My New App: Micro Shelf

I blame Matt Birchler for numerous things in my life, but this time it’s something very positive. By writing about his new app, Quick Notes, he kicked me in to top gear to get mine in a better shape. It is Micro Shelf.

One of the biggest things I miss from moving away from Micro.blog is book tracking. There are, of course, a huge number of other apps out there, but nothing that reflects the simplicity of the books tab I created in Micro Social. So this is the result of my journey to find it again.

Discover and Shelves

The main parts of the app are already built and working well. You can search for new books, add them to your shelves, and even post about them to Mastodon, Micro.blog or Blue Sky.

Activity and Goals

As with Micro Social, you will also be able to set yourself a goal and track all of your reading activity in the app. Saved books you want to read, show the ones you currently have open, and review the ones you finished.

Integrations

Currently micro.blog uses are able to import your current shelves, although this will not keep the service updated as you read more. You can also post about the books you read.

Mastodon Users will also be able to get book recommendations from others. The app searches your timeline and recommended reading related hashtags, although this needs refinement.

Bluesky users will be able to post about their reading.

The app is currently in closed Beta for a select few. I haven’t quite worked out how to roll this out yet but there will be a few weeks of refinement first. If there are features you’d like, feel free to get in touch with me.