Last month, on Sarah’s Book Shelves Live Patreon feed, Sarah and two of her co-hosts discussed the various ways they utilize Goodreads and The StoryGraph as part of their reading lives. It was a fascinating discussion, and I thought it could be an interesting blog post since the way I use these apps is a bit different. Let’s discuss!
How I Use Goodreads
I’ve been on Goodreads since 2011, and as of today, I have marked 1,643 books as read. After Instagram, Goodreads is my favorite social media app because it has a strong community aspect that I don’t think The StoryGraph has quite mastered yet. Here are some of the top ways I use Goodreads:
As my ongoing TBR list
Whenever I hear about a book I want to add to my TBR list, I automatically pull up Goodreads to add it to my “want-to-read” shelf. I’ve also created different shelves for all of my recommendation sources, such as Currently Reading (broken down by which host recommended the book), Sarah’s Book Shelves, Book Riot, etc. This is where my main TBR list lives and one of my rules for myself when it comes to buying books is that it has to be a book that is on my Goodreads TBR list. This is supposed to help me rein in my book spending, but I don’t know if that’s working out as expected.
Since I use the want-to-read Goodreads feature as my TBR, you might think I have a lot of books on this shelf. (Like my friend who has an 800-book-deep Goodreads TBR.) But nope! Currently, I have 180 books on this shelf, and I try my best to keep it under 200 books at any given time. I will regularly remove books from the list, especially if I see the Goodreads rating has dropped below 3.7 stars or a friend gave it a bad review (or a review that clues me in that it’s not a Stephany book). I also try to remove books that have been sitting on the list for many years. (If it’s been on the list for more than five years, I’m probably not that interested in reading it, you know?)
To track what I’m currently reading
Whenever I start reading a book, I immediately update Goodreads to make sure it shows as “Currently Reading.” And then every day or so, I’ll update the page count because I just find that process to be fun. Goodreads doesn’t use that data in any way (that I know of), but it helps my brain see that I’m making progress through a book, even if it’s minimal.
I also update Goodreads almost immediately after finishing a book. I’ll give it a star rating and then a quick one- or two-sentence review. I haven’t always been good at leaving reviews of the books I read, but I’m trying to be better about that. When I finish a book, I also add it to a variety of different shelves: the current year (I have a shelf set up for each year I’ve been on Goodreads so I can keep track of how many books I’ve read each year), the genre, and any other factors I want to keep track of (aka: Book of the Month books, book club books, queer books, racial justice books, etc.).
To find recommendations for people
When people ask me for book recommendations, it feels like every single book I have ever read has left my brain. I cannot remember a single title so forget trying to recommend a book I loved and want someone to read! And that’s why I love Goodreads. Looking for a great romance? I can tap on my “romance” shelf on Goodreads, sort by rating, and boom. I’ve got a handful of easy recommendations. Looking for an outstanding audiobook for a road trip? Done – I can access my “audiobooks” shelf on Goodreads to find some options for you. I may not be able to remember my favorite books off the top of my head, but Goodreads has my back.
As historical context for my own reading life
Goodreads holds 14 years of data on my reading life, and I find it fascinating to look at it through a historical lens. I can see how my reading years have ebbed and flowed. For example, 2013 was the first year I read over 100 books but I didn’t regularly start reading 100+ books per year until 2017. I can see that 2020 was my highest reading year (153) while 2011 was my lowest (55). I can read old reviews and have concrete evidence of the way my views have changed dramatically over the last decade and a half. (One of my most popular reviews is of a Christian book where I went hog wild about all the Christian themes and how much I loved them… it’s a review I cringe about now, but I haven’t taken it down because it’s a look into who I was then.) It’s interesting to see how I rated certain books, especially if I reread the book many years later and have a different opinion. (Which has happened!)
