If you hadn’t already figured it out, I love books. (See here, here, and here—there are more examples, but I didn’t feel like digging them up and I figured these were enough.)

I read a lot. And I always have at least one book on me at all times. Even when I’m not carrying a physical book, I have both the Kindle and Audible apps on my phone (although I prefer physical books).

Along with my love of books, I love all things bookish (bookstores, book websites, book accessories, book-themed tees, book-themed socks, book-themed [fill-in-the-blank]). And I like love to talk about books and all things bookish. Want to engage me in conversation? Ask me what I’m reading or for a recommendation or where to buy awesome bookish stuff.

And now with my love of all things books, I have finally found the perfect place for me. My new tribe. My new favorite bookish addiction.

Litsy

Litsy is an app (both for iOS & Android). It takes the bestest parts of Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram and makes one amazingly awesome place for booknerds.

I downloaded Litsy ages ago. But then it sat quietly, grouped with the rest of my book apps (Goodreads, Kindle, Audible, LibraryThing, Barnes & Noble, National Book Fest) for I don’t know how long. I looked at it once when I first downloaded, but never really explored it.

And now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to use it because Litsy is awesome.

Why I Love Litsy

First, Litsy is a dedicated social media platform for all things books (as indicated by the tagline “Where books make friends.”)! Who doesn’t love books?! And Litsy is reader-focused (compared to the more author-focused Goodreads).

Because Litsy is only about books, post content is limited. You can post: (1) a quote from a book; (2) a blurb about a book; and (3) a review of a book. That’s it.

When you post one of these three things (and yes, you have to choose one of the 3, there are no other options), the app makes you tag a book, which keeps the focus on books. You then have options to add an image (the Instagram-esque feature), tag people (we call ourselves “Littens”), and indicate whether your quote/blurb/review contains a spoiler.

I love that the posts focus on books. Because that’s what I want. I want to read/chat/review/share/learn about books.

Does that mean there aren’t “non-book” posts? Well yes and no. There are hashtags for #dogsoflitsy, #catsoflitsy, #giveaways, #trivia, and more. But most every post relates to books. If someone posts a photo of their pet, it’s normally in conjunction with reading, like showing a cat snuggled on your lap by your book. Or a photo of vacation where you’re sitting by the ocean reading. (Because that’s what booknerds do. Read. All the time.)

All books all the time. every booknerd

Second, I like the profile page. It’s simple and clean. It shows a small profile pic, my Litsy username, my name (you decide how to list your IRL name), the book stacked as currently reading (I  don’t have one set as “currently reading” right now), and a sentence or two description.

As you can see from my profile, I opted to use wanderinglynn.com’s tagline “traveling spherically,” along with links to this blog, my Goodreads account, and my PaperBackSwap account. Other people use this space to list their fave books or a fave quote or self descriptors.

Then you can see my stats—followers, following, and Litfluence (a fun Litsy thing)—and below that, my post feed. And if I select the open book, it shows me all the books I’ve “stacked” in my “to read” list, and the closed book shows me all the books I’ve read and rated.

As you can see from the Read stack, the rating system is also simple. You have 4 options: “pick” (a book you recommend), “so-so” (a book you’re not sure about recommending), “pan” (a book you didn’t like), and “bail” (a book you DNF).

Third, your feed shows all your followers posts + shows them chronologically (a concept FB fails to understand). And like Instagram, responses are limited. You can: (1) like a post, (2) comment on a post, & (3) add the post’s tagged book to one of your stacks (read, to read, or currently reading). And similar to Twitter, posts and comments have a character limit.

Liking and commenting are the best way to find followers (and be followed). Because at the end of the day, this is a social media platform. Social being the keyword. The entire point is to interact with your fellow Littens. We all love books and we all love to talk about books and bookish stuff.

This leads me to my favorite thing about Litsy.

The People.

I have found Littens to be amazing, interesting, fun, super nice people. And I instantly had something in common with every.single.one. No matter who they are or where they live or what they do for a living, we all share a love of books.

And I have found that Littens remain friendly and kind (unlike some other social media sites). On Litsy, I have felt free to discuss any topic, including hot social issues, with no fear of negative repercussion. I’ve found that everyone respects that each one of us has an opinion. And most importantly, each of us remains respectful when posting/commenting. I have yet to see any negativity.

I think the respectfulness and kindness stem from the fact that Litsy is a book site for readers—and readers all know that not everyone will love the book that you love. And we’re okay with that because we’re just happy as long as we’re all reading. And that’s the brilliant things about books—there’s one out there for everyone.

In short, I found my tribe.

I received a lovely welcome (which Littens do for anyone newbie we find).

And by adding followers and being followed, I have befriended people from all corners of the world. I find it amazing and beautiful to share a love of books with so many people in so many places. It’s simply fantastic.

Plus, with Littens world-wide, I get recommendations for books that I probably otherwise wouldn’t know about. Books written by non-English speakers, books about other parts of the world, books from a genres I don’t typically read. So my exposure to books is greatly widened thanks to all my Litten friends.

And Littens love to interact. And we love to swap books. And do book giveaways and other fun book events. We are just a fun bunch of booknerds.

So if you love books and all things bookish, come join the fun on Litsy. And feel free to friend me (@wanderinglynn)! I always follow back.

Have you used Litsy? What other book apps do you use? Tell me in the comments below.