Ola: The historic day has come – after 13 years of hearing about it I finally gave in to the general pressure (except you, Bookstooge, I know you hate Evilreads with all your might – maybe with the exception of these nice end-year graphs and stats :D) and created a Goodreads account. You can find me here, and if you do, please say hello! π I’ll be slowly trying to connect with ya’ll there, as well as add some stuff, one book at a time. I decided to try adding past reviews as well as upcoming ones, but we’ll see how that one goes as it already looks like a very time-consuming task ;).
I’ve used Goodreads before, mostly for technical details and sometimes for reviews of books that I’ve read or plan to read, but with more and more people looking for me on GR, as well as opening a NetGalley account, I figured creating a Goodreads presence was the logical next step. Hopefully it will be fun, too! π
Piotrek: I’ve been there for a few years now, since 2014. I love stats, as I’ve mentioned several times already ;), that was the main reason. I also often check the tone of reviews of a book I’m interested in – not all are high-quality, but if I look through a few of them I have a feeling I know what to expect from the book.
I’m not using the social side too much, and I don’t add many reviews. The second might change at some point, if Ola’s experiment works, although many of my posts are written in a form that I feel would not look good there. We’ll see. The Goodreads will never be the center of my book-related online activity, but I like going there, rating books I’ve read and comparing my impressions to those of other readers π
Ola: And now we all know your age! π
Seriously though, if you’re on Goodreads, please drop by and say hello π And if you’re still undecided, for example because of earlier bad experiences, just know we’ve joined the evil ranks of GR minions and are waiting for you! π
Re-enchantment Of The World 
Yeahie!! π I just added you!
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Yay! π Thanks! π
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‘Tis a sad day indeed… π Oh well, just try not to dive too deep lest we lose you and you become another of the… actually, I’m not really sure why so many people dislike EvilReads, but I’ve never taken it too seriously.
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Exactly! π It’s a nice enough space if you know what you want – or so I hope π Though the sheer thought of adding all the books I’ve read is rather flabbergasting! π I’m going to take it slowly and try not to get dragged into the rabbit hole too deep! π
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I had an account at some point and I suppose I still do but never really found a purpose for it.
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I was first invited by some friends back in 2007, and here we are, 13 years later πππ
I find GR very useful in finding details on books I’ve read, especially when I’m writing a review of a book I finished a long time ago and a name of a person or a place already escaped my memory π Plus, some of the publishers on NetGalley ask explicitly for Goodreads reviews of their books. Seeing as you are mostly engaged in movie reviews (which I read diligently and I can’t thank you for them enough!), I totally get it – probably an IMDB account would be more useful for you than a GR one π But if you wake up one day with a need to get back to GR, you’ll know where to find us! π
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Just added you! I know Goodreads has its problems, but I do love it for organizing my reading lists and recording my reviews. I can’t imagine doing without it! π
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Thanks! π
I’ll definitely be using it from now on – maybe not in such an organized way as you (one review a week is comfortable for me and I don’t see the frequency increasing anytime soon ;)) but I’ll do my best! π
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I don’t love Goodreads btu it makes life easier and I love the stats it gives me (even if they are very simple, I’m too lazy to do my own haha).
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I guess my own will be awfully skewed this year π but so many people recommended these statistics that I need to check them out! π
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I hope you have a wonderfully wonderful experience π
Since I rejoined earlier this year I’ve only been adding books with the star rating and tags because I want to see if those year end graphics are actually worth it. I don’t really interact there and I have no plans on making it the social hub of my book experience.
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Oh, so you’re already back there! π And here I thought I’d have a leg up on you π
Completely understand; I don’t plan on making GR my social reading hub either – that’s what this blog is for! π
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Even though I don’t visit GR so much anymore, due to a past annoyance, I still maintain a presence there, mostly for reviews of emerging authors who need all the visibility they can get.
