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Guest post: “What Can Goodreads Do For Me?” by Huskyteer
by Huskyteer
What it is Launched in 2007 and acquired by Amazon in 2013, Goodreads is a social network for readers and writers. Like Facebook, but for books. Bookbook, if you will. Users can search for books in the extensive database, for the most part user-created, and add them to their ‘shelves’. If the book you’re after isn’t listed, you can do your part by adding it. There are three default bookshelves, ‘Want to Read’, ‘Currently Reading’, and ‘Read’, but you can add as many custom shelves as you like; ‘Crime’, for example, or ‘Non-fiction’, or perhaps ‘Comfort Reads’ or ‘Really Bad Books’. It’s strangely satisfying to have a record of what you’ve read, with statistics and word clouds for your shelves. If you feel the need to gameify your reading experience, you can sign up for a challenge like ‘read 50 books in a year’. Every time you log in, Goodreads will tell you how many books you’ve got through and how far behind or ahead of schedule you are. Other bits of fun include literary trivia questions, polls, and daily quotes from writers. As well as keeping track of what you’ve read, you can follow your friends to see what they’re reading and reviewing, and leave comments. I’ve had many a Goodreads discussion over books I might otherwise never have suspected someone I know had also read. Looking at your friends’ shelves is one way to find new reading matter, but there are also communities for fans of particular genres, as well as for readers from one particular area or with a common interest. There’s a reasonably active furry community, Furries!, as well as the more general Anthro Fiction group. Goodreads also offers recommendations based on what you’ve read, and lists of the top books in a particular category, which can be as broad as ‘Best Young Adult Books’ or as specific as ‘M/M Cat-Shifters, Feline Aliens, and Other Feline Humanoids’. When you finish a book, you can add a star rating and a review, tweet the fact that you’ve finished it, and recommend it to friends (Goodreads even suggests friends who might like it, given their tastes). All of this is optional, of course, but if you loved a book, this sort of thing can really benefit the author. Which brings me on to: Goodreads for writers Here’s where things get interesting. Once you’re signed up as a Goodreads Author, you have a number of options for promoting your works and interacting with your readership, most of which will cost you nothing but time. Learn more about your readers and how your books are doing by visiting the page for one of your books. Here you can see who’s read it, who’s marked it as To Read, and any ratings and reviews. Who are those people? What else are they reading? These could be valuable clues to help your marketing strategy. See whether your book is featured on any lists, and what else is on there. Add it to some lists yourself (sneaky!). Goodreads offers a number of configurable widgets, so you can show off your reviews on your own website, or add a button next to your book so passers-by can add it to their To Read list. They even provide the API if you really want to get down and dirty. And if you don’t mind giving away something for nothing, it doesn’t take much more effort to upload a free sample of your work as an ebook. Medium-level effort, now. If you already have a blog, you can hook it up to your Goodreads account quickly and easily (mine feeds off my LiveJournal). If not, you can blog straight to Goodreads. Blog posts keep your page looking new, and pop up on your followers’ homepages to remind them you exist. As an author with a Goodreads account, whenever you’re listed as the author of a publications, you’ll get ‘Goodreads Author’ in brackets after your name. This tells readers than they can come and bother you right there on the site, declare themselves your Fans, interact, and ask questions. If you activate the ‘Ask the Author’ option, users can ask you questions through the site, which you can then answer and display on your page. Or not, if it’s a question like ‘why is ur riting so rubbish’. No fans yet? Goodreads provides several preset questions for you to answer and post. Kyell Gold-esque levels of popularity? Announce that you’ll be open for questions on a specific topic, like your soon-to-be-released next book, for a limited period only. That should ‘generate buzz’, as Goodreads is so irritatingly fond of saying. If you’re prepared to invest money, you can pay to advertise on the site. With the ability to target a specific audience, and stats to look at, this might be an interesting route to pursue, although I haven’t tried it myself. You can also give away copies of your book. Everyone loves a freebie, so a listing on the Giveaways page is a good way to familiarise a lot of readers, albeit cheapskate ones, with your name and cover. You will have to pack and post the books yourself, and hope your winners enjoy their prizes enough to write a review and spread the word. See the Goodreads Author Program page for more information and ideas. How to join Joining Goodreads as a reader is as simple as registering a name, email address and password, and you can also sign in using Facebook, Twitter, Google, or your Amazon account. For authors, it’s a little more complicated, and takes slightly longer. You’ll need to sign up for a reader account, if you haven’t already. Then find a book that gives your name as the author (co-author, editor, contributor and so on are all fine too) and click on your name. You’ll see an almost empty profile page with a link near the bottom: ‘Is this you? Let us know’. Click the link and a verification request will be sent to the Goodreads team. Within a few days – often hours – your reader account will be merged with your shiny new author account, which you can then update. If your book hasn’t been added yet, just add it yourself. And when you’ve signed up, come and be my friend!
