As a booklover – or bibliophile, how you wanna call it – I started listing the books I have read on the international website Goodreads.com. A couple of weeks ago I found out that there is also Dutch website and community where you can keep track of the books you have read, want to read or are currently reading: Hebban.nl
In this post I tell a bit about both communities and of course the good and the lesser things about keeping a list on both sites. And as a conclusion I have a tip for: the reader who reads a few, the reader who reads average and of course also a tip for the reader who reads a lot.
Short about Goodreads.com:
Goodreads launched in January 2007 and has at the moment: 40 million members, 1,1 billion books added and 43 million reviews (so not every book has one yet). Otis Chandler is the CEO and Co-Founder of Goodreads. The mission of Goodreads is to help people find and share their most beloved books. Or sometimes not beloved as well. Their offices are located in San Francisco and in the main Amazon Seattle, WA Campus and in Sunnyvale; California. They work very very closely with Amazon and people even say it is bought by Amazon.
Short about Hebban.nl:
I believe it started in April 2014, Sander Verheijen is at the moment the General Manager of Hebban.nl. So it is a very young website which is growing rapidly! Hebban is a combination of an editorial book readers site and a community together. But it is not a webshop, it only serves a link to some online bookstores. And it is totally Dutch!
- Easy access community –> winner Hebban.nl
- Own managed reading clubs and newspages as well! And you can add your favourite bookstores and so on.
- Overview of the authorpage and his / her books –> both winners
- Goodreads + the series are mentioned seperate as well – sometimes lots of doubles (books)
- Hebban + rarely doubles at the lesser known authors – no series separate mentioned (would be a nice widget below the advertisement place that is below the followers)
- Reading updates –> winner Goodreads.com
- until the page / percent of progress
- Social Media connections –> both winners
- Hebban + not too much – no e-reader specification
- Goodreads – too much + e-reader specification
- Digital winner –> Goodreads.com
- Goodreads has an updated good working modernised application
- Hebban.nl is what I believe working on launching an application.
- Book rating –> both winners
- Both 5 star-rating and option to write a review and share it with some social media.
- More colorful –> winner Hebban.nl
- nice modern website with slideshow covers, recent timeline and so on
- Goodreads modernised the app
- Most titles in Dutch –> winner Hebban.nl
- Obviously
- Most titles in English –> winner Goodreads.nl
- Obviously too but Hebban.nl has also all the original titles in the little practical information discription of the books.
- Most languages –> winner Goodreads.nl
- Obvious, it is an international orientated webpage.
- Least double books –> no winner
- Both websites have still too much doubles, I find them mostly at the lesser known authors or older bookseries than the websites. And because at Goodreads there is the option to have multiple editions, it is hard to have no doubles.
The final result:
However those two websites – communities and nice modern digitalisation – try to be as helpful as possible for people to register their booklists, there is no winner! Because making a list by yourself in a spreadsheet and filling in all the practical information you can find in the cover or the first pages of your book, is more than you can fill in at those sites. As well as that not very book that is on Goodreads.com is on Hebban.nl and vice versa. So filling in in which language you have read a book, or searching for a title and your edition of your language isn’t yet in the database of the sites, than it is hard to find. In The Netherlands we have also a category structure which is known as the NUR code.
That Goodreads wants to be the world’s largest community of readers is fine by me. But I still love it too that there is Hebban who makes it for having another language as your native language, a fine appreciated added bonus so you can add books in your own language or which aren’t translated yet to English. Vice versa the English books who aren’t translated to Dutch aren’t on Hebban as well.
Thinking…: Maybe if Hebban is becoming this for every country in Europe, it is good for each country’s own cultural language and helping people by reading in their own language and maybe English besides it than as well, and then you can add the books who exist in English and you have read in English, add to Goodreads.
I keep a list of all the books I have read and with as much information as possible.
My tips for:
The reader who reads a few: Get inspiration, keep a list on Hebban.nl or Goodreads.com if your native is (closely) English.
The reader who reads average: Get more inspiration, keep a list on both, you know at least 80% of all books you have read
The reader who reads a lot: Definitely keep a list made by yourself of all the books you have read and most information you can get from it. Need help? Just ask your question in a comment / or other social media way and I will help you.
Sophie's Creative 