#86 - An Extra (100) Pair of Hands

#86

                February 1, 2021

            #86 - An Extra (100) Pair of Hands

                What it's like having a lot more people updating the site, upping the ante on getting Plus out, and what you can expect to see in the product soon!

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#86 | 1 February 2021

An extra (100) pair of hands

The biggest change in the last couple of weeks has been the six-fold increase in the number of volunteers we now have helping to tidy up our book data.

My comfort with delegation is really being put to the test, but the necessity for extra help given limited resources is giving me no choice but to feel really super comfortable with everything. 😅

It's really great no longer having too many open tickets at any given time. 😍

Going through all of the applications, onboarding over 100 people, and hearing their feedback as they use the Librarian tools has been a lot to handle amidst everything else, and I've had to rethink my boundaries and where I spend my energy, but ultimately it's all very exciting and a big step forward for us! 😁

Since last time...

There are a bunch of people that think having a goal for the number of books to read in a year is unhelpful.

One of the reasons typically stated is that, especially towards the end of the year, they opt to pick up shorter books, instead of the ones they're most excited by, just so that they can reach their goal.

Because of this, I was incredibly keen to release our built-in annual Pages Goal! 🎉

You can track both a pages and book goal if you want to!

If you're a fiction reader, do you typically go for books where the author relies on a plot to move the story forward, or are character-driven tales more for you?

Well, now community reviews on The StoryGraph can help you see which one of those a book is, further helping you to choose what to read next. 🙌🏾

Sometimes it's a bit of both!

If you're looking for something to listen to the next time you're doing chores or taking a walk, I'd love for you to check out the interview I did with Emily Einolander over at the Hybrid Pub Scout Podcast.

One of the things we talk about is my product development process and the importance of customer research. 🤓

Next two weeks

It's been a long time coming, but I'm finally going to work on improving browsing read and owned books on the site.

Filter menus, search bars, and sort options will be coming to those pages soon! 🤞🏾

Right now you can only browse books read based on when you read them, in the order you read them in...

We also need to up the ante with getting things ready for Plus. While our focus is on making sure the offering is wonderful and worthwhile for subscribers, we don't want it to be too long into 2021 before pre-orders get activated! 

What I'm reading right now

I'll be picking up Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai's The Mountains Sing very soon in preparation for an interview I'll be doing with the author live on Instagram next month!

Have a great week,

Nadia

P.S. Know somebody who's an avid reader or would enjoy following along with this journey? Please do forward this email to them! Thank you. :-)

Haven't tried The StoryGraph yet? Check it out today!

Love the site? Consider pre-ordering our Plus plan!

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