Book Notification Newsletter: November 2025 Recap
 Hi everyone. Welcome to the November 2025 Recap! [Read Online]
First – a big welcome to all the new members of Book Notification who signed up on Thursday and Friday. We always see a big boost during US Thanksgiving, with many new users citing a recommendation from friends and family. We find that so cool; a family sitting around having turkey, and chatting about Book Notification! If you’re one of the people spreading the word – thank you!
A second big welcome to everyone who has discovered us via our comprehensive celebrity book clubs section. We launched that just a few months ago, and were proud to simply have the best book club listing on the internet. We had no idea it would generate so much traffic and attract so many new members.
We’ve added a feature related to book clubs this month which was requested by many: the ability to Follow Book Clubs and get notified of their new picks. These will be included in the weekly Tuesday e-mail. More on that in Site Improvements & Updates below.
November’s primary focus was assigning genres to authors, as discussed in last month’s newsletter. The goal is to provide much better results in the “Related Authors” section, though this data will eventually power many other features.
We researched how other sites handle this, and unfortunately, they all rely on publisher or Amazon data. This usually results in limited tagging (everyone is just “Mystery”) or incorrect categorization (thrillers showing up as “Culinary Mysteries”).
That is why we decided to build our own engine. It is significantly more work, but it means we can provide the best results for recommendations. For example, our “Thriller” genre now has 28 sub-genres, and some of those even have micro-genres. It has been a fun project; it is rewarding to add genres to authors I am familiar with and watch their “Related Authors” list improve in real-time.
Important Note: We have made a few revisions to the Tuesday e-mail. In the last few months, we’ve added notes about differing release dates, adaptation news, and now clubs. We have reorganized the layout for a better reading experience. If you notice any issues when that e-mail arrives tomorrow, please let us know.
And it finally happened. There have been four books released in the Jack Reacher series since Alan Ritchson took over the role. In the latest one, Exit Strategy, I’ve started picturing Alan as Reacher. Always neat when that happens. Thankfully I never pictured Tom Cruise as Reacher, or I likely still wouldn’t be reading the series today!
Finally, one of our writers, Sam Fletcher, wrote an article on 5 Books That Forged the Cyber Thriller. I was excited to see The Cuckoo’s Egg by Clifford Stoll on there. It’s a true story, and is one of my favourite books. I read it back in the 90s and still re-read it every few years. Well worth checking out!
Thanks again to everyone who shares Book Notification with their friends and family. We truly appreciate it.
Until the next chapter,
Graeme
Book Notification Founder
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Running Book Notification isn’t free. We have a dedicated team who are keeping authors updated daily with the latest books, auditing and adding authors, building new features to better your experience, and much more.
Unlike other sites, we don’t rely on unpaid volunteers to do 90% of the work. Everyone who works for Book Notification is paid for their time, because we believe in fair work.
If you value what Book Notification brings to your reading life, please consider signing up for the Page Turners Club. It’s $4.99 USD per month or $49.99 for the year, and you get an ad-free experience while supporting the hard work our team does on a daily basis.
Site Improvements & Updates
User Guide: We’ve launched a lot of new features to Book Notification since our official start in January 2023, with many more on the way. To help you navigate everything, we have highlighted them all in a comprehensive user guide. It covers the basics of Book Notification, along with various features you may not be familiar with. Check it out!
Better Related Authors: We replaced the previous follower-based “Related Authors” block with our new genre-powered engine. Please note that with 92,000 authors, assigning genres is an ongoing process, and we will be refining the lists as we go. If you see 10 authors listed under “Related Authors,” that is the new system. If you see 5, that is the legacy system. You can view this on any author page.
Follow Book Clubs: Users now have the option to follow book clubs and get alerted of new book club picks. Please note: This is off by default and must be enabled in your e-mail settings. You can choose to follow all 26 celebrity book clubs we currently list, or select specific ones. Here is how it looks if you subscribe to a select few:
If you want to subscribe to all book clubs, click the checkbox beside “Book Club Picks“. Here is how it will look in the Tuesday e-mail:
These are one-time alerts. For example, if we notify you of the Read with Jenna pick in the December 2nd e-mail, you will not receive another notification for that club until she makes her next selection.
Want To Read from Calendar: We received requests for a more straightforward method to add books to your “Want To Read” list directly from your personal calendar. We have now added the “Manage” box beside all book titles so you can do exactly that.
New Blog Posts & News
In addition to adding author’s, we post a lot of book news and book-related content to Book Notification each month. Here are the highlights since the last newsletter:
Monthly Contest
Last month, we held a contest asking you to make a comment on an authors page. Thank you to everyone who commented.
Here are the winners this month – all have been emailed:
- @lindaluvsbooks
- Arch
- DianaB
- G Blanton
- jo
- Pam B
- stalsma
- Susan Miller
- waterburg72
- Zipporah Dvash
This month, we are asking for your feedback.
We already provide great information about upcoming adaptations. In 2026, we want to expand our focus to include past adaptations. We plan to add a dedicated section to every author page detailing movies and TV shows based on their work.
Our question to you is: What adaptation information would you like to see?
Picture discovering an author like Lee Child, Diana Gabaldon, or Stephen King. You are reading their biography on our website, and you scroll down to the “Adaptations” section.
What details matter to you?
Do you just want a list of titles? Are you interested in the cast? The directors? Awards won? IMDb ratings?
Please let us know so we can tailor this section to what the majority of people actually find useful. Our primary goal is to give you exactly what you want to see.
(Note: If you don’t care about adaptation information, that is totally fine! Let us know that, and it will still count as an entry.)
To enter, simply reply to this e-mail, send a message to hello@booknotification.com, or use any contact form on the site.
We will randomly select ten winners to receive a $25 USD gift card. Entries are open from now until the publication of the next newsletter.
Members of the Page Turners Club will get an additional entry into the contest.
Thanks to everyone for your support. It’s genuinely appreciated.
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