Taking The StoryGraph plunge

[Tarana]

I tried transferring data and a lot didn't transfer over. I'm thinking of just doing a spreadsheet as backup and leaving it at that. Goodreads has actually dropped some of my dates read, so things don't show up correctly in the years.

[Desertway]

I started with LibraryThing around 2006, exported to GR around 2014, and then TSG earlier this year (I think Shelfari was in there somewhere too). I probably lost a good amount of data in those transfers, but I never looked closely enough to make sure. I was just happy that my tags always imported correctly.

[DuskyRose]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Never used either and not planning to. I manage my library in Calibre on my PC and that's all I need. I don't want or need recommendations, journals, notes, statistics, nor any social activities. Reading, for me, is a private and solitary pleasure.

Same here.

Recommendations from people I don't know feels pointless. Growing up, as the only reader in the family, (no one read but me) I'd get all kinds of recommendations for books that they hadn't actually read, and really didn't have a clue about what I liked. So, I got used to ignoring them.

Even librarians, who always tried to be helpful, would tend to rec stuff they liked, without really asking what I was looking for in enough detail to actually be helpful.

And too many recs are just disguised sales pitches.

[teamug]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

Same here.

Recommendations from people I don't know feels pointless. Growing up, as the only reader in the family, (no one read but me) I'd get all kinds of recommendations for books that they hadn't actually read, and really didn't have a clue about what I liked. So, I got used to ignoring them.

I feel like recommendations from people I know, even if they do read books, are a lot more pointless, since the people in my life aren't curated by their reading habits. I hate it when people I know recommend me books, since it just feels like pressure and whether I'll like it or not is pretty much random.

With people I don't know at least I'll pick someone with a reading taste similar to mine. I follow some more or less public personas as well as random people on GR who tend to read interesting books.

However, I also like the way TSG suggests books to you based on very specific criteria, and a lot of the times it will be books I hadn't heard of elsewhere.

Do I need recommendations? No. I will never not have a book to read, and that would be true even if I stopped using the internet for the rest of my life. I think this is true for nearly every TSG/GR user, if they are big readers. It's not like people go there because they just can't for the life of them find a book they'd like to read...

[hildea]

I abandoned Goodreads a few years ago -- it became more and more annoying to use, and some time after Amazon bought it I stopped logging in there. I exported my old data there to import it to Storygraph and started using that.

My main use is to make a note of books I want to read -- I try not to buy a book before I'm planning to read it, and I don't want to have my wish list dependent on a specific shop.

I also like the recommendations.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by teamug

However, I also like the way TSG suggests books to you based on very specific criteria, and a lot of the times it will be books I hadn't heard of elsewhere.

Do I need recommendations? No. I will never not have a book to read, and that would be true even if I stopped using the internet for the rest of my life. I think this is true for nearly every TSG/GR user, if they are big readers. It's not like people go there because they just can't for the life of them find a book they'd like to read...

This! I too don't NEED recommendations, but I'm grateful for many of the ones I've got from TSG - in many cases I'd never have come across them and quite a few are now real highlights of my recent reading. Not "essential" but definitelu useful and "nice to have"

[Desertway]

Originally Posted by teamug

However, I also like the way TSG suggests books to you based on very specific criteria, and a lot of the times it will be books I hadn't heard of elsewhere.

Do I need recommendations? No. I will never not have a book to read, and that would be true even if I stopped using the internet for the rest of my life. I think this is true for nearly every TSG/GR user, if they are big readers. It's not like people go there because they just can't for the life of them find a book they'd like to read...

Exactly this. If I only read new books that I already OWN, it would take years to run out. And that's before the re-reads. But I'm always interested to hear what others with similar, but not identical, reading tastes might recommend. And yeah, the way TSG does things is very cool. The recommended books will be right up my alley, but somehow I've never come across them before. I love that.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I get it. Most people like to talk about the books they read and swap recommendations. I'm weird because I don't.

(Actually I'm even weirder... I don't use any social media either. MR is the only place I regularly visit)

No, you are not. +1

[Rbneader]

As someone who's involved in various fandoms, I hate Goodreads because people keep uploading entire fanfics there, and even attempting to connect them to the author's wallet names. I'd love a good book recommendation service, that I can't stomach a site that eagerly facilitates that.

Hopefully StoryGraph has better controls.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rbneader

As someone who's involved in various fandoms, I hate Goodreads because people keep uploading entire fanfics there, and even attempting to connect them to the author's wallet names. I'd love a good book recommendation service, that I can't stomach a site that eagerly facilitates that.

Hopefully StoryGraph has better controls.

Yes, StoryGraph has better controls.

[issybird]

I’ve started poking around SG because of the 2023 MR challenge and I have mixed feelings, some of which, of course, are related to the learning curve.

