What that looks like
Real examples, side by side.
Shelves
Each one is a place you would open.
- Summer horror
- Comfort reads
- Gift ideas
- Beautiful editions
- Been meaning to read
- Kids' shelf
- Winter evenings
- Coffee table books
Tags
Each one is a thing you would search your library for.
- made me cry
- read on holiday
- bedtime
- commute
- research
- cover love
- secondhand find
- for the podcast
- quotable
- was a gift
You can add any of these from the app: tap Manage under Tags and ownership, or Create shelf on your library.
Where people get it backwards
Two that look like they belong on the other side, and why they do not.
- A shelf called Audiobooks
- Use the format filter
- The app already knows which of your copies are audiobooks. You reach for them when you want something for a commute, which is filtering, not browsing.
- A shelf called Own it
- Set ownership to Owned
- Ownership is already on every book, records who you lent a copy to, and stacks with any filter. A shelf does none of that, and you keep it by hand.
Often mixed up
Pairs that sound alike and do different jobs.
A tag is not a genre
Genres come from the catalogue and are the same for every reader. A tag is your own word, private to you, and never shows on anyone else's copy of the book.
A shelf is not a collection
Collections is a tab on your public profile that gathers your shelves, tier lists and community lists. You never put a book into a collection. You put it on a shelf, and the shelf turns up there.
Interested is not Want to read
Want to read is the pile you have committed to, and it counts as part of your library. Interested is for a book you might want one day, and stays out of that pile.
The queue is not a shelf
A shelf is a group. The queue is an order: your Want to read pile in the sequence you will read it, with the top slot next.
Wishlist is about the copy, not the reading
It is one of the seven ownership states, for a book you plan to buy or borrow. A wishlist book can also be Want to read, or neither. Marking it does not put it on any reading shelf.
A community list is not your shelf
A shelf is yours and nobody else can add to it. A community list is started by one reader and belongs to everyone who votes on it.
A private book is not a private shelf
A private book is one you entered by hand because the catalogue does not have it. A private shelf is an ordinary shelf you have chosen not to show on your profile.
Your own series is not the catalogue's
The catalogue series is shared, so a wrong reading order is fixed with a suggested edit. Your own series is private and holds the books you added yourself.
A note is yours, a highlight is the book's
A note is something you wrote. A highlight is a passage you saved from the page, typed, photographed or synced from your e-reader. Both live in your notebook.
A daily goal is not a reading goal
A daily goal is one number for today, minutes a day or pages a day, and meeting it fills in a day of your week. A reading goal is the longer one you want done by December.
The rest of the decisions
Everything else people ask about, in one list.
- To browse this group of books later
- A shelf.
- A quick label you will filter by
- A tag.
- To record that you own this copy
- Ownership, not a shelf called Own it.
- To decide what you read next
- The queue.
- A book you might want one day
- Interested, which stays out of your Want to read pile.
- Other readers to see the group
- A shelf, switched to public.
- To rank books against each other
- A tier list.
- To record where you are in a book
- Progress, logged by page, percent or time listened.
- A book Seekquel does not have
- Add it as a private book.
- To fix something wrong on a book's page
- A suggested edit.
Worth knowing
Small things that save tidying up later.
Casing will not split a tag
Type Cozy when you already have cozy and Seekquel matches them up. The capitals you typed are kept for display.
Two tags that meant the same thing
Merge them from the tag manager and every book keeps the result. This is the fix for cozy and cosy.
Tags can have headings
File them into groups you name yourself, like fandom or mood, and the headings appear wherever you pick tags.
Filters stack
Owned, tagged commute, and not started yet is one view in your library rather than a shelf you keep by hand.
A shelf can live on your home screen
Pin it and it joins your home layout. Unpin it and it leaves.
Lent books remember who has them
Record the person and the date. Lent on its own tells you neither.
Five shelves free, unlimited on Pro
Go past five after a Pro lapse and the extras lock in the order you arranged them. Nothing is deleted, and reordering decides which five stay open.
A private book stays yours
Nobody sees it unless you offer it to the catalogue, and you can shelve, tag and rate it like any other book.
Looking for how to do it?
The help centre walks through shelves, tags and ownership step by step.
Open the help centre