The Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Their mission is to be a catalyst for building community, inspiring readers, and expanding book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led Little Free Library book-exchange boxes. Yes, that means FREE books! If you get a book from one of these boxes, be sure to leave a book in return.
Open Library is an open, editable library catalog from the creators of Archive.org, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Just like Wikipedia, you can contribute new information or corrections to the catalog. They also allow you to read millions of books online for free like a real library!
Openreads is a privacy oriented and open source cross-platform app written in Flutter available for Android and iOS for keeping track of your books. It contains no ads, no user tracking, has integration with OpenLibrary, statistics and reading challenges, and lots of customization. This is the best open source, privacy-oriented reading tracker I’ve found to-date.
Book Outlet is one of the best, most affordable places to buy books online if you’re on a budget. Their books come from special buys, publishers’ excess inventory, and store returns, which allows them to price all their books at discounts of 50% off or higher! So next time you’re in the market for that new, popular book you’ve had your eye on, you might want to check them out first and see if they have it in stock.
BookWyrm is a social network for tracking your reading, talking about books, writing reviews, and discovering what to read next. Federation allows BookWyrm users to join small, trusted communities that can connect with one another, and with other ActivityPub services like Mastodon and Pleroma. This is a great open source alternative to Goodreads, if you’re looking for one.
BookSirens was founded in 2018 — initially as a directory to help authors quickly find potential book reviewers in their genre and to help readers get complementary books in exchange for their review. Since then, it has evolved into a vital tool for any author or publisher looking to launch their books with more social proof via honest book reviews on sites like Amazon, Goodreads, and others. As of Jan 2023, ~5,215 authors and publishers have promoted their books on BookSirens. They include Amazon Top #100 authors, NYT and USA Today Bestselling authors, and promising debut authors across almost every genre. If you’re an author looking to build up reviews and readership for your latest work, definitely look into utilizing BookSirens.
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