April showers bring new features!
We’ve been introducing new features faster than we can blog them, so here’s a rundown of what’s changed over the last several days:
Search
We’ve implemented a blazing fast search engine. Book searches should be noticeably faster.
We’ve also added the ability to refine searches by excluding terms, applying tags, etc:
http://lendle.me/books/search/?q=the+hunger+games
Tags
We mentioned last week that we’d added the ability to tag books, but now you can search tags right from your address bar, as well.
Search for any book tagged with dwarves:
http://lendle.me/books/tag/dwarves
Search for any book tagged with dwarves AND crime:
http://lendle.me/books/tag/dwarves+crime
As always, tags are only as good as the tags our users have added to Lendle’s library of books. If your searches don’t seem relevant, take a moment to tag your books.
Book Rating
Books can now be rated on a 5-star system. We’re not using Amazon’s API or pulling data from Amazon, so if you’ve rated a book there, you’ll want to do it again on Lendle.
Book Detail Pages
We’ve added a ton of new features to our book detail pages. In addition to the existing editorial review and timeline, we’ve implemented a “similar to” system (tag books and it’ll improve!) and we’re pulling in Amazon’s book preview for those of you who want to sample a book before borrowing it.
http://lendle.me/books/detail/B000FC1ICM/
(Bulk) Import by ASIN
Not long ago, we added the ability to search by Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). The only thing you really need to know about ASINs is that they’re a bit like a fingerprint for Amazon’s books. (Or any Amazon content, really.) This means that searching for books by ASIN ensures you’ll add the right edition of the book you’ve purchased. (Water for Elephants, we’re looking at you!)
But what good is it to add books one book at a time, even with an ASIN number? Most people wouldn’t even think to search for an individual title by a number they’ve never heard of. So, we’ve added the ability to bulk import a list of ASIN numbers:
http://lendle.me/books/import/by-asin/
(This link can be found at the bottom of the “your books” page.)
We’re fully aware that this isn’t a replacement for our now defunct book import feature, but our power users should find this to be a much faster method of adding multiple books into their Lendle account. To create a list of ASINs, simply go to…
…sign in, and view your list of books. (You can see the same list on your “manage my kindle” page, but we like this list better.) The URL for each book contains its ASIN:
https://kindle.amazon.com/work/amber-spyglass-dark-materials-ebook/B000B4UUOG/B000FC1GJW
(The ASIN is always the last series of numbers. In the above example, the ASIN is B000FC1GJW.) Open each URL in a new tab, and you can then copy and paste the ASINs into a document. That list can then be pasted into our book import tool. It’s not an ideal solution, but once you’ve created a list, keeping it up-to-date shouldn’t be much of an issue.
