I’ve officially pulled the plug on Goodreads and switched entirely to The StoryGraph. But what is The Storygraph, you might ask? Let me tell you some more about it.
The StoryGraph is a platform created to help you track your reading goals and find new book recommendations based on your mood. It’s suitable for every kind of reader and has so many incredible elements that make it an absolute must. It only took me one day of use before I quit Goodreads entirely. I haven’t logged into my old account since then, and quite frankly, I plan to never do so again.
If you’re fed up with Goodreads and their outdated website, inability to listen to user feedback, and lack of review customization, keep reading to see why you absolutely need to create a free StoryGraph account!
related posts
How to Read More Books // 20 Bookish Phrases to Know // Why I Use a Planned Monthly Reading List
10 Reasons Why I Chose to Switch from Goodreads to The StoryGraph
The StoryGraph allows you to give .5 ratings and you can mark your books as DNF.
You heard me. No more wishing you could give a book a 2.75 but only being allowed a 2 or 3 star option. In addition, you can help other readers understand the book better without posting a review by just selecting a few simple descriptive terms. In other words, the rating system rocks. When you DNF, you can state why you chose to stop reading as well as share how far you got (using pages or percentage). This book will still be part of your library but it won’t be constantly pushed on you to read and you don’t have to “lie about reading it” like you may have done on Goodreads in the past.
You can easily add trigger and content warnings to your reviews.
I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll mention it again (and again): adding trigger and content warnings to reviews is so important. However, thinking through all of that after you’ve finished a book can be daunting. The StoryGraph makes it ridiculously easy. They categorize the content by graphic, moderate, and minor and provide a drop-down list to choose from. Now, when you look up a book, you can see the warnings along with the moods, pace, average rating, and so on.
The website and app are modern, user-friendly, and constantly updated with sleek new features.
We all know that Goodreads has a clunky, old-fashioned web and app design and it constantly crashes or just doesn’t function properly. Follow The StoryGraph on Twitter and you’ll see that they’re always updating and adding new features based on user feedback. No, you won’t find their app in the App Store, but they have what’s called a Progressive Web App that functions just as smoothly and beautifully as any downloaded app might. I would know since I use it literally every day. I love that it shows all my reading stats in such a unique and fun way! It’s a great way to track how I read.
You can participate in a plethora of tailored reading challenges.
Whether you prefer to stick with traditional numerical reading goals or you want to find something brand new, The StoryGraph offers tons of options. You can even create your own unique challenge and share with friends. This is an excellent option for those who participate in buddy reads or book clubs!
The StoryGraph makes searching for books a breeze.
Have you ever gone to search for a book and then, due to maybe a misspelling or misplaced word, couldn’t find it on Goodreads? Yeah, that’s not even a thing with The StoryGraph. They make it so easy to search for any book and even the newest indie releases are quick to show up. There aren’t any ads to clog things up either!
It’s super simple to import your Goodreads data so you won’t lose all of your previous reviews and ratings.
This was something I was slightly worried about when I first created my account. I didn’t want to manually add the hundreds of books I had added to my Goodreads over time. But it literally took fifteen minutes to click a few buttons and ta-da! The data was seamlessly imported to my new page. All of my ratings, reviews, and even my tags were still intact.
You can choose to be as social as you’d like.
There is a community feature to the platform, but it’s less in-your-face than Goodreads. What your friends are reading isn’t the first thing you see when you log in, but if you want to find out what they thought about their last read, it’s super easy to do so! And you’re not inundated with random user information that you don’t care about. I can’t tell you the number of times I thought, “why do I see that user liking another user’s reading status when I don’t even follow them?” No more!
The StoryGraph provides personalized reading recommendations that you can tailor to your mood.
Okay, so I’m not at all a mood-reader, but I’ve heard from a few other users that they love this particular feature more than the rest! It literally prompts you with, “what are you in the mood for?” and you can input your desired pace, number of pages, genre, etc. to receive a list curated just for you!
The creators of The StoryGraph value user input!
Over the years, I’ve read horror stories of authors being bombarded with horrific reviews that contained terribly offensive (racist, homophobic, ableist, etc.) content, and when they begged Goodreads to remove it, they were declined. On the other hand, Goodreads will remove 1-star ratings that make no sense for other books. It just doesn’t add up. However, The StoryGraph listen to their users. They constantly request feedback and encourage user input to make their website and app more accessible, inclusive, and safe (along with just generally making it run better and other things websites and apps should do on a regular basis).
You’re supporting a small start-up rather than another Amazon-owned business.
Nadia Odunayo created The StoryGraph with the intention of helping readers find their next book. According to Nadia, the platform isn’t meant to be an alternative for what’s already out there (though it has become just that for me, personally). It’s meant to give users better tracking tools and one place to consistently find great book recommendations.
Do you already utilize The StoryGraph? I’d love to connect with you!
pin for later
Cristina Rosano says
I have been pondering about the switch since it came out, but you totally convinced me now! I have been on Goodreads for years, but the interface and lack of change after so long are truly incredible! I love that you can give .5 reviews, trigger warnings, DNF a book and choose a book on the mood!
Merry Sari says
I’ve heard about the storygraph many times but never actually use it. I definitely need to download it after reading your review Steph! Their features are really fantastic x
Amy Day says
OMG! Thank you for finding a better alternative to Goodreads! This is just what I’ve been looking for & I’m already obsessed!
~ Amy
Lee says
This is so interesting! I;ve used Goodreads before but have never heard of Story Graph. Clearly i need to check it out!
Nathalia says
Funnily enough, I made the switch to Storygraph when they were still in Beta but haven’t started using it yet. When I imported the books from Goodreads, it messed up some of the data and I’ve been putting off organising it for AGES. Definitely need to make the switch though, I loved it way more from the brief time I’ve used it.
Robin says
What an excellent, comprehensive review! I dropped the ill-yclept Goodreads a couple of years ago, for the reasons you mention above, and was delighted to find TSG late last year. I especially like the point you make “You can choose to be as social as youβd like”. For me, that’s “not at all” – with the exception of those delightful reading challenges. I think it’s worth stressing that TSG is great for those who simply want to curate their own reading and track their own journey, without either rapacious data-mining or noisy “social” static. For those reasons, I was delighted to be one of TSG’s first wave of paying users, and I urge all who can to give Nadia and her small team the added support of a few extra dollars.
Mariah says
Oh my gosh! I’d never heard of this before. There are so many good features. Love the .5 thing, and DNF! I hate that goodreads doesn’t have that. I was literally thinking about that just this weekend. Also love that you can import stuff from goodreads. Literally downloading right now.
Kayleigh Zara says
I’ve actually heard some really negative things about Goodreads lately so I’ve been thinking of making the change to another app. StoryGraph sounds like a great alternative and I love that you can import all of your Goodreads data x
Andrea's Book Corner says
Oh! Ok so I’ve heard of this but never really knew how it worked. Although I currently am using Goodreads, I would consider fully switching over eventually! I appreciate how it lets you transfer your books from Goodreads to here (convenient) and that it’s super personalized and aesthetically pleasing.
Ely @ Earl Grey Books says
I’ve been considering making the change over to StoryGraph for a while, but I’ve kind of lost interest in tracking my books in that way lately. I’ve been using my own spreadsheets but that’s about it. Maybe when I feel like getting back into it I’ll make the switch over!
Venus says
I never heard of StoryGraph before. It’s definitely something I could use to help me stay on track π