Every 3 weeks, I share notes on building Book DNA.
We’re building a private, personal way to track your reading and get deeply personalized book recommendations. Think Goodreads, but for readers who want a calm, private space to track what they read, keep notes, and explore books that match their Book DNA. Like Spotify or Pandora, but for books.
Want to help shape it? Apply to be a beta tester! Huge thanks to our 750+ members! Readers and authors can join, and we're adding more perks as we grow.
I am feeling…
I am super excited to have a launch date! The last three weeks have been very productive, and I’m getting great feedback from our early users. I did user tests this last week on our book series feature, favorite author feature, and how we present personalized book recommendations.
Public launch around November 30th.
We'll launch publicly around this date. The major roadblock right now is working with Nielsen and Ingram to figure out which one would make a good partner for the book metadata. They are really big companies, so it can take 2 to 3 weeks to get emails back from them. I am hopeful we are in the home stretch now…
What else do we need in place?
Goodreads imports: These need more testing, which we will start shortly. And once we have the Nielsen/Ingram partnership, we can test that integration.
Our mobile web page: This buys us time until we can build a full mobile app. It allows readers to log their reads, add what they are reading/listening to, and add books to their TBR.
Then we just need to add our new landing page for the app’s homepage. And take care of some things on the backend.
Our roadmap over the next 6 months.
Our public roadmap is here, btw.
What are we building now?
Licensing and integrating a book database for improved coverage
Adding a mobile web page for the core functions (until we build a full app)
Then we will launch publicly (around November 30th).
After that, we will be adding the following core features:
And then adding some of the most requested features by readers 😃
Of course, this will change a little as we learn and swap in other things we need to build, but this is a good sketch of the next 6 months.
What is new in the app this week?
I don’t have anything to share this week; we are finishing up the mobile website for everyone and should have it ready soon.
We are also adding a small setting so you can set the default format when you record what you read (paper/ebook/audiobook). Those will be ready in the next few weeks.
What is going on outside of Book DNA?
Fall has arrived, and I’m enjoying the cooler weather. This summer was heatwave after heatwave here in France.
What am I reading now?
I just finished…
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel: An interesting nonfiction book about a kid who stole art every week. It was a tragic read, as this kid has a disease, and the ending physically hurt me.
London Station by David McCloskey: Another smart spy thriller by a fantastic new author. I’ve read all his books (my favorite is The Persian). I read it quickly as it was hard to put down.
God of War by Christian Cameron: This is one of my favorite authors, and this was a good read. I didn’t know much about Alexander or his posse. This sent me on a lot of late-night Wikipedia dives. Ptolemy’s story is fascinating, and I’m hoping to read a nonfiction book about him later this year or next.
I am reading...
Life After Hell by Elliott Kay: This is book 7 in the Poor Man’s Fight series. I'd call it military science fiction and adventure, but it also has PTSD, alien exploration, and other elements that don’t fit neatly in the box. I love the main character, and it is some fun sci-fi.
When the Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson: An early Book DNA user recommended it, and we are reading it in my family book club. I’m starting it this weekend.
Have a fantastic week,
Ben
P.S. From my alpine cycling trip in September 😃
