Hardcover Report for June 2023

Hi book friends! As we mentioned in our recent blog post, we’re striving to work in public and share all of the cool stats from the Hardcover community with the world.

This is the first of what we hope will be many Monthly Reports to keep you in the loop about Hardcover, new and exciting books you might enjoy, and some ways to join the community.

What’s New On Hardcover?

Today we’re announcing a project that’s been in the works for a while: the Hardcover Librarian program! There are three levels of Librarians:

Apprentice Librarians – If you have an account, you’re an apprentice librarian! If you’re logged in you’ll be able to add missing data for any book or edition. You can upload missing covers, fill in empty release dates and help fill out the data on Hardcover.

Trusted Librarians – Trusted librarians can add missing data and edit most data about books. A few fields we restrict (title, description). but you can edit just about everything else. Supporters and readers with a one-month old account & 100 read books automatically become trusted librarians.

Librarian – Librarians have full access to edit any part of books and editions (and later authors, series, etc). We’re assigning this role manually to members of the community who are active and are passionate about sharing their love of books. Today we’re opening applications for Librarians. Are you interested?

Read more to learn about the benefits of being a Librarian and how to apply.

What’s Coming Soon? Search 2.0!

Our focus the last few weeks has been on improving search. Search by author is the #1 most requested feature on Feature Request board.

We’ve taken this chance to reimagine what search could be for a book website. After dozens of prototypes, discussion with readers, and a few Hardcover Lives where Ste & I worked on this, we have our v2.0 of search on Staging! It’s currently available for Supporters to test out and give feedback on while we prepare for the official release.

Yes, Sanderson is my default search to test things out. 😂

We’ll do a full feature breakdown when we release it, but for now know that it’s coming soon!

Behind the Scenes at Hardcover

Something that’s always fascinated me about projects I follow, and specifically bootstrapped ones, are how the business is doing. Are they making loads of money? Or are they going to go out of business tomorrow? For us the answer to both is the same: no. 😅

May Revenue: $125
May Expenses: -$720
May Profit: -$595

Our revenue is entirely from members upgrading to Supporters. We don’t sell data or have ads. Hardcover is a community project and we want to create it for the community.

Supporters who sign up for a year and have a US address also receive a nifty sticker + bookmark pack as a thank you. If you’re a supporter watch your email for info! 📚

Featured Prompt for June 2023

Prompts are polls that Supporters can create. Each month we’re going to feature one prompt. The more answers the better! Here’s this months prompt:

What Lighthearted Beach, Poolside or Park Reads Did You Get Lost In?

With summer here, many of us are taking the opportunity to get outside and read. That could mean finding a cozy spot in a park, stretching out on a chair poolside or on a blanket on the beach – or staying warm in bed. “Pool reads” are lighthearted and fun. They’re an escape from everything happening in our lives. When you think of fun stories that had you staying put far longer than you intended, what books come to mind?

Answer this prompt, see the top answers or upvote existing books that stand out.

What’s Popular on Hardcover?

What’s hot may not change as fast as the New York Times Bestsellers – and that’s OK!

When I was a kid I used to get the Nintendo Power Magazine. Each month I’d flip to the back to check the Top 20 games on SNES, NES and Game Boy. Zelda (in all it’s forms) was my favorite. I’d scan the lists to see if A Link to the Past was still in the top 3 – where it stayed for years. I felt a sense of joy to know that something I was such a fan of was still being enjoyed by others.

We’d like to do the same for books on Hardcover! Eventually we might make this is a page on Hardcover, but for now, we’re going old school with a list.

Side note: did you know you can read old Nintendo Power Magazines on Archive.org? Now you do! 🥳

Most Saved Books To Be Released in June 2023

These are the books saved to the most peoples “want to read” lists that are set to be released in June 2023.

Heavenly Tyrant (Iron Widow #2) by Xiran Jay Zhao
Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon
The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade
A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality (Saffron Everleigh Mystery #2) by Kate Khavari

Community Spotlight: Ste

Each month we’re spotlighting a member of the Hardcover community. To start, we’re profiling our very own cofounder Ste!

If you’d like to be featured, please fill out this form and maybe you’ll see your profile show up here.

What’s your username on Hardcover?
@ste

Tell us a little about yourself
I’m a designer living in London with my wife and my cat. I like working on projects that make the world slightly better.

Why did you join Hardcover?
Because I wanted to read more.

What does your ideal reading environment look like?
Just as the sun sets, after a day of work, on the couch.

What are a few of your favorite books of all time?
Demons by Dostoevsky, The Castle by Kafka

What books to recommend the most often?
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

Who should follow you on Hardcover?
Whoever is interested in a mix of design books, classic lit and books with beautiful covers.

Join us on Discord

The Hardcover Community isn’t just on the website – we’re also on Discord! If you’re not an expert in Discord, don’t worry – neither are we.

Join the over 300 of us to chat about books, hear about product updates and be a part of the community.

Join the Hardcover Discord

Want to Support Hardcover?

Being a fledgling startup we can use all the help we can get! Whether that’s becoming a Supporter, sharing Hardcover with a friend, or just following along.

We appreciate you for reading and hope you have an amazing June. Talk to you next month. ☀️