I made the switch some years ago - I kept both for a whole year and the following year I decided to keep only The StoryGraph. I’ve been using Fable more lately and I like it as well. StoryGraph and Fable have features that differ from each other, so I’ll keep them both 😊
@virginiareads I tried out Fable and enjoyed it. Although I'm not sure it's for me, mostly because I'm not really looking for the social features quite as much.
I love storygraph. The content warnigs are useful. I do not read reviews ever, so it's not a minus for me. The star rating could be higher and have the reviewer count as well
I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that part of The Storygraph was intentionally designed to focus less on star ratings and other reviews. I don't recall where I heard that any more, but I recall that being what made me start using it. So, it makes sense that the lack of that feature would bother you if it's that important to your book choice.
I love that the star rating is "hidden" because I don't like being influenced by it. It would be great to choose a more prominent star display in the settings to see it at one glance :)
The StoryGraph has always liked giving people choices. Maybe they could be convinced to let us choose where the rating is (the top or the bottom)? I’ll see if I could ask them on Instagram or Threads!
Interesting! I did try switching to Storygraph last year but didn't keep up with it for 3 main reasons: 1) The review page was too in-depth, I didn't want to fill in all that stuff every time (but I know that all that info is a main draw of Storygraph so...) 2) I missed the social/community feeling of seeing what all my friends are reading right on the home page 3) Same as you said, book page format was a bit off
Great experiment. I hate to admit it, but generally I prefer the unchanged Goodreads better than Storygraph like an old buddy duddy. But I've got a lot more used to Storygraph over the past few months. I think I'm gonna keep duel updating for a little longer but I really would like it if Storygraph had more reviews and implemented some review sorting so it would be easier for me to abandon Goodreads entirely.
@@AmandaDuncil I've been working really hard to find other people on Storygraph, so it feels less empty now than before, but yes that's definitely a big issue.
both "filter reviews" and "display ratings distribution" are features that storygraph creators plan to work on "up next", according ot their roadmap! :D
Glad you are still gonna use The Storygraph ☺️ I switched to the Storygraph 2 years ago and did not regret it one bit. I love the App even though its a little complicated at first sight. The Stats, the challenges and adding books yourself is just so much fun to use ☺️😍
The AI suggestions are such a cool feature in storygraph. On the book page when you click personalized, it gives you a good breakdown of why you might like or dislike a book based on your previous ratings. It also gives you a good short synopsis of the book. I keep going back to StoryGraph for that feature alone.
I prefer having to scroll down to see the rating because sometimes I want to add the book without having its rating spoiled for me - I dont want to be influenced before Ive read it.
I absolutely love Storygraph! Used it since 2021 & tell everyone I know that's into reading about it. I love the content warnings, reading challenges, stats, adding books & more. For me personally I really only read the description of the book & the content warnings to decide if I want to read it. I rarely look at reviews. I only give a star rating to look back on for myself to see what kinda books I like. I think one of my fav recent finds about it is the owned books section. You can add books you own to it & it gives you a bunch of stats & you have a little online library of your own. One of my main goals for 2025 is to significantly lower the amount of unread books along with branching out more of my comfort zone so that means lots of trips to the library & Libby as well😄
It's interesting you like the goodreads book page so much because I'm an old fuddy duddy who misses the more streamlined book page they used to have. I've been using both apps simultaneously for a few years and this year is the first time gr was really an afterthought. I think I'm two months behind updating over there! But it's still hard to leave because I have more than ten years of history with GR. There is a way to switch editions on GR btw but you were right, it's convoluted and you can accidentally mess it up very easily. When it comes down to it Storygraph has much more accessible, visible data on my own reading and those graphs and summaries are what I love the most. I also got to try their new buddy read feature this year and it worked very well.
@GinaLuciaReads it is one of the things they got worse when they redesigned the book pages to be more ad heavy. 😭 If I didn't say above though, I really appreciated your video! Lovely to hear how you use both platforms and what your priority with each is.
