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Monday, February 12, 2024

Conversation Based Romance Recommendations via Goodreads and More

One of my favorite things about helping Romance readers is that they not only know what they like to read but they also know how to share that information with all of us discussing what tropes and appeal factors they most want to see in their favorite reads.

And now, just in time for Valentine's day, Goodreads is embracing this by release Romance recommendation based on conversation starter questions such as:

  • I love a romance where the complication is TIME ITSELF
  • Give me some great marriage-of-convenience plots
  • Show me some protagonists in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond, please!
  • I'm ready to dip a toe into romantasy and spicy paranormal…

The answer to these, and many other questions, with a total of 108 titles are all here, "108 New Romance Recommendations for (Nearly) Every Kind of Reader."

Take a look at the prompts because this article is a great example of how to market your collection to its best readers. By putting up these conversation starter type prompts, the lists that come after feel as if the list creator is talking to the readers. The themes are broad, but the titles provided feel more personal and curated.

Reality-TV romances really get to me (a real topic on the page), what should I read next? Putting it that way, online or with a sign and some books, is so much more inviting to readers than just a display filled with Romance books of all types. This tactic shows your patrons that you want to have conversations with them, working together to find books they will love. 

You can start by using the Goodreads list to get some ideas on how to spice up your Romance displays. Make smaller, but more conversation based displays and lists and then watch the books fly off the shelves.

Don't have many smaller spaces and need to fill one of those more traditional, large display furniture pieces. No worries. Put up multiple conversation starters and scatter the books throughout your display space. Use post it notes to identify which books go with which themes. Embrace the interactive nature of this type of display and let the books talk to your readers.

If you need more ideas on other tropes or themes to use to make more interactive and appeal based displays, go to NoveList (if you subscribe) or Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, where you can use their Bookfinder (for free) to search by genre, theme, and archetype. 

Too often we think we have to do all the work. You don't. We are information professionals. We use resources to do our job. Helping readers is no different in that sense than answering a fact based question. We use resources to help our patrons. Today's post is an example of just that.

I promise, if you use these resources you will have enough ideas with titles already compiled for you to create displays that show your readers that you get them and are there to help them find the best books. Giving them is a jumble of books in the same genre is less than the bare minimum. But by using a resource or two, you can provide a serve that sparks conversations and makes it clear to your patrons that they could not find the books without you.

One last note, the next NoveList and LibraryReads Crash Course is on Romance. Click here to register for the Free March 19th event and get ready to learn about more Romance titles for your patrons.

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