The StoryGraph – an app that permits you to monitor, charge, and evaluation the books you’ve learn amongst many, many different issues – is one thing each guide lover ought to have of their app library. Full with lovely analytics, personalised suggestions, and a 1.2 million-member neighborhood, The StoryGraph is every little thing Goodreads isn’t. We spoke with cofounders Nadia Odunayo and Rob Frelow to dig extra deeply into every little thing we love about our new favourite guide app.
As a faithful reader and somebody who has been a member of the Goodreads neighborhood since 2013, I’ve discovered myself constantly pissed off with the app, particularly lately, for every little thing that Goodreads doesn’t do and doesn’t supply. Except for the truth that the app has barely up to date since its inception – making for an antiquated consumer expertise – there are palpable misses that might assist me to higher perceive what sort of reader I’m and, maybe, what sort of reader I wish to be. It’s inside this area that The StoryGraph shines.
Designed for readers, by readers
Nadia Odunayo, founding father of The StoryGraph, started engaged on the app in 2019:
I’d had the thought for years, however once I lastly had time to work on the undertaking in earnest initially of 2019, I had a lot enjoyable and knew… that I wished to in some way construct a enterprise within the books area.
Realizing that any profitable product depends on buyer analysis, I began speaking to readers and studying all about their ache factors with guide apps, making an attempt to see if there was room for one thing value constructing.
I began incorporating their suggestions into the product I used to be engaged on, and regularly doing that over the previous few years is what has led to what The StoryGraph is as we speak.
Odunayo’s dive into buyer wants and desires manifests in each function of The StoryGraph; there isn’t a single factor that hasn’t been thought by, and as a consumer, I respect a continued dedication to what readers are on the lookout for in a guide app. The StoryGraph is so clearly designed by somebody who’s a reader themselves, moderately than Goodreads, which hasn’t thought-about consumer expertise in what appears like a decade.
Along with taking its consumer desires into the app’s growth, The StoryGraph additionally offers much-needed area to unbiased authors. Cofounder Rob Frelow:
If as we speak you’re fascinated with a darkish homicide thriller set deep within the woods that includes a kidnapping, and tomorrow you’re within the temper for an emotional however humorous romantic comedy set in an enormous metropolis, yow will discover that on The StoryGraph. You aren’t caught by your outdated rankings or previous preferences. You received’t see any ‘promoted’ books, which indie authors can usually by no means afford. You’ve got full management.
That The StoryGraph not solely offers customers a totally autonomous expertise – but in addition makes room for unbiased authors moderately than selling books by family names – is the digital equal of strolling right into a Barnes and Noble versus your native bookstore.
The fact is that Goodreads dominates the guide app market because of Amazon’s $150 million greenback acquisition again in 2013, and what that has meant is that it merely hasn’t needed to innovate or enhance its consumer expertise as a result of it’s owned by the most important on-line retailer on the planet. The StoryGraph, however, has taken the time and the suggestions from its customers to create a very personalised expertise from which readers can truly profit.
A clear look and an abundance of options
The very first thing I observed after downloading The StoryGraph was how lovely it was. Easy and fashionable in its design aesthetic – and with out muddle or ads – the app’s finest options stand out with vivid, daring colours, making it straightforward to navigate. In an astute transfer by its founders, you may import your Goodreads library into The StoryGraph; when you’ve imported your library, you then fill out a desire record (selecting not solely particularly what you do wish to learn, but in addition what you don’t), and from there, the app begins to work its magic.
With regard to its options, there’s nothing Odunayo and Frelow haven’t thought-about. Inside The StoryGraph, a consumer can:
- Charge, evaluation, and monitor books
- Interact in a “Buddy Learn” with somebody from their neighborhood
- Preserve a studying journal
- Enter guide giveaways
- Arrange studying objectives by the variety of books, pages, or hours
- Browse guide suggestions by temper, tempo, sort, or web page quantity
- View personalised analytics
Whereas a few of these options will likely be acquainted to Goodreads customers, The StoryGraph takes them one step additional, enhancing the expertise for the reader by personalizing every function and providing decisions particular to an individual, moderately than suggestions for a complete neighborhood.
The StoryGraph’s standout function is, simply, the statistics. Odunayo says of them:
We use the stats to let you know what sort of reader you might be. For instance: ‘You primarily learn books which can be adventurous, humorous, and hopeful. You usually select books which can be fast-paced and 300-499 pages lengthy.’ Customers love this because it offers them a brand new approach to describe the type of books they love and assist them uncover new favourite reads.
Whereas I’m admittedly a more moderen member of The StoryGraph neighborhood, I’ve already proven my very own analytics to everybody in my life who I do know will respect their nuance, as a result of the factor about being a reader is that this: We gravitate towards books which can be acquainted to us. That might imply studying your favourite creator’s latest guide (or doing a reread, one other function of The StoryGraph) or, as is commonest, remaining inside particular genres or moods.
The great thing about these graphs is that in offering you with a visible audit of what you’ve learn, you at the moment are armed with the knowledge wanted to make completely different decisions and/or to develop as a reader do you have to select to take action. I had no concept that I learn extra up to date or historic books than the rest, and as I transfer into 2023, I will likely be placing a give attention to poetry – one thing I’ve liked deeply all through my complete life, however don’t learn almost sufficient as stand-alone collections – and sociology – one thing that has all the time me, however for no matter purpose, additionally one thing I apparently are likely to keep away from.
With out the information that The StoryGraph supplies, I wouldn’t know precisely the kind of reader I’m and would as an alternative work beneath the belief that I learn principally memoirs and true crime when, actually, I usually learn “fiction books which can be emotional, reflective, and darkish.”
Wrap-up
Whether or not you’re an insatiable reader, a typically reader, or an individual who reads one to 2 books a yr, The StoryGraph is an app that’s actually designed with you in thoughts. From its lovely, personalised analytics to its extremely particular guide suggestions, that is an app that each reader will love.
Take a look at The StoryGraph on Instagram right here, Twitter here, and desktop right here.
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