Bravo for such a comprehensive comparison and having the integrity to keep true to your values. For me Goodreads is just plain unattractive. The StoryGraph’s clean aesthetic is simply on another level. Having that buy book from Amazon tab would drive me up the wall. Honestly if the StoryGraph didn’t exist I wouldn’t use anything. For me it’s just excellent and provides everything I need. I am not so concerned about the book summary page as I have become accustomed to its layout on StoryGraph and I only just read a few reviews to make my final decision about reading a book or not. However I do think it will keep on improving and it’s highly likely that some if not all of the elements you desire will be added in the future. I also agree that supporting the independent creators has merit and I aim to upgrade to pro user in the new year purely to support them. It’s one of those rare apps that looks great and does what it sets out to do extremely well. I am all in. 😊
Good breakdown! I switched to The StoryGraph this year and I'm loving it so far. I personally like that I have to actively look for the average rating, because I tend to be influenced by it, however, I've read highly rated books I didn't like and mid-rated books I absolutely loved. I don't want to be dissuaded from reading a book and potentially discovering a hidden gem just because other people didn't enjoy it very much. And on Goodreads, there's no way of avoiding the average rating, so I think the SG's solution is better, since it's the user's choice whether or not they look at it. I agree that the reviews should be searchable etc, but since the SG keeps getting updates I have no doubt that we'll see such a change in the near future :)
That's true. Quite a few people are saying that being influenced by the star rating can be a bad thing which is giving me something to think about for sure!
I understand where you’re coming from if reviews are important to you. Personally I like that the average rating is hidden in SG and think it would be a shame if they changed it. I honestly think the average rating means very little because a lot of people will 5 star any book they like even if their actual review is fairly negative, some rate books before they’re even released and you have issues with coordinated review bombing on some books. I don’t want any of that stuff coming to SG. I do wish we could filter the reviews though especially as I prefer to read 1 and 2 star reviews
Yeah you're right about that. I've done a video about that exact thing in the past. Star ratings are definitely not 100% reliable especially if there's no moderation
I think the best feature StoryGraph added this year, or more changed like, is that it allows you to add more tbr books. I agree, I also can't let go of Goodreads it seems for the reason that it's interface is more to my liking. Although I do like the analytics on StoryGraph. Like you I will also be using both for the time being.
If you look on the storygraph's roadmap page where you can request and vote for new features/bug fixes, they are actually in progress of overhauling the review system. I'm not sure if they'll move the rating spot on the book page, but I do know a star breakdown and review sorting are coming soon! I do also like checking the rating for a book when I'm at the bookstore/library and maybe its because I could never get into goodreads and am biased but the quick scroll to the bottom of the page doesn't bother me. I really love that the developers are constantly listening to feedback and working to make the app better all the time, they just added the 'paused' feature for books that you don't want to completely dnf but have put down for the moment and I am loving it!
I prefer the stats on storygraph as well as the ability to add books. Since I am part of one of my favorite author's patreon, I have access to books she's yet to release. As such, my reading goal is MUCH MORE accurate on storgraph than Goodreads. I DO utilize kindle unlimited as well as my local libraries digital library and so when I start a book on my kindle, it automatically adds to the Goodreads currently reading list and I do like the convenience of that.
I just use both. I use Goodreads reviews and Storygraph stats. I can't believe Goodreads is still so clunky after all these years but I do find the reviews helpful.
Ugh, I WISH I could use Storygraph. My entire reading life consists of reading books from smaller publishers. If I see a book that interests me, my first step is to look up the publisher, and the quickest way to do that is typically Goodreads. Storygraph's publication info is just not up-to-date enough for me, because I'm often reading from very tiny publishers. I've tried, and I submit tickets when I find books without a publisher. But I just don't have time for it. Thanks for this review!!!
You could apply to be a librarian for SG, and just care for your own tbr and read books, then you would be able to quickly add all the indie publishers yourself. Its totally valid just to care for your own collection and no tickets of other users, as it still helps improving the whole page.
You can actually change editions on Goodreads too, I wish there is a more prominent way to do it though. I read across a few languages and Storygraph just isn't as convenient for me to get the titles I want. Not fond of creating my own titles on Storygraph too. But! I like how Storygraph can be totally private.
I have been using both this year, and I prefer the Storygraph. I pay for the plus features and really like it. Plus, the Storygraph updates show that they actually care a bit about their users. My favorite part of the Storygraph is the DNF features, surprisingly. I like seeing my stats for this part and it has changed some of my book browsing habits.
I’m going to give Storygraph another chance (tried briefly this year then stoped). I think I do like Goodreads mostly for seeing what other people are reading for ideas to add to my TBR, but agree I don’t much like the interface and want alternatives to Amazon companies. Thanks for the series!
