TO GOODREADS, FROM READERS: PLEASE STOP 😤 and more please

[@Silverraine1]

17:33 Goodreads bookshelves can be edited to include a DNF shelf (or any shelf you want) by marking it as 'exclusive' in the settings. It will appear in the button just like 'want to read' or 'read,' etc do. But yeah, it should've been included by default.

[@yyuna7]

I found out about it this year, after using the app for 9 years..... I knew about the tags though.

[@estack24]

I just found out about this very recently. I knew about tags but didn't realize I could add custom shelves. Now I have the standard 3 and then a soft DNF of books that I have started but need to revisit/restart, and then another shelf of books I'm well into but not in the mood for.

[@Dizaster977]

Goodreads also elevates the exposure of books featuring minority protagonists over ones with white protagonists(especially if they're male). Political correct DEI trash is super absurd these days. :/

[@Sarasstorytime22]

@@Dizaster977 you do realize that white authors and white characters are promoted WAAAYY more than any minority protagonist or writer so Im confused as to why you have a problem with DEI.

[@Dizaster977]

@Sarasstorytime22 - most prominent authors, at least in the past, were white and many protagonists written by whatever writer tends to have a lot of personal trends with their own protagonist. The honest thing to say is that your own protagonists tend to lean towards what you are because people tend to write what they know....... which would be their own race. What I am saying is that more and more white men are self publishing and more and more man hating cnts are literally posting online to "don't support white authors and ignore stories with white protagonists". Which has literally been happening in fkn movies and tv shows and comics and all kinds of video games... which is probable fkn reality. So WTF are YOU on about, Sweetpea?

[@sweet_t_reads]

Personally, I do not think that choices should pull from any shelf but the read shelf. Just because a lot of people what to read a book, doesn't make it a good book.

[@carahamelie]

I think goodreads should have a readers choice winner, and a ratings winner for each category. that way we could see who the readers pick... but we could also see what books are actually rated the highest on the website in general as well. I also think ratings for different things would be great. So each book you read you could rate it in 5 categories. Writing, plot, pacing, enjoyment... etc. i think this would be really interesting info, then they could just average them out for the overall rating.

[@Meowlo]

I don't think I'll ever stop using goodreads just for the simplicity of it for me, but I've tried Storygraph and Fable. Fable is a bit overwhelming to me because of all the social stuff, but I like the stats and graphics it gives and the streak features keeps me motivated. Storygraph was nice and had goot stats as well, but something about it put me off and I proceeded to forget to log books for a bit and just never went back.

[@jocelyntrishell]

I liked seeing my friends updates on Goodreads. I don’t like seeing the ‘popular in fantasy this week’ on the homepage bc it’s never helpful for me lol

[@brendanl8390]

I’ve had Goodreads for a long time. I’ve been trying story graph the past 6ish months. I really like the story graph stats features and how it tracks my personal reading. I really don’t like other features like the lack of social, how reviews are buried. I also find the UI to be excessively minimalist in reaction to Goodreads opposite approach. I feel like I have to click through 10 different menus to do basic tasks. So while I like the stats and summaries story graph makes on my reading, I find Goodreads to be a much more useable and valuable website despite the many problems, old formats that need updates

[@estack24]

Have you used Fable? I find it the most social of the 3. It's basically like Facebook but with books/TV. I'll see random people who I don't know IRL but are reading books I've read/saved. I also will see bookish posts, like what are your favorite books for fall, etc. It's really promoting just bookish discussion which I'm really enjoying and don't see that happening on GR or Storygraph. I do like Storygraph for the data, and just use GR as a habit of having it since my 20s.

[@AshCerto]

@@brendanl8390 YES to the buried reviews and click through 10 things to get where I need to be! I have both Goodreads and StoryGraph on my phone and I use Goodreads more than I use StoryGraph. I will only track a book on StoryGraph so I can have the chart/graphs.

[@koirena]

I agree, it looks cleaner but I hate the interface on storygraph. The personal tracking is good, but you can do that elsewhere as well. I use notion and created my personal book tracker. Fully customisable and I love it.

[@jenniferm.2142]

1000% same. I’ve tested SG too and came to the same conclusion. GR just works. I like that I can get really granular with it. Yeah the stats are cool on the other apps but that doesn’t make the day to day experience of using them easier.

[@Ashley-gq9xy]

Yeah I really didn't like Storygraph's UI. I was using it alongside GR for awhile and ultimately I just like GR better for the purpose of tracking my books and looking at reviews.

[@poodlemuffin]

I will never understand why people endlessly complain about awards being popularity contests. It’s like complaining about something like the B&N bestseller list being full of the most sold books.

[@Nunya_bidnesss]

I get that, but a lot of awards have ‘most popular’ and then also separately have awards for quality. A lot of smaller movie awards do this well I think

[@iphisnextdoor]

There’s a whole lot of “I hated reading this in school so I’m giving it a low rating” reviews, which are people’s personal experiences, but which are more like revenge than actual reviews. And are often books that are a totally different reading experience for a more mature audience. So it’s a game of “is this rating reflective of the book or the failures of the school system and the reader being too young?”

