Jason Matthews's Blog, page 28

eFiction, Discover the Best Indie Authors

eFiction is an online fiction magazine established by editor, Doug Lance.  The monthly e-publishing site strives to promote the best new fiction by Indie authors, largely undiscovered by the general reading public. It's been happening each month since May 2010 and is also free. Downloads of the ezine can be in PDF, Kindle or EPUB formats to be readable on virtually any device.

From the website:

eFiction started as a small group of writers and fiction-enthusiasts getting together online to share stories. It has exploded into a global fiction phenomenon. eBooks are taking over the world and eFiction is leading the charge. The best authors on the internet collaborate to produce eFiction for your reading pleasure.

With modern technology, everyone has a library in their pocket. You can read the classics whenever you want. But what if you want to read the latest, cutting edge fiction that no one has ever read before? eFiction is your way of staying up to date with the ever evolving style of fictional works.

We publish: Thrillers, Romance, Paranormal, Science fiction, Horror, and a myriad of combinations thereof.

Doug Lance emphasizes the promotional opportunity for all writers when he says, "Our credo is; Don't take money from writers. In line with that credo, we offer free ad space (http://efictionmag.submishmash.com). We publish short fiction of most genres (erotica and blatantly offensive stuff is not our cup of tea). We also publish written book reviews and accept review copies of indie books for us to review."

For writers interested in submitting stories, there are a few basic guidelines including author's name and email, word count, formats (.doc, docx, .rtf), standard serif font size 12-ish, single spaced. Authors can submit short stories, poetry, book reviews, essays, serial fictions, ads, even artwork. Participation with the eFiction community also helps submissions being accepted (e.g. tweets, likes, posts in workshop and blog).

This is what the upcoming calendar is looking for:

September 2011 – Open

October 2011 – Horror/Paranormal

November 2011 – Open

December 2011 – Family

January 2012 – Open

February 2012 – Romance

March 2012 – Open

April 2012 – Folklore

May 2012 – Open

June 2012 – Speculative Fiction

July 2012 – Open

August 2012 – Humor/Comedy

Please check out eFiction. They focus on Indie authors who have no representation or traditional publishing deals, supporting the underdog and coming from underdog status themselves.

Follow on Twitter – http://twitter.com/#!/efictionmag

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/eFiction

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Book Crossing and the Dangers of Great Reviews

Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to an Indie author is getting a great review. Yes, a superb, 5-star, absolute-must-read review can be a major problem. Why? Because it gives the author a false sense of security. Especially if it's not written by Mom or a close friend or someone who gushes over everything. Even if it's written by a perfect stranger, a fantastic review often sets the author up to stop marketing. Let me share an example.

Book Crossing is an outfit that shares paper books in an unusual way. Readers and authors are encouraged to leave books in places where others will find them. Inside the cover, a message is written or a sticker set in place explaining that it's a Book Crossing book with a proper ID. It's a free gift, hopefully one that will be found, read and enjoyed. Afterwards, the reader can write a review on the website and then share the book with others as the process repeats itself in theory.

My novel, The Little Universe, was a Book Crossing book registered under its original title of The Big Bang: Notes from Looking Within back on Oct 14th 2005. At the same time, a few copies were left randomly in places like coffee shops across the town of Truckee, California.

Within one week, on Oct 20th, this review was left on the Book Crossing website:

10 out of 10 stars. Wow – only had to read two pages to be totally hooked. What an awesome book! Being an avid fan of Edgar Cayce as well as Einstein – this is a book I am reading again with my 13 year old son. What a great concept of life, what a fun twist in the middle of the book… It is the quintessential question – who is "creating" with us and what is really important in life? The thread of consciousness that runs through everyone and everything is so unifying. I want everyone in my life to read this and then I will set it free to be found and enjoyed again…

For me, the author, it was already the ultimate Book Crossing experience and review from a total stranger. It also made me think this would be a common response by readers, thus the book should make the bestsellers list within a year.

Wrong! Things really stalled out after that largely because marketing the book wasn't my strength back in 2005, and writing the sequel became my main focus instead of regular marketing.

