Extreme Reading Tracker (2023) Updates

 Good morning! Good afternoon! Good Evening!

I adjust this reading tracker far more than I really should. I'm constantly coming up with improvements or tweaks to formulas. I'm constantly adding additional options to the Categories page.

I'm hoping to someday film a video series of how to use it and adjust it for individual needs. For now, I'm hoping people can wing it. Mostly I would like to provide insight into how to make it useful to you.

Again I wish to remind you that this is the most unnecessary level of reading tracking you have ever had the misfortune to lay your eyes on. It's extreme so that someone can pick and choose what pages and columns they wish to use. The "Hide Column" and "Hide Sheet" options are wonderful for this. In fact I think I left some of the original sheets that I couldn't make work for my alterations of the sheet as a whole intact and hidden.

Go beyond the jump to view the updates I just added!

Categories

First and foremost, this sheet is what makes all the other dropdowns and headings in the rest of the document work. It is by all means, not an exhaustive list of category options. I'm constantly adding items to Trope, Character Type, Setting, Era, Nationality, Language... You get my point. 

I copied my updated Categories page to the shared version yesterday. 

To update yours:

1. Open the shared file.
2. Go to Categories sheet.
3. Click the blank spot between Column A and Row 1.
4. Right-Click, Copy.
5. Open your copy on your Google Sheets.
6. Click the blank spot between Column A and Row 1.
7. Right-Click, Paste.

There are two columns in this update that you should definitely adjust for your own needs. They affect the following page of the document.

The Acquired Sheet

This sheet is designed to hold all your newly acquired treasures, no matter the format. I originally had this set up as separate Physical and Digital pages and it became too difficult to flip back and forth. The two key columns that you will want to edit on the Categories sheet for your own shopping and storing habits are "My Location" (Col  Q) and "Acquired From" (Col R). 

My Location: If you're anything like a Book Dragon, you've got books shoved in every nook and cranny and they get lost in the hoard. I have a little white shelf that my father made me for my DVDs back in the day (ignoring my specifications by the way), that suit my mass market paperbacks. I also have a rolling blue bookshelf that was originally his car parts shelf in the workshop/garage. Change them if you like! Also, I list "Multiple" as an option, because I do have multiple copies and/or formats of some of my latest acquisitions.

Acquired From: So look. We find books ev-er-y-wher-uh. I'm constantly adding locations to this list. Every time I find a new local shop, used bookstore... If I buy something, the store gets added in here because the chances are quite high that I will return for more treasure.

The Log Sheet

The other major adjustment was adding notes to the header cells for Columns BG through BM. Instead of switching to the CAWPILE Cheat Sheet every time I need a reminder of my rating category questions, it now opens as a note upon hover. The first paragraph is for fiction ratings and the second (if applicable) is for non-fictions. The Categories for W(riting), L(ogic), and E(njoyment) are pretty much across the board. Writing and Logic are only slightly different though titled the same. 

I use 0.0-10.0 for these categories. I extend it to a tenth of a point due to the Year sheet's Rave and Rant section. If two books have the exact same average, the first one in the list gets selected for the later rave or rant. It's a weird formula thing that I haven't figured out how to fix.

The Year Sheet

To be completely transparent, the section in the lower right corner of this sheet only gathers the numbers data. At the end of the year, you will have to search the Log sheet for the numbers it displays to fill in the titles.

Lastly, the section labeled "Notable Subgenres" should be edited to reflect your own reading habits. You can do this by editing the formula to use the correct option from the Categories Sheet in Column C. I have them arranged from the subgenres I mostly read in purple through to the subgenres I rarely read in red. This is an attempt to broaden my horizons.

Let's say you are not into Fairy Tales, which is my first option listed. The formula reads as follows:

=JOIN(": ", (Categories!$C$43),COUNTIF(Log!$AI:$AJ,Categories!$C$43))

This is because Fairy Tale is the option that sits on the Categories page in Column C Row 43. So let's say that your favorite subgenre is Space Opera. Space Opera is in Column C Row 118. You would change the formula's instances of 43 to 118, like this:

=JOIN(": ", (Categories!$C$118),COUNTIF(Log!$AI:$AJ,Categories!$C$118))

That is literally all you have to do. It will pull the name of the subgenre as well as find the number of instances you labeled a book as that subgenre in the log sheet. 

Feedback Welcome!

If you have any questions at all about the sheet, pages or instances that you want to know more about, please comment and let me know! This sucker is A LOT to take in. Do not feel as though you have to use every page. Right-Click, Hide whatever columns you have no use for or sheets you don't think you'll use.

If it breaks, I will definitely do what I can to attempt a repair and we can work out how to do that.

I know that I went completely overboard. But I'm extra and that's just how I am. If you have category options missing that you feel I should add, feel free to let me know! Seriously. This thing is unnecessary, remember? The more unnecessary, the better.

Until next time, HAPPY READING!!