[@Vexmorbid]

for the idea of submitting books for the choice awards, it would be cool if it was something more built in. Maybe something like upon marking a book as read you get a button or pop up with something along the lines of 'I nominate this book for the Goodreads Choice Awards' it gives the option for more user input without it being a whole process. They can draw information from whats popular or whatever their metric for deciding what to nominate is, but adding multiple sorces gives a more diverse pool of books

[@imatiredstudent2081]

Huh, the title is odd a bunch of letters and numbers, idk if it’s a problem with my phone or with the upload (thanks for all your great videos Elliot! Just writing this in case it’s helpful to identify a problem)

[@ipyu4705]

think it's a problem with auto translated videos, I have the same problem

[@personalsbysara]

This has been happening to me as well with her last few videos. I think it has something to do with KZbin's auto-translation...

[@imatiredstudent2081]

Ahh i’m a native spanish speaker, so it’d make sense for it to auto translate. Weird. Thanks guys!

[@KYX1994]

On my side it says "Item Code:" in Italian and random letters and numbers😂

[@mirenda1427]

Same for me french KZbin

[@cheaptadpole]

responsee to all the 'its a popularity contest' claims: yeah thats kind of the point, this is the people's choice awards for books. if you want awards thats are based more in skill than popular opinion, then go to like the hugos or nebula awards. like yeah they should fix the fact that unreleased books are considered, but like its absolutely just the PCAs for books.

[@glittergirl12341]

I got annoyed sometimes when people complain about goodreads being the way it's always been instead of seeking out a platform that suits their needs better. every app has good and bad things I personally use 3 and a spreadsheet but you can always just pick the one that meets more of your needs. personally I feel like the choice awards are like Christmas I love it. if it was taken away because you can never make everyone happy I'd be crushed. I wish we could have multiple choice awards a year and celebrate more authors.

[@elskabee]

39:43 you CAN change this in your settings! I have mine set so that I only see reviews in my feed. I don't know that you can change which of your activities come up on your friends and following people's feeds though, they would have to change those settings for themselves to not see your page updates or want to read adds

[@Cristy-nn9pb]

I only use GoodReads to keep track of the books I read. I don't trust the reviews after the scandals.

[@myopicdreams]

What could easily solve the star probelm thick that no one talks about is not even reviews. But having like a 250 character limit like twitter but below the star rating so you can say 4.5 and then say something short like. This book was done so well It gave me heavy feelings of angst, and woe. 9/10 can't recommend more. Something short and sweet,s o that you don't have to have these giant six page reviews and it would make reading through the cliff note reviews easier nad quicker for those who did want to know a bit more, minus spoilers, and still know peoples feelings, and what that 4.5 means to that person.

[@fushiforever]

The different editions is important because they can have different page lengths which matters for tracking your reading.

[@epicwalrus7183]

They can still collect them under one heading so all reviews are in one place (with a note of which edition is being rated), and then you could choose an edition from a dropdown menu or something similar.

[@zee1280]

@@epicwalrus7183 but like,, i am pretty sure that all reviews show up even if you click on a different edition of the book (edit: also just saw that on the website you can choose between seeing reviews only for a specific edition or all editions)

[@bluecannibaleyes]

13:17 For me personally, when I read a YA book, I actually do take into account the target audience and that actually goes into why I’ve rated a few of them low. If I read something targeted for a 12-17 year old and I don’t think that it’s appropriate for that age range, then that generally guarantees that I am not going to rate it highly. When reading books aimed at a younger audience, I tend to rate them low if I feel they aren’t appropriate and/or are sending a bad message to young people. IMO age appropriateness is a huge part of the deal if minors are the target audience of something. I do rate books mostly on my enjoyment, I’ll admit. But my enjoyment of a book is based on various factors, such as writing quality, plot, character development, etc. and in the case of children/teen books, age-appropriateness. I’ve rated children’s books I read as an adult five stars, so I’m certainly not incapable of enjoying books for a younger audience than myself. There just hasn’t been much YA I enjoyed. I feel like it’s often dumbed down to a level that teenagers actually don’t need, while at the same time also frequently about topics that teens don’t need to read about. But this is just my opinion as someone who read adult books as a teen. When I was in the age bracket, most YA were too juvenile for me and my reading level was well beyond them from a fairly young age. I feel like I had outgrown them by the time I was around 12 or 13. It’s also worth noting that although YA claims to be targeted to 12-17 year olds, the majority of YA readers are actually adults. So I’m not sure it’s fair to say that adults are rating them unfairly when they are actually the main demographic that is reading them.

[@janarankova8300]

I started to use StoryGraph because of how much Goodreads irked me. My personal experience went up 10x at least 😅 I love graphs and data. If you have plus account it's even better. I rather support them as a small team doing their best (often times more than hide company like Goodreads). The experience is also better if you read in different languages. Adding other edition of books is easier. Other editions matter - they have info about translators in other languages, plus even in the same language the book content isn't always the same.

[@amaresuify]

Only about halfway through, but so many of these complaints are things Storygraph does. Half stars? How about quarter stars. Want to make a DNF? Go for it. All reviews aggregated regardless of edition? Yep. Will even tell you if you're reading a review from a different edition. Also extremely easy to browse editions. There's a button for that.

