Goodreads.
Probably one of the most utilized site for book lovers across the world. However, there are a lot of functions and features that are unbeknownst to many! After helping a friend surf through the jungle of awesome that is Goodreads, I thought it would be fun to share some of my knowledge of the great bookish site with you all!
So sit back, relax, grab a notebook and pen, and let’s learn a thing or two!
UPDATE:
Evidently I share a brain with that incredibly talented Isabelle over at Bookwyrm Bites (or telekinesis/Telepathy is a real thing and we are basically Professor X and Jean Grey) because she too has a Goodreads guide that just went up! If you haven’t checked her guide out yet, please do! There is a bunch more features of Goodreads that she talks about that I don’t cover here!
Recommendation Feature
If you are a book blogger that gets constant recommendations from your faves or from your friends but you stay forgetting who recommended what to you–this is literally the feature for you. I highly recommend making a separate shelf for recs so it’s easier to find them when you do put them on your TBR.
When your shelf is in place and you have the book on your screen that you would like to use this feature on, click on “WANT TO READ” and then add it to your newly made shelf (if you did make a shelf, this step is totally optional), after its been added to your TBR, scroll down to the “MY ACTIVITY” section of the page (you may need to refresh the page for this to pop up) and click “EDIT” which should be at the top right corner of this section.
Once there, you will be taken to the review edit page of the selected book. From this point you wanna go ahead and waddle over to the area that says “advanced or More Details…”
After clicking you are given a lot of different options, which all in themselves are super useful and handy to use such as: Private notes that only you can see, who you would recommend the series too, and our golden feature–who recommended it to you. Simply type in that person’s name into the box and Goodreads will do the rest!
Book Stats Page
Goodreads realized that many of us are lovers of data, and because of this love, they have graciously given us an area solely dedicated to our reader stats and data collection! Within this page, you are able to look at the amount of books you have read within each year of being a member of the site, total amount of pages within each year (can also be broken down into months), books read by publication year, books read over time, and pages over time.
(click the images to enlarge)
There are several ways you can gain access to these stats:
My Books > Reading Stats
On the top bar of the good reads homepage, click on the tab “MY BOOKS” once there click on “STATS” at the upper right hand side.
Profile > Under list of Bookshelves > Stats
Another way to get into your stats is from your Goodreads profile. Simply, access your profile by clicking your icon on the top right corner for the screen, and scroll until you reach your list of shelves. Once there, you will see a link for Stats similar to the previous one mentioned above. Clicking Stats will take you to data-topia.
Post Reading Progress from Kindle
One of the awesome things that Goodreads provides for its users is its availability on all kindle devices and its ability to share your currently reading status updates with those who follow you on the site. However, if you are reading from your kindle e-reader and not from your phone, you may not know that you can share your update straight from your device instead of logging into goodreads from a different device/computer.
To do this, all you have to do is:
➡Open the book that you would like to share the update for
➡Tap the middle of the screen to bring up the reading menu (if you are on the paperwhite or newer generations of e-readers from kindle–tap the top of the screen)
➡In the top right corner of your screen tap the three dot and then click share
➡You will then see “Goodreads” and “Twitter” click goodreads (obviously, unless Twitter is your kink of choice, then choose Twitter)
➡Write the update you wanna share to the world and click send to send it off into cyber space!
Re-read
This is probably my most favorite feature on Goodreads to date. I adore re-reading novels that have captivated me and often each month I have at least one re-read (looking at you Mariana Zapata books ❤) however, Goodreads use to never count rereads in their database–which sucked.
But friends, the goodreads gods have heard are pleas a year and a half ago, and have granted us the ability to finally add on rereads! Here is how you do it!
➡To reread a book, you can indeed move it from your read shelf to your Currently reading shelf before marking it as a reread (I know, I gasped too)
➡Click on My Books in the navigation tabs
➡If you need to you can search for your book to find it, once found click on the book
➡Click Edit
➡Scroll until you reach dates read in the pop-up that appears, and click Add read date
➡Add the desired dates in the dropdowns and then click save
boom. you done did it my friend.
Finding New Releases
Some don’t know this but Goodreads has a great feature of getting new releasing info into the hands of readers, especially for the genres and authors you love! To check out this feature all you have to do is hit the “BROWSE” tab in the navigational header and click on “New Releases” in the drop down bar. From there the site will take you to a cultivated list of upcoming releases by month based on authors on your shelves and genres you like to read. You can edit these preferences with the links on the sidebar.
Find Upcoming Events Near You
Another great feature along with New Releases is that you can also find author and book events near you! To do this, simply click on Community in the navigational header and then click “Events” in the drop down. You will then be taken to a part of the site where hundred of people and authors place ads and promo for their book tours, conventions, and events! Simply enter in your location or the city you want to find an event, and Goodreads does the rest!
annelottemaasland says
I love using goodreads, so I have a good synopsis of what books I have yet to read and what’s on my wishlist. It’s so helpful!
