Last week Kobo announced a new partnership with StoryGraph, an alternative to Goodreads, for tracking reading stats and providing reading recommendations when using Kobo ereaders and Kobo apps.
Starting in June, you’ll be able to link your Kobo account with a StoryGraph account to automatically sync reading progress of ebooks and audiobooks purchased from Kobo.
The integration does not work with sideloaded books obtained from sources other than Kobo; syncing only works with Kobo content and library books borrowed through Libby.
You can find more information about how to set things up on this help article at Kobo: Sync Your Kobo Reading Progress with StoryGraph.
Here’s an interesting quote from that article: “Note: Highlights, notes, and back‑syncing aren’t supported, and disconnecting won’t remove previously shared data.”
So basically it just syncs what you’re currently reading, and it will automatically mark books as “Read” when you’re finished with them, while providing reading stats based on the number of pages read, the number of books read, the types of books read, the pace you’ve read them, with the average ratings for the books you’ve read.
StoryGraph uses AI for recommendations. From the StoryGraph website: “Our machine learning AI is like your trusted go-to friend for book recommendations. It’ll understand your reading preferences and find the best books for you.”
A lot of people are hyped up for this, but, like usual, I fail to see the appeal. Just like I’ve never understood the purpose of using Goodreads on Kindles. But some people are really into reading stats and getting personalized reading recommendations. This is a big deal if that’s your thing.
It’ll be interesting to see how the integration works exactly. Will Kobo ereaders show reading stats like the picture above, or will users have to use the StoryGraph website/app to see that kind of stuff? Will recommendations be available directly on Kobo’s devices, or will they only “sync” with StoryGraph? It sounds like it’s just syncing at this point, but we’ll find out in June.
I love personalized reading recommendations. I’ve found some amazing authors and titles that way. Unlike BookTok or anything similar, Amazon’s algorithm has guided me towards relatively unknown titles and authors. I wish I could customize it further, like the ability to say “I’m not interested in this title. Please stop recommending it.” But hopefully Kobo will have that option for readers.
But I do not care for services like Goodreads or Storygraph. I personally don’t see a use for it. I hope Kobo doesn’t force their users to have a Storygraph account like Amazon does with Goodreads.