I mostly use storygraph now, the interface needs some work, but they are constantly updating it, so I can have some patience. I think the only thing I miss in comparison to Goodreads is a bit of the social aspect, between not having that many friends that use storygraph and that the social tab doesn't share the notes you do while reading, it would be nice if there was a way to interact more there. About filtering the reviews, I once sent a feedback email and was told it is something they have in the roadmap, ao I'm ok for now. Also, I like how easy it is to add a book, and how the "not a book" is just a label and not a restriction about what it can be on the database. Overall, I think I'll continue to use it as my main app, and now and then I'll add the finished books in Goodreads, and maybe lurk what my friends are reading there.
I tried storygraph but it only imported about 30% of my goodreads info. There was way too much for me to input manually so i was like nope not for me :/
I completely agree with you! I basically never look at the book on Storygraph when I want to look up a book and instead go to Goodreads. To me I'm also annoyed at the AI book recommendation thing and that even once you've actually made it to the reviwes by actual people, it'll often show reviews without any written explanation but instead just the star rating. I definitely switched to Storygraph as my primary platform now but unfortunately it can't replace how I interact with Goodreads yet.
Goodreads can’t show you a review if the person in question hasn’t written one. I normally review any book I read recently, but for books I read long ago, I may remember enough to give an approximate rating, but I don’t remember enough to write a review, so I usually leave it blank. Other people may not have the time or energy to write a review, even for recent books.
@jonathan.palfrey yes I know, but on goodreads the website automatically sorts them so that popular written reviews are at the top and it's not just a lot of random star ratings, which I prefer
Ratings for Colleen Hoover books showed me how rubbish ratings are. Seen it time and time again, and I'm always disappointed by ratings. Given that personally it seems the worst criteria to judge a book by, I'm surprised that you've given it a primary priority but to each their own.
I love Goodreads, especially as an author, but Storygraph stole my heart this year. I am a slut for stats. My only issues with Storygraph is that I can't find a lot fo ARCs I read, which messes up my yearly goal. However, the stats, being able to EASILY choose the edition (GOODREADS 👀), and the general easiness of use. Fable, however, is one I'm staying away from because it just confuses me lol. Im too old for this many apps.
Great video as always! ❤ Totally understandable you want to keep both. Doing reviews on both though seems a lot of work for only a small thing you want from GR? I don't care about star ratings or reviews, so that doesn't bother me on SG. I like to chat on Discord and see YT videos, but that's it
I think what is holding Storygraph back is its design. They need to hire a good user experience (UX) designer to make tweaks where needed and overhaul where needed. I believe that one move could improve the Storygraph experience considerably.
I'm still going to be using both. Goodreads has a lot of useful on-the-go features (as you've mentioned) and Storygraph picks up the slack and fills the gaps that GR leaves. Not to mention the majority of readers still use GR. I have been using GR since 2011 so it has all my reads and stats for over a decade, which I am in no way considering leaving behind. Yeah, so they farm my data. Meh. I feel like it's an even trade for me.
so I finally switched over my goodreads data after your video and they kept all my old goodreads shelves onto storygraph. I for some reason thought they didn't do shelves. Maybe it's new?
@@GinaLuciaReads yes it makes it so I can finally go to my tags and just click it and find all the books I have under that tag that I want to read. So maybe it's something I just didn't know was there. I just tried it on storygraph I put Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid on to be read and was able to add a tag that transferred over from my goodreads import.
I have heard that they have been doing weird things for a while. Randomly adding or deleting books from your account, whilst you are not doing anything
I've been on Goodreads since 2011. While it could definitely use some significant updates and enhancements, I've yet to find an alternate platform that allows me to tag and categorize my books (using their shelves) in a way that satisfies me. I use it primary to track my owned books in a way that I can browse and find what I want to read by genre and medium. I also agree the book page is far more useful.
I strongly prefer Storygraph for tracking my reading. I enjoy the stats and ability to add custom stat trackers. And I love the challenges. I've created a handful for myself, including a personal book bingo--and I love that there are read around the world challenges, and most of my favorite BookTube readathons are there. But I agree that the book page doesn't highlight what I want to know most. Simply putting the stars and number of people who rated them would help. I also don't find the AI preview useful. It just adds clutter. But thankfully, we can turn that off.
I totally agree on pretty much all these points. The additional features and more organised community aspects make The StoryGraph great. I kind of ignore the AI summary but I didn't know you could turn it off.