Selling ebooks and paperbacks is a marathon, not a sprint. My advice to every Indie author is to do everything possible to build an online presence/platform and to continue marketing their books at every opportunity without sounding like spam. A broken record perhaps, but spam, no. Use free resources, even quirky ideas like Book Crossing, and try a bit of everything to find out what works.

And in the event that you get some fantastic, 5-star, must-read reviews; don't ever think you've got it made. That's the time to keep marketing. Like this: find out why perfect strangers love the novel by checking out The Little Universe today, available as an ebook at paperback at all major retailers.

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Final Hours to Enter The Little Universe Giveaway

Today is the final day to enter The Little Universe giveaway at Goodreads. As an author trying this for the first time, it's already been an interesting experience. We'll see what happens in the near future after ten winners receive free paperback copies. Will they read it? Will they write an Amazon review or one at B & N or Smashwords? That's sort of the expected yet unspoken agreement (if they like it) posted in the guidelines at Goodreads. (Maybe they'll also receive a tactful reminder letter with their author-signed copies.)

On the first day that the books posted, approximately 100 people entered to win. Since then it got sidelined on the website by being several pages in, no longer on the recently listed page and far from the ending soon page. Perhaps today it will see a bump in number of new entries. Here's what it looks like at Goodreads:

The Little Universe

by Jason Matthews (Goodreads Author)

What if you could create a universe…more

Enter to win
Giveaway dates: Aug 09-Aug 23, 2011
10 copies available, 502 people requesting
Countries available: US

Closed to entries in: 13 hours 8 mins 45 secs (clock counts down on their site)

The exposure alone is encouraging, currently over five hundred people have at least checked it out. If half of the people who win free copies actually leave a review or recommend the book to others, that will be a major success for my $100 investment to buy and mail ten books within the United States. Perhaps half is an optimistic number, we'll see.

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Indie Authors Sell fewer Ebooks in Summer, True or False?

Do Indie authors sell fewer ebooks in the summer? Especially during July and August? This summery complaint has been ringing in my ears at several forums, which sounded like either a bunch of hot-headed writers getting over-heated for dwindling sales or perhaps something really to it.

Typically we hear about ebook sales jumping through the roof, especially because of the novelty of ebooks and Indie authors publishing in record amounts, but what we don't hear much about is how the seasons might affect these numbers. Instead, sales reports are typically compared year to year, not month to month. Based on the number of Indie authors bringing this to my attention (including Joe Konrath), there could be something to it. As more and more authors weigh in, it seems to be true; a summer slump does happen. If sales have slowed for you June through August, have no fear; you're not alone.

After spending some time researching this phenomena (or phantom), there wasn't much immediate data making it clear either way. So let's just speculate a bit and see if we can come up with some plausible theories.

While at first glance, a summer dip in ebook sales it might seem counter-intuitive because summertime means vacationing, which also means less time working and more time for reading. The kids are out of school so they can read more… or wait… do they read more during school? Do kids read at all in amounts that matter? Hmm, already sidetracked here. Back to adults.

Summer also means plenty of other distractions/opportunities that might not be conductive to reading. Outdoor exercise and activity could fill many hours that used to be spent sitting in living rooms curled up with a good book. For many, summer also means yard-work, weddings to plan or attend, long car trips to endure… again, feels like this shouldn't affect book sales much either way.

Aha! There's another factor that makes perfect sense. Sales of both ebooks and the devices that read them, skyrocket in December and January as a result of the Christmas buying season. Both Kindle Boards and Nookboards demonstrate December 25th is by far their record day for user visits. Now we're getting somewhere. Duh, *smacks forehead,* sales skyrocket in December and January because people buy Kindles, Nooks, iPads, etc and also lots of ebooks during the holidays. Many readers, including me, take several months to actually read what they purchased. Perhaps July and August is the best time to catch up on those already purchased ebooks. It's also a great time to pull out a paperback by the pool or beach, which isn't going to cost hundreds of dollars to replace if it gets dunked underwater or filled with sand.

That makes sense. If summer sales are slow, it's probably just because it's the best time to catch up on a busy winter buying season. If someone can find some actual data from ebook retailers on month to month sales, please leave links in the comment section.

So if you're an Indie author noticing ebook selling has dwindled lately, fear not. Now's the best time to write some blog posts, network in forums, get your book links out there and do what you can to prepare for another busy fall, winter and spring. Happy selling ahead.

