If you’re an avid reader, you probably track what you’ve been reading. If you like the idea of a website where you can share reviews and track your reading, you’re probably familiar with Goodreads, especially since it was acquired by Amazon and integrates with Kindle. But for a number of reasons, from geographical to philosophical, not everyone uses Amazon for their eBook consumption. Kobo is the clear competitor, and now they’re partnering with Goodreads biggest competitor, Storygraph!
For those who aren’t familiar with Storygraph, it’s more than just a way to track what you’re reading. It also creates almost a social network around book reviews, where users can submit everything from keywords to help others find books to trigger warnings about themes that may not be clear in the book description. There are reading challenges, suggestions for books you might like, and even publisher-sponsored giveaways.
Storygraph also prides itself on being independent-they aren’t owned by a conglomerate, and their buy links take you back to Bookshop.org. So if you’ve been looking for ways to de-Amazon your life, this is a great way to escape Goodreads and still track and enjoy community around your reading!
Kobo knows that integration with a website like that can be really helpful, and so now all Kobo ebooks are going to connect back with Storygraph. It’ll automatically update your Storygraph as you progress through a book, once you download and open a new book you’ll see it appear on your “reading” shelf, and the integration extends to both audiobooks and ebooks. And to further extend the user-friendly controls of Storygraph, you can manually override the integration whenever you don’t want to share what you’re reading. Even though no one will judge you for re-reading Twilight again. We promise.
Competition is good for any industry, especially ebooks, and it’s exciting to see how Kobo is stepping up with creative new ways to stand out. Storygraph is a perfect fit for the Kobo experience, and the new integration will make it even easier to track what you’re reading, no matter what device you grab!