I saw your original video, and decided to join you. About 3 months ago, I gave up. Sticking with Goodreads. I enjoy its book page better. I have become mainly a kindle reader which ties into Goodreads very well. While in any bookstore I too look at Goodreads before purchasing, so it can benefit non Amazon stores too. I’m a lone wolf reader and just don’t need any read along community or book discussion groups. Booktube channels are fine for me. Thanks for all your videos!
I ditched Goodreads a few years ago for StoryGraph plus and there’s no looking back. The ratings on Goodreads as far as I can tell are completely meaningless and I find that the quality of books that I’m reading since I left Goodreads has improved vastly.
I have been with Goodreads since 2012, but I’m not entirely satisfied and would like to find an alternative. I recently tried The StoryGraph, Hardcover, and LibraryThing. I first tried LibraryThing briefly in 2009, but had almost forgotten about it; now I find that it seems the best of the available alternatives. Its main disadvantage is that it’s not pretty! It has an old-fashioned look. But it seems to work well and has many features. The StoryGraph fails for me at the first hurdle: it does a bad job of importing my books from Goodreads. I had 911 books to import, and I found that it had imported 2386 books. Huh? I found that, where I’d read books multiple times, it imported them multiple times, creating multiple entries: surely a bug, which should have been fixed before now. Also, it told me that about 17% of my books are audiobooks (in fact none of them are) and about 5% of my books are not in English (in fact all of them are in English). Hardcover does a better job of importing my books, but a worse job of importing my reviews: it often merges my paragraphs into one, and converts all my apostrophes (’) to primes ('). It provides no way of searching among my own books, which I think is essential: I understand that this will be provided in a future enhancement. I do like the look of Hardcover, but for me it’s not ready yet. LibraryThing imports my books and my reviews well enough, with relatively few problems. I can search among my books, and sort them in many ways. I can import books in three different formats, and export in four different formats. It could do with a more attractive user interface, but apart from that it seems a good candidate to replace Goodreads. And it has mobile phone apps, if you want them (I don’t). It’s completely free: I understand that it provides special services to libraries, and gets its funding from them. It says it has more than 3 million users: small compared with Goodreads, but respectable enough.
I think its worth another try with Storygraph. They improve constantly, and also the book data that often times gets imported wrong from GR gets corrected by librarians every day. To try if its better now, you could just go and delete all books in your account and reimport from Goodreads or maybe LibraryThing (?). Then look if it got all those rereads and formats correct this time around.
Have you made the switch, or sticking with both?
I made the switch some years ago - I kept both for a whole year and the following year I decided to keep only The StoryGraph.
I’ve been using Fable more lately and I like it as well. StoryGraph and Fable have features that differ from each other, so I’ll keep them both 😊
@virginiareads I tried out Fable and enjoyed it. Although I'm not sure it's for me, mostly because I'm not really looking for the social features quite as much.
I'm probably sticking with both for basically the same reasons you mentioned in the video
They're both a fucking waste of time. Just read the books you feel like reading.
I love storygraph. The content warnigs are useful. I do not read reviews ever, so it's not a minus for me. The star rating could be higher and have the reviewer count as well
Same I love the trigger warning and I find it very easy to do reviews on storygraph as well it's very user friendly
Reviewer count is a great idea and yep, I love the content warnings too.
I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that part of The Storygraph was intentionally designed to focus less on star ratings and other reviews. I don't recall where I heard that any more, but I recall that being what made me start using it. So, it makes sense that the lack of that feature would bother you if it's that important to your book choice.
Yeah that's true. That difference is for sure why some people enjoy the platform so I understand
I love that the star rating is "hidden" because I don't like being influenced by it. It would be great to choose a more prominent star display in the settings to see it at one glance :)
@freundschiff577 True! It would be nice to be able to sort/filter for it.
The StoryGraph has always liked giving people choices. Maybe they could be convinced to let us choose where the rating is (the top or the bottom)? I’ll see if I could ask them on Instagram or Threads!
Interesting! I did try switching to Storygraph last year but didn't keep up with it for 3 main reasons:
1) The review page was too in-depth, I didn't want to fill in all that stuff every time (but I know that all that info is a main draw of Storygraph so...)
2) I missed the social/community feeling of seeing what all my friends are reading right on the home page
3) Same as you said, book page format was a bit off
I totally agree with you! But you don't have to fill in all the stats in reviews, I usually don't:)
@Andrea_769 My perfectionist brain couldn't handle that haha
@jaimee-kate Yeah I get that😆
Great experiment. I hate to admit it, but generally I prefer the unchanged Goodreads better than Storygraph like an old buddy duddy. But I've got a lot more used to Storygraph over the past few months. I think I'm gonna keep duel updating for a little longer but I really would like it if Storygraph had more reviews and implemented some review sorting so it would be easier for me to abandon Goodreads entirely.
