Bookish Spreadsheet for 2015
One of the reasons why I’m excited about the start of a new year is that I can start using a new spreadsheet. I’ve used them for years to keep track of the books I read and got, just because I LOVE making lists. I come up with a new one every year and as there are always people who want me to share them, here is my new one for 2015.
Overview
At first I always have a table that shows the different statistics for each month of the books I read and got.
I also always keep track of my TBR, so there is a row for books I lost interest in (= gave away without reading) and one that shows if my TBR increased or decreased.
The next table is completely new. I usually had some sort of diagram to see statistics about genre, format and the like but I wanted something different where I don’t have to set the possible values. Now I can just choose a value from a drop-down list (which is automatically generated by all values I used) to see the number of books I read and the percentage.
The next one has some more statistics about the books I read. I kept that one pretty simple and just calculated e.g. number of books divided by the current day of the year instead of the actual number of days read. So if I don’t read any book for a month, those values will be false. I wanted them that simple though to just get an idea what these values are.
(If I find the time I might actually upgrade this one though, if people are interested!?)
The last one is the yearly reading challenge where I can set myself a goal (as in the example: 100) just like you do on GR and see if I’m on track.
(This counts rereads and DNFs too)
Notice: If you plan on using this – the only values you should edit in this tab is the row of “lost interest” values and the Reading Challenge Goal.
Read
This is the tab where I keep track of the books I read:
The date I finished the book, the book title, gender (author), genre, format, target, # in series (I personally use 0 for standalones and “last” instead of the number, to see how many series I finished), number of pages, rating and the status (read,reread,dnf).
Got
This is the tab where I keep track of the books I got: here I’m just interested in the date, the book title and how much I payed for it.
TBR
The last tab is about my TBR again:
I set my TBR at the start of the year and my reduction goal (for the TBR reduction challenge) and can see if I’m on track.
If you want to use this spreadsheet you can make a copy of the file here. If you find a glitch or have a question just leave a comment!
(Some statistics in the Overview tab depend on the date and won’t work until 2015! Make sure to always provide a date for each entry in the read and got tabs or you will get some false statistics!)
Leave a Comment
Mel@thedailyprophecy
That looks pretty! I use Excel to keep up with all my stats, but your overview looks neat :D I’m going to start for the first time with a ‘new book’ list. I would like to see for once how much money I actually spend on books in a year (it will probably shock me, haha)
I like how you set goals for yourself, like with your TBR pile.
crini
When I first started writing down my purchases I was shocked too! :D
Celine
That is so fancy! I actually keep track on a Word document. I’ll try yours though, because it looks WAY better and more organised. Thanks for sharing!
crini
You’re welcome! :)
Kix
This is really helpful. It also feeds my inner nerd’s list making needs. One question tho, what is the “target” entry for?
crini
if the book is YA, adult, middle grade… ;)
Georgie @ What She Reads
I have just made a series spreadsheet for 2015 but it looks nowhere as near as cool as this — OMG! I’m so tempted to download it but I know I might not have the patience to fill it in but still, OMGG!!
crini
I always motivate myself to use it all through the year by thinking of my recap post of the year. It’s fun when you have all these different statistics you can write about :D
Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity
This is the most useful thing I’ve seen all month. I normally just use Goodreads to keep track of my books read by using the reading challenge, but that doesn’t keep track of any rereads I’ve done and it certainly doesn’t help me keep track of the new books I’ve got. I am a shameless impulse buyer of books so to see the number of books I’ve bought may shame me to slow down.
Thank you for sharing I am certainly gonna try my best to use this as much as possible to organise myself next year.
crini
I helped me a lot to see how much money I actually spend on books! I was somewhat shocked the first time I kept track of it :D
Amber @ Books of Amber
I love you for this. I’m going to have a play around with it and see what I can do. Hopefully I can keep it up because I think it’ll come in really handy next year, as I’m focussing on my TBR pile :) Thank youuuuu!
crini
You’re welcome! I love sharing my spreadsheets :D
Ashana Lian .