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NaNoWriMo Novel Writing Month, Prepare Now

Lately some readers have been asking about books that teach how to write a book or how to write a novel in X number of days. Understandably, it's important for many to define a timeline, perhaps so the author sees a light at the end of the tunnel. This was not my personal method for writing novels, but if it works, what the heck. Writing is hard. Do whatever works.

If memory serves correctly, years ago there was a title about writing a book in 90 days, and then one came out for accomplishing the task in just a month, then another for finishing a book in a week, then another in only three days. Someday soon the title will be, "Write a Book and Sell a Million Copies in One Day!" This concept is both alluring and off-putting, and it should be discussed.

In practice, my specialty is not teaching people how to write (or how to write quickly), but teaching what to do after the book is written. However, since this subject seems so hot, perhaps my two cents can get thrown in for at least a few recommendations. One thing that is clear; books don't write themselves. Anything that motivates you to write is a great place to start. If getting it done in a quick time frame is appealing, then now might be the time to start thinking about a November challenge and NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo is an acronym for National Novel Writing Month. Kind of sounds like Mama Rhino. From their website, NaNoWriMo is:

…a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000 word, (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. This approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down…

Yep, it's a real deal. Last year 200,000 participants entered and 30,000 actually reached the 50K word goal. That's an impressive 15%. For the others who didn't, many of them probably wrote a good bulk of 50K words, also impressive. It took me years to write each of my novels. Here's the registration page.

Activities like this are different from simply repeating phrases like, "really need to write that novel someday," because of the DEADLINE and the GROUP PARTICIPATION. Those two factors will have a huge difference on most writers.

You might be thinking, "It's August for crying out loud. What's up?" The answer is, it's the perfect time to start gearing up for this and getting your creative juices flowing so when November comes around–you're already rolling.

Now's the time to practice. Pick a week, pick a month, do whatever. Here's my advice for getting writing done quickly:

1. Make an initial outline. It doesn't have to be perfect or even complete. A general outline discussing beginning, middle and end features will always help.

2. Add some basic sentences to all sections of the outline. Try to identify key points, scenes that come to mind, which characters might be involved where, anything to help expand your initial outline.

3. After the outline's in place, create a document for your book that's like a daily or a journal and label it as such. Then set ten to twenty minutes aside for your "dailies." Write anything that comes to mind on your story and don't edit. Just write, don't edit. Keep on writing for at least ten to twenty minutes if not more. Don't edit the dailies. In case you still haven't heard this piece of advice, DON'T EDIT THE DAILIES. The reason is to build the creative flow since that's where the magic happens. Editing takes you out of the creative moment. It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to have typos and poor choices of words. You'll fix them later.

4. Do this everyday. Even if it's just ten to twenty minutes, you'll be amazed what can happen in a few days to a week. Your "dailies" document should fill up fast, even if some of it is crap and needs thorough editing.

5. Create a 2nd document and title it the name of your story or "main story." At the end of the day, when your creative mind is waving a white flag, copy and paste sections at a time from the "dailies" and place them where you think they will go chronologically in your "main story." Now's the time to go over what you've written. Editing and rewriting takes different brainwaves as creation does. You might be pleasantly surprised to actually feel recharged during this time of editing. For me, working on editing in the "main story" is far easier than creating the "dailies."

6. Stick to it. That's easier said than done, but if you can stick with this, once November and NaNoWriMo comes around, you'll be ahead of the game.

If you have any extra time, the main other thing that will help is to join a critique group on the side. Yahoo has critique groups as does every site for writers like Authonomy, Redroom, and others. By regularly hearing critique of your chapters and critiquing the work of others, you'll get a finer idea of what makes your writing its best.

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Google Plus +, Social Media Must for Indie Authors

Are you using Google Plus (Google +)? Maybe it feels like one too many social media things. Maybe you weren't impressed with Google Buzz or Wave. Maybe getting the VCR to record on program is still on the list.

If not on Google Plus yet, you have a decent excuse since it's currently in a beta period and entry is by invitation only. But if you have been invited and haven't made the move, it could be because it feels overwhelming.

