"You can use the garbage disposal without putting your hand in it" is the perfect way of summing this up! I am still figuring out how I want to go about reading negative reviews of my work one day, but it's helpful to remember that sometimes negative reviews can be so witty we don't even mind 😂
Think of it like a matter of practice or even exposure therapy—when you’re only paying attention to the good-faith (and funny) feedback, the only stuff that hurts is worth hearing
This is really good! The one advantage that a personality forward platform like Substack has is that readers get to know the tastes of a particular critic, and they can use that understanding to inform how they read the reviews. But at a large scale, I have found Goodreads to be a valuable tool in helping me think through books I'm reading. I'm glad to see this mentioned in light of all the "where have the book reviews gone?" discourse.
Thank you! And true--up until a year or so ago, before Substack started going The Way of All Social Media, I probably wouldn't have bothered to write this
What an enjoyable read, thanks. I visit Goodreads rarely myself, precisely with a purpose of reading reviews. In general, I've a weakness for reading reviews as I highly enjoy "idiocy-to-brilliancy" spectre.
Pinterest became impossible now- it's a mess. Pity, because I really appreciated quiet.
On a different note- I'm waiting on "Medium Rare" (sounds funny) to be published in hardcover. I deal better w/hardcovers as of late because letters -more often than not- are bigger. any chance of that? or the script size in paperback is standard enough to try?
Nice analysis and charts. It makes sense why authors don't like it. As a reader, my GoodReads picture profile is from 2007 and the UI looked outdated then. At that point in my reading journey GR was helpful to track reading, get reviews, and find community. Since then I moved on.
It would also be interesting to explore how GR is like a marketing tool for Amazon's books and there are other apps like Story Graph that are looking to upcharge you to premium.
I use Story Graph now just to track my reading and it's at least better looking. It does more a gamification or spotify-ifcation of reading. My wondering eye has seen Bookmory which sounds attractive, but I don't think I'm ready to make the leap or that it's for my generation.
Storygraph definitely looks nicer, but has only 5M users—as an author, your potential reach on Goodreads is 30x higher. Haven’t heard of Bookmory, will have to check out.
Laudable goals. Alas, the value of social media is inextricably tied to the mass adoption of others. How many users do you have? What are you doing to minimize switching costs? Why Bertie over Storygraph?
It's not meant to be social media. It's meant to help people keep their to-read list, and discover books and bookshops. I think things like storygraph and Goodreads encourage bad reading - finishing a book just for the stats. Bertie isn't designed to get people hooked, or to be daily users.
I agree, though you can pretty easily avoid the stats-focus. Are ratings/reviews public and traceable to a specific user? If so, I think it’s unavoidably social—which is not inherently a bad thing. As an author, all of the tracking stuff is secondary to me to seeing what people are saying about my novels, so the number of people talking about it does matter.
Regardless, I love the tie-in with independent bookstores and hope to see this take off!
Currently no. But I agree, ratings only become useful if there are many readers, at the moment very few books have them. You can always give it a look, you can browse it without signing up! I have to say too, I'm rather proud of the ratings system - the ratings are descriptive rather than numerical.
I'm pondering the extent to which good-faith reviews should matter to the author. If they liked the book, great. If they didn't -- well, the book's already published. Does it help me to know why someone didn't like something that I made deliberate choices about?
Admittedly varies review to review, but the two main benefits I see are the gratification of attention and care Elvia speaks to + as a data point for future creative choices
I think they are all terrible, but I think Bezos is the worst. And the more we continue to support these oligarchs the more powerful they become. Users are turning themselves into serfs of their own volition.
I’m old, so I’ll be gone before everything good is gone, but couldn’t folks move at least to a platform like Substack and start the discussion there? I know it takes time to build things, but it might be worth it.
"You can use the garbage disposal without putting your hand in it" is the perfect way of summing this up! I am still figuring out how I want to go about reading negative reviews of my work one day, but it's helpful to remember that sometimes negative reviews can be so witty we don't even mind 😂
Think of it like a matter of practice or even exposure therapy—when you’re only paying attention to the good-faith (and funny) feedback, the only stuff that hurts is worth hearing
Mmm, that's such a helpful way of thinking about it—that we only have to let the good-faith criticism into our heads. Thank you!
