I’m super excited to announce the launch of a website I’ve been working on for a while now!
BookBlogging.net
BookBlogging.net is a new community and directory for book bloggers! Although I plan on expanding it more in the future, right now it has two key aspects:
The directory of book blogs
So there are a lot of book blog directories out there.. blah blah.. what’s new?—right? Well, I don’t like the blog directories out there. Harsh, maybe, but it’s true. I don’t find them helpful to search through. It’s just a bunch of names on a page—usually alphabetized. Then they all die after a few weeks/months because one person (or a small group) has to maintain the list.
I wanted to change this!
For starters, bookblogging.net will allow anyone to sign up and immediately add their blog using a simple form. Each user can then edit or delete his/her blog at any time! This means the website is updated automatically by the users—not just by one individual! Now we’re rolling!
When a user adds his or her blog, they ‘tag’ it with any keywords they want. The keywords describe the content of the blog, the features they have, and/or their blogging style. So for Nose Graze I might set my keywords to:
young adult, wordpress, coding, blogging tips, dystopian, contemporary, real life, spazzy, romance, reviews, discussions, erotica, informal
Then when users search through the directory, they can select the keywords they’re interested in, and find all blogs tagged with those keywords! That way, the user isn’t just looking through a list of names. Instead, they filter the blogs down to exactly what kind they’re interested in!
A community
I started working on the website, and it started to turn into more than just a directory.. it turned into a whole community. I added an entire social aspect to the site that I didn’t expect at first. Right now, users can:
- Add their blog(s) to the directory
- ‘Like’ blogs
- Create profiles and upload avatars
- Post status updates
- Send friend requests
- See which of their friends like a particular blog
- Post on the community forum
- Join groups
- Search for other bloggers by country/state
A blog
I’m really hoping to maintain a separate blog on bookblogging.net. I have a vision where I have tons of co-bloggers and we all post updates on the blogosphere, chat about blogging, and spotlight/interview other bloggers. Until I find people interested in helping out, I’ll be trying to get it up and running by myself. But if you’d be interested in helping out, you can apply to be a blogger.
And more features coming soon!
I have a lot more exciting features planned, including:
- An entire system for trading books. Like eBay, but for trading (not selling)! Easily post a book up for trade, anyone can ‘bid’ on it, and you accept the offer you like most! Collect cool statistics on how many books you’ve traded.
- An events database. Anyone will be able to add events (whether real life events or online events). Select an event type (book signing, twitter chat, convention, etc.) and a location (state/country or twitter/facebook/etc.). Then users can filter the results to find events they’re interested in.
- I may also create directories for memes and blog tour companies.
What are you waiting for? join today!
(And don’t forget to tell your friends. ;))
Woah…this is mind blowing in its awesomeness. I’m going over there right now!
Woohoo, so excited. I am loving it so far! Super great idea.
Yay, I’m registered and I added my blog. 😀
Love this!!! As soon as I’m home from Thailand I’ll add our blog!!!
I, and probably the majority of the book blogging community, bow down at your feet because of this awesome site! It’s frickin’ amazing! You did an awesome job.
I am so excited about those new features, especially the events database. 😀
Question: Should the forum be open to the public (like it is now) or private so that only members can see it?
I’m happy with keeping the forums available to the public. 🙂 We don’t really have anything to hide in there and maybe seeing the topics will encourage more people to join so they can post!
This is such a great idea and I signed up yesterday. I already love it and can’t wait to start interacting with bloggers on it more 😀
This was a great idea!! I’m glad to see that it’s just booming right now xD
Although I have already no idea how to be active everywhere, I still signed up because I think it’s a great idea. And I want to support you. =)
I absolutely love it! It’s a fantastic idea and there are so many more things you can do with it 🙂 I look forward to see what you come up with!
I’m so glad you decided to make this! I had been waiting for a certain directory to add me for 2 years now and nothing. I love being able to socialize with other bloggers and search for their blogs too! I’m excited for the stuff that will be added later too 🙂
Yeah I hate that part about other directories.. you have to rely on someone else to add/edit/remove your blog! I wanted everyone on bookblogging.net to have total control over their own entries!
So far I’m loving it! It’s really amazing, Ashley. And all those things you said you’re going to add, the book trading thing!! Awesome. Thanks so much for putting this together for all of us. 🙂
My pleasure! 😀
Super idea, Ashley! My social media skills are lacking, but I’ve still signed up! It sounds interesting! 😀
I love this! And I love that you are trying to make it like a social networking site. Great idea, Ashley!
