When I presented at TBLC's VIP Conference, I was asked about free alternatives if your library does not subscribe to a database like Novelist. Here are a few of my suggestions. As always, your mileage may vary and everyone has different tastes. It's not an endorsement of any of them.
- Goodreads : While you might use it as a way to connect with other readers and to track your own reading during the year, it is also possible to use it for readers advisory. You can search for a trope like haunted house, bounty hunter, enemies to lovers and then click on Listopia. The lists created by readers will load and you can search them for the right book for your patron. It also works for other things like Polish literature or Queer science fiction. If you spend some time searching, you can note the best lists. Also, when you log books include some notes about who else might like that book, what other books it reminded you of, and what the tone, setting, and characters were like.
- If you don't want to use Goodreads, you can find some alternatives with similar features here.
- What Should I Read Next? allows you to input a book you or your patron liked and get recommendations. Even if the site does not have a list for you, it will give you major categories you can click on. Note that this site has better results for very popular books.
- WhichBook has options to search by mood & emotion, world map, character & plot, or best seller. For mood & emotion, you can select up to 4 aspects and move a slide to select how happy versus sad, for example, you want the book to be. A group of covers appears and you can click on them for more information. World map brings up a map of the world, you select a region, a country, and then view a group of covers of books by authors from that country. Character & plot has options for race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and plot points. Bestsellers has a river of bestselling book covers that can be clicked on to find other options. Note that it is a UK site and if a patron clicks on borrow this book, they will be directed to a map of the UK with an option to visit Worldcat.org.
- Meet New Books has options to enter a book, series, or topic and receive multiple recommendations. Users can also search by genre, trope, or keyword as well as ideas for breaking a reading slump or surprise recommendations. Basic mood and tone features are brought up for each title as well as a plot summary. You can see what to read after each suggestion or more titles by a particular author.
I hope some of these are useful. Next I will provide lists of sites for particular genres and categories of books and authors.
