Some users have been confused or frustrated with how the date picker works on their phone or iPad when selecting a “Date Read” for a book.

The calendar you see there is actually controlled by your device, not by Book Notification, and many people aren’t aware of one handy shortcut it offers.

You do not need to swipe back through years of months just to pick a date from, say, 2004.

When you tap the “Date Read” field, look at the very top-left of the calendar popup. You’ll see the current year. Tap that year, and you’ll be able to quickly jump to any year you want. It’s much faster than scrolling back through every month and year.

On each page is a contact form. You can send the authors name there and we will add them as soon as we can.

If you search for an author and they aren’t listed, a page will appear notifying you of this. There will also be a contact form, with the name you searched for already automatically filled in so you can simply click “Send”.

Not every author is listed on Book Notification as we take the time to audit the author and organize all of their books into their proper series as well as other work, prior to adding them.

There can be a variety of reasons. A common one is a listing mistake on the author / publishers side, or a listing issue with an external database. Some authors switch ISBNs, or file their books under slightly different names. Of course, sometimes it can be our mistake too. Our system missed it or filed it incorrectly. Or human error caused it to be missed.

Whatever the reason - use any contact form on the site to let us know, and we'll get it added immediately.

To the left of each book title is an icon based on what you have set for that book. Here is an explanation of what each icon means:

You have not set any status on this book.

You have marked that you have read this book.

You have marked that you are currently reading this book.

You have marked this book as "Paused".

You have marked this book as "Want To Read".

You have marked this book as "Did Not Finish".

You have marked this book as "Not Interested", as in you have no interest in reading it.

Only you can see what you have set each book status as. You can change it at anytime by clicking on the icon, and choosing a different status.

At this time we do not have an app. Our website is designed to be used on any device, with special modifications used for mobile so if you are browsing on your phone, the experience should be just as good.

But we understand the appeal of a dedicated app, and it is in the planning stages.

In the meantime, you can add our website to your home screen, and it will function as if it was an app. Here are the instructions to do so and please contact us with your operating system and browser if you don't see it listed below so we can give you instructions if it is possible.

Android - Chrome

1. Visit https://www.BookNotification.com on your mobile device
2. Click the 3 dots at the very top right
3. Click "Add to Home Screen" on the menu that opens
4. I'd rename it to "Book Notification" for short
5. Click "Add"
6. A popup appears just confirming you want to add it click "Add to Home Screen"

You should now see it on your home screen. If you tap it, it will open straight to Book Notification and kind of functions as an app in that regard. You can move it around etc.

Android - Samsung Browser

1. Visit https://www.BookNotification.com on your mobile device
2. Click the 3 lines at the bottom right
3. Click "Add Page To..."
4. Click "Home Screen"
5. Confirm "Add to Home Screen"

iPhone/iPad - Safari

1. Visit https://www.BookNotification.com on your mobile device
2. Click the "Share" button on the bottom of the page. It's a square with an arrow.
3. Choose the "Add to Home Screen" Option.
4. Name it "Book Notification"
5. Click "Add"

We have a system in place that is constantly checking the publication date of an upcoming book. If it changes, it alerts us. We verify the change is accurate, and then update it in our database.

Our book listings are updated around the clock. We have numerous staff members working on this on a daily basis. They are auditing all lists regularly to make sure there are no errors or missing books, and dealing with any new books that come in.

We also monitor any upcoming books and their publication dates, and if one changes prior to publication, or the book is removed from retailers, we are alerted and update it in our system.

This icon indicates the book is tagged as a short story/novella within our system. The generally accepted rule is that a short story/novella is less than 200 pages, although this isn't a rule written in stone. Many "full-length" novels prior to the 80s are 200 or fewer pages.

Humans. Hard-working humans, who are paid for their work unlike other websites which rely on volunteers. There is no resource out there that is 100% perfect in regard to its book listings. Amazon, Goodreads, NoveList – they are primarily automatically generated and we have noticed many, many errors over the years. So all of our listings have humans dealing with them and we can spend hours working on authors just to get their publication and chronological order correct, and filing new books correctly.

One issue that has plagued book review sites for years is ARCs, which stands for Advanced Reader Copy. Readers often receive an ARC of a book via various services or publishers prior to release, so that they can write a review of a book and hopefully create a buzz of the book for the author.

The concept of an ARC in exchange for an honest review is great; the problem which arises is whether or not an "honest" review is actually provided. There are numerous communities online where people who review ARCs have noted that they haven't enjoyed the book at all, wanted to rate it 1 star, but instead of actually posting a review sent their feedback to the publisher or company which provided the ARC instead.

There is also the problem with people providing glowing reviews of books purely due to receiving an ARC, and not being honest in their reviews. Some readers believe that if they post negative reviews, they won't receive ARCs in the future. Others, despite attempting to be honest, just find it hard to criticize something which they received for free.

We spent time researching this on other book review websites. We ran data on over 200 different books, omitted any where the reviewer disclosed that they had received an ARC, and in every single instance, the overall average rating was noticeably lower.

We completely understand the predicament readers feel when they are given a free copy of a book, and they don't enjoy it. It can be difficult to turn around, and be negative about it. It's why we at Book Notification refuse any and all ARCs or review copies. Our rule is that if you want us to review your book, we will purchase it ourselves so we can always give it an honest review.

However while we understand the predicament, we also feel that it isn't helpful for other readers. In some of the examples that we tested, we noticed a rating for a book drop from 4.3 stars to 2.9 stars, once all ARC reviews were removed. That is a big difference, and we feel that isn't fair for potential readers of a new book, as they aren't seeing an accurate rating of a book.

So due to this widespread problem within the book industry, we have introduced a new feature at Book Notification.

Now when you are providing a rating or a review of a book, the following checkbox is available where you can disclose that you received a free ARC of this book as indicated below:

And this option is available in your settings:

With that checked, you discount any ratings with the ARC flag on the site. Meaning ARC ratings will not factor in to any of the book ratings you see across Book Notification.

We do not intend to polarize people who receive ARCs in exchange for a review. We love seeing book reviews and ratings for unreleased books, and appreciate the "buzz" this can generate for a book. However, overinflated ratings due to ARCs has been a common complaint within the book industry, and we just want to give people the option of not factoring in ARC reviews.

By default, it is turned off and the public will still see the average rating of a book with ARC ratings included. It's by user preference if they wish not to see those factored in.

This approach is very important to us – we believe in empowering our users with the choice, rather than dictating rules or guidelines on topics such as this.

We are well aware of overinflated ratings, review bombing, and various other issues in regard to book ratings and reviews. This is one of just many features we have in place to combat that.