What a good idea to keep a spreadsheet! I’ll probably stick to Goodreads for now though. When you get through books so fast, what you read two weeks ago quickly becomes two years ago and then it’s irrelevant. But I would keep one, if just to feel proud about getting rid of the TBR!
Great post.
Brianna (The Book Vixen)
I usually just use Goodreads to track my reading but it would be very interesting to get more specific stats. Going to save this and hopefully I’ll remember to fill it in.
Lola
I love your spreadhseet, it looks so neat and organized. I especially like those graphs you included. I mostly use goodreads to keep track of things.
LeseMaus
Maybe I have just overlooked it – but what is meant when you use “dnf”?
Lola
Did Not Finish, so a book you started but never finished and in most cases never will.
LeseMaus
Sorry, just another question: what is the “target” in your “Read”-list?
I just tried to comprehend your formula – your tables are really good and quite easy to fill in. I don’t think that it takes too much time to fill in during the year. Thanks a lot for sharing :-)
crini
That’s YA, middle grad, adult or new adult :)
crini
It stands for “Did not finish” ;)
Tanya Patrice
I like the way you think :-) I don’t do spreadsheets but I do love a good analysis.
Kermit
Wow, amazing work! I am very addicted to lists in every form and color and I really admire the way you did this <3 I never made a list on my own, because no time and so on. But I think this year I will try too, so thanks a lot for sharing your ideas and even the file do download.
LeseMaus
I still have questions or comments resp.;-)
1) Books are counted according to the date started and not the date finished. If I start a book in 2014 and finish it in January 2015, it is counted in the “December” margin and not in January.
2) You deduct the DNF books from the number “TBR”. But if you finish this special book another months, it is deducted from the TBR again (twice?)
Have a nice sunday!
crini
Oh damn! Thanks for pointing that out! I made a few changes (adding a second date) and forgot to change it in the overview tab! Going to change that right this second.
As for 2) for me DNF means I’m not going to pick it up again, ever! If I want to come back to it again later, I don’t put in in there. I really only put in books that are finished for good.
crini
If you make a new copy again now, the thing with the date works right ;)
LeseMaus
Great – thanks a lot!
Now I understand the meaning of DNF right as well.
Brianna
This is an amazing spreadsheet! I’ve never been able to really figure out how to make one so detailed! Thanks for letting us use it as well. :)
Anastasia @ Here There Be Books
Eeek, I love spreadsheets! I’ve been wanting to try a different one for 2015, and this one looks perfect for what I need. Thank you so much!! <3
Renae @ Respiring Thoughts
This is AMAZING, Crini! You are the best! Thanks so much for sharing! :D
ashley
My friend and I were just discussing using a spreadsheet and then she sent me over here. Thank you so much. This is..amazing and speaks to my OCD librarian side.
Brooks
So I tried this today, made sure the dates are right, but since I don’t have excel (I was opening it with OOcalc) it doesn’t really work. It produces a lot of errors where it should show zeros.
Brooks (fka Kix)
crini
I’m not sure if this is compatible with other programs. I never tried that. Maybe just use it directly in google?
Ren
I <3 this spreadsheet so much. I've never kept track of all my stats like this before but now I'm really excited about doing it. I want to read like the wind just so I can put more data in! Thank you for sharing!
Shannon T
Hi
I’d like to start by saying thanks so much for sharing this spreadsheet! I’ve become a little obsessed with updating it every time I finish a book.
I have noticed that my book/month and page/month are not updating. They still say zero here in March. I’m working in google docs and I’ve even gone back to your original and copy/pasted the original formula in case I somehow managed to change them but nothing has worked. I’m hopeless at advanced formulas like these. Do you have any idea what I might be missing to make these cells update? (I know this is a crazy question but my OCD will not allow me to let them just be zero)
Thanks
crini
Oh my god, there is actually a mistake in the formula. I have no idea how that got in there.
It has to be “(O3+O4+O5)” instead of “IO9” in both cases
SORRY!
Shannon T
No worries!. Thanks so much for replying.