Goodreads vs. Storygraph : Which app is better for logging books read and tracking TBR?

I mentioned in my TBR or personal update video at the end of last year that I use Goodreads and until there is a legitimate competitor it will stay that way. A few people commented that Storygraph is getting better by the day and it is easy to transfer reading data. So I decided to give it a try. Here’s what happened.

First thing, I had to sign up with Storygraph and transfer my data. I waited until I finished one book but before I logged starting another so it was a clean transfer. I didn’t know what to expect.

As a reader
-Not all the books I read have been on Storygraph, especially the indie books. As an indie author, I read other indie authors. Not being able to accurately track my reading or having to jump through hoops is not what I’m here for.
-I really like the graphs and charts. I’m a nerd.

As an author

-Started on Feb 1, waiting for Goodreads to import. They did this within an hour, yay!
I looked up my books first, some have data, and some don't (missing page counts or covers). It looks like whichever people reviewed my book on Goodreads, if they exported and then imported it to Storygraph the reviews are showing through.
-My books DID have missing info but all my books were there. So I submitted tickets to correct issues.
-There is no author dashboard for me to see how many reviews each book has, to read counts, etc.
Overall, I don’t love maintaining both. I can see the potential in Storygraph to take off if they made it more author-friendly and easier to add new indie books to the catalog.

What are your thoughts?

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[MKWilliams]

Follow me on Goodreads and Storygraph:

[REMurphy]

Ty for another video. Ten years in and you still constantly enlighten! I can tell you what not to do, fiddle with goodreads when you start out and forget about it for ten years lol It’s been an adventure straightening things out.

[quinnwinchester]

I'm a indie author myself, as well! The videos you've posted have helped me so much!

[MargaretPinard]

Author dashboard on TSG would be a good idea... though they are more reader-facing than author. I'm fine with that. It's less for piling up RVs for an algo boost and more tracking, readathon community stuff, which I am all for.

[Aromatherapist_tris]

I’ve found StoryGraph is more reader friendly, if you’re just interested in tracking StoryGraph is much better. Goodreads is more author friendly, and it’s good to keep as an author. But I’ve also found that Goodreads was almost impossible to get my book on it. Maybe do a video on adding books to Goodreads if you haven’t? 😅 Whereas StoryGraph is so simple, I can click a button and add an ISBN and (theoretically cause I haven’t tried) it will upload it based on that ISBN. For now, I keep both but update StoryGraph. Once my book (re)publishes I will probably be using Goodreads more.

[MargaretPinard]

I had to add a few books to GR, and I've had to add more than SG due to my weird reading choices, but for indie books, I consider it my little act of service to help them publicize their books. 🤓

[broccolibaz]

I've been maintaining both platforms for a couple of years now, and while Goodreads looks ancient and the app isn't very powerful, I find Storygraph so frustrating. Every time I try to add an indie book with the ISBN my request fails. I hate the AI-generated summaries and reviews. I do like how easy it is to add a book by its format, and I like the reading challenges and community areas. It does feel like Goodreads delivers the most basic features better, though.