I totally agree. I think it's just a matter of time honestly
Tip from me: email it to them! They are working this year a lot on keeping people at SG, so they are very open for tips about how to do that
@@arobinreads Love that. I forget that some of these sites actually want feedback.
Agreed. It honestly also feels super empty for me, like a ghost town whereas my Goodreads has a constant flow of updates etc.
@@AmandaDuncil I've been working really hard to find other people on Storygraph, so it feels less empty now than before, but yes that's definitely a big issue.
Great review, thorough and well presented. Thank you! I am about 90% convinced to switch over to StoryGraph.
Haha thank you. I'd be interested to hear if you ever get to 100%
both "filter reviews" and "display ratings distribution" are features that storygraph creators plan to work on "up next", according ot their roadmap! :D
Glad you are still gonna use The Storygraph ☺️
I switched to the Storygraph 2 years ago and did not regret it one bit. I love the App even though its a little complicated at first sight. The Stats, the challenges and adding books yourself is just so much fun to use ☺️😍
@@johanna1994karin I totally agree. I really enjoy looking at the stats at the end of each month.
The AI suggestions are such a cool feature in storygraph. On the book page when you click personalized, it gives you a good breakdown of why you might like or dislike a book based on your previous ratings. It also gives you a good short synopsis of the book. I keep going back to StoryGraph for that feature alone.
I prefer having to scroll down to see the rating because sometimes I want to add the book without having its rating spoiled for me - I dont want to be influenced before Ive read it.
That's totally fair and understandable!
I absolutely love Storygraph! Used it since 2021 & tell everyone I know that's into reading about it. I love the content warnings, reading challenges, stats, adding books & more. For me personally I really only read the description of the book & the content warnings to decide if I want to read it. I rarely look at reviews. I only give a star rating to look back on for myself to see what kinda books I like. I think one of my fav recent finds about it is the owned books section. You can add books you own to it & it gives you a bunch of stats & you have a little online library of your own. One of my main goals for 2025 is to significantly lower the amount of unread books along with branching out more of my comfort zone so that means lots of trips to the library & Libby as well😄
It's interesting you like the goodreads book page so much because I'm an old fuddy duddy who misses the more streamlined book page they used to have.
I've been using both apps simultaneously for a few years and this year is the first time gr was really an afterthought. I think I'm two months behind updating over there!
But it's still hard to leave because I have more than ten years of history with GR.
There is a way to switch editions on GR btw but you were right, it's convoluted and you can accidentally mess it up very easily.
When it comes down to it Storygraph has much more accessible, visible data on my own reading and those graphs and summaries are what I love the most. I also got to try their new buddy read feature this year and it worked very well.
I actually looked up the edition switching on Goodreads after scheduling this video and I found it! But yeah, not very intuitive at all you're right 😅
@GinaLuciaReads it is one of the things they got worse when they redesigned the book pages to be more ad heavy. 😭
If I didn't say above though, I really appreciated your video! Lovely to hear how you use both platforms and what your priority with each is.
Bravo for such a comprehensive comparison and having the integrity to keep true to your values. For me Goodreads is just plain unattractive. The StoryGraph’s clean aesthetic is simply on another level. Having that buy book from Amazon tab would drive me up the wall. Honestly if the StoryGraph didn’t exist I wouldn’t use anything. For me it’s just excellent and provides everything I need. I am not so concerned about the book summary page as I have become accustomed to its layout on StoryGraph and I only just read a few reviews to make my final decision about reading a book or not. However I do think it will keep on improving and it’s highly likely that some if not all of the elements you desire will be added in the future. I also agree that supporting the independent creators has merit and I aim to upgrade to pro user in the new year purely to support them. It’s one of those rare apps that looks great and does what it sets out to do extremely well. I am all in. 😊
I completely agree. I think it's only a matter of time before The StoryGraph eclipses Goodreads in pretty much every area that matters.
Good breakdown! I switched to The StoryGraph this year and I'm loving it so far. I personally like that I have to actively look for the average rating, because I tend to be influenced by it, however, I've read highly rated books I didn't like and mid-rated books I absolutely loved. I don't want to be dissuaded from reading a book and potentially discovering a hidden gem just because other people didn't enjoy it very much. And on Goodreads, there's no way of avoiding the average rating, so I think the SG's solution is better, since it's the user's choice whether or not they look at it.
