DeadTrees is a Wordpress plugin that allows you to share the books you've been reading with your readers.
It's slightly influenced by other "My Library" type of plugins, such as the whole Now Reading/Reloaded/Redux group of plugins, but is a complete re-write using Wordpress's Custom Post Type features.
I wrote Dead Trees because I want to post on my blog when I read a book, but only sometimes want to write about the book. Dead Trees lets me, (and you!), do that.
New in Version 1.1: Multiple Book Cover Sources
In version 1.1 book covers will be fetched from
OpenLibrary.org,
LibraryThing, or Amazon, depending on the settings, and what's available where.
If you have set your Amazon API credentials, you can choose to look for a cover at Amazon either first or last: first for people who are working on building affiliate income from Amazon, and have plenty of
API quota, or last for people who prefer to promote independent book sources or can't or don't want to use Amazon's services.
For non-Amazon book covers,
OpenLibrary.org is checked first as it provides larger images than other options. If
OpenLibrary.org doesn't have a cover for a book and you have set a LibraryThing API key we will fall back to looking for a cover at LibraryThing.
OpenLibrary.org does not require any API credentials or any special configuration.
How it works
To post a book that you read, you'll go to the admin of your site and choose "Books" from the main menu. You can then enter the title of the book, the author's name(s), ISBN, Amazon's ASIN, (likely the ISBN), and, if you wish, you may write about the book, but you don't have to if you don't want to.
Hit publish and the DeadTrees will grab the cover art from Open Library or Amazon and publish your book.
You can also tag the book, just like a post. The pool of tags is shared between posts & books.
Development is on GitHub at
https://github.com/jbeales/DeadTrees
Report issues at
https://github.com/jbeales/DeadTrees/issues
See the public side in action, with some custom templating:
https://johnbeales.com/books/
Thanks
Thanks to
OpenLibrary.org and LibraryThing for providing open book cover data. APIs like these that share information make the independent web possible and fun.
1. Install the Plugin
Either:
- Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress admin.
- Install DeadTrees by johnnyb (this plugin)
- Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
OR:
- Upload the folder
deadtrees
to the /wp-content/plugins/
directory
- Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
2. (Optional) Add API Keys & Affiliate IDs
- Amazon Affiliate IDs
Currently Dead Trees can auto-generate affiliate links to Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk so that your readers can purchase books that you recommend, and you can receive a commission on sales from Amazon. Sign up for an affiliate ID at http://affiliate-program.amazon.com, (or .ca, or .co.uk, or all 3). Once you've got your affiliate IDs enter them in Settings > Dead Trees in your Wordpress admin.
- Amazon API Credentials
In order to grab a book's cover art from Amazon you need access to Amazon's Product Advertising API. It's free, and you can tie it to your existing Amazon account. Go to http://affiliate-program.amazon.com and sign in to your affiliate account, then click the "Product Advertising API" tab at the top and follow the directions to sign up. Once you are set up with the Product Advertising API enter your Key ID and Secret Key in Settings > Dead Trees in your Wordpress admin.
- LibraryThing API Key
The LibraryThing CoverThing API requires a free API key.
Getting a LibraryThing API Key
- Sign Up for LibraryThing
- Fill out the Get a Developer Key form on LibraryThing.
- An API key will be E-mailed to you.