It sounds absolutely AWESOME. Makes me wish I was a real and true book *blogger*. I just might start one, seeing all the drawback from Goodreads. Hmmm… got me thinkin’, Ashley.
This sounds amazing… like an FB for bloggy people. I agree with you about the other blog directories. They seem like a directory at all with no real purpose. I must know because I joined countless of directories when I just started blogging. today, I barely remember them.
I adore that this new directory has a lot of new things to offer. Thanks for creating it, Ashley. I’ll sign up for this one.
Just a curious question, Ashley. Will you be including the BB to the UBB plugin?
Yep 🙂 Hopefully sometime next week!
Ha kind a funny I found this yesterday randomly (someone had a button on their sidebar and I was curious) so I signed up without really knowing whose it was or what it was – but the first though was “huh this looks like Ashley’s design/work” bc it sorta reminded me of your tour site. >.< That's awesome though I've never liked any of the blog directories either. Most – if not all – of them look like no one really manages the site to keep it up to date. And they all looks pretty dead TBH. As if no one really goes on there much. But yeah this is awesome and I like that blog tour company thingy! I think that would be a GREAT idea! 😛
Hahaha that’s so cool that you recognized my style lol.
Yeah I think all the directories out there die pretty quickly. I’m hoping that this one will be able to stay alive since everyone is in charge of their own content and it doesn’t rely on one person to update everything!
Ee, obviously you know I’m already excited 😀 I’m pumped your going to add a trading function <3 So excited!
Awesome idea! Happy to be part of the community 🙂
Thank you!
Ashley, I am going to copy aliens and steal your brain so your coding powers will fall to me. Like, honestly, that site is amazing.
Yay, this is so exciting! I’m a member of several book-related sites, but I love that this one is by a book blogger FOR book bloggers. Huzzah!!
The new website is so cool, I’m glad someone finally made a website where we can all come together in one place! Also, I nearly fell off my chair in surprise when I saw my own blog’s profile in your post 😀
Haha! 😀
Great idea, I just signed up. Very nice site, thanks for doing this.
Awesome idea!! I just registered!! 🙂
Browsed through the site you mentioned and it seems a little disorganized. Sometimes having it organized can be helpful for those of us who find that useful.
Great idea! I’ll check it out and maybe sign up :3
This sounds fantastic! Consider news being spread 😀
Thank you! 😀
Love this so much, Ashley! Great job.
Y’know… I came across this amazing site called “BookBlogging.net” Got looking around and I thought “Wow, this looks like Ashley’s fingerprint is all over this.” So before I signed up I tried to find out if anyone could register or if it had to be major professional bloggers that’s been doing it longer than me, among questions that I have.
Where do I go first to find stuff out about bloggin? HERE. What did I find out? I was right about your fingerprint!
Honestly, the coding & techie brain power that you have is phenomenal. You blow me away.
… oh and I also found out that anyone can register. LOL One other question though. I don’t do giveaways and other meme’s. I wouldn’t know the first thing about them or how they work. is BB still right for me?
Haha that’s so cool that you thought it was my work before you even knew that!! 😀 I’m glad you’re liking it!
The giveaways and memes are just one part of BookBlogging.net. There are so many different aspects, so as long as there’s one thing you like about it, there’s no reason you can’t use it! Here’s what I recommend:
* Add your blog to the directory
* You can use the directory to find other blogs you might want to follow, and you can “like” them
* If you do reading challenges, you can sign up for those and track your progress
* Or you can just check out the forum and chat with other book bloggers on the forum/activity feed. 🙂
Great! Thanks for the quick response! I’ll go register today. 🙂
Also you can trade books and request reading copies from indie authors, if that’s something you’re interested in. 🙂
Hello, I recently joined Bookbloggin.net but I cannot enter my blog, which is on blogger, into the site. I keep getting a saying that I do that have a valid web address. Please help
Does this work for Blogger sites too? If love to add my blog to this directory.
Absolutely!
Hi. Can I blog a book I do not own?
Hi! 🙂 I was just wondering if this website is still considered active and still being updated? I noticed the @BloggerDB twitter hasn’t been used in a while and some functions on the site (like searching for books for trade) aren’t working, so I figured I should ask.
It’s still used but isn’t actively being developed at this time. 🙂