t other good books
sites out there, but Goodreads is so big and covers so much!
What is Goodreads?
I am going to start with what it isn’t. It isn’t a shop. You
can’t buy books on it (though it does provide links to places where you can buy
books). A couple of years ago it was bought by Amazon, but for the most part
Amazon have not interfered with the site except to add a couple of useful
features to link to Amazon/Kindle if you want to.
So what is it? Goodreads is all of the following:
- · A social networking site for book lovers
- · A book cataloguing system
- · A huge book club (or thousands of different book clubs to be precise)
- · A book discovery engine
- · A place to get free books
Catalog Your Books
I’ve been using the site for a few years now, and used a
couple of similar, smaller book sites before that. A lot of people can’t
remember what books they’ve read a few years ago, or remember anything about
them. I don’t have that problem. Whenever I read a book, I add it to one of my
virtual shelves. Everyone has a currently reading shelf, a digital equivalent
of the stack of books on their bedside table perhaps. When you finish a book,
you can mark it as complete, give it a rating and write a review if you want
to. This way, you can keep track of what books you’ve read and what you thought
of them. Other people can see what you’ve read too, and what you thought.
Social Networking
Unlike Facebook, this is Social Networking with purpose! You
can add friends like you do on Facebook, but rather than inane updates about
your social life they will be able to see what you are reading, read reviews
you have posted and compare how you are doing on challenges. They can also
suggest books to you that they think you will like, and you can do the same for
them. For the most part, friends on Goodreads are only there when you want them
though, and their updates are not in your face like they are on Facebook et al.
Book Groups
Groups is one of Goodreads best features. They are part book
club, part forum for discussing books. There are hundreds if not thousands of
groups on Goodreads, quite a few with many thousands of members. Most groups
are thematic based on a particular genre, or based on country or region, and
you can be a member of as many groups as you like. I’m a member of the UK Book
Group, Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy, Non Fiction Book Club and Around the World in
80 Books to name but a few. Being a member of a group doesn’t actually come
with any obligations, it just allows you to read and post in all the forum
discussions. Some people are very involved in one or two groups, posting
regularly and even making friends on there, others just post occasionally or
even just read the discussions without ever posting. Most groups have one or
several books of the month, it is up to you whether the read the book and take
part in the discussions.
Discovering New Books
In the days before the internet, people tended to choose the
books they read based on browsing the shelves of their local bookshop or
library, getting recommendations from friends or maybe reading reviews in the
newspaper. Today though, the internet opens up much more opportunity for
discovering new books, particularly lesser known gems. Along with Amazon,
Goodreads is the best place on the internet for finding new books to read.
There’s the discussion groups, book reviews, newsletters, recommendations and
Goodreads suggestions, based on books you’ve read recently. Just by using the
site, you will find your To Be Read pile growing larger and larger, and the
books on them will probably be more to your tastes, with less chance of ending
up with books you don’t like.
Get Free Books
Authors and book publishers offer free books all the time to
bloggers and journalists to help them get publicity for their books. Goodreads
democratizes this, by running loads of giveaways. At any one time there are
lots of draws you can enter for free books, just by clicking a button. The site
is really up front about how many copies of each book are on offer, and how
many have requested them so far, so you have a good idea what your chances are.
So if you want to be in with a chance of free books, join Goodreads and get
entering the giveaways!
This is just a flavour of some of what Goodreads offers, but
there’s lots more besides. The best thing to do is join and then just start
exploring the site. You won’t regret it! In the coming weeks I'm intending to write some more articles about Goodreads and how to get the most out of it - so watch this space!
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