We’ve officially made it through a full month of our Open Alpha without any major breakages, always a good sign! As we move into November, here’s what we’ll be focusing on:

Transition to Open Beta

This is largely a shift in terminology from “things will break” to “things might break”, but it’s an important one. “Open Beta” is a much more familiar stage for most people, and reaching it means we’ll feel ready to start promoting the site more intentionally and expanding our reach.

To make that happen, November will be dedicated to bug fixes, performance improvements, and quality-of-life updates across the site.

Donations and Premium Tier

No one loves hearing about a new subscription, but running a site like this takes a lot of time and money. Our goal is to make any paid tier genuinely worth it as something that adds value to your experience and does some good. Here’s what we’re planning for the initial rollout:

• 25% of profits donated to book-related charities

• Paid users nominate and vote on which charity receives the donation each month (or quarter, still TBD)

• Polls: create polls on your feed to get opinions from friends and followers

• Review Updates: reread a book and want to revise your thoughts? You’ll be able to post an updated review that keeps your original intact while showcasing your new one alongside it

And of course, adding a premium tier does not mean we'll forget about the normal, free version of the site. We have tons of features in the pipeline that we'll begin adding once we are sure the core functionality of the site is stabilized.

Welcome to The Book Radar!
A warm welcome to all the new users joining the site. Considering our only form of advertising so far has been following people on Instagram and Bluesky, you’re probably one of the very first to sign up.

As more feedback comes in, we’ll be working hard to fix bugs, smooth out layout quirks, and improve any features that feel confusing or don’t work as intended. Below is a quick look at our current and upcoming priorities.

Improved Mobile Site

We’ve spent a lot of time on the mobile version of the site, but it still lags behind the desktop version in some areas. We’ll be focusing on this soon since many users will be accessing the site from their phones.

Improved Social Integrations

For users and reviewers with established followings on other platforms, the goal is for The Book Radar to be a tool that supports and even grows your audience. We’ll be improving and streamlining the integrations already in place and adding features designed for “Verified Reviewer” accounts.

Better Reading Stats

I love seeing my own reading stats, and it’s one of the reasons I created this site in the first place. This feature will see major improvements soon, including additions like monthly recaps and other insights.

Expanded Library

While we’ll rely heavily on users to crowdsource a truly extensive library, we’re also working on importing popular books from recent years to establish a strong baseline collection.

Request Features

Tell us what you’d like to see! Many of the current features come from my own idea of the perfect book site, but I know there are plenty of great ideas I haven’t thought of. Use the Feature Requests page to share your suggestions.