And GR is still useful for technical information about books, so even though my presence is quite scarce there these days, I have not… burned my bridges π
Have fun!!!
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Thank you! π
I know I’ll be seeing you here, mostly – this is what blogging is about, after all! – but it’s good to have more than one point of contact, I hope π
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My GR account is entirely for myself (and so I can give five star ratings to books that I love) and I don’t socialize on there at all. But I gotta say I love that end of year graphic they give us. π
My favourite bit of using the site was when I was still adding everything I’ve ever read … so much fun!!! π
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Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of… π
I totally get it; that’s why it took me so many years to actually make that step! π I hope there won’t be any unpleasant experiences for me on GR, but I’m aware of the risk – inherent in all social media, probably.
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It’s weird: I began cataloguing my books with LibraryThing before doubling up with Goodreads, and now haven’t connected with LT for over a year now — sometime I may analyse why. LT also do analytics but maybe in a less fun way than GR. Anyway, glad to meet up there, Ola, as I’ve done with Piotrek, but WordPress is ever my main port of call!
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Piotrek could discuss LT with you at length, probably π I’m quite anti-social media, no FB, no Twitter, no Instagram or some such – just this blog, really – so actually creating a GR account was a big step for me (one I thought many times about before I made it! ;))
Agree! As much as I’m glad to have made your acquaintance on GR, blogging will ever be the main social media activity for me π
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It’s very good for reviews if you connect with the right people, in that case it really is a handy tool to check potential books. There’s also more people on there than in the WP environment.
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Duly noted! π I’ll be trying to connect with others from WP as well as finding new contacts – hopefully right! π
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I found the best way for me is to simply friend people whose reviews you like. Don’t hesitate to do that, generally people will accept your request. There is quite a lot of quality reviewing going on on Goodreads.
What I usually do is read critical reviews if I want to check out a book I don’t know. Glowing reviews don’t say that much, and as on WordPress, there’s lots of readers on Goodreads that give about anything 4 or 5 stars. You can select to show only the 1 or 2 star rating reviews – at least in the desktop browser, not in the app, and not in the mobile browser, but you can switch to desktop mode on your phone – and read a few of those.
Over the years, I’ve managed to find some really interesting people, and their reviews always appear first, so that’s very handy.
(One more thing, if you rate on Goodreads, pretty please use their rating system. Some people seem to have trouble with rating a book only 2 stars if “it was okay”, but it’s so much easier for others to find what you need if you follow their scale.)
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That’s good advice, thanks, Bart! I’ll be certainly using it in my GR adventure.
I usually go with critical reviews as well, especially if there’s a lot of gushing, as this rarely constitutes coherent critique π€£ – and Bookstooge gave me another good advice, not to read books by authors who are rating their own books π
I try to translate my own rating system into GR one – which would give 1 star to every of my 1 and 2 stars, and 2 stars to every of my 3-4-5 stars. I reserve the 5 stars to books I really love, I’m stingy that way! π
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I use similar strategy, I check a few reviews, including outliers, and I have a feeling whether I’m likely to enjoy the book in question…
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I admire your stick-to-it-ive-ness. Thirteen years is a long time to hold out. I’ve been on GR for a long time, since before it was bought out by Amazon. I used to post reviews there regularly, but removed them after the buyout (I share Ursula LeGuin’s opinion of Amazon, although I do recognize that there are some readers who do not have another way to access books). But I do post status updates and I enjoy scrolling through my feed to see what people are and are not reading. For me, LT has more interesting stat’s but GR presents them with more appealing graphics. I’ll be curious to hear what you think after you’ve had time to hang your hat. And take your time with your data entry…it will get done eventually!
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Thanks! π
Since I’ve been keeping to the fringes of GR for so long that all the furor and novelty has been long forgotten by everyone involved, I hope to treat GR as just another tool – both for organizing and social connection purposes, hopefully.
