FAQs – BookChums

FAQs:

1. How to open an account on BookChums?

It's very simple to become a member on BookChums. Click on the Join Now button or Register link on homepage. All you have to do is enter your name, email id, username and the password you wish to keep. Once you have registered, you will get an activation mail at the email id you have provided. Once you have activated your account, you can log in with your username and password and start adding books and chums to your network. You will also get updates about various activities on this email id.

2. What is an Username?

Your username is your unique identity on the site. You will be addressed by your username on the site. Your username cannot contain spaces, special characters in it.

3. I'm registered on BookChums, now what?

Edit your profile and account:

Your account contains details that you entered during registration. You can edit those details along with adding a photo.

Your profile is a snippet of information that lets other know more about you. Here you can add in a short bio, list your favorite authors and books, include the genres you follow and jazz up your profile so that book lovers like you can search you and add you as a contact.

Remember, the better your profile, the more people you'll meet.

4. What is My Shelf?

Your shelf is like your bookshelf, but virtual.,It contains all the books you have read and are currently reading. And since it's virtual, you can also add books that you want to read on your shelf. Your shelf also lets others know about your reading tastes and increases your chances of finding chums with similar tastes in books.

5. How do I build my personal shelf?

You can now build your personal shelf, list your books on the shelf and also put them up for swapping with BookChums members. Your personal shelf can contain books that you have read, are reading or wish to read.

Ways you can add books to your personal shelf:

1. Searching for books- The best places to search and add books are Books Page and Add Books Page. Here you will get results for books that are already on our site and from Amazon. You can decide which one you want to include on your shelf. It is preferable to add books that are already on the site so that you can see who all are reading and get their reviews and ratings.
(Update: You can also search for books from your dashboard page now)

2. Adding books from search results- While adding the book, you can enter the status of the book- you've read it, are reading it currently, want to read it in the future. You can also add tags (words/phrases that you associate with the title), your rating, file them under the categories you think are appropriate, and if you've read the book, you can also add your review. You can also indicate if you wish to swap the book.

3. Adding books manually- There might be some books that are not found on BookChums nor on external sources. For such books, you can add the books manually.

Note: Your personal shelf contains books that you have added directly from search or manual addition. For books present in your various clubs, you will have to select particular titles that you wish to include in your personal shelf. If there are books that you wish to transfer to a club you own or are a member of, you can do so through various other options.

6. What do I do with the books on My Shelf?

With the books you have on your shelf, you can do the following:

- Rate the book. Let people know whether you liked the book or hated it. Your rating helps us determine a average rating for the book which will let other users know how good or bad the book might be. We understand rating is subjective and personal, but it can't convey much. For that you can add a review.

- Review the book. You can write a review for the book and let your chums and other users on site know exactly what you think about the book. You can rate your review and get your friends to rate the review. The higher the rating, the more visible it will be to other users on the site.

- Put it into swapping. You can put the books which you have for swap or request them from other users. Read more about Book Swapping below.

You can rate and review books not just on your shelf, but anywhere on the site.

7. What are book reviews?

Reviews are your opinions and views about the book. Though ratings let people know about the quality of the book, they are not very accurate. Through reviews, users get a better idea of the book they are about to read and also get others' opinions about the books they have read. You can recommend a book or ask people to stay away from it through your reviews.

8. What do I do with the book reviews?

You can rate the book reviews. Based on how useful/helpful you found the review, you can rate it.

You can also comment on the reviews and let the reviewer know what you think of his/her review. You can also write a review in response to the reviewer if you wish to. You can respond to users in your reviews and comments by prefixing an “@” symbol in front of their username.

You can report abuse for reviews/comments that you think contain sexually explicit material, are highly disturbing, are non-relevant to the book, contain personal bias and slander against the author or any other user on the site.

9. What happens to the content I've reported for abuse?

The content reported for abuse is sent to the site administrators and content moderators who review it before taking any action. Based on their evaluation, the content is either removed from the site or is removed from the list of content reported for abuse.

10. How do I connect with other chums?

1. Check out other Chums on the site and add them to your contacts.

2. Join Clubs and participate in the club activities.

3. Invite your friends by importing your contacts or by sending individual invitations.

11. What are Clubs?

Clubs are like groups, for chums who share similar tastes in reading. You can start your own club or join various clubs. Within clubs, there are private clubs and public clubs.

