Literal 2.0 - Discover, organise & discuss books

Hey everyone & thanks @ellenchisa for hunting! One year ago, we launched Literal on Product Hunt. It’s been a wild ride since then. Our invite-only community continued growing while we built our the foundation of our platform and worked our way down a never-ending list of features. After tens of thousands of invites sent and after one year of assiduous work, we are once again inaugurating a new stage in our development: Today we are finally opening the doors to the public. Here’s a quick overview of what we’ve worked on in the last year, in no particular order: - iPhone & Android app 📱 - Book clubs 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 - Personalised book recommendations 📚 - Reading goals and reading progress 🎯 - Direct messaging 💬 - Literal Librarian 🏛️ - Barcode scanner 📷 - Public API and website widget ⚙️ - Dark mode 🌓 - and many others... We believe that readers are non-homogenous and cannot be treated en masse: a book may be terrible for some, while at the same time incredibly great for others. And we have built a platform that celebrates this type of diversity. Rating averages are the opposite of what Literal stands for. Instead, we have built a space where you can get nerdy about the things you find exciting. Thank you for your ongoing support and continuous ideas and feedback. Without you, Literal wouldn’t be what it is today - a home for every reader and a space for every taste, the more niche the better. We’d love to hear what you all think and are happy to answer any questions. Piet, co-founder of Literal

I'm a huge fan of Literal! I've been looking for a way to move off of Goodreads for years, mostly because I'm convinced it hasn't been updated since I started using it in 2007. Literal had all the features I want - easy import of my Goodreads books, a great API, and a way to embed what I've recently read on my own website (at one pointed I'd written my own script to do this, but this was far easier). It's also really cool to be able to see who has decided to read a book based on your recommendation.

This sounds appealing to me, seeing people interpret differently on a book. Congrats on the launch!

Hey folks! We'd love to connect with you all in there, so drop your username below. You can find me at https://literal.club/stockmarr

I'm a long time user and 💚 Literal. Great for keeping track of one's library and wishlist, for discovery, and for sharing books with one's bookclub.

Great product!

Alright, so a brief anecdote to share here. 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveler' by Italo Calvino is one of my favorite books of all time but it is such an off-beat read that I've always had trouble getting people to read it or talk about it with other people (There aren't a lot of active communities that would indulge an endless discussion over a rather frustrating but rewarding read). I just did a cursory glance at the website and I've found dozens of people sharing my plight. Where has this product been all these years?! One of the easiest, no second thoughts, sign-up for a while. (https://literal.club/sdamoney) Congratulations on the launch, guys! This is a lovely offering :)

Signed up and digging it already.

I like apps abaout books, it seems minimal and useful. Congratulations!

I needed a book tracking app to replace Goodreads, I will try it! Congrats on the launch 🙌

Love it. Congratulations on the launch @pietterheyden. I am sure it would help me be consistent with my reading :)

Congratulations on your launch.

I’m a Literal user for almost 5 months now and a new Librarian and I love it, I was looking for a Goodreads alternative and after trying a few apps I found Literal, and it has everything you want if you like books and enjoy keeping track of them.

Well done Literal team! I really nice the illustrations and experience of the website. I wish there's more book clubs going on in the "explore" tab. It would be nice to give some advantage (promotion of the book, "Chat with author" etc) & encourage authors to join the platform. I'm Author of "Cycling the Silk Road" (http://lnnk.in/hPdW), and I would be interested in that :) @pietterheyden

Looks really cool, eager to try setting up the book club for my community.

Following from the beginning. Keep on!

The only “social” app that I keep on my phone.

AWESOME💛

Never been more excited to discover a product! Since I started using Literal the team has continued to make significant improvements every month. At this point, it can fully replace Goodreads for me, no small feat, and it's even better and cleaner! The team is amazing and they truly listen and respond to feedback. And the Literal community is truly great.

Good luck with your launch!