[@ellealine4159]

Also thought that! Storygraph is my holy grail

[@warlocksarecool]

I love Storygraph too! Even when writing a review they have different sections about the tone, pace and characters that you can answer very easily without writing anything

[@brittanyallemanayers3447]

I also love StoryGraph! I love that you can also do custom reading challenges, buddy reads, and book clubs in the app. And the developers actively seek out and act on feedback from StoryGraph users. ❤

[@pao3292]

I was about to write this! Everything is already in StoryGraph and with a much better user experience 🩵

[@JulieTheReader]

@@brittanyallemanayers3447 Oh, I didn’t know there were clubs on StoryGraph! The only edge I felt GR had on SG was the social aspect of groups and message boards. (I’m trying out Fable for this reason.)

[@crawdadnc479]

Every award I've ever heard of has inspired endless discussion about how it awards the wrong things, and I often think they award the wrong things, so I've just concluded that awards don't matter to me, whether it's goodreads, the Oscars, whatever. It's nice if something I like get an award, but otherwise, it's not worth worrying about. I don't use "want to read" on goodreads. There are so many books that i want to read, if i filled out that list honestly, every time i saw it, i'd feel a little bad about all the books i haven't read yet, and i don't need that. I rate high on purpose, for two reasons: 1. It means I don't have too worry about how "good" the book is and keep track of its flaws, i can just enjoy it; and 2. hopefully it helps to balance out all the too-low ratings like "I loved this book it was awesome can't wait for the next one, three stars."

[@trulyintroverted]

I'm commenting as I'm listening so: 1) I feel like GR has said that they're not going to add half-stars (ever) which is disappointing. 2) Agree with what the person said about how GR is turning into an arm of publicity. In the past few years, I've stopped trusting the ratings of newer releases (especially in romantasy, romance, thrillers, and mystery) and stuck to reviews to see if it's something I'll enjoy. I also agree with Elliot in regards to ratings in some genres being skewed one way or another. In addition, imo ratings in some genres tend to feel more like a popularity vote/ rating as per enjoyment (not wrong or anything) as opposed to a more constructive and unbiased rating (which I prefer) and so I rely on KZbin or Reddit for recs in those genres. 3) The GR awards are a mess but I like seeing what's been popular that year in genres I rarely read but am interested in. I also used to not vote if I'd not read more than a couple books in a category, but this year I voted even if I'd read only one contender. 4) Very interesting idea about counting votes of both rounds differently. Never thought of that but it makes so much more sense! 5) The GR app is rubbish. I use the website even on my phone.

[@Horrorbabe4]

24:00 no the predictive ratings are bizarre. If i were an author id be mad if someone just said "i didnt read this yet but its getting 1 star..." LMAO

[@jamiebbooks]

I get tired of the Goodreads predictive text pushing books that have nothing much to do with the book I am typing in the search bar. It's a little thing, but sort of symbolic of their commercial focus. If the title I've just typed correctly is 3rd or 4th in the listings after books they are clearly marketing at me through the search bar, the system is getting annoying. I am not quite ready to just use Storygraph, because the Goodreads groups section is still really useful and I have years of logged books sorted into my Goodreads shelves. As for the GR Book awards, it is so rare for me to recognize more than a couple books in each category, despite being active on Booktube and reading tons of books every year. I wish they did a write-in option for round 1, or asked for our top 10 in each section prior to round 1, so there'd be more chance that I'd have read more of the nominees.

[@kaida_daughter.of.dragons]

Love how you created context around YA books - especially that they may be the first introduction a new reader has to fantasy. Many of the people I often discuss books with kind of look down on anything labeled YA, and I always want to tell not to dismiss a book simply because it's YA, but I haven't always had the language to articulate why. Very helpful insights into how to have meaningful discussions with genres or age-ranges you're not as familiar with/ only believe stereotypes about. 😊

[@bluecannibaleyes]

This could be a fair point, except I don’t think you actually realize what the age-group of YA readers actually is. It may be theoretically targeted towards a 12-18 year old audience, but the majority of people who read YA books are actually adults, not teenagers.

[@melissajill6174]

Sometimes, that 1-star rating comes from the reason why the book was a DNF. I've DNF'd stories when I say "I don't care what happens" or the writing is so full of errors (self published books with abundant wrong words that suggest the author just used spellcheck and took the first option whether or not it made any sense--so there's confused hear/here, they're/their, and so on). I mean, if the 50 pages I *did* read are a steaming pile, there's no reason to think it's going to be any different in the rest of it.

[@galacticvampire5308]

Elliot have you ever tried Storygraph? I made the switch two years ago and never looked back!

[@KYX1994]

Storygraph is SUPERIOR! You can also make suggestions and they reply❤

[@Horrorbabe4]

Just installed the app at your recommendation two times. It kept freezing. Lol i guess ill use the website on my laptop.

[@AshCerto]

I’ve tried to make the switch but I’m just not enjoying it. Maybe it’s just the app that’s not the best? My biggest problem is that when I want to read reviews I can’t just look at 3 star reviews or 1 star reviews. They are all mixed, and from what I’ve seen there is no way to organize them in the app?

