SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion

Personally, I have a fictfact account, but I'm contemplating doing an excel spreadsheet just because I like the organization aspect of it.

However, I'm worried that in the event of a new book being added, I'll have to rework the whole thing. Is it possible to just add a line in the middle of the spreadsheet? If that makes sense.

Absolutely, Danie. You can add a single column or row anywhere on your spreadsheet. Google Docs (docs.google.com) allows you to create and/or upload spreadsheets if you don't have Excel (or similar) and/or you ever want to share it. :)

Danie wrote: "Personally, I have a fictfact account, but I'm contemplating doing an excel spreadsheet just because I like the organization aspect of it.

However, I'm worried that in the event of a new book bei..."

If you are doing your spreadsheet on the computer you can add anything anywhere and sort it however you want. I find that it's easier to use excel that word.

Tracy wrote: "Danie wrote: "Personally, I have a fictfact account, but I'm contemplating doing an excel spreadsheet just because I like the organization aspect of it.

However, I'm worried that in the event of ..."

Steph wrote: "Absolutely, Danie. You can add a single column or row anywhere on your spreadsheet. Google Docs (docs.google.com) allows you to create and/or upload spreadsheets if you don't have Excel (or simila..."


Thanks ladies! Maybe tomorrow I'll devote the whole day to inputting my series.

I like the idea of a spreadsheet, but its too much work for me with well over 380 series. Fictfact is wonderful!

Sandra wrote: "I like the idea of a spreadsheet, but its too much work for me with well over 380 series. Fictfact is wonderful!"

Wow, I would say so Sandra. Have you read all those series or are you working on them?

Working on them, but I have completed many, many. Its not so much putting them in the spreadsheet, its the upkeep of them.

Alright, I'm about to attempt to make a spreadsheet! According to fictfact I have over 100 series ongoing, and that's not even counting all of them because I haven't put them all in. Oy!

Danie wrote: "Alright, I'm about to attempt to make a spreadsheet! According to fictfact I have over 100 series ongoing, and that's not even counting all of them because I haven't put them all in. Oy!"

You could try modifying the export from your lists here. It would be easier than adding everything by hand.

Thenia wrote: "Danie wrote: "Alright, I'm about to attempt to make a spreadsheet! According to fictfact I have over 100 series ongoing, and that's not even counting all of them because I haven't put them all in. ..."

I like doing it by hand haha. I know it'll take forever and be a pain, but it gives me a sense of accomplishment. Plus my GR isn't totally up-to-date D:

Danie wrote: "I like doing it by hand haha."

Oh trust me, I feel you! :D I've done the same thing countless times but thought you might want to take the easier way out. Enjoy!

I did something similar at BookLikes. I made a list of most of my series reads and their status on my BookLikes blog. But, I use FF regularly and try to keep it updated.

Happy tracking!

Steph wrote: "I did something similar at BookLikes. I made a list of most of my series reads and their status on my BookLikes blog. But, I use FF regularly and try to keep it updated.

Happy tracking!"

Uh oh... Now I wanna do one of those myself, since the last one I had was in word and annoyed the hell out of me so I gave up on it. Must not succumb to temptation. Must finish thesis today. Must not!

LOL!! >;) Yes, thesis first!

Ѽ Cher Ѽ wrote: "You guys+ are good, with all the techno stuff!

I'm kinda old fashion. Before I discovered GoodReads, I was tracking/logging my series read the good old fashion way. With a notebook and a pen. I w..."

Self serving comment - I track the series I can on a blog: seriestracker.wordpress.com. Hope this will help folks!

I just wanted to pop in here to say THANK YOU to this group for turning me on to FictFact. I had never heard of them before and probably wouldn't have for longer still if I hadn't happened upon your group =)

Very cool tool. Cheers for sharing it!

You're very welcome! Glad you're enjoying it. :D

Yay P.S.!!

