Out-of-the-box alternatives to #bookstagram
January 16, 2019 7:54 PM Subscribe
I post book photos and capsule book reviews (<500 words) on Instagram. I really enjoy the combination of photo + book review, and the ability to share books with real-life friends and family (and some strangers). However, using a Facebook product is starting to make me feel squicky, to the point that I’m not posting much anymore. Is there a solution I haven’t thought of for sharing book reviews online?
I used to write professionally, but transitioned to another career a while back where I do very little writing. My reviews are both an artistic outlet for me and a way to motivate me to finish books I start.
Instagram is super convenient for this since many people I know are on it, and it has such an attractive interface. It’s also neat because many authors use it (and sometimes respond if they’re tagged!). But I am getting more and more uncomfortable with the company’s actions, to the point that my discomfort around using it is outweighing the pleasure of writing the reviews. Ugh!
Here are the features I would like:
— Discoverable (someone using the service could search for hashtags or titles and find my writing, and I could find other like-minded users)
— Could post my own photos (not just the publisher image of the book cover, so GoodReads is out)
— Could be viewed by people who don’t have a special app/subscription (for example, Litsy is fun but only Litsy app users can see your content so I couldn’t share with my mom without asking her to also download the app)
— No word limit or word limit is more than 500 words (Litsy’s 451-character limit is so short!)
It may be that a good old-fashioned email newsletter may be the best option, and I’ll just give up the "discoverable" aspect of the reviews. But I wanted to see if there is an out-of-the-box solution or community I’m not considering… A modern-day LiveJournal, or a media outlet that curates user reviews?
I used to write professionally, but transitioned to another career a while back where I do very little writing. My reviews are both an artistic outlet for me and a way to motivate me to finish books I start.
Instagram is super convenient for this since many people I know are on it, and it has such an attractive interface. It’s also neat because many authors use it (and sometimes respond if they’re tagged!). But I am getting more and more uncomfortable with the company’s actions, to the point that my discomfort around using it is outweighing the pleasure of writing the reviews. Ugh!
Here are the features I would like:
— Discoverable (someone using the service could search for hashtags or titles and find my writing, and I could find other like-minded users)
— Could post my own photos (not just the publisher image of the book cover, so GoodReads is out)
— Could be viewed by people who don’t have a special app/subscription (for example, Litsy is fun but only Litsy app users can see your content so I couldn’t share with my mom without asking her to also download the app)
— No word limit or word limit is more than 500 words (Litsy’s 451-character limit is so short!)
It may be that a good old-fashioned email newsletter may be the best option, and I’ll just give up the "discoverable" aspect of the reviews. But I wanted to see if there is an out-of-the-box solution or community I’m not considering… A modern-day LiveJournal, or a media outlet that curates user reviews?
... and of course I find the FAQ with the post character limit moments later; Dreamwidth posts are limited to 300,000 characters, so you could write a novella in one post should you be so inclined!
posted by Pandora Kouti at 8:12 PM on January 16, 2019
posted by Pandora Kouti at 8:12 PM on January 16, 2019
I've seen goodreads reviews with photos, so I did a bit of googling and found this, which indicates it's possible if you're using a photo hosted elsewhere (like flickr or the like).
posted by minervous at 9:34 PM on January 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by minervous at 9:34 PM on January 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
Why not a Wordpress blog? Thousands do book reviews that way, with or without photos
posted by TheRaven at 1:27 AM on January 17, 2019
posted by TheRaven at 1:27 AM on January 17, 2019
Librarything is an independently owed alternative to Goodreads. If a Facebook product is making you feel squicky, Amazon isn't really much of an improvement in the morally run organization department.
Or as stated above, a simple blog is always an option too.
posted by COD at 4:57 AM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
Or as stated above, a simple blog is always an option too.
posted by COD at 4:57 AM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
You can definitely use your own photos in goodreads reviews. (oh, as minervous says above.)
you could also just start a blog, and then you can control everything!
posted by misanthropicsarah at 8:03 AM on January 17, 2019
you could also just start a blog, and then you can control everything!
posted by misanthropicsarah at 8:03 AM on January 17, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
- People can use the Dreamwidth site search to find your writing; you can also use tags to categorize your posts, though it's not quite as inline as just typing #MyTag, you put the tags in the tag field.
- Dreamwidth offers limited photo hosting, though they're actively looking to increase it given the recent Tumblr exodus.
- Access is controlled at the individual post level on Dreamwidth, so you can make your book review posts public while posting more sensitive things behind an access lock. This differs from Instagram, where access is controlled at the account level - your Insta account is either public or locked down, no nuance.
- I can't find the FAQ right now that states the post character limit, but the character limit for Dreamwidth comments is 10,000 (so ~2000 words), so I would think the post limit would be at least that if not much longer.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 8:09 PM on January 16, 2019 [4 favorites]