The introduction of technology has forever changed the face of reading. And I’m not just talking about the ebook vs. hard copy book debate (we’ll get into that another time); the online book community has grown exponentially alongside technology. From booktubers to bookstagrammers, you can find a book community nicely nestled within any social media platform. I know what you’re thinking; I can share my passion for books at any moment with anyone around the world? Yes, yes you can.
There are lots of good book related apps to check out if you want to either be a part of these communities or find free books or simply keep track of your own reading habits. As a somewhat new bookstagrammer and an avid book reader/collector (i.e. hoarder), here are some of the apps that I use on (almost) a daily basis.
For Being Social
Goodreads is probably the mother of all book social networking. It was launched back in 2006, and you can do a lot of things with it: review books, create reading groups, enter giveaways, chat with authors, interact with fellow readers; the list is endless. I love Goodreads because it gives me a way to keep track of my own reading (outside of my reading journal, which I forget to update sometimes) as well as see what other people are reading/liking. If we’re not already friends, you can find me here!
Instagram, though not just for books, is another land mine of very active bookish users. From authors to bloggers to publishers, you can find almost anyone within the bookstagram community–supplemented by a lot of online shops that sell a plethora of bookish goodies. Personally, I’m obsessed with any bookish candle companies, though one called Novelly Yours has been my favorite as of late (I smell another blog post about candles in my near future). I post pretty regularly on my Instagram feed, and you can find me here!
Litsy is an up and coming bookish app which currently doesn’t have a web interface (I think that’s supposed to change soon?) Basically, Litsy is the combination of Goodreads and Instagram; you can share pictures of books, reviews, what you’re reading, enter giveaways, etc. The basis of Litsy is something called Litfluence, which increases when you get new followers, read more books, interact more with people, and because it’s relatively new, it’s easy to quickly grow your following. You can find me there: Between-the-Shelves.
YouTube is another good place to locate bookish things. Though I’m not personally a booktuber, there are a lot of good ones out there to watch, and a lot of publishers also post book trailers, interviews with authors, and other excellent content in order to promote a book launch. Epic Reads probably has one my favorite bookish channels (and of course the Vlogbrothers), and I’m going to be participating (through Instagram) in the BookTubeAThon that is happening at the end of July!
For Cataloging Books
Libib is currently my favorite app for cataloging all the books that I buy, especially because it makes it easy to see if I already have a book before I buy it when I’m at work. Owning multiple copies of certain books is important (*cough* Harry Potter *cough*), but if it’s something I haven’t read yet, I like to see if I have it first. Libib allows to scan barcodes, manually enter books, and even create different libraries (if that’s something you need). You can even create a library for your movies so you’ll never question yourself at the store again.
Goodreads is another one that fits here, and they also have a scanning feature that allows you to quickly look up books. You can even create different shelves and place your books there, so you can have one for books you own, one for books you want to read, and ones for whatever else your heart desires. While I mostly use Goodreads for its social perks, there are plenty of features to help you to get your home library in order.
For Reading/Listening
Audible is currently my favorite app for listening to audiobooks, mostly because I couldn’t find the Game of Thrones audiobooks anywhere else, and I can get them for cheaper than the list price by using my credits. For a monthly fee, you get a credit to download any audiobook in the Audible library; most often, the fee is cheaper than what you’d pay for the book, so if you like owning your audiobooks, this is definitely the way to go.
OverDrive is a library based site that allows you to borrow ebooks, audiobooks, and more through your local library. It’s a great option for people that don’t want to spend the money on audiobooks, and you don’t have to worry about the hassle of making sure it gets back to the library on time; it just disappears once the time is up. Libby is a branch of OverDrive that allows you to borrow ebooks and audiobooks as well. Everything is consolodated on one shelf, and it’s easy to keep track of what you’ve read through your library.
Hoopla is another library based app that includes more than just books; you can also stream music and videos through your library. You can watch movies or TV shows, download music for a long car trip, or even read comics. All for free! All you need is your library card (🎜 having fun isn’t hard if you’ve got a library card!🎝 )
For Bookish Themed Content
Book Riot is one of my favorite places to read about bookish news. They talk about anything book themed you could possibly want, from young adult books to audiobooks to the latest in comics. Though it isn’t in app form, you can find Book Riot on any of the social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook) and easily get access to a lot of great content.
Epic Reads is another bookish website run by HarperCollins publishers. It is solely based on young adult books, but you can get a lot of great content on books before they are released. You can learn about books to look forward to in the coming year, get themed book lists, and see posts from some of your favorite authors. Their book tube channel is also worth checking out!
Riveted Lit is another publisher-run bookish website, this time supported by Simon Teen. Once again, this site is young adult focused, but you can get a lot of the same content you’d see from Epic Reads, but featured from books published by Simon & Schuster. The creation of websites like this shows how quickly the online book community has grown–and you don’t have to venture far from your normal Facebook feed to find anything bookish.