You may have noticed a new menu icon on Booko recently:
You have Alerts!
Booko will now show you notifications on the website. The alert icon changes to Booko orange when a notification is ready for you.
What kind of Notifications are shown?
Alerts: The first notification type we introduced was for Alerts. So not only do you get an email when your alert is triggered, you can now see a nice clean summary of all triggered alerts under the notification menu.
Updates to Followed Lists : Do you follow any lists? If you are following lists you’ll now receive a notification when the list is updated. No need to randomly check your followed lists any more.
List suggestions: When a suggestion you have made for a list is accepted or rejected, or a list you create receives a suggestion, you’ll get a notification so you can keep on top of the changes.
You can find the Notifications under your Profile -> Notifications or via clicking on the notifications menu in the tool bar.
We’ve recently added some features to Lists on Booko to make them more easily shared with friends and colleagues or anyone on the internet.
Discoverability
Lists now have an option to be discoverable to other Booko users. Marking a list as discoverable will add the list to the Discover More Lists page. You can find a list to these discoverable lists by clicking on “Lists → Discover More Lists“.
To set a list to be discoverable, edit your lists and find the privacy settings, then set your list to Discoverable.
List Sharing
You can also set a list to be shareable – this makes the list public, but doesn’t advertise the list on the Discoverable page. When you’re viewing a list which is shareable (or discoverable), you can copy the URL and send it to friends – they’ll be able to view your list and follow it if they want to keep up with books you add to your list.
List Following
When you discovered an interesting list, or when a list has been shared with you, you can ‘Follow’ it. Following a list is like bookmarking it. You can find the list of your followed lists under your Profile → Follows.
Lists which are Shared or Discoverable can also be followed with an RSS Reader – any new items added to the list will show up as a new article in your feed reader.
List Suggestions
To make lists actually collaborative, your fellow Booko users can now send you suggestions for your discoverable or sharable lists. This feature can be switched on from the list edit page where you can enable “Accept Suggestions”.
When a fellow Booko user is browsing one of your lists which accepts suggestions, they’re presented with a list of their recently viewed products or works or series which they can suggest you add to your list. They can also see if their previous suggestions were accepter or rejected.
When you add a suggestion to a list, the list owner will see them and can accept or reject them.
A new feature was rolled out today: you can now sort your alerts by product name or by current product price.
It sounds easy to say it like that, but there was a bit more to it than I expected:
Keep track of which column is being sorted and which direction when moving between pages of alerts
Consistently show only active / inactive alerts
Draw directional chevron in the column headers and show the chevron when you mouse over an unsorted column
Make sure column headers don’t wrap when you add a chevron
Sort alerts by product price
This last item isn’t as straight forward as you might guess. Each alert is related to a single product and each product has many prices. Sometimes Booko doesn’t have any prices for a product or the prices are stale or the prices are for a different region ( US / UK ); furthermore, product prices can have filters ( EG, we don’t show Amazon Prime price by default since they require you to pay a membership fee ).
The current method for sorting by price is a bit brute force – if you find it slow please let me know and I’ll take a look at optimising it.
With only 8 weeks to go until Christmas, it’s time to start thinking about gift lists and pressie ideas. While it may seem like plenty of time to get things sorted, COVID has impacted delivery times both locally and overseas. Fear not, we have a few tricks up our sleeves to help you have a Clever Christmas. Firstly we’ll be updating our handy annual delivery date table that notes the shipping cut off times around the world. Make sure you keep an eye out, and be sure to follow our social media channels (instagram, facebook, pinterest and twitter) as we’ll be posting it there.
Last week we launched our super handy new feature which allows you to follow lists suggesting books from all sorts of genres, interests, reading levels and favourite books. If you missed it, you can read about that here.
One of our favourite parts of Booko is the ease in buying for friends and family who live overseas. Today we’re sharing a little refresh to show you how you can cut out the middle person, purchase a DVD or book in the local currency and the gift gets shipped directly to the recipient living overseas. This allows you to avoid the dreaded international postage fees and shipping times, and makes Christmas clever.
Start by jumping online to Booko.
In the top right hand corner, there is a flag (it’s usually your local country flag). Click on this and all the countries that Booko works with will appear. Select the country’s flag that you want to send a book to. When you choose a different country, both the shipping charges and times are automatically changed and are specific to that country (so it’s easy to make sure your gift will make it in time).
You can see from the image above we have selected the UK. From here, you will have a range of online booksellers that you can purchase from. All prices and delivery charges have now been converted into the British Pound. You can also see the shipping times involved.
