SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion

Thanks for all the work you guys have done investigating collecting sites and giving recommendations. Based on what you are saying, I am going to try FictFact and/or collectorz.com.

I currently use Bookcrossing.com but it doesn't seem right any more since it is for tracking released books. What I loved about it was that I could see where my books were travelling and what others thought about them. Unfortunately, I have to cut back on mailing and I dislike leaving books in the wild because I discovered that most of them end up in the trash since I was choosing bad release spots. That broke my heart.

I am also reading alot less but listening to audiobooks alot more. That frees up my hands for knitting, my other obsession. However, I don't own the books but get them from the library or Audible.com and shouldn't be registering them on bookcrossing.

Gotcha. :) I haven't cleaned up mine either. Tried to a bit this AM, but got distracted and moved on. LOL

thanks some of the sites helped a lot

☪☠Lizz☠☪ wrote: "thanks some of the sites helped a lot"

You're welcome. :)

i use goodreads & a couple different excel spreadsheets but will be adding fictfact now too, thanks for the link :) the only thing missing from fictfact is having the short stories in the series listed ... I have yet to find a good place to quickly & easily get that info

I do Paberbackswap, goodreads and fictfact.com. I have all my TBR books logged into the PBS TBR Pile. I've tagged all my 1st in a series books with a personal tag so I can bring up a list of them. I also made a personal next in a series tag to bring up a list of the next books I need to read for each series. I use their Note feature to mark if I still need a title and where I can get it cheapest.

I love fictfact but I wish their was a way to not which books you own already but haven't read yet. You can check off the ones you've read. There is a tagging feature but I find that it groups everyones tags together and you can't see your own tag easily when just looking at the list of books in a series.

I've also started redoing my goodreads shelves. I was sorting myshelves by genre but I found I never really looked at them and rarely took the time to sort them. So now I'm sorting them by series #. I made a 1st, 2, 3rd etc.., shelf as well as a Stand Alone and a Next Read shelf. I'm going to try to use those to shelve my books after I move.

Angel wrote: "i use goodreads & a couple different excel spreadsheets but will be adding fictfact now too, thanks for the link :) the only thing missing from fictfact is having the short stories in the series l..."


Welcome, Angel! On GR, if you search on the series name it will pull up all bks that have stories in that series. Including anthologies and such. Hope that helps a bit with your tracking.

Mary wrote: "I do Paberbackswap, goodreads and fictfact.com. I have all my TBR books logged into the PBS TBR Pile. I've tagged all my 1st in a series books with a personal tag so I can bring up a list of them..."

Mary, FictFact just added a personal list feature. When I played around with it yesterday you could create lists, add to them but you couldn't view them. I'm sure the mods there will be fixing that soon. That might help in place of the tags?

GRs shelving is also a great way to organize your bks. :)

I use a spreadsheet and just recently found t he fictfact.com site.

Shelleyrae wrote: "I added you Steph
My profile is here - http://www.fictfact.com/user/shelleyrae haven't finished cleaning up my lists yet but feel free to add me"

I added you! :) I don't know what that does yet though LOL. :)

You all can follow me on FictFact if you want. I love this site!

http://www.fictfact.com/user/awesomev...

I added you, Awesome...was that okay?

Here is mine if you would like to add it...

http://www.fictfact.com/user/southpaw285

Awesomevegan wrote: "Shelleyrae wrote: "I added you Steph
My profile is here - http://www.fictfact.com/user/shelleyrae haven't finished cleaning up my lists yet but feel free to add me"

I added you! :) I don't know wh..."

I know, me either. LOL

southpaw285 wrote: "I added you, Awesome...was that okay?

Here is mine if you would like to add it...

http://www.fictfact.com/user/southpaw285"

Gotcha, Southpaw. :)

I started using FictFact back at the end of May when Yz mentioned it in a post. Great place to keep track.

If you want to add me please go ahead -

http://www.fictfact.com/user/Sandra

Gotcha, Sandra. :)

I use a library software to archive my books.

When I get a new one I include it in the software with the name of the author, title, publisher, etc. etc. There is also a link when the books belongs to a series and binds them automatically together.
I've programmed the software to search the www, to find informations about new release dates from book, etc.
Every month (or week, day, as you like) it remembers me, that in a few days new books are released, so I can order them on time and get them at the release day.

Before I buy a new book, I give the title and the author in the software to look, if I have the book already. I own way over 15.000 books and it can happen that I have some books in my private library and has forgotten it.

Wow, that's nice, Corazon. And, a LOT of books! I wish I had space for that many. Although, maybe it's good I don't, it helps keep my book spending under control (sort of). :)

Eventually the contact thing will be good for something I'm sure - in teh meantime Iv'e added those that shared :)

Corazon wrote: "I use a library software to archive my books.

When I get a new one I include it in the software with the name of the author, title, publisher, etc. etc. There is also a link when the books belo..."

What software is that?

The basic of my software is the same as the one libraries are using.
There is freeware of it in the www, too or you buy it.

My library software is programmed by me with my own personal specifications.

Ughh my Books-App crashed with the latest update - waiting to here from the developer to see if my database is gone as well. Will be really annoyed if it is.
I think that might be a reason to go with the collectorz software after all since at least even if the app crashes its still all on my PC and I won't have to start again from scratch. Just not so thrilled with the price - would rather spend $60 on books than a book app LOL

<would rather spend $60 on books than a book app> I hear ya! But, what a BUMMER! That sucks. I hope they are able to help you fix and recoup your info. :( Fingers crossed for ya.

That's terrible news Shellyrae. All digits crossed for you. Sending good vibes up North.

Wahhh lost it all :(

Nooooooooooo!