To see what my friends are reading/rating
I receive a daily Goodreads email newsletter that updates me on what my friends are reading and what they are rating the books they’ve finished. I devour that email because I love being nosy about my friends’ reading lives, and I’ve received some great recommendations from it, too! Sure, I can find all of this out by scrolling the Goodreads app but I rarely do that, and typically rely on this email to get the updates I crave. This is the community aspect of Goodreads that I love. I can see what my friends are reading and comment on their reviews.
To read reviews
One of my favorite ways to use Goodreads is to read scathing reviews of books I didn’t like. Bonus points if it’s a popular book with a high Goodreads rating. Often, these reviews help me better understand my own thoughts and feelings about a book. After all, not every book is for every reader and what might have annoyed the shit out of me might be something another reader really loves. When I’m writing a review, I want to be honest about why I didn’t like a certain book without making people feel like I’m attacking them if they did love the book.
But also – it’s not always altruistic. I really love snarky reviews of books I didn’t love. It makes me feel less alone in my hatred and as if someone else “gets it.” Again, it’s the community part of Goodreads that keeps me coming back again and again.
Miscelleanous
There are some other miscellaneous ways I use Goodreads. For example, every year I set a reading goal, and I like that I can see my progress whenever I log into Goodreads through the web platform. (I don’t get too stressed out about this goal. I like making it challenging enough that it’ll be difficult but not impossible to complete. Currently, I’m 5 books behind on my 2025 goal, lolz.)
Every now and then, I enter the Goodreads giveaways (only when I get an email about it and only if it’s a print version of the book). I was more successful at winning these giveaways in the early days of Goodreads and haven’t won one of them in many, many years.
I will also use Goodreads to vet books I hear about on a podcast or find through Book of the Month. Typically, these are books that haven’t been published yet or have just come out, so they don’t have a ton of reviews. If I see one of these books has less than a 4.0 rating with under 100 reviews, I typically won’t add it to my TBR. Goodreads reviewers are usually quite generous with ratings, so a new book with a low rating is a red flag for me.
How I Use The StoryGraph
I am pretty new to The StoryGraph. I joined it a few years ago (and imported my entire Goodreads data at that time), but only started actually using it this year. I don’t find it to be as user-friendly as Goodreads, but that could be because I’m just more familiar with Goodreads. Just like Goodreads, I use The StoryGraph to keep track of what I’m currently reading, and every night, I update my page count (or audiobook hours). The reason I do this is that The StoryGraph provides a delightful infographic at the end of every month. (TBH, the graphic could be prettier, but beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.) The StoryGraph pulls together some of my bookish stats – books read, average rating, average time to finish a book, highest-rated books, genre breakdown, etc. – and puts them in an infographic that I can share on social media. It also makes a calendar of your reading life throughout the month, showing what books you read each day and how many pages you read of said books, which I think is really fun! (I don’t share this on social media because it’s likely only fascinating for me.)
The other benefits of The StoryGraph are that you can choose quarter- and half-star ratings for books and can mark books as DNFs. (Goodreads doesn’t have this option, although you can add an “exclusive” shelf to your account that can function as an abandoned shelf.) I also love the wrap-up after finishing a book. It’s almost like a survey you get to fill out to discuss the different moods (sad, tense, inspiring, funny, reflective, etc.) of the book as well as the characters, the pace, and trigger warnings.
I’m not really using The StoryGraph for anything more than tracking what I’m reading and using the infographic at the end of the month. I do try to check in on what my friends are reading when I’m updating my stats in the app, but I don’t know a lot of people who are using this app right now, so my friends list is rather pitiful.
Goodreads vs. The StoryGraph
If I had to pick just one app to use to track my reading, it would still be Goodreads. I need The StoryGraph to become more community-focused for me to change my opinion, but right now, it seems to be prioritizing personalized recommendations and infographics. I love the infographics, but have no use for the recommendations, so I never even look at those. Hopefully, The StoryGraph will continue to grow and add new features, to the point where it surpasses my love for Goodreads. For now, I’ll keep doing my thing and updating two apps at once.