This is really good! The one advantage that a personality forward platform like Substack has is that readers get to know the tastes of a particular critic, and they can use that understanding to inform how they read the reviews. But at a large scale, I have found Goodreads to be a valuable tool in helping me think through books I'm reading. I'm glad to see this mentioned in light of all the "where have the book reviews gone?" discourse.
Thank you! And true--up until a year or so ago, before Substack started going The Way of All Social Media, I probably wouldn't have bothered to write this
Thanks, you've convinced me to give Goodreads a try.
Enjoy
What an enjoyable read, thanks. I visit Goodreads rarely myself, precisely with a purpose of reading reviews. In general, I've a weakness for reading reviews as I highly enjoy "idiocy-to-brilliancy" spectre.
Pinterest became impossible now- it's a mess. Pity, because I really appreciated quiet.
On a different note- I'm waiting on "Medium Rare" (sounds funny) to be published in hardcover. I deal better w/hardcovers as of late because letters -more often than not- are bigger. any chance of that? or the script size in paperback is standard enough to try?
Thank you again!
Alas, more and more novels from literary presses are going straight to paperback, and this includes MR
Nice analysis and charts. It makes sense why authors don't like it. As a reader, my GoodReads picture profile is from 2007 and the UI looked outdated then. At that point in my reading journey GR was helpful to track reading, get reviews, and find community. Since then I moved on.
It would also be interesting to explore how GR is like a marketing tool for Amazon's books and there are other apps like Story Graph that are looking to upcharge you to premium.
I use Story Graph now just to track my reading and it's at least better looking. It does more a gamification or spotify-ifcation of reading. My wondering eye has seen Bookmory which sounds attractive, but I don't think I'm ready to make the leap or that it's for my generation.
Storygraph definitely looks nicer, but has only 5M users—as an author, your potential reach on Goodreads is 30x higher. Haven’t heard of Bookmory, will have to check out.
I still miss Shelfari.
I’ve never heard of this
It was a competing social media book site that was easier to use. Goodreads bought and killed it.
Ah, bummer
May I please suggest an alternative I've been working on?
www.bertieapp.com
Sure, but you’re gonna need a better pitch than this for me to consider your suggestion
The pitch is it's minimalist, better designed, and lets you order from independent bookshops
Laudable goals. Alas, the value of social media is inextricably tied to the mass adoption of others. How many users do you have? What are you doing to minimize switching costs? Why Bertie over Storygraph?
It's not meant to be social media. It's meant to help people keep their to-read list, and discover books and bookshops. I think things like storygraph and Goodreads encourage bad reading - finishing a book just for the stats. Bertie isn't designed to get people hooked, or to be daily users.
I agree, though you can pretty easily avoid the stats-focus. Are ratings/reviews public and traceable to a specific user? If so, I think it’s unavoidably social—which is not inherently a bad thing. As an author, all of the tracking stuff is secondary to me to seeing what people are saying about my novels, so the number of people talking about it does matter.
Regardless, I love the tie-in with independent bookstores and hope to see this take off!
Currently no. But I agree, ratings only become useful if there are many readers, at the moment very few books have them. You can always give it a look, you can browse it without signing up! I have to say too, I'm rather proud of the ratings system - the ratings are descriptive rather than numerical.
I'm pondering the extent to which good-faith reviews should matter to the author. If they liked the book, great. If they didn't -- well, the book's already published. Does it help me to know why someone didn't like something that I made deliberate choices about?
Admittedly varies review to review, but the two main benefits I see are the gratification of attention and care Elvia speaks to + as a data point for future creative choices
But it is owned by Jeff Bezos. Once we know that fact there is no redeeming it.
Do you think the guys that own the other ones are any better?
I think they are all terrible, but I think Bezos is the worst. And the more we continue to support these oligarchs the more powerful they become. Users are turning themselves into serfs of their own volition.
I broadly agree with you, simply arguing we serfs of Goodreads have it better than those anywhere else
I’m old, so I’ll be gone before everything good is gone, but couldn’t folks move at least to a platform like Substack and start the discussion there? I know it takes time to build things, but it might be worth it.
I fear Substack is structurally no better than Twitter, just newer
but is it owned by a billionaire who is trying to destroy our country?