Lack of content is always relative of course, I'd say there's some genres that are well represented where you can find reviews for most books. My timeline is everything but empty as well.

Duplication is a thing. It isn't super annoying for most users though. Find any copy of your book and start reading.

[–] mistermodal@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Use the same logic we do for the rest of the fediverse. You're not making "the world's bookstore" you're making a collection of books that can't be found elsewhere. I think it can be useful for people with particular literary or historical tastes

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Bookwyrm has a list feature and there's already plenty list for like queer sci-fi, solarpunk and other "niche" genres. Not sure how fediverse-exclusive these are though.

[–] mistermodal@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Sure but think of those as subsections within a small bookstore. You could make them curated lists of fiction subgenres, or explorations of specific historical periods or authors. I think the detail & specificity gives it an edge over just browsing Goodreads with https://libredirect.io/ or Internet Archive or Anna's etcetera

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

That's what happens already when people create lists for their own interests. Plenty nerds on bookwyrm curating books for their interests.

[–] mistermodal@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Well maybe once there is a truly giant instance set up, but I think it would be better to curate considering the state of publishing lmao? 95% of new books = slop

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 1 points 2 hours ago

I don't understand what exactly you are describing/looking for. People are already curating lists on Bookwyrm. Slop books don't make it there when people don't recommend them. What do you think are giant instances needed for?