Then simply select the retailer you are happy to buy from. You’ll then be taken directly to their website to purchase. In this example we have chosen Amazon UK.
See, it’s super easy and postage-panic free.
Be sure to keep an eye out on delivery times and availability. While many booksellers ship internationally, you may find your presents will arrive sooner when buying from the local store to your recipient. It makes sense to get the book delivered directly to your family and friends, it saves on postage costs, postage times and gives you greater security that it will arrive before the big fellow in the red suit!
Happy shopping and let’s all get all the presents sent so we can sit back and enjoy Summer.
We are all about clever shopping at Booko, whether that’s finding the best price, shopping internationally, choosing second hand or setting your own prices. We have a brand spanking new feature on Booko that we know will make your lives a little easier.
Sometimes we have no idea what to read and just need a recommendation, other times we’re looking for books to give as gifts but have no idea what the recipient would enjoy. Today, we are taking all of the guesswork away and are launching the ‘following’ function in our hugely popular list section.
Now you can follow a number of lists which suggest books to read, movies to watch or even ideas for Santa.
Let’s start by having a look at our current list function.
When you log into your Booko account a drop down menu appears to the left hand side of the site and you will see Lists and Following as options.
When you click on Lists you are shown all of the lists you have created on Booko.
You can also add more lists here. We often suggest making lists for all different reasons such as books for each course at uni, gift ideas, a wishlist of books that you’d love to read this summer, bookclub books, movies you want to watch oneday… the options are endless.
You can change the settings on these lists by clicking on the little pencil icon to the side. Here you can choose to make your list private, sharable or discoverable.
Private means only you can see what is on the list, sharable allows you to send a copy of the list via a link (super handy when you are giving Grandma ideas for Christmas presents) and finally, discoverable is our new option. It allows you to share your list with everyone and they can follow along as you add more books to your list.
Because your privacy is super important to us, you can change the setting of your lists whenever you like, you can easily switch from private, shareable and discoverable by clicking on the pencil icon.
When you click on Following in your drop down menu, it shows all of the lists that you follow, these include all of your own private lists, any that have been shared and sent to you via a link, along with any of the discoverable lists you have decided you’d like to follow. Again, you can unfollow any list at any time by clicking the ‘unfollow’ button to the right hand-side of the list.
How to find a list to follow.
In the menu bar at the top of the Booko website you’ll see Blog, History, Alerts and Lists as options that you can click (along with the super handy country flag which allows you to shop in different countries and currencies). When you select Lists, a dropdown menu appears with Manage My Lists and Discover More Lists along with all of the lists you have previously created. Manage My Lists takes you straight to the list function above where you can change settings on your lists, along with adding and removing books, adding a description about the list and renaming the list.
Discover More Lists is where you will find book recommendations galore.
All of the lists that Booko and our community of users have set to ‘discoverable’ will show up here. We have made a few lists to get you started and will continue to add to them but it is also a space where the Booko community can share topics, authors, genres, gift ideas and favourite books. To follow a list, simply click on the orange ‘follow’ button to the right. If you’d like to take a closer look at the list, just click on the list title and a new page will open showing all of the books in the list along with their blurb. You can then click on the book image and add it to one of your own lists, set a price alert, or even buy it straight away!
As always, prices are constantly being refreshed behind the scenes so it doesn’t matter how old the book is, how long it has been on someone’s list, we will always show the most recent price.
We were inspired by our book loving community to create this new feature, you have so generously recommended books in the past and we wanted to give you a space so that this can continue. So get clicking, make a list, add your favourite books to it, set it to discoverable and we’ll follow along.
As usual, we’d love your feedback on this new feature so we can make sure it serves our community’s needs best. Drop us a line at booko@booko.com.au with your thoughts and suggestions.
If you find yourself in an unexpected extreme situation a fundamental understanding of your surroundings can make the difference between life and death, Ninja Wilderness Survival Guide shows you how.
Today’s pick is More Than A Women – a guide to growing older, a manifesto for change, and a celebration of all those middle-aged women who keep the world turning.
We have all been looking at the walls inside our home all year, perhaps dreaming of changes we can make. Happy Inside offers ideas to help us with these changes, it’s our book pick for today.
Love is certainly in the air this week with it being Valentine’s Day tomorrow. But the day of love doesn’t just have to be about showing your love for people, you are allowed to love your favourite things in your home too.
This week we want to show you that you can love your home and the treasures you have inside in it for years and years, and we have found the books that help you to do just that. Sometimes our belongings can become a little worn, or our love of them fades as they no longer look how we would like them to. Fear not, there is good news, you can change things with a little elbow grease. The books we have found help you to explore your inner eco warrior and DIY skills showing you how to recycle, reuse and repurpose the treasures we already have in our homes along with some fabulous titles that will help you love the planet too.
