SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Ines wrote: "Just dropping in here to tell you that theStoryGraph is shipping groups/book clubs soon: https://roadmap.thestorygraph.com/roa...

With everything going on on goodreads, I guess now is the time to..."

what's going on with Goodreads?

The only negative thing I've noticed recently on StoryGraph: the tailored recommendations became a Plus Feature you'd have to pay extra for, and the regular recommendations suck. Usually they recommend really old books, and often I get a list of nothing but old white dudes recommended (whom I love dearly, just not exclusively).

But I'm looking forward to groups and book clubs! :-)

I’ve been keeping an eye on this in the roadmap and when I saw the tweet I was excited at first, but I think it’s going to be a while before it’ll truly be able to replace the community aspect of GR. I do know it will work and they’ll listen to users though! And problems will be fixed quickly. I’m happy to pay for that.

As soon as it’s live there will be an SFFBC, and we’ll let you know if/when you can join 😊

Eva wrote: "The only negative thing I've noticed recently on StoryGraph: the tailored recommendations became a Plus Feature you'd have to pay extra for, and the regular recommendations suck. Usually they recom..."

I thought the recommendations were the same for non-paying and paying users, just as a paying user, you can get more and if you aren't paying there's a limit on how many recommendations you can get in a certain amount of time?


Anna wrote: "As soon as it’s live there will be an SFFBC, and we’ll let you know if/when you can join 😊 "

I was hoping for this and, to be completely honest, that was the sercret reason behind my post. :D

Silvana wrote: "what's going on with Goodreads?"

They are only shipping updates that make things worse and never tackle the real issues (spam, availability, UI etc.) Plus, they are closing the API, so it's pretty obvious they only want to keep goodreads around to sell data.


I do think it's a good alternative, with a more transparent and reliable model than goodreads, and I am planning to replace goodreads as my main page for social bookish things eventually. Right now, it looks like theStoryGraph will be this new site for me, rather than LibraryThing.

I didn’t post about it yet because there’s nothing to tell yet! 😄 But you’re right in that people should start using TSG if they haven’t already!

I still prefer GR (when it works) but I see great potential in TSG and hope it’ll thrive 😊

My main "issue" with TSG is that I like how GR shows all shelves on the side, and I can see how many are on each shelf, and click from one to another. On TSG it feels like every time I have to figure out again how to get to just one shelf! Of course it isn't hard, it's just different, and all shelves have their entry point in a different place, I'm sure I'd get used to it if I used it daily.

And I was ragey when GR changed the series pages so that I could no longer see 13 books per page, and instead there's 3 books and a ton of spoilery blurb. With TSG that's how every page looks, minus the spoilers of course. Yes it looks very nice, but I can only ever see 2.5 books at a time when scrolling. I could of course CSS the living daylights out of it like I've done with GR, but I don't want to, and especially not when the site is still changing daily.

I *love* that I can filter editions by language, this is something that GR users have been asking for since before I was born, and it should be super easy to implement, but we still don't have it <_< And of course I like the content warnings, and the fun stats.

Can't wait to see what it looks like in a couple of years! ^_^

Anna wrote: "I still prefer GR (when it works) but I see great potential in TSG and hope it’ll thrive 😊"

That's still about where I'm at with it. At the end of the day, I want GR back to where it was about five or six years ago. I don't think TSG is going that direction, but I wish them well. (And we do need some kind of alternative now that Amazon is closing the API. That was an incredibly shady thing to do and in a just world there would already be trustbusters working on it.) I am glad there will be one group I know over there once this gets up and running; maybe I will be totally wrong and love it there and now I'll have people to tell me how great it is :-)

I'm trying to use the two services in a complementary way. I do my Goodreads thing first, and then if I write a review I copy it and paste it over at the StoryGraph because I just can't stand the thought of having to write two reviews. I love having another source of book recommendations! The Goodreads algorithm is lousy at recommendations, although if you follow people with similar reading preferences and join groups you can derive loads of them through your own effort.

What is API?

Ann wrote: "What is API?"

API = Application Programming Interface.

An API defines how to request something from a service. In this case it allows/allowed someone to write software that accesses data on Goodreads. Want to use a plugin that lists what you're reading on your blog? Run an app that shows you connections between authors you've read? How about one that generates better recommendations than Goodreads provides on what you might like to read next? Import reading data into a new site? Those are examples of things that died before they were finished and/or will likely be gone once Goodreads finishes killing off their API.

Raucous wrote: "Ann wrote: "What is API?"

API = Application Programming Interface.

An API defines how to request something from a service. In this case it allows/allowed someone to write software that accesses ..."

Thank you!

Thanks for this info about the story graph... I've signed up. They make it super simple and I already prefer the way the pages are set up and their 'look.'

I use both, too, and copy my GR reviews over to Storygraph. I especially like the statistics part of Storygraph!

Those of you who are actively using both GR and TSG, how do you do it? I want to keep TSG updated, but I don't want to update two sites individually. So far I've been doing an import from GR every now and then, deleting everything on TSG first. That's not very convenient for frequent updates though, has anyone got a better system?

I was thinking maybe if I edited the GR export and only imported one month at a time, without having to delete anything from TSG, but I feel like that might be more work, not less?

I use both. I'm just doing double the work. I haven't yet gotten to the point that I can really say one is better than the other, or that I'm sick enough of doing the double work to stop it just yet!

I stopped using SG since 2020, too lazy even to delete and import...I did miss the stats though.

