Test Drive the new BookBlush rating filter

[Jamie]

I’ve started a romance filter at BookBlush.com where readers and authors can add titles, along with a rating such as KISSES ONLY, SEX IMPLIED OFF PAGE, etc. Authors are contributing and rating their own books, but readers can also add titles. My goal is to build a filter with hundreds of thousands of romance titles.

I just unveiled BookBlush.com about a week ago and invited a few authors and readers to contribute in order to test out the software. So far, the system hasn’t crashed and nine authors and six readers have contributed about 110 titles along with a “blush level” for each book.

I’m trying to roll this project out gradually, while I gather feedback from the early users. For example, do I need to add a LANGUAGE filter as well as the current sexual content filter? In my experience, the two seem to parallel one another—as the sexual content becomes more graphic, so does the language. So, maybe two separate filters aren’t necessary.

Also, people have already told me they’d like the site to be more interactive. Currently, everyone is sending me emails with titles and ratings and then I’m uploading the information to the site. That will definitely be a change in the next site upgrade. But first, I want to make sure this is a rating system people will value and use.

Thanks,
Jamie Orr
Curator of BookBlush.com

[Mariana]

This sounds like a great project idea! Congratulations on the site. I agree that two separate ratings for sexual content and language would make the most sense.

[Jamie]

Thanks Mariana