[@reubenalbatross]

​@AshCerto Yeah, that isn't currently an option, but I think it's coming in their next round of updates. If you search 'StoryGraph roadmap' you can see everything they're working on. They're still quite a small company, so updates take time, but they really value their users and keep us in the know about everything that's going on with the app.

[@estack24]

I've been using GR for so long but have started using Storygraph and Fable and really like both. The review systems both have more detailed options other than *type your review here and publish*. And they both have 1/4 stars which I greatly appreciate.

[@wisefae]

I know this vid was primarily about GoodReads but almost all those complaints are fixed in StoryGraph!!! I would say the only benefit GR has over it is that it has a larger user base.

[@Diana-mu7pc]

I like the idea of being able to specify whether you consumed the audio or physical book (or even ebook?) but I feel like if it were completely necessary to state, some people's perceptions of other reviewers could get real ableist real fast... like some people who read primarily audiobooks might not want to volunteer that information, and even though the experience CAN be shaped by the audio experience, fundamentally it is still the same story, same language, etc... I feel like most people see it as too minor a problem to warrant the complications of 'fixing' it. Idk maybe I'm just thinking about it too hard. As a reader of a lot of public domain texts and "classics" works, I don't necessarily see the different editions you can review on Goodreads as, like, inherently all that consumerist. Idk I'm biased because I don't really read modern fiction/novels where the differences might only be superficial. But I do read a lot of plays and poetry that are 200-500 years old. And the edition, personally, does matter a lot to me. I went out of my way on Goodreads to give the Wordsworth Poetry Library edition of the Collected Poems of John Donne five stars and a good review, because I think that edition *specifically* does a lot of great things that make it a better collection than some others. I love the notes and editing style, and most importantly that they retain the original early-modern spelling. I think John Donne in modern spelling just scans worse metrically, becomes less musical, and I wrote about that in my review because if someone were looking for the right edition of Donne, I wanted them to know that distinction. I think the editor's choices affect how you read the poetry. I often don't specify the specific edition of a work I read from, though, because in some other ways as a classic drama/poetry reader, it's a whole lot of fuss. If I wanna rate or review any given Shakespeare play, the default edition is the Folger Shakespeare Library series. No hate on the Folger editions, but I've literally only read one, once, and it was around my 30th Shakespeare play personally, because I started getting more and more curious about editions of Shakespeare other than my aunt's old Riverside Shakespeare from 1973, which is where I read the majority of Shakespeare's plays in the first place. But it doesn't feel really right to review, uhm, the entire Riverside Shakespeare from 1973 unless I'm covering the unique features of this particular edition of the complete works. In which case, what does it matter what I would review each particular play? So my profile would have you think I've read all these plays from the Folger series, because the plays featured in the Riverside don't count as separate editions. Although in my opinion, the edition you read a play from may not change the play itself, but like how I have a preferred Collected Poems of Donne, it's valid to also want to review the particular edition. Shakespeare is a prime example: I know some people DO NOT like the Folger editions (they are kinda basic and from my one experience, a little overly-annotated at parts... but I was probably just kinda too familiar with Shakespeare at that point; they're written to be more beginner-friendly). Folgers are probably the default though because they're widely available and inexpensive. Before I had my Riverside, I really loved my B&N Shakespeare edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream, because the supplementary materials and editing was perfect for enabling me to approach it; I recommend that series to beginners all the time. Then there are lines like the Arden Shakespeare, which are meant to be very scholarly and highly annotated, ie not for just a casual reader. But on the other end you have Sparknotes' No Fear Shakespeare editions, which I never particularly cared for because I don't like that they render verse into prose, but obviously they are very helpful for some readers, and all of the modern prose translations are completely unique to that series. There are special editions of the plays intended for students, casual readers, seasoned readers, actors, directors, teachers... I could go on and on because I do find comparative literary studies very fascinating. So it is possible to really love or hate a particular edition, without commenting on the play itself. Like personally, I hate hate hate with a passion those dime-a-dozen editions of "the complete works" that have no editing, no notes, no annotations, no glossary, no introductions, no supplementary material at all, nothing scholarly to clarify any meaning the reader through the confusion of reading early-modern English, which they all copy and paste from the same source text, never citing spelling changes or other commonly-adapted edits since the publishing of the First Folio. I think they give a false impression to readers of how you're 'supposed' to read Shakespeare, and when they dive in and have a hard time understanding the work (as we all do), they feel lost. I don't think everyone buying the Barnes and Noble collectible leatherbound Complete Works of Shakespeare, or the Canterbury Classics one, realizes that they just bought a beautiful doorstop. There is nothing to aid comprehension in those books. I'd give them all 1/5 stars if I could, but obviously that's a reflection of how I feel about the editing, not the plays themselves. I don't want anyone to spend their money on them. There are so many well-curated editions of the complete works that you can find used online that are much cheaper and better to read: The Riverside Shakespeare, the Oxford Shakespeare, the Norton Shakespeare, the Pelican Shakespeare, the RSC Complete Works, and so many other less famous ones... Goodreads is not really the place to get that across, though, anyway. Particular nuances tend to be drowned in the general popular reviewer spaces like Goodreads.