Ah, man, I'm so sorry, Shelleyrae. :(

So I bit the bullet today and bought BookCollectorz and the app - now to start again.
http://www.collectorz.com/book/

:( sorry, hun. I think you'll enjoy BC though.

Fingers & Toes crossed for you Shellyrae :D

Fictfact and Goodreads have been perfect to track my books. Between the lists and the shelves, I know where I stand much better now with my books.
When I am buying books online, I have all the info I need at my fingertips. Any suggestions on how I can have the same type of info when I am out at a book store?
I am notorious for buying or mooching duplicate books.

Joanne wrote: "Any suggestions on how I can have the same type of info when I am out at a book store?
I am notorious for buying or mooching duplicate books. ..."

That's why I bought bookcollectorz with the ipod/iphone app so I can have a list accessible when I am out and about. I only have an ipod and there is no public access to WiFi so I can't hook into Goodreads.
If you have a mobile phone with internet access you can use the Goodreads iApp or the Mobile Site for other phones. Or for iphone there are tons of different book organiser apps.
I know lots of people simply print out their lists and carry them around or have special notebooks they keep with them. You can print your Goodreads shelves
and you can also Print your Next Book shelf at Ficfacts.

HTH

Yay i've found new ways to keep track of my series(and lets face it my books in general). i have a real problem with keeping track, that's why i have goodreads tbr list *sigh*:o) when i read your first post steph i almost cried, instead i did a happy dance with tears in my eyes.
i'd never heard of software that keeps track. i was just using a combination of Goodreads and my diary.. my diary was to keep track of release dates for books.

My ebooks however are organised first by Author, then by series, then by number of book. i have a spreadsheet with links to author and series.
so you see i've never had a problem of keeping track of my ebooks just my paper ones. and i have a lot of them(i fondly call it my mini library).
well i'm off to sign up for fic facts.
oh and shellyrae, ive been using the goodreads mobile site for a while now, and it's awesome. so helpful when your at the libray or in a bookshop and want to know more about the book.

I'm glad, Adele! :) FictFact is great and very easy to use. I love it!

Unfortunately, using things like GoodRead's iApp/mobile and things is that they all require you to have an internet/WiFi connection to use them.

With the program that Shelleyrae purchased, you can save your database to your iPod and view it anywhere/anytime without a WiFi connection.

FictFact now offers sorting options: TBR, currently reading, not read, in addition to read. :)

Wow, that's something that I've been wanting them to do.

I haven't checked them out for about 10 days. I'll have to go and update.

:) I'd like to sort mine too, lemme know how easy/difficult it is to do. I didn't sort mine yet, just noticed the option was now available.

OK, I'll slip over there now. Before I have to think about dinner. LOL.

Well, it's good & not so good news. You have the option of marking a book, tbr, currently reading & read. All good options.

However, if you mark a book tbr it sort of marks it down as read in the series list because the % read includes that book, although it does say the next bk tbr is that bk. Does that make sense. LOL.

WTH?! LOL! Guess I won't be doing that then. :)

I found another site which can help to track your series. It's called FictionDB . Their site "promo" states:

fictiondb is for readers
Everything you need to know about fiction books and authors
Find complete author book lists (bibliographies)
Discover fiction books in a series
Read descriptions of individual books
Search over 250,000 fiction titles using multiple criteria
Keep track of what you're reading

It's not bad. Similar to FictFact, but different. I don't think it's as "simple" as FictFact, but it's easy enough to get around. I like the look of the site, so I joined to give it a go.

You can create/rename 3 different lists and have options to sort by: read, currently reading, want to read, loaned, ordered, none. It has great search options, either searching your list(s) only or all lists.

You can view by author, series, book title, etc. A lot of different options are available. You can choose favorite authors, view all books by an author.

Many, many options are available; more than I can list, I'm sure, since I've only just started playing around with it. Don't know that I'll keep it up though, too many lists for too many books in too many different places. LOL But, it's an option worth checking out, if you're interested. :) If you end up using it, let me know what you think of it.

I gave fictiondb a try too. I like that they have all books by a given author and not just series books. I also like the ability to batch add all books by the same author to a list. My lists are "Paranormal, Romance and Fantasy/Sci-Fi"

That sight looks really cool Steph. Thanks!

That's a good idea for list org, AV. I haven't played around with it enough to get too far. Just a quick peruse told me ya'll might find it interesting. I'll have to pop back at some point when I have more time to spend on it.


You're welcome, LooLoo! :)

Not sure if everyone with Collectorz knows - but the latest update (which allows better sorting of audio books etc) isn't a free update - Build 7 is an additional $25.

I hate it when the updates cost!

Yuck! Me too. WTH? Thankfully, so far anyway, my BookPedia (for Mac) updates have been free. Fingers crossed they stay that way. You pay for the initial program, you shouldn't have to pay for updates, IMO.

I know - I was less than happy when I saw the update and that it was going to cost so much. If it had've been only $5 or something, maybe I wouldn't have minded - but $25 is crazy after already paying for the program.
Do you use a different program for tracking your audiobooks and the collectorz just for your paperbacks/hardcovers?
That was what I was most interested in with the latest update - the tracking with audiobooks.
Nevermind - I'll work something out :)

Sorry, I actually use BookPedia now. When I switched to Mac a few years ago Collectorz was only available for PCs. So, I had to find another option. I track all types (paper, electronic, audio, hardcovers) with mine.

I just started doing something here on GR, I have a shelf called "series to continue" and I put the next of in series that I definitely want to read. I also have "series maybe continue" and I put those I am not sure of.

That's a handy way to use your shelves, and find something to read quickly!