I agree that the reviews should be searchable etc, but since the SG keeps getting updates I have no doubt that we'll see such a change in the near future :)
That's true. Quite a few people are saying that being influenced by the star rating can be a bad thing which is giving me something to think about for sure!
I understand where you’re coming from if reviews are important to you. Personally I like that the average rating is hidden in SG and think it would be a shame if they changed it. I honestly think the average rating means very little because a lot of people will 5 star any book they like even if their actual review is fairly negative, some rate books before they’re even released and you have issues with coordinated review bombing on some books. I don’t want any of that stuff coming to SG. I do wish we could filter the reviews though especially as I prefer to read 1 and 2 star reviews
Yeah you're right about that. I've done a video about that exact thing in the past. Star ratings are definitely not 100% reliable especially if there's no moderation
I think the best feature StoryGraph added this year, or more changed like, is that it allows you to add more tbr books.
I agree, I also can't let go of Goodreads it seems for the reason that it's interface is more to my liking. Although I do like the analytics on StoryGraph. Like you I will also be using both for the time being.
Helpful video. I opened Goodreads for the first time in years.
If you look on the storygraph's roadmap page where you can request and vote for new features/bug fixes, they are actually in progress of overhauling the review system. I'm not sure if they'll move the rating spot on the book page, but I do know a star breakdown and review sorting are coming soon! I do also like checking the rating for a book when I'm at the bookstore/library and maybe its because I could never get into goodreads and am biased but the quick scroll to the bottom of the page doesn't bother me. I really love that the developers are constantly listening to feedback and working to make the app better all the time, they just added the 'paused' feature for books that you don't want to completely dnf but have put down for the moment and I am loving it!
I saw that, I love that they're constantly adding stuff too and yep, I saw they have review improvements on the horizon. Can't wait for those!
I prefer the stats on storygraph as well as the ability to add books. Since I am part of one of my favorite author's patreon, I have access to books she's yet to release. As such, my reading goal is MUCH MORE accurate on storgraph than Goodreads.
I DO utilize kindle unlimited as well as my local libraries digital library and so when I start a book on my kindle, it automatically adds to the Goodreads currently reading list and I do like the convenience of that.
I just use both. I use Goodreads reviews and Storygraph stats. I can't believe Goodreads is still so clunky after all these years but I do find the reviews helpful.
Honestly authors care about having reviews on Goodreads, but not StoryGraph. Which is why I use both
Thanks for this review. Also you can switch editions in Goodreads - click Book Details, then Editions.
Thank you! I did some exploring after I posted the video and found it too. A little difficult to find but it's definitely there.
Ugh, I WISH I could use Storygraph. My entire reading life consists of reading books from smaller publishers. If I see a book that interests me, my first step is to look up the publisher, and the quickest way to do that is typically Goodreads. Storygraph's publication info is just not up-to-date enough for me, because I'm often reading from very tiny publishers. I've tried, and I submit tickets when I find books without a publisher. But I just don't have time for it. Thanks for this review!!!
You could apply to be a librarian for SG, and just care for your own tbr and read books, then you would be able to quickly add all the indie publishers yourself.
Its totally valid just to care for your own collection and no tickets of other users, as it still helps improving the whole page.
@@pirlie interesting! I will look into that!
You can actually change editions on Goodreads too, I wish there is a more prominent way to do it though. I read across a few languages and Storygraph just isn't as convenient for me to get the titles I want. Not fond of creating my own titles on Storygraph too. But! I like how Storygraph can be totally private.
I've got the same opinion as you and enjoy both for the same reasons. I will always ask StoryGraph if I will enjoy a new book though over Goodreads.
I have been using both this year, and I prefer the Storygraph. I pay for the plus features and really like it. Plus, the Storygraph updates show that they actually care a bit about their users. My favorite part of the Storygraph is the DNF features, surprisingly. I like seeing my stats for this part and it has changed some of my book browsing habits.
I’m going to give Storygraph another chance (tried briefly this year then stoped). I think I do like Goodreads mostly for seeing what other people are reading for ideas to add to my TBR, but agree I don’t much like the interface and want alternatives to Amazon companies. Thanks for the series!
Oh I love that! I hope it works out for you!
I've never used Goodreads so I didn't need to switch. I got into booktube only a couple of years ago.