[@AyceMcGee]

I don't know if this would actually work well or not, but I think Goodreads limiting your first round of votes to only books you've read before they announce the nominees might be a good way to cut back on some of the bots and intense fans creating multiple accounts. Maybe also having a requirement that your account be a certain number of days old or having activity requirements of like 30, 60, or 90 days before the second round of voting begins?

[@julielocktree]

I so agree on the DNF button! I try to never give a rating when I DNF a book, but I still like to at them to my read list. Also because sometimes I read a lot from the book, but DMF it towards the end. So it would be great to be able to click on DNF. And yes the website needs half star ratings. Sometimes I find it so hard to rate a book. So half stars would help me a lot.

[@abreckenfridge]

I agree that a DNF shelf should be integrated in the default shelf options, but on the full website (not the app as far as I know) you can create a shelf and indicate it to be exclusive (so it won’t appear on Read, Currently Reading, or Want to Read). I don’t know if books added to the shelf will be included in the annual goal or not.. I could see how people might want that either way!

[@skullfullofbooks7398]

On the app, you can make either a shelf or a tag, and a shelf will be exclusive while a tag is not. The thing I've noticed with Goodreads is that their website experience is 10x better than the app. If they tossed some money into their app, especially the Android one, it would fix a lot of problems. But the website has always been a pretty good experience for me.

[@StoneOfYears]

First off, love your videos. Found numerous book suggestions just from watching your vids. As for Goodreads, you mentioned they're "associated" with Amazon which is true as they are OWNED by Amazon; so, yes they're going to push buying over anything else. They're hoping you'll read a review then buy the book from them. I won't have anything to do with GR and I've started looking into Storygraph based on comments here.

[@saralynn22]

I love these videos so much. I've been looking forward to this one in particular

[@ribbonquest]

I can occasionally get the Recommendations function in Goodreads to work for me, but often it tries to push really random stuff. Like I read a folklore graphic novel, suddenly it's suggesting Big Nate books. Excuse me? Or if I read something and rate it low, GR wants to suggest things based on my having read it at all. A more complex recommendations forumla would be so cool. People who liked Book A and B and didn't like Book C also liked... They have the raw data to pull it off, but it's hard work so they'll probably never do it.

[@anisa2273]

StoryGraph doesnt have these issues at all and their recomemandations are super accurate, its great

[@MissLilRedRooster]

I loved Goodreads when it existed back in like 2011 as an entity that wasn't pushing sales for Amazon. It felt like such a solid community of people who loved to read, give good feedback, critically look at literature, have book club discussions.. Amazon really destroyed a lot of it, and it's truly just a place where people go now to either hand out five star reviews or don't bother reviewing because they don't want to be "too mean".

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

I do rate by my emotional reaction, because I struggle to be objective, and struggle with knowing how to be critical. I think it's tricky with popular books, because sometimes people can just love a book that happens to be popular, but you can't always trust that. I also think not everyone is trying to be a professional reviewer and just want to show their love or hate for a book. There is a comment thread still going on for one of The Keeper pf the Lost Cities books where most agree with the reviewer's review, but there are also people who comment saying the other people are wrong. I find this ridiculous, because these are just opinions, and I don't like it when people say "you're wrong" about your opinion. There is no right or wrong just people having an opinion.

[@teeayteeayetc]

People who want to predict their rating can leave like… notes? That’s part of the app

[@jana787]

This year I’ve voted for a book I haven’t read. Made a good guess as to who will come second and I’m hoping to outvote the absolutely awful book I did read that is extremely likely to win 😅 that one I did read and I have no regrets for doing this 😂 The Teacher and When the moon hatched were the worst books I’ve read this year and seeing them win will hurt.

[@insertjokehere212]

I do like omnibuses and boxsets having separate listings, as I can use it to see what's printed where. Keeps easy track of series.

[@erikareading]

My Goodreads complaint: It feels like they ignore very large sections of there own website. For example, the "groups" portion of the website. Why don't we have more promotion or interaction (like we have with with all the articles and lists recommending books) with this side of things. There are many things they could do with this but again it's all about selling the books so these things don't seem to matter to them. I used to be very active in some of the groups. This is a very very active user base that is effectively ignored by Goodreads.

[@isabellaespinal6709]

I personally actually like that there aren't half or quarter star ratings because it helps me be more decisive.

