Welcome to the latest Ruby’s Reads Debate! Two fabulous bloggers are tackling a tricky subject today: Goodreads v. LibraryThing. I myself am exclusively a Goodreads lady these days, but when I first started out as a blogger, I began with LibraryThing. I got my first ARCs from LT, and have yet to win a thing from GR, so the former holds a place in my heart. These things matter!
Let’s begin the debate by introducing my two guests for the day:
For Goodreads:
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Stephanie at Once Upon a Chapter |
Hey there! I’m Stephanie. I love to read, and through my blog, share my love of reading. I enjoy helping people find a great book! I’ll read almost any genre but my favorites are romance of any kind and young adult pretty much of any kind as well. I never leave the house without a book (or nowadays my Kindle). On the off chance I’m not reading, I’m either blogging, organizing, list making or I can be found in the kitchen cooking or baking.
For LibraryThing:
Twitter: @thegeekyblogger
Stephanie
There are many reasons why I prefer GoodReads over the other book networking sites out there. The biggest reason has to be site navigation. I really do enjoy the appearance of GoodReads. Everything is nicely laid out. On my homepage I can keep up with my friends and see what they’ve added to their shelves. It tells me what book I’m currently reading (I can update my progress form here as well), gives me access to my profile links, and lists all of my bookshelves. The ease with which I can find the things that I need most often is the very thing that made me choose GoodReads over other book sites. Another important aspect of GoodReads is my ability to customize all of my shelves. I can label them virtually anything that I want. Organization is insanely important to me. These are just the top two reasons GoodReads rocks!
Felicia
Library Thing—when I say that only about half the people I talk to even know about the website. However, I am telling you that if you haven’t been out there you are missing a gem of a site. There are many things going for it: Early Reviewers giveaway, read-a-long groups, reviews seen by libraries, and the zeitgeist is an awesome compilation of stats that sometimes blow my mind. Most of all it allows for rankings at .5 increments. It is something that I use often. If you click on a book you can see how many people gave it a 5 rating and down. Needless to say, I use this site often! I love the breakdown of statistics because it truly shows where I rank most of my books. I think it is a site everyone should check out!
Stephanie
Another amazing feature on GoodReads that, for me, trumps all is the smartphone app! Oh my God! Where would I be without this app? I can access all of my shelves, friends, update by book status on the go, and search for books or authors. There is no end to what this app can do! For someone like me (a multi-genre book hoarding reader), GoodReads keeps me sane and prevents me from buying duplicates. I adore being able to look at a book and see which of my friends are interested in the same book or what they thought of it.
Felicia
OK, so Library Thing doesn’t have an app–I will give Goodreads that. However, they have much more useful widgets for your website! There are 10 options of pre-styled ones to choose from or you can create your own! You can also include images, descriptions, and reviews if you would like. You can narrow down by collections and tags. As I get more comfortable using these on my website, it has become natural for me to look for it on other sites. Granted you need to add your books into collections and add tags for this to work BUT once the time is put into it, that is an amazing tool to have! I just think the more options for the widgets is a great tool to have at my fingertips!
Stephanie
In the end you are always going to choose the site that works best for you. I have mentioned the things that are most important to me; appearance, site navigation, organization, mobile capabilities, and book progression updates, but there is so much more to explore at GoodReads!
Felicia
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I prefer Goodreads over any other site. They just do not compare to the awesomeness of Goodreads. I opened an Library Thing account but I never use it! It just doesn’t appeal to me AT ALL! *shrugs* For me goodreads is the best laid out and most practical site for bookies there is.
I prefer GR, too, though I don’t think LT is all that bad. I haven’t been over there in a while, though, so I wonder what I’d think after having using GR exclusively for so long.
My main problem with Librarything is that it only allows you to have 200 books on there for free. I read 100 a year!
That’s an excellent point. I ended up paying the fee for more than 200 books, but that was before I discovered Goodreads. Oops!
I would love to find an alternative to goodreads, but none of the others are as nice. I also like how you have shelves, and comment on what you’re reading
Have you tried Shelfari? I don’t even know if it’s similar. I couldn’t even get anyone to think about debating it for this post.
I like and use both, but prefer Goodreads for it’s easy navigation and nicer appearance. However, I’ve won 5 Early Reviewer books from LT, which is 4 more than I ever won from GR. lol
Yes, I agree! The Early Reviewers copies that I’ve won have kept me loyal to LibraryThing–though admittedly in a desultory fashion. Goodreads has a lot going for it, but I’m easily bought through free books. ;P
Great points from both ladies!
While I post my reviews on both sites, I am a GR user through and through. Like Stephanie mentioned, the GR site is easier to use and navigate. Their user interface is much cleaner and much more streamlined. I can’t figure out LT and their system nor do I want to spend the time to do so.
I love using GR iPhone app!
Also, I love adding books to my GR shelves by scanning a book’s bar code with my iPod Touch. You can’t do this with LT unless you buy a scanner.
I do wish that GR would implement 1/2 star ratings like LT does. That is the one advantage LT has over GR.
GR has a similar giveaway program to LT’s EarlyReviewers called First Reads. But the giveaways on GR are ongoing, rather than once a month like on LT. I will admit though, as Felicia pointed out, that I too win more books via LT’s ER program than I do on GR’s First Reads program. I think that’s because GR has more members and thus more entries compared to LT.
One downfall to LT that wasn’t mentioned – you’re limited to having 200 books in your library unless you upgrade to their (paid) Lifetime membership. Most book bloggers I know have way more than 200 books in their library, especially when you count all those books on our wishlists.
Bottom line, it’s Goodreads for me
The one thing about the barcode scanner (on the app, or through the one you buy) is that it doesn’t work on ARCs–because they don’t have them. I agree, though. I think LT needs an update. It could give GR a run for its money, but it doesn’t even try.
I won a book once from goodreads in 2007 and never since. I haven’t checked out library thing and now I am about to head over there just to see.
Angie
Angela’s Anxious Life
Well, the Early Reviewer program isn’t the only thing that LT has to offer. It’s worth checking out just to compare the two. A lot of people either prefer LT, or use both.
Thanks for this post! It was a great debate!!
it too me forever to get into goodreads but I love it now
Never seen LIbrary Thing though, and Felicia got me curious about it.
I’m glad you liked it! I think that LibraryThing is at least worth a look. Let us know what you think after you’ve checked it out!
[...] Ruby’s Reads had another Debate: Goodreads v Library Thing. Felicia educated me a bit on Library Thing. [...]
I’m a Goodreads girl. I love how easy it is to connect with other readers and see their updates. But great arguments.
*waves to felicia*
I use GR, I tried with LT, but it was messy, not as pretty, not as easy. I could not make those pretty shelves (ok here Shelfari does win with one thing. They do not have many shelves, but I love how I can move things around there). And LT comes last of course
It shouldn’t matter, but to me, it still does anyway. Tim from LT goes on mini rants against ebooks and how they’re bad for the industry. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but his close-mindedness is enough to keep me from using his site.
I love Goodreads because of their iPhone app… I have a LT account, but haven’t been on there in years. I think I’ll check them out again