Book blogging, as a concept, is essentially pretty simple: If you have Internet access and an opinion about a book, you can be a book blogger. However, actually maintaining a book blog is much more complicated — our blogs are labors of love that require a lot of time, energy and devotion. For this edition of Weekly Geeks, I want to focus on the little things that make your blogging and/or reading life a bit easier. Do you use sites like GoodReads, LibraryThing or Shelfari to organize your books? Do you swear by Book Darts? Couldn’t live without your Book Buddy? Love connecting with other bloggers on sites such as Twitter? Tell us about what makes your blog tick. Is there something specific that keeps you organized or inspired?
This is the Weekly Geeks for 23rd Oct, but I’m already loosing track of things, so I guess it’s ok
Before my blog I had an account on Shelfari. I used to LOVE it. Most of the books on my wishlist came from endless surfing on that site.
But after I started blogging, most of my wishlist comes from other bloggers. I opened a new account on Shelfari, one with my blog name. But then it tends to load very slowly. It really irritated me at times. I had heard about Goodreads but somehow I never liked it. But when Shelfari was blocked at my new workplace, I tired Goodreads and now I love it. There are things to be desired still, but usually I’m satisfied with it. But I think the communities in Shelfari are more active than the ones in Goodreads. Anyway…let’s move on.
I swear by Google Reader too as many of you do. I don’t know what I would have done without it. It helps me keep track of more than 200 book blogs and 200 other blogs as well.
What else makes my life easier? Twitter? NO, I think it takes away a chunk of my reading and blogging time. But then it’s fun connecting to people and getting to know them a little better. Besides you get to know a lot of things that are going on in blogspere that you otherwise would have never got to know about.
What makes your blog tick? Is there something specific that keeps you organized or inspired? As I have always said, my blog lets me talk about books and that’s more than enough inspiration. It has become a way of life now.
I’m on Ning too and bookblips. I access Ning sometimes but I don’t remember the last time I accessed bookblips. Sometimes it all gets so overwhelming.
Here are the links to my active profiles
Shelfari
Goodreads
Twitter
Ning
Do leave yours in the comment section
November 7, 2009 at 3:36 am
I agree Violet it’s a bit of overwhelming with so many sites to organize books and discuss them. I had a Shelfari account too but seldom use it. It takes forever to load. But I liked Library Thing too but that allows only 200 books in a free account so I shifted to GoodReads and I like it.
November 7, 2009 at 3:52 am
I just realized I wasn’t following you on twitter! Quelle horreur. 😉
I agree with you that twitter doesn’t really make blogging easier, but it does make it more fun. There are a lot of book blogs and events I wouldn’t have heard about if I wasn’t on twitter.
There are a few tools I use to make blogging easier, or at least more organized: the greasemonkey app for firefox lets me preview blogs in my reader, so I don’t have to open another tab to comment. That’s handy! I also use ScribeFire to write my blog posts instead of the blogger editor because I think it’s more convenient. And cocomment lets me keep track of all my comments and follow conversations on blogs.
November 7, 2009 at 7:33 am
I sometimes feel so disoriented that i stop blogging. And just disappear from the internet. And then i miss it and i m back. this happens EVERY month Violet! I have a/c in LibraryThing and GoodReads, BookBlogs. I used to tweet, but it kind of just feels so boring to me 😀 so i dntr anymore! I dnt remember my user is and neither my password… and seriously i dnt care about anything except for Goodreads and my blog and google reader!
HeidenKind, thank you. i never knew about GreaseMonkey and Cocomment. I will check them out
November 9, 2009 at 2:43 am
Hi Violet, I’m on several social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. I’m most active in the first two. I love my blog and I use LibraryThing and Visual Books (I think that’s the name of the apps) on Facebook to catalogue my books. I must say photography takes away a large chunk of my reading time compared to spending time online.
November 9, 2009 at 3:28 pm
If you like Shelfari and LibraryThing, you should check out OurShelf. It’s like Shelfari but for everything you own, not just books. Additionally you can form groups, socially shop in real time with your friends, and post items for resale on craigslist straight from your shelf. We also give you great recommendations, let you know when friends own an item your looking for (so you can request to borrow it) and give you birthday gift suggestions for friends and family with upcoming birthdays.
Check out our About page for more details. Our blog also has a good number of how-to articles to get you started.
Paul (CEO and cofounder)
November 10, 2009 at 1:52 am
I love Google Reader! That’s where I keep track of all the blogs I subscribe so I know I wouldn’t miss a thing! I have an account with Shelfari, GoodReads, LibraryThing… and Twitter too. It’s all fun but I guess it can be a little overwhelming at times, LOL.