[@anisa2273]

29:00 this happened to me. i made a review on a book and I gave it 3 stars and said what I didn't like about it (mainly that for a YA series that mentions multiple times to be spice-free they still had a kinda spicy scene in the LAST BOOK which came as such a shock to me) and then got someone writing a positive review and mentioning ME by NAME as giving a stupid review and what not. i then replied to them and told them it was rude this was just MY OPINION but they didn't care. and what's weirder Is that this user had only ever rated this book which was weird as I said it was a 3rd book of a trilogy so I was pretty sure it was the author and I replied to them saying that and guess what? they actually deleted the review after... incredibly sus and because of all of this I left Goodreads. it sucks because I didn't export all my reviews beforehand or said goodbye to any of my friends there and I kinda miss them. also this book series was actually one of my comfort ones like I legit loved the first 2 (I gave both 5 stars) and having the literal author offending me for giving her last book 3 stars was pretty heartbreaking, I cant reread the first 2 anymore because of that or read her newest ones... alas this was long but this was my main issue with Goodreads and why I left and am only using StoryGraph now. sure it's not social but I'm fine with it, I write my opinions, give pretty accurate ratings (they have quarter stars) and enjoy looking at the stats. ALSO the way Goodreads Choice Awards just removed Middle Grade, Graphic Novels and Poetry is INSANE. they were literally my favorite categories, loved voting them and getting new recs from there but poof they're gone now... what even is the point aymore???

[@bluecannibaleyes]

Things like this is why I don’t give reviews in GR. I don’t want people harassing me for my unpopular opinions on books. LOL I’ve tried StoryGraph recently and I like all the statistics they show. I never used the social things on GR anyway, so that doesn’t bother me. I use both to track my reading now. As for reviews, I just started a physical reading journal recently. I figured that was the best option for me as someone who has a lot of very passionate unpopular opinions, because I can write whatever I want there without fear of arguments or censorship. And it’s a nice creative outlet for me on top of that.

[@marisagettas]

YOU CAN CHANGE THE VERSION YOU ARE READING IN A BOOK ON GOODREADS. 1) search for the book you want 2) go to its homepage 3) hit the button near the top that says ‘Book Details’ 4) then click versions (there are over 2,500 versions of War and Peace on there!) 5) then scroll until you find the one you want (audiobooks are also here) and add it to whichever shelf you’re intending (want to read, currently reading etc.) That’s it! Enjoy 😊 ❤

[@lululala4658]

I can confirm! I often do this. Though I think it’s only possible via the browser version (not the app)

[@marisagettas]

@@lululala4658 It definitely works in the app for me too, my friend

[@J.Hanna7]

@@lululala4658the app also has it! 85% of the time I need to switch bc of the default cover not being the one I picked up..

[@LenaHastings]

@@lululala4658 You can do it via the app as well! You have to swipe left on the book icon and you get to "more details and editions". :)

[@user-ye8zk8ku7s]

@@lululala4658you can do it on the app! I do this all the time because I must get the correct version I read for an accurate page count

[@taliadavidovsky4569]

In terms of the star rating system in goodreads, the goodreads uses that for their recommendation algorithm. Adding half star options would potentially require them to update their recommendation algorithm, which might be harder than we all think it is. That's the only reason I can think of for why they haven't already given us that half star option.

[@bookSketchlove]

"EB1B2D12 C09D 40C2 9608 1938BA238CE7" I don't know why your title shows up like this to me. It's the second video where the title is like this, hence I have no idea what the video is about. Is this some kind of code I don't know about or is an issue with YT ?

[@lululala4658]

It seems to be KZbin auto-translate malfunctioning

[@bookSketchlove]

@ oh, thanks for answering.

[@coffeemugmeg]

I definitely agree with most of this. Barring the obvious, I don't understand why every time someone updates their progress it has to be posted in the feed, specifically when people make comments from that point in the book. A book recently was almost spoiled for me, because the person posted their thoughts on a pretty major part of the story. I love that we can document our personal process in reading, but why can't Goodreads do something like other platforms that don't reveal this stuff until you yourself have gotten to that part?

[@scoobydont]

You can already make a DNF shelf and easily change editions. And the Goodreads Choice Awards are, by definition, a people's choice award 😐 There are plenty of other book awards out there with different criteria. But yeah, it's crazy that you can vote for books that aren't even released yet!

[@teeayteeayetc]

One thing I wish goodreads would do is link to Libby, the Amazon link was fine but I don’t buy many books from Amazon. Other than that I actually specifically chose good reads for its simplicity, large catalog, and I like a good ol popularity contest - just to know what’s going on I don’t read many popular books 🤷🏾‍♀️

[@jen3566]

The Fable app is really doing a lot of work to put nuance back into the review process. They have spice spectrum ratings, keywords for strongest or weakest aspects of writing style and tone. And. Partial stars 👀

[@annmoore321]

I think you should be able to turn off notifications for books, authors and possibly genres you don’t want to see. I hate scrolling through my Goodreads feed because certain books, authors, and genres continually pop up just because they are trending, popular, or your friends are reading them. I want my feed to reflect what I enjoy, and recommend books I would be interested in reading.

[@bluecannibaleyes]

This. Stephen King and Dean Koontz will pollute my recommendations forever now because I read a lot of supernatural/horror novels and have enjoyed a few books by those authors. Like yes, I do like Stephen King, but I don’t need every book the man ever wrote (which is a LOT) clogging up my recommendations. I know who he is, just like everyone else in the world. If I feel like reading one of his books, I can easily just search for it myself. LOL

[@rogerroger9952]

i'm an author and due to some issues with the printer, i had to change the colours of my cover. for some reason, even though i was given special permission to edit my book's details on goodreads, it doesn't let me delete the cover i uploaded to replace with the new one.