Private clubs are clubs where membership is moderated by the club owner. To become a member of a private club, you have to send a request to join, which if approved by the owner, will include you as a member of the said club. As the owner of a private club, you can decide which members you want to include in your club.

Public clubs are those where there's no bar on membership. Anyone can become a member for a club that is public. National and city clubs are always public. You can create public clubs if you wish more people to join immediately and don't want to bother going through membership requests.

12. What can I do as a club member?

As a club member, you can:

Check out the latest books in your clubs and add them to your personal shelf.
Check out other members in your clubs and add them as chums.
Request books to be included into your clubs.
Read, write and rate reviews for books in your clubs and share it with other members.
Keep up with club members through the club blog and events.
Participate in the Forum.

13. Why should I start my own club when I can just be a member?

If you want something that's your own and unique with members and books of your choice, you can create a club of your own-private public. As a club owner, you can:

Add books to your club as per your choice and club's nature.
Accept book requests from other members to include books.
Invite members and accept membership requests (if it's a private club).
Write blog posts to inform your members and invite them to comment.
Create events to engage with your members .

14. How do I create a club?

You can create a club here. Decide if you want to have a private or a public club. Decide upon a good name for your club and a photo so that it sounds attractive and also conveys the nature of your club. Give a short description of what your club is all about. Give your location if you want to let people know where you are or if you want it to be a local club. Select genres/categories for books that you'd be adding on your club shelf.

15. What do I do after creating a club?

After creating a club, as an owner you can do the following to enhance it and attract more members:

A. Add books to your Club Shelf

You can add books to your club shelf in the following ways:

Search for books that are already on BookChums and add them to your club shelf.

Search from other stores like Amazon and add them to your club shelf.

Add a book from your personal collection directly to your club shelf.

Go to your personal shelf and transfer books to the club that aren't already in some other clubs that you own.

Note: You can also transfer books from your club shelf to your personal shelf.

B. Invite others to join your club

You can invite registered users on the site as well as friends who are not yet registered on the site.

C. Create a blog for your club to keep up with latest happenings of the clubs

You can post about your views on books, authors, latest happenings in the literary world and anything that would keep your club members updated and connected with your club.

D. You can create events for your members and meet them in person.

You can create events for book readings, book launches, meet-ups and whatever you and your members wish to mark.

E. Write book Reviews

You can write book reviews for the books in your club, so that folks get to know more about your choices.

16. What is book swapping?

Book swapping is a system on our site through which you can find chums who might have books you are interested in giving or receiving. You can see books that are available or being requested for swap on our Book Swapping Page. Here you can search for users or books for swapping.

When you click on Contact for a book listed under “Books Available for Swap”, a message is sent to the owner of the book informing him/her that you are interested in the book. If the owner wishes to, he/she will contact you and take the process forward.

When you click on Contact for a book listed under “Books Requested for Swap”, a message is sent to the member who has requested it, informing him/her that you are interested in the book and that you might own the requested book. If the owner wishes to, he/she will contact you and take the process forward.

17. How do I participate in book swapping?

When you are adding a book to your shelf, within the form you get an option asking you for your preference.

If you want to get a book, then click on “Add to Wishlist”. You will then have to state the condition in which you want to receive the book and also your current location so that if anyone has the book you are looking for in the condition and location you mentioned they can contact you based on the information you've entered here. Books that you mark to be added to your wishlist, show up in the Books Requested for Swap section of Book Swapping Page.

If you want to give a book, then click on “Put for Swap”. You must be in physical possession of the book for you to put it for swap. You will then have to state the condition in which the book is, the date on which it was purchased (or came into your possession) and also your current location so that if anyone is interested in the book given the condition and location you mentioned they can contact you based on the information you've entered here. Books that you mark to be put up for swap, show up in the Books Available for Swap section of Book Swapping Page.

18. Where do I see all the books I want to swap or receive in swap?

You can go to your Swap List Page. You can see a record of all the books you have listed for swap and for your wishlist along with their details. If you wish to change it, you can click on the book and you will be taken to the main page for the book and there you can edit the details.

If you have any questions that we might have missed out, please submit them here or put them in the feedback section. .

