[Disclaimer: I was not compensated by anyone for my opinions, nor am I affiliated with any of these reading trackers except as another reader/user. Information in this post is true to the best of my knowledge at the time of posting. If I have incorrect information, whether due to human error or an app update, please feel free to correct me in the comments!]
I’m breaking up with Goodreads finally after 15 years! Please applaud.
Listen, we had a good run, and I’m grateful to have had Goodreads in my life for 15 years, but it’s past time.
Why, you ask? Oh wow, SO many reasons, but here’s a big one: Amazon bought out Goodreads a few years ago. And in case you missed the memo (no judgment): Amazon isn’t doing our earth or society any favors with its business practices and exaltation of consumerism. In general, I’m trying not to reward them for their complete and utter lack of regard for humankind. Again, no judgment if you’re not there yet (I’m still working on it myself), but I’m putting it on your radar.
I had already cancelled our Prime membership when I made this decision, and I thought I couldn’t ditch Amazon completely yet because I love my Kindle Scribe to the point of obsession (I use it every day for everything). But I mostly get my ebooks from Libby anyway, and I just discovered Kobo (I’ll report back in a future post), so Kindle, your days are numbered.
The Ex 🚩
But let’s circle back to Goodreads’ red flags, shall we? In the 15 years I’ve relied on Goodreads, they’ve made hardly any (if any?) improvements or changes to what they offer, completely disregarding users’ requests for half star ratings or DNF status (I did recently get an email that they’re adding the latter, but come on) or the frequent criticisms from users that the customer service is basically nonexistent, the UI is outdated, the book recommendations are bad, and the lack of guardrails against review bombing and harassment, among other issues. I’m sure there are more red flags I’ve missed, but a quick internet search will give you a sense of just how much Goodreads has failed and continues to fail prioritizing the experiences of authors and readers alike.
Here are some of Goodreads features that I thought were *special* but are actually beige flags at best:
- Proximity and convenience – Goodreads was always a short reach away in my phone or on a computer and because of the internet, I could never unintentionally lose my reading log or TBR.
- Rating and review system – I could give books I read a 1-5 star rating (no partial stars allowed though!) and write reviews that other Goodreads users could see.
- Challenges – I could set a yearly reading challenge for myself and feel validated when I completed it. (Recently, they also started offering specific micro-challenges for their community.)
- Custom lists – I sorted my books into lists that I created, including books I planned to read in a given calendar year, PD books, books to read aloud with my kids someday, books written by authors I’ve met, etc.
- Reading recommendations – Goodreads highlights curated lists of titles in emails and uses an algorithm (supposedly) to offer individual recommendations based on what I enjoyed (I’m not at all not convinced of the latter).
- Book giveaways – So generous! I mean, I only won the one time in 15 years and I never received the book and my efforts to follow up were foiled at every turn, but WOW!
As we proceed through the other reading tracker options I explored, you can generally assume that they have (at minimum) some version of the features above. (Exception: not all have book giveaways, so I will try to make a note of those that do!) The best ones checked all of those boxes and then some boxes I didn’t even know could be checked.
Some other reasons people hesitate to quit Goodreads:
- Well-established library – I think other reading trackers have caught up though at this point.
- Sheer volume of reviews – Fair, but we can fix that if we all move on, just saying! (I have seen the argument that we should keep adding our ratings/reviews to Goodreads because they help authors the most there, so if you need to “keep Goodreads number” to help out authors, I respect that.)
- Kindle sync – When you enable this connection, it updates your Goodreads log automatically when you read a book…but honestly, how hard is it to do that yourself?
- Friends – Most people still use Goodreads, so it’s easier to find and connect with your friends and acquaintances on there at this point. Again, we can change that. We can peer pressure our friends to join us on the superior platforms, most of which have even better opportunities and avenues to connect socially.
Don’t gaslight yourself into sticking with Goodreads just because it’s comfortable and familiar. If you’re worried about losing years of reading data and your TBR making the switch, be sure to pick an alternative that has the option to import your Goodreads data. Importing your data to a new reading tracker can be time-consuming, complicated, and/or imperfect, but it’s ultimately worth it, even when you have nearly 2000 books to transfer over like I did.
Exploring My Options
Before I could quit Goodreads, I needed a soft place to land. Spreadsheet reading trackers and analog reading trackers are amazing options for some people (love that journey for you!), but apps work better for my needs. I dabbled in Fable last year, and I’d heard great things about StoryGraph, so I decided it was time to explore more of my options with intention. To celebrate Love of Reading Month, I embarked on a mission to find the new love of my reading tracker life.
Leading up to February, I downloaded and researched a dozen other reading trackers, uploading my Goodreads records when possible for continuity. Within a few days of preliminary exploration and tracking, I eliminated 7 that weren’t a good fit for me.
Then, for the entire month of February and most of March, I tracked my reading on the remaining 5 in addition to Goodreads to give myself time to experience the full range of features and functionality. I have great things to say about each of them, so ultimately, it came down to what I’m looking for in a reading tracker.
Moving On
Over the course of the next week, I plan to share my experiences with all the reading trackers I explored. (I’ll update this post later with links to each of those posts. You can use the links to jump to information about a specific Goodreads alternative, or, for a glimpse of this insane rabbit hole I’ve dug for myself, you can read each one sequentially.)
Tomorrow, we’ll explore the reading trackers I briefly flirted with before moving on, which I have affectionately dubbed The Rebounds.
paige in the library 