Shelfari: Where Book Lovers Meet

by Courtney Mroch | More from this Blogger

30 Aug 2007 01:45 PM

Earlier this week a very talented lady befriended me in a very unique way. Trevy McDonald sent me an email with the subject title "Do we like the same books?" It was an invitation to be one of her Shelfari Friends. In fact, she invited me twice because I didn't answer the first request.

In my defense, I had heard of neither Trevy McDonald nor Shelfari. Just the other day I wrote about how many jokes inundate my inbox on a daily basis. Well, so does spam. Unfortunately that's what I thought Trevy's email was at fist. That's why I didn't click on the link that was embedded in the email. I was paranoid!

But in a serendipitous turn of fate, another author who I've recently become acquainted with, Betty Dravis, also sent me a Shelfari Friends request. This time I did go and check it out and I'm glad I did. It is so cool!

What is Shelfari?

You create a virtual bookshelf of books you've enjoyed, your favorite books, books you're currently reading, or books you plan to read. Think of it as a MySpace or MySite --except for readers.

How Does It Work?

First, you have to register, which is very simple and easy. I think it took me less than a minute.

Next, you'll have the option of sending a Shelfari Friends request to people you know. If you have a Gmail, Yahoo!, AOL, or Windows Live Hotmail account you can use your address book from those. Or, if you're like me and you don't have email through those, you can manually enter addresses to invite friends. (Once you're set up on the site you can also invite people already registered on the site to be a friend by clicking on their profile and hitting the "Add to Friends" button in the upper right corner of their Shelf.)

After that you can start setting up your Shelf. Create your profile, add a picture, and, last but the best part, select books! Search for them by either author or title name. Then you can classify and arrange them, join groups, and comment on them.

Why Is This Cool?

If you're a book lover and/or collector, you'll dig it. The book cover images are sharp, making the virtual aspect of it all friendlier. You can get suggestions about books to read from other Shelfarians, thus making new friends and learning of new great reads. And if you have a favorite author they might be on the site and you can befriend them!

Note to Keep in Mind

Shelfari is in the Beta stages, which means kinks are still being worked out and user input is not only welcomed but encouraged. But from what I've used of it so far, it rocks!

Author's Note

Just so you know, I did end up accepting Trevy's friend request. She's quite the accomplished woman and author. I don't know how she found me, but I'm glad she did and extremely honored.

And if you're interested in being Shelfari Friends with me, just PM me with your email addy and I'll send you a request. ;)

Learn more about Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a wife, a proud pet parent, and a writer. She's been with her husband, high school sweetheart Wayne Pryor, over 20 years, married 11 of those. She's "mom" to Mr. Meow, a.k.

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