Many writers tell me they're still not using Twitter, which is understandable since it can be an odd thing to get started with. Some even report they're not on Facebook, which seems a bit harder to justify as Facebook is fairly  self-explanatory and user friendly. LinkedIn? Eh, some people use it but it feels like that's one that could go either way. Let me say this; Google Plus takes the best aspects of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn while eliminating the worst. Presently, it has the best design and can be your one-stop for all things social media.

When Google Plus came out, admittedly it felt like too much. Fortunately, this one has some real bonuses. Like Facebook, you can wall post stream what's happening or things to share and include video, links, photos, chat, etc. Unlike Facebook, you can create different "circles" that these posts go out to. Circles can be composed of family, friends, work colleagues, followers, your soccer team, the bowling league, book club, fashionistas… whatever kind of circle you want to create. Make sense now? Yes, you can have different circles for those sexy comments with "late night friends" that your dear, sweet Grandmother will never have to read and risk a heart-attack. Or it can be ultra boring "engineer" stuff with your Boeing buddies that your 13 year old doesn't want to see.

To me, this is a huge difference over Facebook as you can easily select what others do or don't see with updates and wall posts. Makes me wonder if Mark Zuckerberg is scrambling to alter his site to this design. Currently, to accomplish the same effect on Facebook one would have to create entirely different accounts (pages), while at Google Plus one simple click creates different circles for whatever group you want. Piece of cake.

Like Twitter, anyone can add you to their circle to follow, and you can add anyone to yours. Unlike Twitter, you can identify who you want to see what, and you can do dozens of things that their platform doesn't support.

You can also email people directly, people not even using Google Plus, with your announcements or invitations to come aboard. Presently, each new member gets 150 invites (it's all free of course). If you do the math, it shouldn't be long before everyone with an email address has an invitation that she/he can accept.

Sparks is another interesting feature that allows you to search Google Plus for content of interest. It has a list of pre-set subjects, or you can type in things like recipes, books, dog walkers in Los Angeles or anything you want.

Hangout allows group video chat with multiple people, another very cool feature.

Because this social media site does everything all the other ones do and then some, it feels like a must for Indie authors wanting to promote their writing as well as the general population that wants the best of social media.

There are plenty of great tutorials on how to use Google Plus. Rather than trying to re-invent than wheel, let's just link some articles for you to check out if extra help is required.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_to_start_with_google_plus.php -article tutorial

http://www.stateofsearch.com/how-to-use-google-a-quick-guide-and-thoughts-on-google-plus/ -article tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TDMObxEtEY&feature=related -video tutorial (has a brief ad but is a great video)

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Amazon Tablet just $249? Let's Hope

Amazon Tablet for just $249? That's the recent rumor from tech analyst, Tim Bajarin (and others), who also predicts the device might cost Amazon as much as $300 to produce and sell.

Why take a $51 loss on an electronic device? Easy, to make it back plus a lot more over the following months on Amazon products and services. Simultaneously it could knock many out of a crowded tablet market: Acer, Coby, Samsung, HP, Motorola, Asus, Toshiba, Blackberry, Dell and more. Amazon's device will be much less than those of competitors, many of which don't have the infrastructure for content distribution and sales of books, music, video, cloud storage and everything within its Android App store. Bajarin says, "…over a two-year period, a person with an Amazon tablet might buy or rent 15 movies, stream or download 50 songs, buy 18 books, and pay $5 a month for cloud storage from Amazon. Then let's say they also purchase five items through the tablet's Amazon store… let's throw in some advertising in this mix as well… Amazon would make back that lost $51 within six months and reap a profit of anywhere from 10 to 30 percent on the tablet over the last 18 months of the device's accounting period."

Many figure Amazon to be the only major player poised to take on Apple's iPad as king of the tablet market (not to mention Barnes & Noble's Nook Color which also happens to sell for $249). Due to Apple brand loyalty and its own ecosystem of extra services/products, my guess is a pair of kings would be just fine with Amazon as would saving face with customers who are on the fence or even recently jumped ship to B & N. Other rumors include the tablets may come in familiar 7 inch (code named-Coyote) and 10 inch (Hollywood) sizes. While the rumors abound, CEO Jeff Bezos has refrained from any public announcement other than telling us in May to "stay tuned." Common sense see this happening well before Christmas if it's a 2011 release. September? October? Inquiring minds want to know.