I use both, but I much prefer StoryGraph! The tbr generate feature is wonderful and it’s how I pick all of my reads now!
I mostly use storygraph now, the interface needs some work, but they are constantly updating it, so I can have some patience.
I think the only thing I miss in comparison to Goodreads is a bit of the social aspect, between not having that many friends that use storygraph and that the social tab doesn't share the notes you do while reading, it would be nice if there was a way to interact more there.
About filtering the reviews, I once sent a feedback email and was told it is something they have in the roadmap, ao I'm ok for now.
Also, I like how easy it is to add a book, and how the "not a book" is just a label and not a restriction about what it can be on the database.
Overall, I think I'll continue to use it as my main app, and now and then I'll add the finished books in Goodreads, and maybe lurk what my friends are reading there.
Yes I love the fact that they have a roadmap. I think it's only a matter of time that we get the features we're looking for honestly.
Yes! Goodreads is definitely still my main app too. The StoryGraph is good but it has some issues for sure
I have used both the last two years. I only keep GoodReads because older family won't switch over to storygraph.
I tried storygraph but it only imported about 30% of my goodreads info. There was way too much for me to input manually so i was like nope not for me :/
I'm like you, I use them both. Not crazy about Storygraph's home page
I completely agree with you!
I basically never look at the book on Storygraph when I want to look up a book and instead go to Goodreads.
To me I'm also annoyed at the AI book recommendation thing and that even once you've actually made it to the reviwes by actual people, it'll often show reviews without any written explanation but instead just the star rating.
I definitely switched to Storygraph as my primary platform now but unfortunately it can't replace how I interact with Goodreads yet.
You can deactivate the AI feature again, it's deactivated by default. They made a good IG post about that feature a couple days ago 😊
@_daniela_s thank you🫶🏻, I'll check it out!
Goodreads can’t show you a review if the person in question hasn’t written one. I normally review any book I read recently, but for books I read long ago, I may remember enough to give an approximate rating, but I don’t remember enough to write a review, so I usually leave it blank. Other people may not have the time or energy to write a review, even for recent books.
@jonathan.palfrey yes I know, but on goodreads the website automatically sorts them so that popular written reviews are at the top and it's not just a lot of random star ratings, which I prefer
You can filter out reviews without any written explanation on StoryGraph… the checkbox is right there at the top
Ratings for Colleen Hoover books showed me how rubbish ratings are. Seen it time and time again, and I'm always disappointed by ratings.
Given that personally it seems the worst criteria to judge a book by, I'm surprised that you've given it a primary priority but to each their own.
I love Goodreads, especially as an author, but Storygraph stole my heart this year. I am a slut for stats. My only issues with Storygraph is that I can't find a lot fo ARCs I read, which messes up my yearly goal. However, the stats, being able to EASILY choose the edition (GOODREADS 👀), and the general easiness of use. Fable, however, is one I'm staying away from because it just confuses me lol. Im too old for this many apps.
Great video as always! ❤
Totally understandable you want to keep both. Doing reviews on both though seems a lot of work for only a small thing you want from GR?
I don't care about star ratings or reviews, so that doesn't bother me on SG. I like to chat on Discord and see YT videos, but that's it
I thought it might be a lot of work honestly which is why I tried it for a year, but it's just a copy and paste job so takes no energy at all.
I think what is holding Storygraph back is its design. They need to hire a good user experience (UX) designer to make tweaks where needed and overhaul where needed. I believe that one move could improve the Storygraph experience considerably.
Same I tried it if I want to switch but am keeping my stuff on both
I'm still going to be using both. Goodreads has a lot of useful on-the-go features (as you've mentioned) and Storygraph picks up the slack and fills the gaps that GR leaves. Not to mention the majority of readers still use GR. I have been using GR since 2011 so it has all my reads and stats for over a decade, which I am in no way considering leaving behind. Yeah, so they farm my data. Meh. I feel like it's an even trade for me.
so I finally switched over my goodreads data after your video and they kept all my old goodreads shelves onto storygraph. I for some reason thought they didn't do shelves. Maybe it's new?
Hmmm are they the tag feature?
@@GinaLuciaReads yes it makes it so I can finally go to my tags and just click it and find all the books I have under that tag that I want to read. So maybe it's something I just didn't know was there. I just tried it on storygraph I put Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid on to be read and was able to add a tag that transferred over from my goodreads import.