[@giwonf5457]

why is the title a bunch of letters?

[@EmilyScott-v9w]

My problem with the Goodreads choice discourse is that it’s literally a CHOICE award and not a literary award. Of course it’s the most read / most popular

[@Booksociopath]

I agree with your points

[@HankyUSA]

I'm going to give Story Graph a try.

[@dsm_796]

I really enjoy StoryGraph. Much better than GR.

[@loati94]

I like using goodreads to track what I read and what I want to read, but I don't use it for anything else. I simply don't trust book recommendations or the popular books or anything because it usually means those books suck for me. The awards are meaningless for me too. I just like to track my books and write mini reviews, that's all

[@SiliconeDrones]

I think seeing your friends updates are fun, friends accepting new friend requests? I dont need to see that lol especially when some are booktubers or booktokers so it's like... So many a day and literally fills your entire feed haha

[@LaurenDearmond]

I understand the issues of the Goodreads choice awards. It’s definitely got room for improvement, but I never understand the accusation that it’s a “popularity contest”. Isn’t that the point of choice awards and voting??? 😅 so that you find out what’s most popular?

[@timeoccupied]

Ratings are arbitrary unless you’re familiar with how a particular user rates things 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@TellBetweenTales]

I’ve never used goodreads but now that I’m reading a lot more than previously and being more analytical about my reading I would like to use something to track, rate and reflect on what I’ve read. Maybe there’s a good app for that? I tried to look through goodreads’s setup and got myself super confused. I couldn’t figure out how to write myself private notes vs leaving a public review. I totally felt lame, I’m not even old so I don’t have that excuse 😅

[@Nunya_bidnesss]

I feel like StoryGraph resolves a lot of this but is also missing a bunch of features (and generally has a smaller user base)

[@CluelessWonder]

I recently learned you can compare books with friends or people you follow (via desktop, not the app). Why can’t GR use the capability and suggest high percentage matches with other users. I would love to find users with similar tastes so I can find books that I will probably like.

[@laurenschenck5355]

Plus also I want GOODREADS to update the app more often and plus change thee title formant on the GOODREADS Leo and make it a Christmas tree and pumpkin etc that would be cute ☃️📚📚🎁🎁🎁📚☃️🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻💚🎄🎄☃️❄️❄️☃️🎁🎁🎅🏻🎅🏻❤️❤️❤️❤️📖💚💚📙📙☃️🎁🎁📚☃️❄️❄️❄️💚🎅🏻💚💚❤️❤️📙📙📙🎄🎄❄️❄️❄️

[@dontdoit6986]

List creation should be much easier in the app.

[@greatwarprongs]

i read the title of the video and i thought i was having a stroke or smt with all those numbers and letters

[@EmilyScott-v9w]

You can make a dnf option on Goodreads though

[@HelloSun567]

I wonder if a DNF option would have the same effect as the thumbs down on KZbin videos once did.

[@danielleoliver1734]

I just wish they’d reset the vote counts between rounds, get rid of that double step in counts between 10 and 11 in the nominees, they would be able to bring back the write ins fairly again if they just did this

[@slytle90]

Yes, they really should add half star ratings!! So many times I'm like, ok, this isn't a 3 but not quite a 4 and it would be amazing to have the half star option. For DNFs I made a shelf for them so I can keep track but also not rate them. So my 4 are the usual 3, read, currently reading, want to read and DNFed. It would be cool to just have that an option with the star rating though.

[@myronemmaturner]

The problem with people rating books before they come out isn't that it's predictions, it's people not liking the author or their previous works and 1 starring their new release to make the average rating go down. Often it penalizes authors of color or other marginalized folks, so imo we should just deactivate the option, and the people who have gotten arcs can add their rating on the release day

[@llamabean529]

Idk but aren't ARCs supposed to create a buzz around a book and most ask to leave reviews, especially now they want you to leave reviews on certain sites.

[@saedoll2507]

I use romance io for books too. I use it more for tropes / themes that could be uncomfortable for me to read. I also think it's interesting because you can also click for tropes or themes you more so like. (so example: sapphic.) so its nice because you can avoid discomforts, while also factoring in things your more keen/interested in reading. I like this too because It doesn't really spoil the book for me. (It is mostly romance, but I've seen even Brandon Sanderson's books on there. And I know his books aren't heavy romance leaning.) They also have a lovely spice rating system too. I find with goodreads now with books, a lot of people spoil main plots to a book. Like you can find out who dies, who falls in love, who is the one everyone is supposed to hate, etc. (example, Fourth wing reviewers. >.>;' ) Which is fine if its just people sharing their excitement, but I find too no one gives a spoiler warning, so if your looking to see if a book would suit your interests, it gets completely ruined prior to you even reading it. (I feel like communities in some ways lack spoilers now? Sorta a "not my problem, should've read it prior to looking online" attitude I've seen more recently.)

[@madelinemonday8503]

Audible integration!!!!

[@madison5822]

This whole video could just be an advertisement for StoryGraph which is significantly better!