Out of curiosity, why did you remove your reviews? When I read through the terms and conditions, I understood that the content of my post is still mine and can be used by GR only as a quote for marketing purposes – or did I get that wrong? Or is it only driven by the Amazon monopolistic practices?
I started putting up some of my reviews, but always a bit shortened and with a link to the blog entry.
I’ll post an update once I had some time to find my bearings on GR – hopefully a positive one! And yes, I’m in no hurry to log all of my reading history there – that would take ages π
Ooh, LT is something I’ll probably take another 13 years to consider! π
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I think that’s correct (I haven’t read it recently to see if their reach has evolved); my understanding was that once a user posted a review, Amazon could pull from that review for marketing, i.e. could use my words to increase their profits. I’m partly motivated by a fervour for workers’ rights and partly to prioritize independent booksellers, but I recognize that there are readers who do not have other options for purchasing books and I also recognize that many writers need the sales and reviews that they accumulate via Amazon. In short, it’s good to have a variety of people and opinions as there’s always an up-side and a down-side to every decision!
Ohhh, I’d assumed that you’d already experimented with LibraryThing…it’s the indie-alternative to GoodReads and there is a more playful note to it (they have Pirate Day, for instance!) but it’s a little more library-focussed than community-focussed, although that’s a very broad generalization.
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Thank you for the explanation, much appreciated! π
Piotrek is active on LibraryThing π I was tempted, the idea of reflecting one’s real library in the virtual world is a very pleasing concept, but it would take too much time (which I already have in short supply ;)) – maybe one day I’ll make this decision as well, and it won’t take me another 13 years π
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enjoy. I’ve sent you a friend request.
I must admit I’m a bit sporadic on there so my end of year stats are not as helpful as they could be if I was a bit more organised – but, oh well.
Lynn π
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Yay! Thanks! π
Oh, the stats are actually not very important to me – I’ve been keeping my own excel spreadsheet for years, and though it might not look as nice as the GR one it fulfills its role splendidly π
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I’ll be watching from a distance, with interest. Good luck.
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Thank you, Cath! π I’ll try to prepare an update at some point, after I see what’s what π
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You have no idea how much I rejoiced at the sight of having you on my friend’s list out of the blue! I can FINALLY see what you’re reading or have read and get all happy about knowing that we read something in similar!!! π Hope your time there won’t see any kind of negativity. π
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π Happy to hear that, Lashaan! Truth be told, your persistence in selling GR to me was a huge factor in my decision π
I definitely hope so too! π
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Added you both π
Stumbled across you both somehow before finding this post. I love the end of year stats from the reading challenge.
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Yay! π
That’s so cool! I have difficulties finding anyone on GR, to be honest… Only through other friends, and that doesn’t seem to me like the best way to find people I know π
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I noticed Drew become friends with you, so I’m guilty of finding people that way π
Not sure where I found Piotrek, but that was only a day or two back. Same thing may have happened there, too
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LOL, looks like it’s the most popular way to do it, then – looking through other friends’ lists of friends (which does seem a little bit like stalking, doesn’t it? ππ) But I didn’t find any better way yet!
Either way, I’m glad you’ve found us! π
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I have just added you! My nickname on GR is Sibil, but it is always me!!
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Yay! Great! π
Sybil as in the famous ancient Greek oracle of the Libri Sybillini fame? π
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In part that, and in part because I love the sound of that! π
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Hi Ola hope you enjoy your time on Goodreads. I see you like stats. I do as well & love looking at them at the end of the year. Unfortunately last year Goodreads removed one of its most useful ones – Most Read Authors. It was done without warning, but I have managed to recreate it, but only with authors where I had read four or more books by them. Requests/demands to reinstate this feature haven’t worked.
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Thanks for the comment, Carol, and for the warning! I’m only slowly getting around GR and learning how it all works, but I hope it’ll be a good experience!
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Well belatedly- thanks for tracking me down! I didnβt realize you werenβt on GoodReads before.
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