Steph and Sandra ... just so you know, I've shared about FictFact to eight groups I belong to. Here's 'My Recent Posts' [link has been removed] feed so you can see them (although you might not be able to view the ones you're not members of). As you can see, I credit your group at the bottom, so I hope you get some new members =)

I was surprised that FictFact hasn't been mentioned much before, because from the date of your first post about them, seems they've been around for a few years now. Their platform is awesome, so it's too bad they go somewhat unnoticed.

Hopefully, they'll get more exposure by more people sharing about them, especially if authors use them like the way I am (as a notifier of new releases to followers of their series).

Anyway, just wanted to poke my nose here again to share that with you =)

I'm going to remove my above link to my feed in a few days, so below is what I posted in case authors of this group might want to use FictFact the way I am.

Cheers, everyone!

----------

If you're a series lover or an author of a series and haven't heard of FictFact, you need to check them out.

For readers ... you can get notified when a series you follow releases the next book, keep track of books you've already read, and much more. If you're being inundated with too many emails from mailing lists, then this is a way to get notified of all your favorite series at one place. Make sure the author/series is on there. If not, add them to the queue or let the author(s) know to add them.

For authors ... if you don't use mailing lists like Mailchimp (and since Amazon's 'Follow the Author' takes around 3 weeks to notify a new release—at least that's been my experience), this is a GREAT way to still be able to let your readers know when your next book is out promptly.

If you're like me, I had the dilemma of not being able to use Mailchimp because I write under pseudonyms. Mailing lists like Mailchimp require your real name and address to be displayed (even if you don’t use a pen name, you still might not want your personal info to be known). I didn't want to go through the hassle of a virtual mailbox or creating a business entity, so FictFact solves my dilemma!

I just put this following note >> To be notified when the next book is released, sign up at FictFact << at the end of my book.

Since I had only found out about FictFact a couple of days ago, I don't have results yet to my theory of using this platform as a replacement for Mailchimp, but check them out for yourself and I’m sure you’ll see their value too.

*CREDITS* ... I found out about FictFact when I perused a Goodreads group called SOS: Serious Overload of Series. Thanks goes to the SOS group for sharing that info!

Thanks for the shout out, P.S.! I've mentioned it in quite a few as well. I'm a HUGE fan and want to make sure everyone knows it's out there. They are very open to suggestions and quick to add any missing series, books in a series or authors not currently listed.

Brian, FictFact co-creator (along with his wife), created a GR group as well, if anyone's interested in joining: FictFact Users Group

Steph wrote: "Brian, FictFact co-creator (along with his wife), created a GR group as well, if anyone's interested in joining: FictFact Users Group"

Thanks for the link, I just joined! =D

I want to give back to this group for turning me on to FictFact, so I can donate eBooks for prizes for challenges or something, so let me know what I can do!

You're welcome :)

Thanks for your generosity, P.S. I'll keep that in mind.

Steph wrote: "Thanks for the shout out, P.S.! I've mentioned it in quite a few as well. I'm a HUGE fan and want to make sure everyone knows it's out there. They are very open to suggestions and quick to add a..."

I joined too. Thanks for posting!

You're welcome, JoAnne :)

You can also use this simple Chrome App to track your series.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/de...

That looks like a good app, Metin. Is it for TV series only or books too?

Unfortunately, it's only for TV series.

Oh well. Thanks.

I have read many great ideas and some I've even tried, but alas, my ADD gets the better of me and I never seem to update my lists. I did just this past weekend create and complete a spreadsheet to catalog all my purchased books, but that was only because I tried to re-purchase not 1 but 2 I had already purchased and thought maybe I should see what I have before I try to buy a duplicate and I'm actually successful in doing so. Now I just have to update my list every once in a while I guess.

We've all been there Jaime, good luck with the updating.

Awesomevegan (AKA JenReads) wrote: "I just started a spreadsheet for my challenges... Lets see how it goes. If anyone wants to see how I set it up the link is here. I will be adding more to it but you will get the idea.

I used the s..."

I have a spreadsheet too!! I thought I was insane. The look on my husbands face when he saw it...he was about to commit me!!

