When it comes to book cataloging websites, Goodreads is ace. For now, at least.
When news broke that Amazon has bought over the company for an estimated $190 million, many users aren’t pleased. They see Goodreads as part of a corporate giant and it’s gotten so bad that many of them are looking for alternative book cataloging sites.
And it looks like there’s one more site to add to the list. Coming January 2015, LitRate is a virtual community packed with awesome features for book lovers. Litrate is meant to be a website for book lovers, built by book lovers, and this new Kickstarter project aims to be bigger, better and different.
“We live and breathe books, and now we want to create a better online community for book lovers to thrive.”
— LitRate
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“We want less drama, less spam, a better interface, and developers with a personal touch. We want to give the power to the community. You have a say in what content you see on the site.”
— LitRate
The ambitious project is developed by a husband and wife team: Peter and Ashley. Both work as web developers and they’ve dabbled in several projects for the book blogging community.
How crazy are they about books, you may ask? According to their website, they seem to have books stored in every corner of their house! There are books “in cupboards next to pasta, rice, and plates because the bookshelves are already overflowing”, and they carry a Kindle everywhere just in case they have 30 seconds to spare for reading. Now if that isn’t what defines a book hoarder and a book lover, I don’t know what is.
Fans of the bookish circle might be familiar with Ashley’s works. The founder of resource hub, Book Blogging, she’s known for her book reviews and blogging tips at Nose Graze and WordPress web design and development at Creative Whim.
The majority of the funds will go towards data licensing quotes. These come with access to out of print titles, in print titles, and upcoming releases.
Some of the key features of the book cataloging site include unlocking achievements, ranks, and virtual rewards and saving reviews as drafts before publishing them.
Both Peter and Ashley share that they’re not looking to make a huge profit from LitRate; their goal is for the site to exist. They’re aiming for a “more modern and sleek user interface” and allowing the use of half stars — something Goodreads is short of.
If you’d like to lend a helping hand, consider heading over to this page to fund the project!
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