Litsy – What Is It And Do I Really Need It?

From my earlier post on Bookstagram, you’ll know it took me some time to figure out how it worked. I soldiered on, and with not a little help from cyberspace, am now a full-on #bookstagrammer. Didn’t have much time to pat myself on the back though, a Facebook friend suggested I check out something called Litsy.

I resisted, do I really need another phone app? Then this popped up in my Facebook feed: Litsy — Connect to Readers as a Reader. Okay, well maybe as a writer and a reader, can’t help to take a look. Here’s what I found:

 

What is Litsy?

Litsy is an app for readers to interact around reading and books. Users, or Littens, add books, write reviews, share quotes and pictures. You follow other Littens and they follow you. Also, and this might be my favorite bit, there are book groups on Litsy – so far, I’ve joined two and taken part in choosing books for May. How cool is that?

Source: Litsy

Source: Litsy

How Does It Work?

Download the app to your phone (iPhone or Android) and set up a profile, including a username, photo, a little about yourself and where you are on social media. Like Instagram, you can add a link in your profile, I’ve linked to my blog.

Unlike Instagram, you can’t view Litsy on the web – yet. According to Litsy’s help page, that is coming. Another difference to Instagram is that images are not mandatory.

Stack and Rate

The Stack option lets you add books to your ‘stack’ as ‘to read,’ ‘reading’ or ‘read.’ A great way to keep track of stuff.

I really like the rating system – if you love a book, give it a ‘pick.’ If you are not sure about recommending it – give a ‘so-so.’ You can ‘pan’ a book you don’t like; and for the ones you can’t finish there’s an option to ‘bail.’

Leave a Review

You can add a full review if you wish. According to the video below, there is  word limit of 300 words. I couldn’t find that stated on the Litsy webpage, and Litsy is a work in progress so it could change, if it hasn’t already. Again you can add links – so if you’ve written a longer review on another platform you can link to it.

Find Books

Hit the # icon and add a subject. For example, for #cats you’ll find images of cats reading and books about cats. To add books to your stack, click the book icon and search via the title, author, ISBN number or keyword.

Source: Litsy

Source: Litsy

What is Litfluence?

Your Litfluence displays how many books you’ve added and read, with page count. One slightly disconcerting thing: Litfluence gives a score for comments, likes and general interactions. According to Litsy.com, it’s not meant to be competitive; they find the data fun. And useful when they move to monetization.

Do I really need it?

Litsy lets you connect via books, e.g. I’m reading The Good People by Hannah Kent. I’ve found it on Litsy and interacted via comments. Some Littens hated it, some loved it, some are looking forward to reading it.

Source: Amazon

Source: Amazon

So far, I’ve enjoyed looking around and checking out reviews. Can’t wait to  take part in book club discussions — if they are good experiences, suspect I’ll be hooked.

Litsy is described as, “Goodreads meets Instagram.” Sort of agree with that. Could also be called Goodreads without trolls and Instagram with less emphasis on imagery. Are you on Litsy? If so I’m looking for Littens to follow so please connect with me, my username is – wait for it – Kathy Gates.

YouTube Channel: Christie Stratos

 

Featured image via Women Write About Comics 

h/t Women Writers, Women’s Books