This lowest price possible strategy reminds me of something many Indie authors are doing to sell ebooks. They give away the first book in a series for free, then sell the sequels for 99 cents or $2.99. By taking an initial loss on the freebie, they gamble that future sales will come in bunches. Sometimes it doesn't pan out, others times they sell millions of ebooks. Smart business, if you have a great product.

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Indie Authors SEO to Sell Ebooks

For self-published Indie authors, the awareness of how SEO tidbits will sell ebooks (or paperbacks) is often lacking, especially at big retailers like Amazon. This diminishes the chance of success for many Indies, since on-page SEO factors at major book retailers is vital to sales. All the little SEO (search engine optimization) elements at your book's online retailer make a huge difference between coming up in searches or not at all. This is true whether the book is already published or just about to come out, since steps can be taken to rectify either situation.

SEO for books? you might ask. Absolutely. You may not think of an online bookseller as a search engine, but Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Smashwords and the major retailers each have search boxes at their sites designed to put customers and products together.

In fact, guess the 2nd largest search engine in the world after Google? It's not Yahoo or Bing, but YouTube. People enter words describing the videos they want and YouTube delivers. Amazon, for example, works exactly the same way when someone looks for a book by subject matter, genre or even author. It's time to think SEO for your books, and there are several things you can do to help.

Very briefly, we need to discuss the best way to determine keywords for your books, and then we'll discuss where to put them. If you don't regularly use Google's Keyword Tool External (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal), then consider getting to know it. There you can input all sorts of words and phrases, and get results on how commonly they're searched. Google will also come up with its own list of similar terms that will often be better than your first choices. Pay special attention to similar words like adventure fiction or adventure novel, to see which has higher results. Same goes for things like sci-fi, scifi, or science fiction. Surprisingly, small things like singular or plural in addiction or addictions can have a big difference on search popularity. The keywords to describe your book should include both genre and subject matter. Make sure these are terms that are actually being searched. It makes no sense to have a phrase like 47th artillery brigade if no one is searching for that. If it comes up as a zero on Keyword Tool External, it will probably be a zero at a book retailer too. Once you come up with a list of ten or more SEO terms for your book, you'll be ready to insert them into a few places.

Let's start with the title, especially for those who haven't published yet. Typically non-fiction and especially How-To books are perfect for using titles that are essentially search words, like Best Fly Fishing in Idaho or How to Lose Weight Fast. Titles like that will naturally come up high on Amazon results for people browsing by subject matter. Unfortunately most novels are less likely to, but they can have search-friendly titles or rely on a subtitle's help. It's the author's choice, but it should be seriously considered since the title is the most important element to search engines at book sellers. Perhaps your novel could have an assisting subtitle like, Lingering Doubts: Murder in the Caribbean. Sure, it may not be what you originally wanted in the title, but a small subtitle helper like that will bring plenty of browsers to your book who otherwise might never have seen it.

Next comes the description. This is where you want to get all of the keywords out, making the paragraphs read pleasantly while sprinkling descriptive terms throughout, like historical romance, abuse, addiction, lottery winners,  teenage drama, mystery and more. Some of these words are genre related; some are subject related. It's smart to consider proximity for your most important keywords. Get them out in the earliest part of the description within the first sentence. Word this area with the biggies coming out quickly and the lower priority terms sprinkled in later. For example, Teenage drama gets intense when Stella realizes her best friend's addiction to drugs is beyond abuse, it's playing with death…

The book retailers will also ask for Categories and Tags/Keywords for your book. This will vary from retailers as will the choices. It's a fairly simply thing to identify two to five categories depending on the site. Also use as many tags/keywords as they'll allow from highest to lowest priority. Smashwords and Barnes&Noble handle this very similarly, while Amazon allows one other bonus feature.