Not a new feature. It is very similar to GR for sure
I switched from Goodreads to Storygraph because Goodreads was saying I read books that I never heard of .
Amazing. I wonder how that could happen. It hasn’t happened to me.
Maybe some wrong synchronizing from a kindle? so weird
I have heard that they have been doing weird things for a while. Randomly adding or deleting books from your account, whilst you are not doing anything
I've been on Goodreads since 2011. While it could definitely use some significant updates and enhancements, I've yet to find an alternate platform that allows me to tag and categorize my books (using their shelves) in a way that satisfies me. I use it primary to track my owned books in a way that I can browse and find what I want to read by genre and medium. I also agree the book page is far more useful.
StoryGraph actually has a page for all your owned books. You can filter very easily there, especially with genres and tags you made yourself
Plus, you don’t need to create shelves on StoryGraph in order to search by genre or medium. Those are built-in options to search for.
@zixaz00 one of the things I love most
I strongly prefer Storygraph for tracking my reading. I enjoy the stats and ability to add custom stat trackers. And I love the challenges. I've created a handful for myself, including a personal book bingo--and I love that there are read around the world challenges, and most of my favorite BookTube readathons are there.
But I agree that the book page doesn't highlight what I want to know most. Simply putting the stars and number of people who rated them would help. I also don't find the AI preview useful. It just adds clutter. But thankfully, we can turn that off.
I totally agree on pretty much all these points. The additional features and more organised community aspects make The StoryGraph great. I kind of ignore the AI summary but I didn't know you could turn it off.
I saw your original video, and decided to join you. About 3 months ago, I gave up. Sticking with Goodreads. I enjoy its book page better. I have become mainly a kindle reader which ties into Goodreads very well. While in any bookstore I too look at Goodreads before purchasing, so it can benefit non Amazon stores too. I’m a lone wolf reader and just don’t need any read along community or book discussion groups. Booktube channels are fine for me. Thanks for all your videos!
Oooo that's so interesting! I'm glad you came to the conclusion that suits you!
You persuaded me to join Fable, not long ago :-)
That's amazing! How are you finding it?
@ I really like it…… But I believe it’s a working development still…….Hope it gets better…… Keep up your good work on the channel and thank you
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’m curious about StoryGraph, so I think for 2025 I’ll try using both as well.
You absolutely should! It's a great platform.
I ditched Goodreads a few years ago for StoryGraph plus and there’s no looking back. The ratings on Goodreads as far as I can tell are completely meaningless and I find that the quality of books that I’m reading since I left Goodreads has improved vastly.
I have been with Goodreads since 2012, but I’m not entirely satisfied and would like to find an alternative. I recently tried The StoryGraph, Hardcover, and LibraryThing. I first tried LibraryThing briefly in 2009, but had almost forgotten about it; now I find that it seems the best of the available alternatives. Its main disadvantage is that it’s not pretty! It has an old-fashioned look. But it seems to work well and has many features.
The StoryGraph fails for me at the first hurdle: it does a bad job of importing my books from Goodreads. I had 911 books to import, and I found that it had imported 2386 books. Huh? I found that, where I’d read books multiple times, it imported them multiple times, creating multiple entries: surely a bug, which should have been fixed before now. Also, it told me that about 17% of my books are audiobooks (in fact none of them are) and about 5% of my books are not in English (in fact all of them are in English).
Hardcover does a better job of importing my books, but a worse job of importing my reviews: it often merges my paragraphs into one, and converts all my apostrophes (’) to primes ('). It provides no way of searching among my own books, which I think is essential: I understand that this will be provided in a future enhancement. I do like the look of Hardcover, but for me it’s not ready yet.
LibraryThing imports my books and my reviews well enough, with relatively few problems. I can search among my books, and sort them in many ways. I can import books in three different formats, and export in four different formats. It could do with a more attractive user interface, but apart from that it seems a good candidate to replace Goodreads. And it has mobile phone apps, if you want them (I don’t). It’s completely free: I understand that it provides special services to libraries, and gets its funding from them. It says it has more than 3 million users: small compared with Goodreads, but respectable enough.
I think its worth another try with Storygraph. They improve constantly, and also the book data that often times gets imported wrong from GR gets corrected by librarians every day.
To try if its better now, you could just go and delete all books in your account and reimport from Goodreads or maybe LibraryThing (?). Then look if it got all those rereads and formats correct this time around.
I might have to look that up then because I'm thinking about trying out more platforms this year. Thank you for sharing.