Book radar

Interesting new website designed to track new fine press releases. Not very comprehensive so far but may have potential.
See https://www.book-radar.com/

I agree it has potential, but needs to add more books and publishers.

This could be interesting, but the inclusion of precise countdowns and dates for both publication and preorders is very misleading and undermines the use of the site. They would be particularly misleading for those not already in the know, which seems the main target audience.

A comprehensive well thought out site like this would be a good way for a newbie to get to know all the publishers. I think thereafter I would want the ability to be able to filter the publishers. Unfortunately they don't appear to have given the site much thought and with only ten books from Curious King, Conversation Tree Press and Amaranthine on the site so far it is currently of little value.

I am surprised that they are already advertising the site as the selection is limited. I wouldn’t have thought it would have taken too long to add more works and publishers

>3 Levin40: Seems like the biggest changes it needs are to separate projected release dates from the countdowns to order dates.

Interesting effort, though the focus seems very narrow at the moment, both as to presses and as to types/subjects of books. Currently it seems more geared towards hype than information.

I think that whatever they do, it will be hard to beat Shadekeep's efforts of putting together these lists:

• The Year in Fine Press 2023
• The Year in Fine Press 2024

>6 NathanOv: More than that, they should be removed altogether, except in the very specific cases where a publisher has provided an exact date/time for preorder opening. I mean, they seem to think that Curious King's Before they are Hanged will open for preorders on 31/03/24 at 08:16:36. I suppose they could have some kind of inside information from the publisher, which the publisher has chosen to share only with them and not put out through their usual channels (in which case the site would be useful, yes). But I doubt it.

>9 Levin40: in his defense, he did say in a post in the Curious King FB group that he was just using those dates as a placeholder for testing purposes. I haven’t been to his website, so no idea if he disclaimed the same there, which would be more important, but he at least put it out there somewhat.

“ Hi all! 👋(admin please remove if not allowed)

I wanted to share a passion project that I have been working on with a friend for the last 2 months. A website that keeps track of fine press books and publishing dates. You can create an account and add books you want to keep track of and/or explore other fine press books.

It is a pretty simple concept that will allow users to keep track of all publications going around 😅

The website should be live somewhere between 2 weeks and a month and a half 🧐
Shoot me a message or comment here I you want me to shoot you an invite once the website is up and running 😁

p.s. The dates on the CK books are just me messing around with data and testing stuff... not actual dates 😅”

>9 Levin40: but for anyone interested, Anthony did post the actual preorder info for Before They Are Hanged a short while ago:

“Happy Monday everyone. I will be dropping the book release of Before They are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie on Wednesday 27/03/24 at 20:00GMT.

Rights owners will be contacted shortly after the release, and will have until Sunday 7th April 21:00GMT to take up their rights, with the remaining copies going on sale to the public on Monday 8th of April at 20:00GMT.

People who bought through Subterranean Press will need to contact them about exercising their rights.

I'm very excited to show you the new dustjacket by Vance Kovacs and the continuation of the books in this series!”

>11 jsg1976: Haha, nice coincidence just as we were discussing it!

Hello everyone!

I'm delighted that you've stumbled upon our humble website and taken the time to explore it. 😊

I'm one of the two developers behind the scenes at Book Radar, and I must say, it's been an exciting journey since we launched just about a month ago. We're constantly tweaking and refining the website to make it better every day.

We've already tackled some of the issues you've brought up, and some of the features you've requested were actually available from the start, just hidden behind the signup wall.

For those of you who've created an account and logged in, you'll have access to our nifty filtering feature for publishers, as well as a handy search bar that lets you find books by publishers, titles, and more. We also have a section dedicated to Published Books, though, again, you'll need to log in to access it.

At the moment, we've got 10 publishers featured on the site, and we're actively working to bring more onboard. It's a bit of a slow process with just two of us handling this alongside our day jobs, university commitments, and, well, life in general.

We've updated the cards to display both the Preorder and Publication dates, and the countdown will reflect the nearest of the two dates. Our default sort order is also based on the closest date.

Keeping these dates accurate can be a challenge as they often change, particularly the Publication dates. The dates are best estimates and get updated as actual dates are announced.

Behind the scenes, we've been busy with some technical improvements, such as verification emails, subscription preferences, and speed enhancements. As well as working with publishers to get exclusive content and updates

Two features we're currently working on are features specifically for publisher's accounts so that we have their best-estimated dates and information, and also introducing "My Bookshelf," where users can catalogue their fine press limited edition books, including which editions and number/letter they have. And eventually, show off to the Book Radar community if they so wish.

There's plenty more in the pipeline, and we're eager to hear your feedback as we strive to make Book Radar the best it can be.

Thanks once again for all your valuable feedback, and have a fantastic Friday!