Emily Long is a freelance author based in Salt Lake City.
After graduating from Duke University, she spent multiple years reporting on the national workforce for Government Executive, a publish of Atlantic Media Company, in Washington, D.C. She has nearly a decade of cognition as a freelancer covering tech (including issues connected to security, privacy, and streaming) as fine as individual backing and travel.
In supplement to Lifehacker, her activity has been featured on Wirecutter, Tom’s Guide, and ZDNET. Emily has additionally worked as a journey guide about the U.S. and as a satisfied editor. She has a masters in social activity and is a licensed therapist in Utah.
Goodreads is a famous phase for managing your To Be Read (TBR) pile, finding recommended titles, tracking your study stats, and sharing reviews, ratings, and notes alongside friends, but there are ways to create the cognition better. If you're an avid reader, use these tips, tricks, and hidden hacks to get the most out of what Goodreads has to offer.
Use the barcode scanner to vet books during you're in the bookstore
The Goodreads mobile app has a built-in scanner that uses your device's camera to scan either the publish shield or barcode. It afterward pulls up data concerning the title, including a clarification and ratings/reviews from another Goodreads users, so you can decide whether to add it to My Books during you're in the shop or perusing a friend's shelf. Simply tap the camera icon in the hunt bar. You can additionally see a former of scanned books in the camera tab.
Log rereads alongside distinct dates to evade overwriting your existing data
There are several books that are value study multiple times, and Goodreads allows you to track all reread as a distinct action so you don't overwrite your first admission or power your study difficulty stats. If you fair hit the Read clasp on the heading page, it'll merely log the item as peruse without any additional information. Instead, choose Edit my action > Add peruse date to act commencement and complete dates for all reread.
Select your book’s accurate type to get exact advancement tracking
If you attention concerning nitty-gritty study stats, create certain you choose the particular type of the heading you're reading. Different editions have distinct leaf numbers, and you can additionally choose audiobook versions if you're listening fairly than study to keep those pages from being counted in your totals. Find accessible editions on the book's heading page, or tap Show all editions and choose Switch to this edition next to the accurate one.
Exclude audiobooks and explanatory novels from your Reading Challenge to maintain your stats
Goodreads counts all books peruse inside a calendar twelvemonth toward your annual Reading Challenge, but there may be titles you don't desire included in your year-end stats. For example, if you're tracking audiobooks, explanatory novels, or children's books in Goodreads, you can exclude them from your Reading Challenge so they don't figure toward your leaf goal. You can additionally exclude titles if you desire your Reading Challenge to concentration specifically on one category of book. In the app, go to More > Reading Challenge > Challenge details, choose the publish you desire to remove, and hit Remove from difficulty > Remove. (This can be established under your overview on the web interface.) To add titles rear later, eliminate and re-add the peruse date.
Use Goodreads to admission Kindle notes and highlights directly
If you're a Kindle user, you can nexus your Amazon and Goodreads accounts to see your Kindle notes and highlights centralized on Goodreads, including those for archive books peruse through Kindle. You can add to or edit existing notes, which sync rear to your Kindle book, as fine as portion notes and highlights alongside another users. On the web, open the overview list and choose Kindle Notes & Highlights > Connect your accounts.
Create a concealed collection to keep a personal study log
Goodreads doesn't have the choice to create a bookshelf private, definition anyone can perspective your activity. Even if you set your overview to private, your shelves and study action are apparent to your Goodreads friends. To keep a study log that no one can see, you can create a concealed collection of which you are the lone associate and use the group's bookshelves to track personal activity. On the web, go to Community > Groups > Create a group and choose This collection is secret.
Use a DNF rack to distinct abandoned titles from those you've read
A DNF rack is place for titles that you started but abandoned, giving them a dedicated location distinct from your another categories. Earlier this year, Goodreads added a default Did Not Finish rack alongside Want to Read, Currently Reading, or Read, so you no longer have to create one manually. If you provision up on a publish before finishing, you can motionless track advancement but put it on your DNF shelf. (Note that these books volition motionless figure toward your goals if you contain a peruse date alongside the entry, so you'll need to exclude them using the steps complete if you lone desire to figure books you've peruse all the way through.)
Use Compare Books to discover recommended titles for publish association or study alongside allies who have distinct tastes
If it's difficult to discover books that the two you and your allies desire to peruse together, you can use Goodreads' Compare Books characteristic to see a head-to-head difference of your shelves for shared interests. Go to your Friends catalog and tap compare books next to their name to drag up an inspection of your libraries, including a catalog of books you have in average and a mark for how your tastes row up.
Set kind criteria to keep extremely classified titles at the top of your TBR
Goodreads has granular settings for what criteria you can perspective and kind by on your bookshelves. If you have hundreds of titles saved on your Want to Read list, customize and preserve a category to kind by so you continually see the highest-rated books (or those alongside the lowest leaf figure or most lately published, for example) at the top. Each rack must be sorted separately. Open the Settings tab at the top of the list, choose inclusion criteria, and afterward choose a kind choice from the dropdown. Press Save Current Settings to your shelf to fastener them.
Export your data for backup or for in-depth inspection of your study history
Goodreads tracks your study former and stats, but you may desire to do a regular backup of your data to justify you don't endure years of logs if item happens to your account. Library exports contain sectors akin publish title, author, publisher, twelvemonth published, and figure of pages, as fine as peruse dates, ratings, and notes. When downloaded as a CSV, the data can additionally be sorted and analyzed in myriad distinct ways. To export your books on desktop, go to My Books and click Import and export under the My Tools section. Click Export Library followed by the document name to download it to your device.
Emily Long is a freelance author based in Salt Lake City.
