It doesn't take a genius to figure out that writing and reading go hand in hand, and of course it's not only our readers who read. Most writers love to read. It's a natural part of who we are and what we do. We read to explore the magic of words. We read to improve our craft. We read for the pure enjoyment of it!
But where do we turn when we need another good book to read? Besides asking one of your friends, or chatting to your local librarian, you should also take advantage of some of the online book recommendation sites that have emerged in recent years.
Here are a few of the advantages of book recommendation sites for authors.
1. You can receive "tailored" book recommendations based upon your own reading preferences.
2. These avenues offer more exposure for your own writing which will improve the visibility of your own books.
3. You can socialize with your audience and build your author platform.
4. You can help out other authors you like by recommending their work.
So where are the best book recommendation sites? Here are my favorites:
Now owned by Amazon, Goodreads is one of the most popular social sites for people who love to read. Now you can also connect your Amazon account to integrate with your Goodreads virtual book shelf. You can obtain book recommendations from your friends on Goodreads or based on other books which you have read and enjoyed.
Bookish, launched in February 2013, is a division of Zola Books and is editorially independent. Their mission is to engage more readers with more stories, more books and more authors using insights from their editors and proprietary recommendation technology.
A community of 1,700,000 book lovers. You can easily catalog all of your books and access your catalog from anywhere including mobile devices. You can swap book suggestions with other users or follow the recommendations from LibraryThing based on the collective intelligence of the other libraries.
Officially launched in 2006 and acquired by Amazon in 2008, Shelfari is a global community of book lovers who love to share their literary inclinations and passions with each other. Now that Amazon owns Goodreads many believe it is unlikely that Shelfari will be developed much further.
Although Amazon is not strictly a book recommendation site, you can still pick up some good recommendations. For example when you browse to a book which you have already read Amazon will show you "Customers who bought this item also bought". Also when browsing any title you can check out the number of people that have rated the book, the average rating, and read reviews written by other readers.
There are many other reading recommendation sites but these are some of the most popular and if you have never tried one they are definitely a good place to start.
