Reddit has an innovative community for those who enjoy reading books and need suggestions on what should be added to their collection.
With over 100 million book options available, sometimes a little assistance is needed when you know what you’re interested in reading but aren’t sure where to start. Reddit is helping readers find their next novel based on a mood in its “r/BooksThatFeelLikeThis” community, also known as a “subreddit.” Instead of a prompt, members get recommendations by posting pictures, art, music, or poetry, among other things, that align with a particular feeling. In a recent interview, one of the moderators sat down with Blavity to share some insight into the unique network.
Reddit user u/Maiden41, a community facilitator, expressed admiration for the groundbreaking book subreddit.
“My first thought and reaction was, is this even possible? Yes, it was. I was hooked to the sub immediately, spent hours scrolling through the posts and picked up so many suggestions for new titles and authors, all the while thinking, ‘This cannot be so easy, and yet, it is,’” she told Blavity. “The fact that this sub turned out so good for additions to my mini library at home is an understatement. My initial thoughts since I joined versus my perspective today continue to remain just the same, awestruck.”
Since photos are the most used element for communicating the emotion they’re searching for, it was important to the moderators and the collective to support artists. To do so, one of the rules enforced bans the use of AI-generated designs in posts. Only the content created by real artists can be used. Most of the regulations aren’t complicated as they’re simple.
“It is entirely a blend of basic dos and don’ts that are tweaked at times keeping the general user behavioral pattern in mind,” u/Maiden41 said. “No experiments needed with trials and errors as most of it is sheer online etiquette that we enforce along with a few guidelines specific to the requirements of the sub. From the generic rules like stay on topic, don’t be rude, etc. to the subspecific — no AI images allowed.”
It’s important that everyone in the subreddit feels welcomed and safe to share their thoughts.
“Keeping it free of racist, homophobic, bigotry-laced content,” she explained. “It does get tricky at times with posts that seek erotic/lgbtiqa recommendations as a handful of users get offended and abuse the report button, but hey, we are not here to police what people choose to read. Being inclusive is the way forward and even though it is challenging at times, I will not shut such recommendations down.”
Watching in the shadows, she sees things from a bird’s eye view. What can’t be missed are the organic relationships built between people in the comment section of posts.
“I especially enjoyed the way users in addition to book recommendations ended up bonding over the images that the user posted to seek recommendations,” u/Maiden41 mentioned. “The artist [named] John Atkinson Grimshaw as I discovered through the replies, is a favorite with a few people who got together discussing his works therein. Fun times.”
“On scrolling further through the recommendations it was such a delight to see users bond over the suggestions with many observing they wanted to suggest the same title or someone else gushing over a totally new suggestion,” she added.
She’s also seen some intriguing requests from community members. They flock to find guidance on books that feel like cats napping in the flowers, bright lemons and sunshine and horror-possessed werewolves. One person’s ask for a women’s fiction title got “3.6k upvotes and 700 replies,” many being similar.
“The next one was this women’s fiction request with 3.6k upvotes and 700 replies. What fascinated me about this post was that the images inspired similar/repetitive title suggestions from a lot of members. The choices were obvious picks not deviating much in genre recommendations,” u/Maiden41 said. “One look at the images and you’d immediately know what vibe this user was aiming for and exactly what book will be suggested. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier was the repeated favorite suggestion here.”
Surprisingly enough, there have rarely been any patterns from the hundreds of submission posts.
“The fact that users come up with such a variety of posts which are rarely repetitive, is what pleasantly surprises me. There are no set patterns and trends here,” the bookworm said. “If one user seeks suggestions for a [cozy] genre, the very next post within a few minutes might be from a user seeking a gothic recommendation. It’s like a fun-filled box of mixed candies. All equally unique in content and flavor yet belonging to the same clan — books and more books to read.”
In addition to loving books herself, she’s happy to be part of a subreddit community that’s actively paying it forward with books.
“To sum it up this sub is a haven for the restless bibliophiles on their quests for their next read.,” the moderator expressed. “Listening to a piece of music and you wonder what kind of book would pair well with it, or you stumbled across that pretty painting and need to find a book that gives you a feel of being a part of that painting? No problem at all, step over to r/BooksThatFeelLikeThis and submit a request, you’ll have apt suggestions that befit your request from members in no time.”
The post How This Reddit Group Has Become The Perfect Pitstop For Book Suggestions appeared first on Blavity.
