I Used Litsy For 2 Weeks And Here’s What It Did For Me

 

A Brand New Social Network

Profile with Read Books

Oh. You don’t know what Litsy is?

Litsy is an app created for bookish people to share their bookish thoughts on books. You can upload a photo, post a quote, write a blurb (just some thoughts), or leave a review. All the options are short, only allowing posts to be 300 characters or less. You can add books to stacks and even follow others on the site. It’s a small but growing book community.

Sounds familiar, right? Sounds a bit like Goodreads, or Instagram, or Twitter, right? So what’s so different?

What I Sign Up For

Litsy was created by Todd Lawton and Jeff LeBlanc, the creators of Out of Print Clothing. What makes it different from other social media apps is that it’s completely geared toward books and book lovers. Instagram is a picture community who happens to have a large bookish section. Twitter lets you say something quick and easy about anything. Goodreads lets you build stacks and lists and followers, but seems to be more author focused with star ratings and author pages. According to its creators, Litsy is completely reader focused.

Reviews/Blurbs/Quotes

What I Got Instead

So once I figured out all I could do, I saw some of the obvious flaws. Unlike Goodreads, it doesn’t let you add books not found in its system. This includes independent or books of limited release. When reading local authors who may not have large labels, not being able to add a book is discouraging. We already know the publishing industry has a bias toward diversity, so apps geared toward books should take that into account. I was hoping it would be better than the industry.

The other snag was trying to get my bestie to sign up too- but she couldn’t. There is only an iOS version, no Android and no desktop. If you want to use it, you better have an Apple device. I know it’s probably not trying to keep you and your Galaxy S from logging book titles, but it’s still a limit. The Android app is possibly on its way and you can sign up for email updates to see when.

Cant Find Kings of Earth by Joe Ponder, Indie Writer

Why I’m Sticking Around

There are more things I like than dislike about the app. I’m neutral to the idea of following people or followers, and that it isn’t connected to any other site. It’s cut off from the rest of social media. That’s fine by me. But I love that you can look at all the people who are currently reading the same book you are. I also like that you don’t have to rate things by stars, that its just thumbs up, meh, or thumbs down. Anyone (on iOS) can join, and it’s not authors vs readers, which it seems Goodreads has turned into. You don’t have to search for the bookish people- that’s all the people!

Those of us who love to read and talk about books will congregate anywhere and I’m happy to find Litsy. I hope grows into a diverse community for readers, reviewers, and authors alike.

Books and flowers