Why I Switched from Goodreads to the Storygraph

I switched from Goods to The Storygraph several months ago now and I’m going to tell you…I love this platform so much more. As you know, I love to read. And I’ve been on Goodreads since 2011, when I first discovered the platform. I used to be quite active and tons of shelves created, hundreds of books catalogued. But in recent years, my reading tastes have changed quite a lot and suddenly, all the books in my feed were just…nothing I wanted to read.

A lot of the books I saw in my feed were from genres and styles that I’m not into anymore, and that annoyed me. Because I had been so active in the community, I had a lot of friends with similar tastes, but 2021 Giulia reads different books and had different tastes than 2011 Giulia, and I’m okay with that, but Goodreads just didn’t feel like the place for me when it came to discovering new books and chatting books anymore.

I Discovered The Storygraph

I decided to look for another platform that was like Goodreads. Enter The Storygraph. While I’ve discovered some other reading apps since discovering The Storygraph, I think I like this one the best. What I love about The Storygraph is that the app makes recommendations to you based on what you read and that you can search based on your mood as well. You can complete a little reader’s profile, which you can change at any time, identifying your favourite’s genres and things you aren’t interested in reading or dislike. Also, you can join and create a ton of challenges. So I switched to The Storygraph to see if I would like using the app, because it has to work for you. And this app soooo worked for me.

Awesome App Features

I’m going to be honest and say it took me a little playing around to really get used to this, but I do totally love it! You can also follow and friend other users who have similar tastes and see what they are reading, just like you can on Goodreads, however I love that the main page isn’t a feed of books that friends are reading, but rather what you are reading, recommendations and a choice to explore what’s popular. The emphasis is more on reading than community, though that community is still there.

Also cool is that if you are into stats, as in what knowing what genres you are reading, the moods you went for, page length, pacing etc, then you have access to all of that information. It’s not my thing, but it some of the stats really surprised me as I didn’t consider myself a reader of horror or thrillers, and yet just look at the stats! I know a lot of people have switched to The Storygraph for this reason alone.

So those are some of the features. You can give books star ratings–including half star ratings– and review them. You can DNF a book, which you can’t do on Goodreads. What I love too is that you can see what others thoughts of the book in terms of pacing, plot and character development and a couple of other aspects. And, unlike Goodreads, this app provides content warnings. Apparently, this is a big deal for some users; they want to know whether a novel is going to deal with certain content that could potentially be upsetting. Being a child of the 80s and 90s, I thought this was really weird, so this isn’t a deal breaker for me, or a game changer but it’s a feature I know a lot of readers like. The app is really easy to use plus there is a plus feature for $4.99 USD where you can do even a little more, such as get unlimited recommendations based on your mood and reading preferences and even more stats as well as being able to weigh in on new app features and what you’d like from the app. I’m seriously considering taking advantage of it, though I have not yet.

But my Goodreads Library…

If you are worried about losing access to your Goodreads, or having to switch back and forth between two apps, don’t worry at all because Storygraph will import your Goodreads library for you so you don’t have to re-catalogue all of those books. I chose not to take advantage of that feature as I wanted a fresh start and can always go back to my Goodreads, but if you are looking to break from Goodreads entirely, or just love having all of your books catalogued in one place, then this is likely the best feature any new bookish app could offer us. Seeing as I was looking for something new entirely, and wasn’t really using Goodreads anymore, I don’t miss Goodreads at all. I’m not even really sure why I am using it anymore, come to think of it. Habit? I much prefer The Storygraph.

Final Thoughts

Those are my thoughts! I switched to The Storygraph because I needed a fresh start but I once I really started using the app, I found it so superior to Goodreads. I have also found that they add new features–adding friends is a recent addition, and even more recently they added the ability to buddy read with a group of people. I like that it’s free, but that you can still utilize a lot of amazing features without being a Plus member–though I think the Plus member fee is very reasonable as well. I really wish I had more friends on there, so if you would like to connect me, please do so on The Storygraph!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you never miss a new post! Also, subscribe to the newsletter as I offer extra content and freebies.