19. What do I do with the e-books?

We have over hundreds of classics in the form of e-books. You can read them online or download them for later reading using any of the e-reading applications available. Our e-books are in the *.pdf format, you can use Adobe Reader or your web browser to open and read it.

20. How do I request e-books to be included in your listings?

You can request us to add certain e-books of your choice to our listings. You can enter the title of the ebook, the author and the category in which you think it belongs.If you own an ebook which you'd like us to include in our listings, you can submit all details along with uploading its .pdf format file.. We'll add the ebooks after reviewing your request.

Please note that it is not possible for us to add all ebooks requested or submitted on account of copyrights issues and time constraints.

21. What are author profiles?

Authors profiles are short biographies written by various people and submitted to our site. You can find out more about your favorite authors using this section. You can rate the profiles, find out other books by them and also comment on the profile.

22. What are featured authors?

This section puts the spotlight on certain authors for a period of time. We pick these based on their works, the rating they have and their relevance to the current time and trends. If you'd like to have certain authors included in the featured section, please vote for them.

23. What are Upcoming Indian authors?

We seek to promote the Indian writing scene and writers through our site. We have a special section for upcoming Indian authors so that you know who are the rising stars on the Indian literary scene and learn more about them, their books and spread the word.We also include stalwarts of Indian Fiction and writing in our section for creating a niche in the world.

24. Can I request authors whom I wish to be covered?

Yes, definitely! You can request for authors whom you wish to be profiled. Fill in the form with all the required details and we'll review the request and come up with a profile. We might not have the time to immediately create profiles for all the authors requested, but if a request lies with us for over 45 days without any response, please let us know and we'll get working on it!

25. Can I submit author profiles I have written?

Yes, again. If you have written a profile of an author, please fill out the form accordingly and provide all the necessary details. Following its review, we will approve it and display it on our site. Please note that the profiles must be written in proper English, should have the right amount of fact about the author and his books interspersed with your opinion of his writing. We do not accept any material that might contain profanity, personal bias or slander, or seem offensive to our readers. All rights to include belong to BookChums and we can reject any profile that we find inappropriate or unfit for publishing on our site.

26. What is a blog? What does BookChums Blog have?

A blog is a web log of various articles, writings, reports (called posts) etc, much like a collection or diary created online. BookChums blog contains posts which are articles, site updates , event coverages, author interviews etc. You can browse through these, add your comments to tell us what you think and can also follow the blog to get updates whenver there are new posts.

27. What is a forum? What do I do on BookChums Forum?

A forum is a platform for you to openly discuss, talk and interact with other members of the site or the community. On BookChums Forum, you can talk to other book lovers about books, authors, and all things bookish. You can participate in our forums if you are a registered member of our site. You can also get updates via email or on your wall if you select the options to be updated about new topics and new posts.

28. What are categories, topics and posts?

Categories are like discussion rooms, where you focus all your topics on a similar section. For example in the category of Books, all topics related to books will be started and covered under that. Categories are created by BookChums and for now there are four broad categories: Books, Authors, Site Updates, Everything Else. If you wish to have more categories, let us know we'll see what we can do.

Topics are threads or subjects on which you wish to engage in debate, invite response or just have a discussion. You can start any topic under each of the categories and invite your friends to join the conversation by sharing the link of the topic. While starting the topic, remember to put in a description of what the topic means and what kind of responses you are looking for.

Posts are you responses or replies to a certain topic. You can put a specific subject to indicate your stand on the topic, put a @username to indicate your response is directed to that person's post or just leave it as a re: to the general topic. Though stating a clear subject might help other readers and participants to pay better attention your post.

In club forums, there are no categories. There are just topics and posts.

We do not tolerate any spam, hence we ask each post/topic creator for verification.

29. What is Report Abuse?

If you find any posts, replies, topics that seem offensive, that contain excessive profanity, or slander against a person, you can report abuse for that post/topic. Our panel will review the report, if it finds the post to be offensive they will either remove the post/topic or will request the user to pull down the post/topic. If we don't find any real grounds to term it as offensive, we will not entertain your report.

30. How do I get updates about forum activity?

You can check the option to be updated every time someone creates a new topic under a category. We are not sure if you'd like to get alerts for updates about each post under a topic, but if you would like that, let us know. For club forums, since there are no categories and selected members participate in the forum, you can choose to be updated about each new post under a certain topic.