How do you use Goodreads? That is today’s million dollar question (if I had a million dollars….) But really, I am curious. I know a lot of people use Goodreads in a lot of different ways. Ways that keep changing. And this might sound kind of bad, but I don’t use Goodreads that often – I just don’t find it as useful as I did before. And it really has nothing to do with all the other websites that share a similar purpose, but more to do with me. But what about you? Do you use Goodreads? And if you do, how so?
Blogging
Nowadays, I primarily use Goodreads for blogging. I use it to look up books, download book covers, and for copying book synopses. Occasionally, I’ll post reviews on Goodreads, but that’s only if I have time (or if I remember…)
For Book Recommendations
I first started using Goodreads to get more book recommendations. All of my friends read popular books, the books that were “in” at the time. Books like Divergent and The Hunger Games. Books like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. The only problem was those were the only recommendations they could give me, but I had already read all of them like a million times before so I turned to Goodreads for recommendations. If you add some of the books you read before and rate them, Goodreads and generally generate some really good recommendations. In fact, I found most of my favorite reads through recommendations by Goodreads.
As a Reading Log
I tried doing this but it didn’t really work out… if you check out my Goodreads profile, it still says I’m reading a book that I started over a year ago. No, it does not usually take me a year to read ONE book so you do the math. I blame it on the fact that I’m too busy and interested in starting my next read to update my Goodreads account, but it probably has more to do with the fact that it doesn’t rank very high on my to do list and I can get lazy and forgetful…. Some people are really meticulous, updating their status with page numbers and quotes. Me? You can forget it.
For Reviews
Goodreads is also good for reading other people’s reviews before you decide to start reading a book. Now, I only do this for books I know I’m not going to review. After I started blogging I got this fear that reading the reviews of others will somehow influence my opinion and feelings about the book.
To Keep Track of TBR Pile
Haha, probably one of Goodreads most useful purposes for me. To keep track of my TBR pile that never, ever, ever seems to get smaller. It only ever gets bigger. How else can I keep track of all the books I want to read? Writing them is too much of a pain and Goodreads is convenient – it’s super easy to add books to my TBR shelf. The only problem with this system is I don’t really update it when I read books. That might be one of the reasons why my TBR pile never seems to get smaller….
What about you?
What do you use Goodreads for?
How do you use Goodreads?
Do you have any other uses than the ones I listed?
I participate in a group over there, I like the interaction with other readers and I’ve found a very fun group 🙂 I keep a to-read list and very useful bookshelves, download book covers and blurbs, and review each book I read there as well as on my blog. What else ? I also find reading ideas, as if I didn’t have enough books on my to-read list already !
What group do you participate in? Sadly I don’t really participate in any groups anymore which is probably why I find Goodreads a bit boring…
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I recently canceled my Goodreads account. I haven’t really missed it actually 🙂
I’m kind of thinking of doing the same thing – I barely use my account the much anymore.
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I use Goodreads mainly to find blurbs and book covers for my blog. I also post reviews of each book I read, as I post them to my blog. I did originally use it as a list of what I was reading, and participate in the yearly challenges, but this was too hard to keep up methodically.
I tried participate in the yearly challenges too, but I also found that too difficult to keep up with.
Thanks for stopping by Abigail! 🙂
I too use it for blogging, though now the ultimate book blogger plugin looks up the covers and blurbs for me. I do use it as a reading log, since I don’t review everything on the blog that I read, but I do track and at least rate everything I read on GR.
I have UBB too, which is probably one of the reasons why I’m finding Goodreads less and less useful. It’s cool that you track everything you read – I could never do that.
Thanks for stopping by Julie! 🙂
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I use Goodreads for everything. I love that place. I’ve met so many awesome people there, and I use the website to keep in touch with them and talk to them about books and anything else. I use the website to keep track of my TBR pile, of what I’ve read so far, and I post all my reviews on there. I’ve read so many awesome books because of that site that I normally wouldn’t have found.
That’s really cool. I don’t think I have ever used Goodreads as a tool to meet and keep in touch with other people. Maybe doing so will so will help me fall back in love with Goodreads.
Thanks for stopping by Inge! 🙂
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I use Goodreads to track my reading and to catalog my books. I don’t socialize on that site but it is fun to see what my friends are reading. And Listopia has come in handy a few times.
I kind of forgot you could see what your friends are up to on Goodreads. That would be cool to see what everyone else is reading and maybe get some ideas for my next read…
Thanks for stopping by Brianna! 🙂
I basically use it for all the reasons you said 😛 I’m meticulous with updating my reading progress on their, and I have no idea why but it bothers me when I don’t do it! I definitely use it a lot for blogging but probably the main thing I use it for is to keep track of my TBR pile/reviewed book/upcoming reads. I am Goodreads obsessed 😛
Yeah, Goodreads is really useful for keeping track of books. Just a quick question: do you use the Goodreads app to update your reading progress or do you use the website?
Thanks for stopping by Lauren! 🙂
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