The good: No ads! This in itself is sufficient justification; the ads on GR have taken over. I also have to pay some attention to the recommendations since people think they’re spot-on. Again, GR’s recommendations are terrible and just another form of ad. As with others, while I don’t need more books or help to find something to read, I’ll never turn down the perfect book.

There’s also the general “cleanness” of the interface; I’m not being assaulted with irrelevant clutter. I spend much less time at GR than I used to and this is largely the reason.

The not-so-good: Even given a learning curve, I’m finding adding and labeling books to be both fiddly and not as intuitive as GR; the same goes for looking at my lists and organizing them. What takes literally seconds at GR can take a couple of minutes at SG. While I expect to pick up some speed, I don’t think it’ll ever be as efficient as GR.

I’m finding the way SG characterizes books to be squishy and antithetical to the way I think about books. How SG describes me as a reader is almost as alien to my sensibilities as any of the cowboy romances GR thinks I’d like to read. I can always ignore it as I ignore so much at GR and maybe it’ll become useful in time, but for now it’s offputting.

Akin to the learning curve as in going with the territory, there’s the loss of the community aspects at GR that are useful to me, especially my GR friends whose taste is similar to my own and where I’ve discovered so many terrific books. Something that can be addressed over time, but a distinct drawback at the beginning. I wonder to what extent the vaunted SG algorithms can match or exceed the personal element?

Finally, the flip side to no ads, of course, is where the money comes from. I wonder how useful if not necessary the paid functionality is. I don’t see myself paying the sticker price for it; it’s too high.

The upshot: A big old “I dunno.” But I’ll continue to explore it for now.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by issybird

Finally, the flip side to no ads, of course, is where the money comes from.

This is something I've been wondering about too - the most recent published stats said about 10% of users pay, that must barely cover costs, I'd say

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

This is something I've been wondering about too - the most recent published stats said about 10% of users pay, that must barely cover costs, I'd say

Which raises the question of long-term strategy. Begging popups? Maintaining the two-tier system, but free is ad-supported? Or what seems likeliest to me, flipping it? Could it be folded into GR eventually?

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by issybird

Which raises the question of long-term strategy. Begging popups? Maintaining the two-tier system, but free is ad-supported? Or what seems likeliest to me, flipping it? Could it be folded into GR eventually?

Right from the start, they did mention going to ad-supported eventually. It was (and may still be) one of the "sales pitch" points for Plus - no ads when they do arrive. It might be that they need to get enough users to be attractive to advertisers, I guess. That they've survived 2 years with only the revenue from the Plus users is surprisng.

[Desertway]

Originally Posted by issybird

There’s also the general “cleanness” of the interface; I’m not being assaulted with irrelevant clutter. I spend much less time at GR than I used to and this is largely the reason.

This seems like it should be the least important reason, but I'm finding it very difficult to back to GR after using SG for some months. That GR "noise" has become really offensive.

The not-so-good: Even given a learning curve, I’m finding adding and labeling books to be both fiddly and not as intuitive as GR; the same goes for looking at my lists and organizing them. What takes literally seconds at GR can take a couple of minutes at SG. While I expect to pick up some speed, I don’t think it’ll ever be as efficient as GR.

As for adding books, I thought that too at first. However, I've been entering books like a mad person and no longer feel any difference in speed. There is that one strange extra step for entering a review, but even that doesn't seem to amount to much at all.

What I do miss is that one big "My Books" view that GR has with access to my complete library/shelves at a glance. I suppose SG is working hard not to be a GR clone, but it's definitely annoying to have to poke around to find the right list/view. I've now bookmarked the pages I use most often, but I shouldn't have to. It's a common complaint so maybe there will be a change in the near future.

I’m finding the way SG characterizes books to be squishy and antithetical to the way I think about books. How SG describes me as a reader is almost as alien to my sensibilities as any of the cowboy romances GR thinks I’d like to read. I can always ignore it as I ignore so much at GR and maybe it’ll become useful in time, but for now it’s offputting.

Again, I also found SG's characterizations very fluffy at first. But, for me, it turns out that the algorithm clearly has my reading tastes nailed, so I guess there's something there after all. And my own way of thinking about books is reflected in my own tagging system, so I haven't really lost anything.

Akin to the learning curve as in going with the territory, there’s the loss of the community aspects at GR that are useful to me, especially my GR friends whose taste is similar to my own and where I’ve discovered so many terrific books. Something that can be addressed over time, but a distinct drawback at the beginning. I wonder to what extent the vaunted SG algorithms can match or exceed the personal element?

I think for someone who has been deeply engaged in GR for many years, who has benefited from the social elements and has formed relationships with other readers, SG is not going to be a replacement. Certainly not any time soon, possibly not ever.

And GR currently has it all over SG for quality of reviews. SG also doesn't have any "list" feature.

I decided to go ahead and pay the subscription price. It works so well for me as a library management system, reading tracker, reading journal, and recommendation system that it's worth the support.