I use SG to track my reading and challenges and GR for group discussions. I update my books on GR when I get to it.

Anyone a TSG librarian and/or can tell me what the procedure is to get editions merged?

edit: Nevermind, I applied for librarian status, might as well :D

Hi everyone wanting to friend the mod account on TSG!

I do accept the requests, but I typically only check it once a month (on the 1st, to add the new BOTMs), so please be patient :)

OK, now that I've added the TBR cleanup challenge (and updated mine, yay!) does anyone want any other SFFBC challenge added to TSG?

Well, I did love the Amazin' Eights challenge (and still plan on finishing it ... someday) and I think it's one that a lot of people would enjoy. It's a bit difficult to add to TSG, though, because it's so individualised (since you draw a card for every month). You could add 12 prompts that just say "draw a card" and then add bonus prompts for each possible card so people can add books to it. Buuuuuut that's a lot of work.

Btw, since Anna mentioned that I do a lot of challenges ... most of those are not time-restricted and I kind of join them to browse through the books, so it's more a way for me to find new and interesting books. I do plan on finishing them all eventually, but not next year or the year after that. :D

Here are some I enjoy a lot:
Vampire Literature through the ages: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...
Explore Science-Fiction Sub-Genres: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...
Diverse SciFi and Fantasy Books: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...
Specific Prompts for Speculative Stories: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...

I love the challenges feature. Currently in the process of creating a "Germany then & now" challenge and I want to create one about SciFi tropes, that seems like fun.


Anna wrote: "Anyone a TSG librarian and/or can tell me what the procedure is to get editions merged?

edit: Nevermind, I applied for librarian status, might as well :D"

I think you just fill out the support form.

How does one apply for librarian status?

Oh, and as a huge Eurovision enthusiast, I of course have to mention the Eurovision challenges I found:

Map Challenge: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...
Eurovision Winners Challenge: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...

I would join the German lit then and now one!

Thanks for the other links!

Ines wrote: "How does one apply for librarian status?"

Use the Contact Form to say you'd like to apply, they email you instructions :) I got mine within minutes.

I'll keep the A8 challenge in mind for the next time I'm bored and want to fiddle with something!

I’ll second some form of A8.

Also Read All the Books would be nice. You can keep the challenges open ended.

RATB doesn’t make sense to me since it’s a fixed set of books?

There are challenges like that on The Story Graph. “Read the Top 50 SFF books of all time” for instance.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...

Yes but what’s the added benefit? TBR is nice because we can see what others chose, but we already know what’s on the shelf.

Also, who would update the challenge every month to add new BOTMs?! 😬

Scratch that, who would *set it up* ?! You’d have to copy/paste close to 400 prompts, count me out 😂

Ah, yes, that does sound like a lot of work.

I can ask my mate, Moe. She loves challenges and the storygraph. :)

Ryan wrote: "I can ask my mate, Moe. She loves challenges and the storygraph. :)"

Moe says noe to RATB.

DivaDiane wrote: "I would join the German lit then and now one!"

It's here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading...

Thanks!

I gave in and signed up for StoryGraph. Loving the stats so far. I’m on the app right now (away from my computer overnight) so I’m poking around but feel like I’ll need time to check out the full site.

I am divadiane on The Story Graph

I am mermahoney.

I’m happy to be friends with anyone on TSG. And also here in GR. (I’m on my phone or I would have edited my post.)

I was trying to search for something about TSG vs GR, and this thread came up as the #1 result :D Thanks Google, I know about this thread already!

Anna wrote: "I was trying to search for something about TSG vs GR, and this thread came up as the #1 result :D Thanks Google, I know about this thread already!"

haha!

LOL!

I got my librarian privs, went through and checked/corrected all the books by one author. It's not difficult, in fact most things (unsurprisingly) are easier than on GR, and definitely everything works faster, but figuring out a new system makes my brain crave chocolate! :D Unfortunately I don't have any chocolate, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow (or later in the week) to tackle the rest of my 2022 reads that need fixing. I'm not even going to think about anything I've read/added before 2022! :S

All this to say, if you happen to be reading this soon after joining GR, do start adding your books on TSG now, so you don't have to do a massive GR export/import, and then spend ages fixing everything :S

I'm appreciating the summary information (especially "moods") in the community reviews section for each book on TSG. It gives me a feeling for whether the book is likely to match my current interests without my having to worry about seeing spoilers in a full review. I can save the more detailed reviews for later.

I'm raucous on TSG.

I gave in and finally re-imported my GR data to SG and boy, am I so glad to see those stats again ;p

Anyone use the Android app yet? for some reason I can't download it.

And the editions in my GR books when already exported there, some changed to other editions, like from Kindle to audio. Anyone experienced the same thing?

Yes the editions don’t import very well unfortunately. I made the decision to edit my 2022 reads, but left previous years as they imported. At some point I’ll go through them to change the ones that have the wrong language, but I doubt I want to edit years and years of books.

Yes, that’s true for me too. None of the audio was retained. I will probably go through and fix 2022 as well.

Anna wrote: "Yes the editions don’t import very well unfortunately. I made the decision to edit my 2022 reads, but left previous years as they imported. At some point I’ll go through them to change the ones tha..."

Same. I am happy enough my rating and reviews got imported.

How do you apply for librarian anyway?

DivaDiane wrote: "Yes, that’s true for me too. None of the audio was retained. I will probably go through and fix 2022 as well."

oh so the audio got changed as well...I don't have the energy to fix all, I guess I'll try to update both at the same time - we'll see how that goes.