Follow me on Goodreads and The StoryGraph!
Do you use Goodreads and/or The StoryGraph? If not, how do you keep track of your reading, your TBR, and all that jazz?
I use Goodreads. I rate books and leave a short review and that’s about it. I don’t look at people’s accounts very often, though I do use it to look up reviews.
For the most part my TBR list is managed within my library account. I have a “For Later” shelf and I add books to that and then every few weeks go in and order a new set of books. I think I have it below 100 titles, now? That’s always my goal or it can start to feel overwhelming!
My biggest issue with GR is not being able to give 1/2 stars, but I’m not convinced I care enough to switch. Though I have friends that have made the move to Storygraph and prefer it!
I just do NOT understand why Goodreads can’t get with the program and give us half-stars! It’s the ONE thing all of us have been clamoring for. NOBODY can figure this out?! Gah.
I have been using Goodreads since 2007! I was a beta user because my friend’s brother’s wife was friends with the person who developed (and eventually sold) goodreads! So I get to say I was a very very very early user! There are 1,660 books on my read shelf and 270 on my TBR. But I no longer use the TBR feature anymore so I should just empty that shelf. I need to do a blog post about how I use Libby. Since I exclusively read ebooks from Libby, I manage my TBRs there as I didn’t want to navigate between GR and Libby to figure out what to add to my hold list.
I exclusively use Goodreads to track what I’ve read. Since I read books on my kindle, they automatically get added as “currently reading” and then I manually add the physical books I read to Paul. I use the reading challenge, but you will not be surprised that I set a low number so as not to risk not achieving the goal! So I set it for 80 when in reality I will read 90+ books. I also use it to see if anyone I know has read a book that I want to read if I don’t have a strong feeling about whether I should read it.
I like the idea of Storygraph but doubt I will check it out because I don’t need another read ap. I also have a big excel spreadsheet from SBL that i use to track all the granular data, so I wouldn’t have a use for the data storygraph provides!
That’s so cool that you were a beta user of Goodreads! What a fun fact (for bookworms, lol, probably not for the general public). I definitely think you should write a post on how you use Libby. I really only use it for audiobooks (although these days I’m more apt to check Hoopla or Spotify) and romance e-books. I didn’t even know there was a TBR function, lol.
I got very overwhelmed by Sarah’s big excel spreadsheet so I went back to my normal one (with some of her fields added in that I liked). So it’s nice to have the graphs so I can track my reading on a monthly basis!
I listened to the episode and thought it was really interesting, but I also wanted to know how “normal” people use these apps and you just answered that for me!
I used Goodreads for a few years about 10 years ago. At first I liked it a lot, but over time I found that I just wasn’t using it. I think that I would get more out of it now, since back then I didn’t have any bookish friends, and now of course I would have a few long friends list. I think the key is that even though I read more now than I did back then, I still fell behind in keeping my read and currently reading tags updated. The TBR was a nightmare for me, since the ratio of books that I want to read is way more than the books I can read, and it just became a dumping ground of books that I hadn’t read. I think that if I used it now I would have to purge it every month to keep it under control.
Do I want to give GR another shot? Hmmm…let me think on that. Storygraph is a no for right now because of the drawbacks they mentioned on the episode plus your take.
I really like the community aspect of Goodreads, so that’s why I keep using it, but that may not be something you care all that much about, especially since you can get that community feel from blogs! You definitely have to keep up with it, which is something I enjoy, but I know not everyone does!
I have goodreads, but I never use it. I don’t use it to track, because I have a spreadsheet for that. I find the reviews to almost never gel with what I thought of the book, so I don’t read the reviews!
I also have a spreadsheet because I am a CRAZY PERSON, lol. I track my books in way too many places, probably.
