How Similar Items are picked
Series > author > sub-genre > genre > format > tags.
The Similar Items section on a book detail page recommends other books from your catalogue.
How recommendations are picked
Books are scored by signal:
- Series match: 5 points
- Author match: 4 points
- Sub-genre match: 3 points
- Genre match: 2 points
- Format match: 1 point
- Overlapping tags: +1 per match
Scores combine. A book by the same author AND in the same genre gets 4 + 2 = 6 points. The top 6 books appear in Similar Items.
Fallback
If no books score above 0 (a book with no author/genre/series), the algorithm falls back to recently added books with the heading "More from the library".
Why this matters
Patrons who finish one book often want another like it. Similar Items keeps them browsing without having to start a search.
Hiding Similar Items
Settings → Appearance → Book Detail → toggle off Similar Items. Useful for libraries with thin catalogues where similar results would be noisy.
Custom recommendations
For custom recommendation logic (e.g., promoting staff picks over algorithmic matches), contact hello@tryshelfwise.com.