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
Goodreads is an amazing tool for the bookish community! I use it constantly!
annelottemaasland says
yeah it’s a great tool!
facingthestory says
I love this post! I already knew about a few of these features but others are new to me. I especially like the Recommended option as I feel nowadays I keep adding more and more books on my TBR list after reading a great review by a book blogger and then I always forget who recommended it to me. I didn’t even know there was an events feature on Goodreads, I’ll definitely have to check it out too.
Rosie Amber says
This was fun, I didn’t know some of this. Thanks.
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
you are right. much fun. much knowledge. such learning
Mandy R says
I didn’t know about the events feature! I’m always curious if there are book events near me. Thank you!
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
You’re welcome! I don’t use the events feature often but it is such a cool tool that has come in handy a few times!
Kaleena @ Reader Voracious says
Saaammmmm this post is amazing!!! I didn’t know about DATATOPIA on Goodreads and I’ve just regained five years onto my life! Excellent job, love.
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
YAS MAY THE DATA REFUEL YOUR ORGANS AND REJUVENATE YOUR SKIN!!!!!!
Jayati says
Great tips! I learnt a lot. xx
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
Thanks! Glad I could help!
Jeimy Mota says
This is such a great resource! I never knew half the things stated here! Thank you so much Sam!
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
You’re welcome!
BrigidDowney says
Ah I love this! One thing about goodreads, though is I try not to read comments because I find a lot of them to be vastly unhelpful, childish, or nit picky. I’m writing a post soon on Goodreads comments and why they annoy me lol
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
I’ve never had a problem with GR comments but I am interested to hear your thoughts on them!
BrigidDowney says
Ugh I go through and half of them are gifs which is not a review, and the other half claim all female characters are Mary Sues and all males are toxic (even if they’re not). I read a lot of romance and believe it or not I see comments all the time complaining that it’s romance when they don’t like the genre… so don’t read it??? I have feelings about 75% of Goodreads commenters lol
Michelle says
I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT SO MANY THINGS!! Thanks for letting me know about stats!! I now know that I read most of my books in August, and the oldest book I’ve read is from 1985. I’m obsessed, I’m going to use this so much from now on <3 Thank youuuu
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
YAS DATAOPIA FOREVER! So glad you found something useful in this!! I’m absolutely trash for the stats page and use it to cross reference my wrap ups. lol. A TIME IS BEING HAD!
TheCaffeinatedReader says
The only thing I knew out of your tips was the data bit and my husband and I stumbled onto it by accident. The fact that you can add who recommended it to you…honestly I was like ‘how are they doing this, what sorcery is this?!’ but now I know how to do it, you and the rest of our lot are about to get tagged so much with that novelty! Thanks for so many helpful tips! I had goodreads open while I read yours and Isabelle’s, testing everything, it was so much fun!
Clo @ Book Dragons says
aaaaah I mentioned this on Izzy’s post, but I hadn’t realised you could add in that you own the book and who rec’d it to you etc. So that was super helpful, and look at those stats so pretty hehe. Awesome guide partner in crime, which I’ll no doubt be coming back to, as a reference point <3
Isabelle @ BookwyrmBites says
oops the secret’s out, Soph has figured out (and called out) that we’re actually the same person 👀 😂
omg I love the Book Stats but I somehow always forget it exists?? if you don’t hear from me for the next week or so, you may assume I have drowned myself in that thicc DATA. (what am I saying anymore idk I’m tired pls don’t hold it against me.)
and I actually didn’t know about posting updates directly from Kindle; I’ve only ever used the Goodreads app on my Kindle to change the status (ie, to Currently Reading or Read) and give a rating, so definitely gonna try it out when I move off-campus where my Kindle can connect to the wifi again! (my school wifi requires you download and install a thingy, which is rude considering my Kindle is too old to do that.) I’ve also seen the new releases menu but never actually checked it out, gonna have to start using it more!
super helpful post, and thanks for the pingback 💕
Jinjer says
Thank you!!!! I needed that recommended by trick!!!!!
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
You’re welcome! Thank you for stopping by!
Malka @Paper Procrastinators says
I have to admit, I did not think I’d learn much from this post after using Goodreads for more than 5 years. And yet. THIS WAS SO INFORMATIVE! I also love how you included pictures of how to find everything you mentioned since I’m a super visual learner. I greatly enjoyed this post and I learned quite a few new tricks!
ajarofcandy says
I haven’t used Goodreads in years and I have to say, this post is such an eye-opener! I used to only go to the site for forums and the occasional check for things I might be interested in. I knew I wasn’t using the site to its full potential but I didn’t know by how much. Knowing what I know now, I think it’s time for me to pay the site a vist once more.
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
Yay! Glad I could be of help! Goodreads is actually a really amazing tool for book lovers! I like to think of it as the facebook for tomes. lol. Thank you for stopping by!
Charvi says
Ooh I didn’t know one can access that kind of stats through Goodreads! Thanks for this post, it was very helpful 😊
Sam || Fictionally Sam says
You’re welcome! Happy data collecting! <3
Gerry@TheBookNookUK says
Brilliant post Sam! Incredibly useful and it’s all stuff I didn’t know so it’s great when knowledge is shared! Thank you x