There have been a few updates in the last few weeks, so this will be a long update.
First, every Upcoming Book now has a function where readers can add reminders to their calendars on Google etc. The social buttons are back, thanks to Addthis, which runs more smoothly than the old set.
There is also ongoing work on the site for the next month. We’re changing the third party reviews system to something in-house, as the old system is now breaking. The Voting plugin has been removed as we are working on a new one which will be faster ad tie in with members functions. Yes, we’re investigating functions to allow members to follow authors, get updates on new books, share ratings and recs, etc.
There’s a dev site being built, simply so we can make sure these changes are tested before they roll out live, and we really need to thank our coders, who are volunteering their time for this.
And finally the big announcement. You might have seen Bookangel’s reviews on a few sites you didn’t expect them to, sites like sky.com, the Guardian, the Irish Independent and others. We’ve linked up with Outbrain, as well as a backfill network that fills free article space and ad space with the reviews. Most review sites are disqualified by use of affiliate links or receiving free books for all their reviews. Because ours are neutral – we don’t get paid for reviews and have no affiliate links – we’re getting a lot of attention through them. So are the books, which have nearly a 50% clickthru rate from the reviews to Amazon.
How long we can keep going with this, we aren’t sure. When it comes down to it, we’re a club, we don’t have a lot of funds, we don’t charge, and this is burning through bandwidth. On the other hand, while it lasts, we suggest the indie authors enjoy it!
If you want to get in touch or make any suggestions, as always use the form below. Comments are moderated.
