Tag: Devilreads

Bookhype – Exceptional Or Execrable?

~ Bookstooge ~ 42 Comments

I recently joined Bookhype when a fellow wordpresser left WP because of the forsaken block editor. It seemed the best way to keep track of what she was still reading. I’m usually willing to experiment on new book sites just to see what they have to offer. Who knows, maybe I’ll find another Booklikes (well, it COULD happen). You can find me HERE.

I have to admit, it’s pretty limited. I can add all the data I want and even like and comment but the notification side of things is almost non-existent. There is no way to be notified if someone likes or comments on a review (at least not that I could find). You can import your devilreads export file (which is what I did to get all the books I’ve read this year quickly onto Bookhype) so they do realize most people don’t want to start from scratch.

They do have a cool looking “stats” page with all the graphics I could ask for. The problem is, I can’t save any of them as pictures to use on my own blog. I’d have to screen shot, edit and then faff about and with all that work, I might as well make my own graphics. So close and yet such a fail.

It seems to be very Twitter oriented. I’m not on Twitter and have no intention of joining that cesspit, so that isn’t a plus for me.

I’m going to keep using this until at least the end of year just to see how it shakes out. If they don’t get some sort of notification system for the likes and comments though, I don’t see myself staying there.

Have you used Bookhype? If you have, what’s your experience been like?

Why I’m Working on the Blog

~ Bookstooge ~ 52 Comments

When I’ve posted about the fact that I am Working on the Blog, I didn’t think of some of the smaller reasons that have recently come to my attention. The following is one of the unexpected benefits of doing this fiddly kind of work.

I keep my reviews in a program on my computer called Calibre. It’s an ebook manager but has the capability of being a database for reviews. Instead of just using a spreadsheet, I use calibre so I can include covers, etc. Anyway, today I woke up rather early and decided to get another month from 2007 out of the way, so I began creating reviews. When I do this, I also double check what is on my blog against what I have in my calibre database just to make sure I’ve got the complete picture. 99% of the time they agree. It’s that bleeding 1% you have to worry about 😉

Sure enough, today was a 1%’er of a time. I was putting up the review for Down the Long Hills by Louis L’Amour and was copy/pasting my review and when I checked in calibre, my review there stated “no original review, here’s a blurb”. My guess is that I had a record of reading the book from my time at Devilreads but that the review got lost in the transition to Booklikes and when I tried to search my blog for Down the Long Hills, since it was in a monthly post and not it’s own, it didn’t show up. You wouldn’t believe how many books I’ve read, that are in my monthly posts, that won’t come up in a search. It is one of the reason I’m doing this. This time I was able to update my calibre library with an actual snippet. That is always a good thing.

All of this to pretty much say that today’s been a good day so far and it’s only 5am. It’s either going to turn out to be a great day or a really baaaaad day 😀

Happy Sabbath all.

The Road to Hell is Paved with…

~ Bookstooge ~ 36 Comments

angel_of_light-satan

So, when I was doing my Yearly Review and reading everyone else’s, I was constantly bemoaning how good all the charts and graphics and data info were that those who used Devilsreads had access to. I have to admit, I was jealous.  Heck, I AM jealous.

This happens every year or so but this year seems worse than usual. I want to join up again. Just for the data tools. The only words would be the star rating, as I use half stars and the dates.  I wouldn’t interact, as Devilreads is as toxic as any other socialmedia site.  At least, that is what I have told myself time and time again. Then I think about how much I crave word interaction and I wonder if I could actually go on a site and not interact with other people?

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Even thinking about it makes me feel like a word whore, please excuse the language.  I know LOTS of good people use Devilreads, probably without a qualm. I don’t even have to sign up with a new account, I can just link my google account and go from there.

But can I do it without exploding or throwing a tantrum or otherwise causing myself incredible amounts of stress? I don’t know. The optimistic side of me says “Bookstooge, you’re an adult, you can do this!” while the negative side says “Bookstooge, Devilsreads is a hive of scum and villainy like no other” (thank you Obi-Wan). But I want that easy to access data.

Crying Toddler on Bench

I want it, I want it, I want it!!!!

 

Sigh. Thanks for listening. Just needed to get that off my chest. I’ll be back in my normal frame of mind in a day or three.

 

bookstooge (Custom)

 

 

Stiff Upper Lip, What, What?

~ Bookstooge ~ 1 Comment

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Every couple of months I login to Goodreads, mainly to remind myself of why I left a community of thousands of people who review books and staff that is constantly updating the site. So I just checked in this evening and speaking of updates. They have apparently redone the feed/home page, again and from what I can tell, it appears to be more aimed at pushing books than actually being your friends info. I thought to myself, “well, maybe I could deal with this if Booklikes folds some day”.

Then, like I always do, I headed to the Feedback Forum and read over the “rules” from 2013. The ones that state that you can’t have a shelf entitled Badly Behaving Authors and a lot of vague wording that allows them to delete your shelves and reviews just because. With all of the bugs and lack of staff and lack of a growing community here at Booklikes, I will still take being allowed to say what I want how I want about anything over a slick production that sticks a rag in my mouth and kneecaps me in a dark alley.

But a little bit of me, deep inside, wants to go back. Kneecapping and all 😦