Amazon lets customers (including the author provided she/he has ever made an Amazon purchase) add a Product Tag to the book's description page. This is true for all formats, both ebooks and print. With Product Tags any one person can add up to fifteen descriptive tags, or they can click on existing tags and even agree/disagree with them. These tags should be thought of as keywords, and you should use the best fifteen to get the ball rolling. Once in place, the tags can help with browsers looking for books by Product Tags. The more you have in a category, the better. Click here to see the most popular tags at Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/tagging/cloud/.  There are even forums on Facebook, Goodreads, Authonomy and more for tagging assistance (getting others to add tags for you) but not at Amazon as they frown on tagging parties. Many authors use their own name as a tag or keyword, but that seems like a waste since their name should come up high in a search already just for being listed as the author.

These little SEO tips will dramatically increase your book's search-ability. Search engine optimization is about doing lots of small things wisely, which collectively adds up to make a huge difference.

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Independent Authors and Writers, iAuthors.org

Independent Authors and Writers (or iAuthors.org) is an online book-source run by Indie authors for ebooks and paperbacks. It's also quite new, just built in July of 2011. What makes this place interesting is that the content is uploaded by the participants (wiki style), which makes it a perfect resource for authors without websites and those who simply want more exposure.

This is from their website;

We welcome Authors and Writers of all genre, as well as avid readers; or simply readers that are looking for different and fresh books and novels to read from the web.

Simply sign up, sign in, write your pages and upload your pictures!  We love to see you link to anywhere that supports your work, link your page to other websites and use inbound links from other sites to your author pages.  Mostly we encourage a link out to places where readers can buy your books and novels.  You may links to friends, anywhere you choose to share!

This site is for you, the author.  We provide the ability to create an author category that you can call "all your own".  This Author category can include a page for each book you write and no limit on the number of books.  Authors can even create a page named author blog, so you have a place to talk to your peers, readers, or simply show where readers can find your blog if you have one already.

It's a pretty good deal (also free of cost), especially for a writer without a website. The first post must be approved by an administrator, and after that all posts go online in live time. If you're an Indie wanting to participate, visit the Author's How To page – http://www.independentauthors.org/authors-how-to/ and follow the instructions. Since it's a WordPress.org blog style site, those who are familiar with WordPress will take to it a bit quicker.

One of my books was just added this morning so we'll see how long it takes to be approved. If all goes well, my other books will be added soon. This is the initial URL showing for it, but that may change after approval – http://www.independentauthors.org/2011/08/how-to-make-market-and-sell-ebooks-all-for-free/

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Shelfari, Amazon's Online Book Club

Shelfari is a online book community hosted by Amazon. It's very similar to Goodreads in design. Even though this site was just introduced to me, it seems smart for any Indie author to participate there since it's hosted by Amazon and likely full of Kindle readers and other writers. From the website;

Based in Seattle, Shelfari introduces readers to our global community of book lovers and encourages them to share their literary inclinations and passions with peers, friends, and total strangers (for now). Shelfari is a gathering place for authors, aspiring authors, publishers, and readers, and has many tools and features to help these groups connect with each other in a fun and engaging way. Our mission is to enhance the experience of reading by connecting readers in meaningful conversations about the published word.

Our members:

Build virtual bookshelves to express themselves to their friends and to the world
Discover books that are popular in their trusted circles of friends
Influence peers by rating and discussing books online
Discover and learn from people with similar reading tastes
Participate in online book groups to further explore literature and share ideas
Interact with and learn from authors

Those parts should interest Indie authors: interaction with readers and online discussions/referrals.

After creating a basic profile, Shelfari will direct you to Add Books to your shelf. These can be books you've written or have read or are reading or thinking about reading… whatever you want.

Adding books at Shelfari can be a bit tedious, as it can at Goodreads. The program asks several questions that can take awhile to fill out or be skipped altogether. (Even my own books got the details skipped except for adding the tags.) Listing all the books you've ever read feels like an impossible task. Not only is it hard to remember decades worth of books, it takes quite awhile to list them through the online search process. Long story short, don't feel obliged to list them all or expect others to.

You can also find your friends who might be members, invite friends to join (import email addresses), join or start reading groups by genre… all things fun for reading and that Amazon would be thrilled about. The Community tab shows active members, members with similar reading tastes to you, most active groups and groups by category. These are the best places to make connections and have the most fun with it.

Have advice on Shelfari or tips for using it better? We'd love to hear about them in the comments.

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