Having a bit of a rough time, and frankly, I have a ton of questions.
For me... well, sex and sexuality is different.
Let's just get it out of the way, I'm a furry trangender MtF, but I like women.
No, I haven't altered my body. To be honest, I'm a plain as normal guy, I suppose. But inside, I'm a girl, just trapped. And frankly, all of this is so complicated, that even trying to express the idea of sexuality is just a clusterfuck.
To get the furry thing out of the way, it's barely sexual. I love me some anthropomorphic animals. I adore movies that have them. And frankly, I have so much respect for the characters that I wouldn't dream of being sexual with them. I'm a writer, and I love good characters. And while, sure, I think Mrs. Brisby is a lovely woman and mouse, I wouldn't dream of defiling that image, and that goes for many of the females I adore in fiction.
I expect sex to be a thing shared between consensual beings who love eachother so much that they feel comfortable in the idea of sharing that moment. It's a thing to be cherished. But...
Given that, my fantasies often involve women. (Human of course.) But that's the thing. As a transgender, I feel I am a woman myself. I hold on to that thought, and would, given the chance, to be one. And frankly, it's more difficult because while I could please a man, and have, I desire women more. But I'm a man, who wants to be a woman, who wants women.
But oddly, my furriness has nothing to do with sexuality, and for most, it has to do with the relationships between fursonas. And frankly, I don't particularly feel sexual about the furry thing. I just enjoy the art and the idea of my fursona being who she would be as a person, and not as a sexual object.
Frankly, it's so frustrating I've been almost unable to open up about it for a year. I hoped perhaps others could lend a hand in a community I deeply feel connected to.
submitted by Usagi-Nezumi[link] [5 comments]
Episode 79 – Christmas Movies - Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the house, Ringo was yelling, so loud he killed a mouse. Killick had plugged in the microphone with care, while Sepko played games, since the Xbox was there. The episode of Fu
Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the house, Ringo was yelling, so loud he killed a mouse. Killick had plugged in the microphone with care, while Sepko played games, since the Xbox was there. The episode of Furballd was long overdue, so its now time to sit down with this podcasting crew. This time they would talk about movies filled with Christmas cheer, which Ringo filled with sex, dicks and dildo jokes. Oh dear.
This week’s song is “Food Frenzy” by GaMetal. You can find the song on OCRemix here.
Stephen Colbert’s take on the new lightsaber design!
The Star Wars VII George Lucas special edition trailer!
Bye for now, but not forever!
Episode 79 – Christmas Movies - Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the house, Ringo was yelling, so loud he killed a mouse. Killick had plugged in the microphone with care, while Sepko played games, since the Xbox was there. The episode of Furballd was long overdue,Not a furry, but just wondering what you guys feel about people's reaction to the events surrounding the Furry convention in Chicago?
Finished creating my Fursona! (Mild NSFW)
Changed my fursona a bit to make her look more similar to myself c: Just wanted to share how it turned out~
This Payday 2 mask is quite fitting :3
Furries in Saint Louis, Missouri Lose One of their Most Welcoming Venues
Bad Dog Bar & Grill is closing its doors permanently on January 1st. The economy had an impact on regulars and the riots scaring everyone else away. The owners floated the place as long as they could out of their own pockets and can no longer do so.
Bad Dog gave me a job when I really needed one and it also welcomed everyone with open arms.
In fact, I was in fursuit one night with Amarok and someone was heckling us. The bartender and bar owner both asked him to leave, telling the guy that this was our home. This really resonated with me as a safe place that we could be ourselves no matter who we were.
We hosted many furry meets here, from eating the tastiest food in Saint Louis to Karaoke to playing Cards Against Humanity and ultimately making new friends in the process.
The bar will be missed greatly and I still can't believe this news even as I type it.
We are having a farewell meet and greet on Saturday, December 27th from 6pm to Midnight. Some of us may be going to their New Years Eve fetish ball on their final night as well.