Elizabeth, tell him it will save money as you won't buy the same book again!! LOL. I've been known to do that, just as Jaime mentioned above.

There is an ipad app called my library. Don't know if it is available for pc or not.

On a thread in a group by genre

I'm not sure how many series I have on my TBR list. I have FictFact, but I don't use it much. I have my own personal group where I keep track of all my challenges. In that I have a thread called Series Tracker. There I have Links to Authors A-Z, and I can press them and then I have a post with all the series from that author on my TBR list. That's what's been working the best for me. It took me months to complete it all though, but now it's easy to add new authors and series to the list.

I have my own spreadsheet dedicated to all my series that I have finished, got current on, still reading, rereading and what I want to read with links to goodreads for every book, plus what I have read yearly since 2011, lets just say it's taken me a very long time to get it the way I like but I'm still adding more to it all the time because it will never be finished.

Sounds like a labour of love for you both :D

My OCDemoness is purring right now! >:D

LOL

>;)

I thought of doing a spreadsheet too with my series at first. Somehow I couldn't think of a way that would keep it simple, so that's why I came up with my solution. I have a spreadsheet I use for my reading plan. It's more or less already completely booked for the year. I wonder if I'll manage to squeeze in some new reads eventually.

Wow, I could never list the books I wanted to read for the whole yr, without lots of gaps, for all the new books I come across.

Also if I list books, sometimes that puts me off reading them. No idea why that is, but I've noticed it the last couple of yrs.

Sandra wrote: "Also if I list books, sometimes that puts me off reading them. No idea why that is, but I've noticed it the last couple of yrs. "

That's how it is for me too. This is why I've decided to read what I feel like when I feel like it. No pressure on myself :0)

Glad its not just me, Lauren :) That's one of the reasons I've cut back on challenges ... giving myself breathing room.

Sandra wrote: "Glad its not just me, Lauren :) That's one of the reasons I've cut back on challenges ... giving myself breathing room."

Me too. I just couldn't keep up with the challenges and reading books that weren't appealing to me. The only ones I participate in now are buddy reads and the Seasonal Reading Challenge where I can basically fit in whatever I want.

❤Stephanie ღ♥ღMrs Sherlock Holmesღ♥ღ wrote: "I have my own spreadsheet dedicated to all my series that I have finished, got current on, still reading, rereading and what I want to read with links to goodreads for every book, plus what I have ..."

That's very impressed Stephanie.

I use a thread to track my series and such, but nothing as advanced as your spreadsheet.

My problem probably is I have too many challenges going. That's why I needed a plan. I'm not strictly sticking to my reading plan. If I feel like I'm about to hit a reading slump or something, I pick up the book I want to read the most, without thinking of the current plan. Usually it helps.

Actually I just looked at my reading plan again. Currently I have plans to read 7-8 books pr month on my reading plan. I usually read between 15-20 books a month (except the past 2 months where I only read 16 books total). So I still have room to add in about 7 books I want to read every month apart from the plan. It should be doable. Also the books I already decided on are mostly books I really want to read, and to help me finish off a lot of series where I only need 1-3 books to finish.

It's only the next 2 months that are completely booked (due to the Meet and Greet challenge at RRRC) that have added to my plan.

Well Anita, that's sounds much more doable to me. Hope it all goes well and no reading slumps occurr.

So far my slumps has hit in December each year. I think it's because of all the things we have to do in that time, as well as traditions making me skip reading and doing the usual Christmas stuff instead, like watching all these Christmas movies/series etc. that are occurring each year in Denmark.

Anita wrote: "Currently I have plans to read 7-8 books pr month on my reading plan. I usually read between 15-20 books a month (except the past 2 months where I only read 16 books total). "

I totally plan my books too! I have about 12 series (they are always completed so I don't have to wait on the next one) going on at once where I read one book per series a month (I do it so I don't get tired of them). Once I get finished with my series books (already on book six whoo!) I read stand-alones until the month is done.

I track all my books and series using my shelves here. I have them pretty detailed but I am constantly working on them. I don't think I'll ever have them just the way I want them. lol