Finding books
For readers and authorsUpdated 2 min read
Search from the header, browse Books and Authors with filters, let Discover recommend, reach the wider catalogue for books not published here, or import a Goodreads or StoryGraph export.
The short answer
Search
The search box in the header finds books, authors, series and readers in one go. Signed in, results open on Discover in four tabs (Books, Authors, Readers, Series), each with its count; signed out, the box takes you to the Books page. Search understands whole words and phrases; a username can be found by a fragment.
Browse
- Discover (signed in): Recommended for you from your genres and tropes, Trending now, New releases, Authors to follow, and, after your taste, ARC opportunities. Recommendations are a documented mix of your taste and real reading activity, never a black box, and they are capped so your feed stays yours.
- Books and Authors are open to anyone. Filters (genre, tropes, language, length and more) live in a drawer and are written into the page address, so Back keeps them and a filtered page can be shared.
- Charts: what people are actually reading this month. See How the charts work.
Books that are not published here
Your shelves can hold books no Booklabria author has published. Below the results for a search, Books not on Booklabria yet lists matches from Open Library, an open catalogue; pick a shelf and Add, and the book comes along with its title, author, ISBN and cover. We look them up from our servers, keep a copy so the book stays on your shelf, and never send Open Library anything about you. Such a book has no author page here, no ARC and no place on the charts; it is yours to shelve, track and review.
Bringing a library from elsewhere
Library › Import takes a Goodreads or StoryGraph export (a CSV of up to 5 MB). Books are matched by ISBN first, then by title and author, and put on your shelves; your ratings stay on the list for you and nothing is posted as a review; rows that did not match are listed under Not matched yet. See Importing your library.
Content you avoid
Books carrying content you marked as avoid are kept out of recommendations, and when one turns up elsewhere its content notes open with the match marked. Nothing is hidden from search or from an author's page: you can always find a book on purpose. See Content warnings.
Where this lives
Related
- Setting your reading preferences: Your genres, tropes, language and the content you avoid shape recommendations, your feed and your ARC matches. Set them in the onboarding wizard (every step skippable) and change them any time under Settings › Profile.
- Shelves and progress: Your Library has five shelves (Want to Read, Reading, Completed, Did Not Finish, ARC Reads); a book lives on one at a time. Books you are reading carry a progress percentage; reaching 100 % or tapping Finished moves them to Completed and offers a review.
- How the charts work: The Charts rank books by real reading activity each month (readers, finishes, saves, reviews, weighted by a rating that needs many ratings to move), never by sales or anything an author can buy; a book needs three engaged readers in a month to appear.
- Content warnings and content levels: Authors tag a book with content warnings from a shared list and a content level; both show on the book page. Anything you asked to avoid is kept out of your recommendations and opens marked where it appears, never silently hidden from search.
- Importing your library from Goodreads or StoryGraph: Library › Import takes a Goodreads or StoryGraph CSV export (up to 5 MB), matches each row by ISBN then by title and author, and puts the books on your shelves; ratings stay with you and nothing is posted as a review.
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