If interested, here is the address: Bad Dog Bar & Grill 3960 Chouteau Avenue Saint Louis, Missouri
The venue is next door to a White Castle and has plenty of parking as well as a heated patio for smoking.
submitted by PedigreeTheHusky[link] [9 comments]
When/how did you know that you were a furry?
Just that, really. I'd like to know about your experiences please. :)
submitted by crash_randycoot[link] [12 comments]
Another furry feel-good thread!
Hiya fellas! I figured that with all the recent events and some drama making it to the front page recently, its a good time to help some of you guys feel better about ourselves and our fuzzy family. Post any feel-good furry related stories, art, videos, etc. here! If anyone needs a shoulder to lean on, or just want a conversation, feel free to PM me too, I'm here for you.
I'll start: I was at a robotics event with my local team, while wearing my fleece wolf hoodie, and saying hello to other team members and pedestrians, giving free hugs, drumming up some spirit and good times. There was a woman who walked in with her baby boy, so I walked up to her and said hello to her and her baby. She held him close to me and he reached out and grabbed the ear on my hoodie, and giggled. What happened next was a suprise for me and the mother. He smiled and said "gog." The lady was very happy that I helped him say his first words! Even if it wasn't a real one, that was a highlight of my day.
submitted by Infamous0823[link] [33 comments]
Would anyone be interested in a Fursona/Character Workshop?
I think it could be fun. Basically what I'm proposing is an open livestream where people could come and chat about their ideas for their fursona and other characters and everyone can help each other develop and design their characters while I sketch them and stuff.
I'm a concept art student who wants to focus on characters so I love talking about this stuff and drawing all sorts of folks :3 I know a lot of people who don't have references for commissions and stuff bc they don't really draw or don't have their design nailed down and stuff like that. Some people just might wanna redesign their characters a little bit, anyone could come and everyone could get a turn being drawn some.
I couldn't do anything super complete or polished for everyone (I make most of my money from art commissions and am very very broke) but I could do some nice sketches and coloring and stuff. I think it could be a cool community activity, too. Let me know what you guys think!
EDIT: Mostly, I want to know what day would work the best for people! This way I can set up a livestream for it. If this gets enough interest we could make it like a bi-weekly thing or something.
submitted by manekii[link] [24 comments]
single furs - let me hear you roar!
just curious about how many of us redditfurs are single. i've been dealing with some odd relationship issues and i have come to the conclusion that i am in fact single. it has been a sad day, haha.
so? how is single life treating you?
submitted by kidinabearsuit[link] [118 comments]
ep. 104 - MWFF '14 LIVE! - We're back with another live episode! Xander, Alkali, Pandez & Draggor yap in front of a packed r...
Furaffinity Transparency Drama Part IV
Also on https://www.weasyl.com/journal/72366/furaffinity-transparency-drama-part-4 because I cannot trust Reddit not to eat my formatting.
Hello everyone and welcome back to our coverage on the FA drama that's been happening the last few weeks.
What exactly are we talking about today? If you haven't read the previous messages, they are here. http://www.reddit.com/r/furry/comments/2mmfq6/to_anyone_that_uses_furaffinity_this_is_important/ http://www.reddit.com/r/furry/comments/2mtqb4/furaffinity_and_zidonuke_drama_part_ii/ http://www.reddit.com/r/furry/comments/2n4uis/furaffinity_and_zidonuke_drama_part_iii/ This is picking up from after the events detailed above. The goal post of the above was to get Dragoneer to openly detail everything with the community, the concerns around the donation funds and the bits with Zidonuke. He needed to admit he made mistakes and apologize to everyone he was rude to following. The first Reddit post was written on November 18th, it took 12 days to get a response...from Chase. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6311970/ >So you got your response, what all are you upset with here? This biggest thing this response is lacking is proof of the donation spending so far. Receipts for the expenditures should be no problem to produce, and there is still problems with "transparency" all over the place. The thing I personally feel is a problem is that Neer is not open with the community, and thanks to some conversations that have gone on from this journal, we can very clearly see this is the case. You might recall that around this time, FA was hit with a massive database flaw that caused problems with notifications being sent out. Rather than put in Read-Only mode, the site was allowed to continue operating even though one of the most basic features was broken. http://imgur.com/a/69SOn This is an album of artists complaining / talking with Yak about the problems with the database and about read only mode. Speaking of transparency, Yak has had no problem talking to the community while Neer and Chase have been mostly silent. I'm sure some of you have heard the quote by now >If Titanic was built like FA nobody would have had to die. