3 Social Online Communities you shouldn’t miss

Fortunately we don’t hear anymore sane people claiming that Internet killed the book or prevents people from reading books, or it harms so much author rights so that they stop writing.

It’s clear to all, this simply will never happen cause we talk about two different things here. To read a book is an experience that is best enjoyed offline in a relaxed environment. I wish I could have more chances to read a real paper-made book but recently I caught myself trying some cheaper options like downloading audio books. And that only confirms my believe that books must be enjoyed away from the screen, not to mention other distraction like email, twitter and other beeps.

Not only the internet is not even trying to harm the mighty power of books but there are already many online promotional and social communities engaging book-lovers in their shared passion to read. Some of them quite useful. Think about Amazon for example.  Here are 3 of them I stumbled upon and I think they deserve more attention:

WeBooks – Writing Community for Writers, Readers and Literary Agents

Great idea behind it: users pick talented writers and help them get published. Or you can upload your recently written work and give it a try in a real readers environment. How does it work? There are 3 rounds of fame – Page 1 Challenge, 5 Pages Challenge and 50 Pages Challenge. Your ratings decide who moves through the rounds. Top submissions get reviewed by literary agents, and Round 3 winners take part in literary agents’showcase, which gives them a real shot at getting published. Not only can you rate books, but also compare your opinion with other users and follow your favorite authors on the top. Sounds interesting to me.

BookMooch: Give books away. Get books you want

Dictionary.co.uk defines “mooch” as: “to obtain something without paying for it, or to borrow something without intending to return it” as in “You’re old enough to get a job and stop mooching off your family.” And so, the word fits this project: BookMooch is a way to get books without paying, and without any intention of returning the book and in the same time to give away books you no longer need. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. How simple and cool is that, and no costs except for the mailing of the book.

What Should I Read Next?

You really liked that book you read and you want to go further in that topic, author, genre…? This community is made for that. Simply enter the title you like and the site will analyse a database of real readers’ favorite books from nearly 70,000 recommendations and reviews to suggest what could you read next.