The beauty of Goodreads reviews, though, is that you can find something that aligns with your views usually! Whenever I am hating a book that has a 4+ star rating, I’ll go and read reviews of people who have given it 1 or 2 stars and I’m like, “MY PEOPLE!” It makes me feel less crazy.
I don’t use Goodreads or Storygraph. I do enjoy a scathing book review. But I secretly feel guilty about enjoying it! Silly, huh!
I love a scathing book review, too! You are not alone. 🙂
I am a Goodreads user, and I have to admit that I have not tried Storygraph because I’m intimated by the idea of transferring all my book data to a new platform. You and I use Goodreads very similarly. And I had to laugh at how every book you’ve ever read leaves your brain when someone asks for a recommendation! YES. Me too.
I do wish Goodreads made it easier to look at my past reads, or specifically my reads from a specific years. Too many click to get to that info.
Thankfully, The StoryGraph makes it pretty easy to import your Goodreads data but it was a little scary for me at first! I totally understand.
I don’t use either of these! I do everything the old fashioned way- I have a TBR list in my planner, and also a section where I write down each book I read. That’s it! Since I seem to like doing everything on paper, I’m thinking I should get a physical reading journal, the kind that has a place for you to write down a summary and rating, where you heard about the book, etc. Hmm! That would be fun. I’m going to do this.
Oh, you should totally get a reading journal! I have thought about getting one myself but then I realized that I track my reading in far too many places right now so I shouldn’t add something ELSE to my list. But I am tempted!
StoryGraph just isnt user friendly to me. I hate that because I want to support women owned business – but I cant ever find friends – reviews are hard to find.
I have been on Goodreads so long, I’ll never change.
My fav though lately is FABLE. The posts are like Instagram but all books & reviews – loving it!
I haven’t checked out Fable yet. I was turned off by their AI scandal so I’ve been hesitant to try it. And I probably don’t need yet another book app to track my reading, lol!
This is so interesting, Stephanie! I only use Goodreads to look at reviews when deciding whether I should purchase a book, whether I should get it from the library or whether I should read it at all.
My TBR list is not big-maybe 100 books? I never go through it and weed the books out, but I should. I never go after books that are trendy or just came out. I kind of just see the cover, see the summary on the flap, and then check it out. I rarely buy books but if I do- I do it from evil Amazon.
Goodreads is so helpful when it comes to figuring out what to read based on reviews! I like it for that aspect, too. It helps me figure out if I really want to read a certain book or not.
I try not to buy books from Amazon if I can help it, but sometimes I do, too! It’s hard!
That is so so cool you have that history there and can see how you have changed in your tastes and opinions. I remember reading a book you rated low many years ago and thinking “I wonder if she still feels this way!” What a blessing to be able to see ourselves change and know that is 100% normal.
I am really grateful for those reviews that make me feel seen and like I am not a weirdo for what I thought of a book. I really appreciate those people who leave them!
And I was totally LOLing at you saying you are nosy with that newsletter. Ha ha.
I need to listen to that podcast episode. I am always interested how pople make things work their way.
All that said… I think I made the switch from Goodreads to Storygraph this year.
Last year I did both too see a comparison and figure out which one I enjoy more.
Since the app is more for the stats for me Storygraph wins big time. The challenges and are cool – so much so that Goodreads stole that feature.
The main reason I moved to story graph is that I can add books that are not in the database. Goodreads used to let me do this but not anymore. And once its is not published on the English speaking market books are rarely in the system. It annoys me. It is very US centered.
I would enjoy the Kindle connection to good reads but again blocked for German users. So another feature not working for m. I hate that they don’t have the DNF thing too.
Overall I am pro Storygraph but I have to admit, the reviews and community aspect of seeing what people read is definitely better on food reads. I still use it to check there. In the end I do update read book there as well but I dont do the updating.
Unfortunatly Storygraph has a bug and often enough it’s not tracking my daily reads and messes up my stats. I hope this get fixed.
I am planning to host a story graph challenge next year. So I hope you’ll join.