Top Ten Sites for Book Lovers
Whether you want new suggestions for books to read, ways to connect with other book lovers or authors, or want to buy or sell (or win!) books, here are my top ten picks for great websites for book lovers.
10. Libboo - I only recently was introduced to Libboo, so I'm still unsure how I feel about it. The premise sounds great: you earn points for "buzzing" about books through social networking sites which can earn you rewards like free books or swag. So far, I've found the book selection to be sparse, but I'm hoping that changes as more authors and publishers come on board.
9. LibraryThing - Certainly not the easiest website to navigate, even after a very subtle-looking redesign, it does have a monthly "Early Reviewers" section where bloggers, librarians, or other book reviewers can request ARCs which are then doled out in a lottery-type fashion at the end of each month.
8. The Book Depository - A web-based bookseller like Amazon, but this UK-based company ships to over 100 countries in the world for FREE.
7. Edelweiss/Above the Treeline - This is a website really intended as a way to view publishers' catalogs for booksellers, but there is a "review copies" section to view a list of just that, books available for review. I really wish Edelweiss would split off a specific website just for that though, because it is easy to get lost, especially when trying to search for a book (although part of me thinks they keep this difficult on purpose as a way of discouraging amateur book-bloggers). As it is now, I pretty much only go on here when a publisher does not use the must more user-friendly NetGalley (see #3). They do have a nice catalog section for titles that will be around the upcoming BEA, but this year it took them a very long time to update it.
6. PaperBack Swap - The self-proclaimed "biggest book-swapping site in America," Paperback Swap is such a wonderful way to clean off those shelves and make way for more books. It's free to join, you list your available books and you only have to pay the postage to send books to those who request them (around $2-3 for a trade/mass market paperback when you send by media mail). They even make up a shipping label for you to print out. You get 2 credits just for signing up, then credits for every book you send out, which you can then use to request books from other members (there are a lot!)
5. The New York Public Library (or any of your local libraries) - Most people do not know this, but anyone in New York State can get a NYPL card and then use that to borrow ebooks (in both kindle and epub/pdf formats) - up to 12 at a time! Many local libraries are now doing the same. Even if you are no-so-ebook inclined, you can find lots of information on available books and more on their sites.
4. Read Print - Named by Time Magazine as one of the top 50 websites, Read Print is a free online library of thousands of books.
3. NetGalley - A site for book industry people - bloggers, sellers, librarians, and others - to request digital ARCs, NetGalley is one of the few sites I check on a near-daily basis. It still has some minor glitches, but the design is so simple and user friendly, it easily tops Edelweiss for my go-to place for digital galleys. And a few of my author friends state that NetGalley's customer service is unbeatable.
2. The Book Cover Archive - Exactly what it sounds like. Enough said.
1. Goodreads - I was a little worried when Amazon recently purchased my favorite book-related site, but so far they seem true to their word that little would change. Even with all the other sites out there, this one is still the easiest to navigate, keep track of your and your friends' books, and enter tons of book giveaways every day. I wonder if Amazon's very similar Shelfari site will eventually go away once the transition is complete.
I'd love to know if there are more great sites I missed - please let me know in the comments!
10. Libboo - I only recently was introduced to Libboo, so I'm still unsure how I feel about it. The premise sounds great: you earn points for "buzzing" about books through social networking sites which can earn you rewards like free books or swag. So far, I've found the book selection to be sparse, but I'm hoping that changes as more authors and publishers come on board.
9. LibraryThing - Certainly not the easiest website to navigate, even after a very subtle-looking redesign, it does have a monthly "Early Reviewers" section where bloggers, librarians, or other book reviewers can request ARCs which are then doled out in a lottery-type fashion at the end of each month.
8. The Book Depository - A web-based bookseller like Amazon, but this UK-based company ships to over 100 countries in the world for FREE.
7. Edelweiss/Above the Treeline - This is a website really intended as a way to view publishers' catalogs for booksellers, but there is a "review copies" section to view a list of just that, books available for review. I really wish Edelweiss would split off a specific website just for that though, because it is easy to get lost, especially when trying to search for a book (although part of me thinks they keep this difficult on purpose as a way of discouraging amateur book-bloggers). As it is now, I pretty much only go on here when a publisher does not use the must more user-friendly NetGalley (see #3). They do have a nice catalog section for titles that will be around the upcoming BEA, but this year it took them a very long time to update it.
6. PaperBack Swap - The self-proclaimed "biggest book-swapping site in America," Paperback Swap is such a wonderful way to clean off those shelves and make way for more books. It's free to join, you list your available books and you only have to pay the postage to send books to those who request them (around $2-3 for a trade/mass market paperback when you send by media mail). They even make up a shipping label for you to print out. You get 2 credits just for signing up, then credits for every book you send out, which you can then use to request books from other members (there are a lot!)
5. The New York Public Library (or any of your local libraries) - Most people do not know this, but anyone in New York State can get a NYPL card and then use that to borrow ebooks (in both kindle and epub/pdf formats) - up to 12 at a time! Many local libraries are now doing the same. Even if you are no-so-ebook inclined, you can find lots of information on available books and more on their sites.
3. NetGalley - A site for book industry people - bloggers, sellers, librarians, and others - to request digital ARCs, NetGalley is one of the few sites I check on a near-daily basis. It still has some minor glitches, but the design is so simple and user friendly, it easily tops Edelweiss for my go-to place for digital galleys. And a few of my author friends state that NetGalley's customer service is unbeatable.
2. The Book Cover Archive - Exactly what it sounds like. Enough said.
1. Goodreads - I was a little worried when Amazon recently purchased my favorite book-related site, but so far they seem true to their word that little would change. Even with all the other sites out there, this one is still the easiest to navigate, keep track of your and your friends' books, and enter tons of book giveaways every day. I wonder if Amazon's very similar Shelfari site will eventually go away once the transition is complete.
I'd love to know if there are more great sites I missed - please let me know in the comments!
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