The Sustainable Home is an inspirational and practical guidebook to maintaining a more environmentally friendly household. Sustainability enthusiast and zero-waste advocate Christine Liu takes you on a tour through the rooms of your home inside the living area, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom all the while offering tips, tricks and 17 step-by-step projects designed to help you lead a more low-impact lifestyle. Whether its by making your own toothpowder, growing your own herb garden or up-cycling old pieces of furniture, there are numerous ways, both big and small, to make a difference.
Many of us are already doing what we can to adopt a greener lifestyle. We recycle, try to reduce our waste and plastics, choose organic food when shopping, eat less meat and opt for environmentally friendly cleaning products. Yet we often wish we were doing more and it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Live Green is a practical guide of 52 changes, one for each week of the year, you can make to your home and lifestyle to reduce your impact on the environment. Tackling all areas of your life from your cleaning routine, home furnishings, food shopping, fashion choices, natural beauty and Christmas, this book has all the ingredients to help you achieve a more sustainable year. From making your own eco-friendly cleaning products, buying vintage furniture, making your own moth repellent and improving your natural beauty regime to creating a capsule wardrobe and creating your own ethical Christmas decorations. Discover how to get the most out of life by living with intention. Live simply. Live Green.
John Bjerknes is a partner and design director at Nordic – Office of Architecture and his writing conveys his vast experience within design, development, and planning of small and large-scale construction projects. Given its unique focus on organically integrating people with nature using sustainable techniques, Scandinavian design currently occupies an important position in the architectural and interior design worlds. Nordic Home captures this exciting trend by showcasing 45 case studies exemplifying the best of Nordic architecture and interiors. It is a seriously beautiful book with inspiring interiors.
This book is perfect for those interested in sustainability, natural products and mindfulness. It’s all about taking the time to create your own homemade products, from face masks to floor polish and from medicinal honey to massage oil. Taking inspiration from her grandmother’s generation, Rebecca Sullivan has put together this thoughtful and appealing manual to caring for yourself and your home. Traditional methods are resurrected or updated to suit the modern home, using simple, natural ingredients. The first part of the book is dedicated to the Home, and covers cleaning products for every room, ideas for pickles and preserves, and tips on everything from natural laundry treatments to how to grow your own cocktail garden. The second part covers Health and Beauty, and includes bath salts, make up, serums, perfumes and even beard oil, as well as healing remedies such as burn salves and herbal teas. This inspiring guide is a must for anyone interested in living a simpler, more purposeful life.
Tackle our ever-growing waste problem with all the information, advice, budget-friendly recipes and projects you’ll need to start reducing waste in your life. A Family Guide to Waste-free Living makes it simple and sustainable for families to eliminate waste in the home, at work and out in the world. This is a practical and inspiring resource for anyone wanting to live more sustainably. When it comes to waste-free living, Lauren and Oberon Carter really know their stuff. In 2015, they decided to get serious about minimising their ecological footprint, successfully reducing their energy consumption by more than 60 per cent and transitioning to living completely waste and recycling free. They have written this fantastic guide to help and encourage other families do the same. A Family Guide to Waste-free Living provides a roadmap for anyone wanting to reduce their waste. It is packed with information and offers practical and achievable solutions for eliminating waste in the home, at work and in the world. Inside you’ll find simple activities for the whole family instructions on building waste-free kits for around the house and out and about. You’ll also find a plan for creating change by advocating to government and business. Tackle our ever-growing waste problem with all the information, advice, budget-friendly recipes and projects you’ll need to start reducing waste in your life.
‘We need to talk about waste. Shrink-wrapped veggies, disposable coffee cups, clothes and electronics designed to be upgraded every year: we are surrounded by stuff that we often use once and then throw away. Each year Australian households produce enough rubbish to fill a three-bedroom home, including thousands of dollars worth of food and an ever-increasing amount of plastic, which takes hundreds of years to break down and often ends up in our oceans or our food chain. But what to do about such a huge problem? Is it just the price we pay for the conveniences of modern life? What if it were possible to have it both ways – to live a modern life with less waste? That’s where Erin Rhoads, aka The Rogue Ginger, comes in. Erin went from eating plastic-packaged takeaway while shopping online for fast fashion, to becoming one of Australia’s most popular eco-bloggers. Erin knows that small changes can have a big impact. In Waste Not she shares everything she’s learnt from her own funny, inspiring – and far-from-perfect – journey to living with less waste.