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6311970/#cid:43362222 The problem here is that Yak has been rude to those asking him questions, and ignoring others. I myself for example asked for the specifics on a particular problem, but I'll detail that later. The point here is that the communication has still been non-existant. Chase has outed himself as our new director. For privacy sake, I will not mention what Chase is known for, but I recommend a google search into that. Chase isn't even doing that well of a job, as outlined here. http://i.imgur.com/ZDTq51L.png , continuing here : http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6311970/#cid:43433955 ==Donations== The next problem here aside from transparency is the problem with donations. While the money situation still needs better detailing, and requests for receipts posted is not far-fetched, there was still no talk on what the situation is with Jake, their paid donation funded database server that was discovered had not been in use and sitting idle for almost a year. If our donation money is being improperly handled, then there is a huge problem going on. The fun fact is had that server been operational as of now, the notification problems may have been a lot shorter if even there at all. ==Trouble tickets / Ads== Just wanted to toss this into the fray but let me direct you to this thread : https://forums.vivisector.org/index.php?topic=708.0 That thread details problems with trouble tickets better than I can, but the gist is that even those are going neglected. Dragoneer's shouts and twitter feed are full of complains about tickets, including problems with advertising. https://twitter.com/Dragoneer/status/540534808624263168 https://twitter.com/Dragoneer/status/540199755675361280 http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dragoneer/ (shouts) It should be known I'm blocked from viewing any of Neer's tweets at this point. ==Large file sizes when== One thing to bring up to highlight the questionable nature of FA code is a matter of larger file sizes. I'll direct you to first this Trello post. https://trello.com/c/hsundUSx/24-investigate-into-increasing-submission-and-thumbnail-upload-limits Dragoneer mentions here they have some hardware, but it is a matter of code issue. When discussing this, the following conversation happened. http://i.imgur.com/Y4QwVFB.png http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6311970/#cid:43344302 **(I WANT TO NOTE MAXXMISSIONS WAS NOT TALKING TO ME, THE COMMENT TREE BUG HAPPENED, THEY WERE TALKING TO SOMEONE ELSE ABOVE.)** Yak never responded to my message after that, despite still responding to others. If I'm right, there should be no issue with allowing large sizes. The current file size limit for FA posts is 10MB. ==Personal thoughts== The way I've been watching these events break down, it's very clear to me that there needs to be rampant change in the community otherwise we're going to perpetuate a lot of negative stereotypes on how we treat each other / get treated. Something I see and hear again and again is that FA is a free site, if you don't like it, take off. But myself and others have repeatedly mentioned again and again that this is not the case. Furaffinity is a hub, it is a hub to the fandom, it serves everyone in the fandom, be it artists, writers, watchers, social needs, meet ups, whatever. It's a very important site. The site is free, but the users make it what it is. Without the users in it, the site would be nothing. This affects everyone, the artists trying to make money, new furs coming in to make friends. The website has helped shape the fandom to the places it has gone to for everyone. The problem is that it's run so poorly, and not just in a technical sense, but the management have proven time after time they are not capable of running this site with the respect it deserves. I've given many examples of Dragoneer's conduct in other posts, I've given an example of Chase, and here is an entire album with Yak talking down to the community. http://imgur.com/a/K65qt We have Chase as a director, fetishes aside, is that someone you want in that spot? Is that how you want the fandom to be looked at? This while ordeal is just a mockery to what the Fandom is. Our willingness to bend over and accept whatever is tossed at us. The saddest thing I see here is how willing everyone is to just accept all these problems like the norm, to let people like Neer get away with taking money to fuel a website that has done nothing but lie to us only to keep the fandom alive. When other places / people have proven again and again they want to help and offer better services only to be tossed away. [PERSONAL OPINION AHOY] No matter how you cut it, Dragoneer is not fit to run this website, he and Yak are simply too busy. If not for the problems above, he should step down for his own benefit. These problems are not going to go away, and people are not going to leave him alone. For his own stress, he needs to give this stuff up for a while, let someone else take the helm for now. He does work 12 hours a day at times, he has a busy life, he's not really a bad guy...He just lets the stress get to him. [END] Furaffinity doesn't have to die, but the longer it exists in the state it is now, the longer we allow these horridly dramatic things to persist again and again, the worse the fandom is going to become. submitted by rowedahelicon[link] [1 comment]
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