[@Gaywatch]

Mandatory comment highlighting how Amazon owns Goodreads and will never meaningfully improve it in order to keep as much attention on Amazon site book reviews as possible, so if you're unhappy with Goodreads please abandon it for something else because that's the only way we'll ever get a better alternative.

[@Levacque]

And if the choice is ever, "Amazon or something else," it's probably a good idea to go with something else. Just in terms of trying to make the book landscape more diverse and less predatory.

[@cj1986x]

30:49 Yes! Watching my GR friends vote for books that they haven't actually read yet is depressing. Like, what is the point of the awards if we're voting for books we haven't read?

[@timeoccupied]

The gr awards eligibility period is always available in the rules section. The first round always goes live the day after the eligibility period ends. The 2025 awards will start Nov 12, 2025

[@maxsinclair787]

arround the 19minuet mark, i absolutely hate it when publishers do this. one if there are more books in the series let me know just in the front material of the book, and guess what, I'll go buy those other books first, you get more sales. if i have a feeling that a book might be part of a series I'll just not buy it now until I've gone back home and found out, book shops including online are pretty bad at sorting by series especially for authors like brandon sanderson, not that there are many authors like brandon sanderson. in the front of the uk editions of any realm of the elderlings books it tells you the other books of the series in order, why can't all other books that are part of a series just have this, it should be the default. you shouldn't feel like you have to reserch books online before you commit to buying something in a bookshop. sorry about my spelling and grammar on this post. its early and i cant be bothered to fix it, i promise I'm not a moron just being lazy.

[@maxsinclair787]

good reads begin owned by amazon could prove that you've read the book on kindle or listend to the audio book, can't do anything for phisical though. around 31min mark

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

I like that the Goodreads Choice Awards gives the majority of their prizes to women writers unlike the Booker Prize, almost all the winners in the fiction category over the years have been women, including last year's Yellowface by R F Kuang. Weyward last year's winner of Historical Fiction and Debut Novel was a fantastic read, I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I hadn't heard about it through the Goodreads awards.

[@lorifrederick2367]

I don't like the app on my phone. It looks like it needs a huge update. It kinda reminds me of a DOS program from the '90s 😅

[@tactical_5569]

Has anyone ever won a give away?

[@BaileeWalsh]

I have a handful of times!

[@tactical_5569]

@BaileeWalsh I've applied so many times. Never won. I was beginning to wonder.

[@atomknight8361]

I'll never respect goodreads until they add the half stars

[@Horrorbabe4]

😂

[@samu1745]

Why the heck a robotic voice dubbed this video in my language, this is so strange

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

HALF STARS HALF STARS HALF STARS 😤😤

[@TheYellowcrush]

Unpopular opinion: If people are still clinging to Goodreads when much better apps are (and have been for years) are available - Storygraph and Fable leap to mind - that's on them at this point. That's like hanging onto a briefcase-sized cell phone and clutching your pearls as someone says "Here's a smart phone" and ignoring it. Both apps make it easy to import your Goodreads data over, too, so it's not even a matter of losing your reading data, it's a matter of resisting change. 🤷‍♀️

[@daria_gl]

Not an unpopular opinion. Just one that doesn't consider all factors. for example the fact that many of us have friends on Goodreads who don't have storygraph 🤷🏻

[@someone6774]

these new apps have a very limited archive of non-english books. my native language is persian and there were so many books that i couldn't find in there and had to add it myself which is a pain in the ass.

[@michaelmasiello6752]

Just an obvious point: Elle’s question was specifically about Goodreads, not other platforms. Of course people talked about Goodreads. She didn’t ask about Storygraph or Fable. The better analogy is this: someone asks, “why are your thoughts about apples?”, people answer, and then others respond, “But why didn’t everyone discuss the pros and cons of bananas?”

[@TheYellowcrush]

@@michaelmasiello6752 Correct. I understood her points; however, I am saying that complaining has proven ineffective with Goodreads. They know them. They know they are an orange. People have said for years "Hey, orange, you'd really be better if you could capture some of the creaminess of the banana." And Goodreads doubles down and ignores. They have literally millions of dollars and developers at their disposal to change things, yet they CHOOSE to do nothing about it. So it's tone-deaf to think at this point - after years of these complaints - that they're going to do anything. It's time to move on. Fable and Storygraph are MUCH smaller companies and yet they are constantly LISTENING to their users' feedback and making improvements. Goodreads has become like a toxic relationship: people want to complain but they also don't want to give it up despite Goodreads stating over and over, "I'm just not that interested in you, you'll get what I feel like giving you."

[@TheYellowcrush]

@@daria_gl Get them to join you in switching over! Grassroots movement is how we effect change!

[@justwonder1404]

I've stopped using Goodreads at some point because it just wasn't worth it. Too slow, too confusing when it comes to translated books, 5 star rating system is too rigid, book challenges turn reading into a soulless productivity race, and it just looks bad. Switched to documenting my reading on insta and never looked back. I kinda admire people who look at that mess of a service and see something worth saving.

[@miyayume_eclectic_dream]

I am not having the AI voice problem here on this video! Why on others??? I want to enjoy YOUR ORIGINAL videos and not this stupid AI Voice Over. Does ANYONE know how to turn it off? P L E A S E 🙏 I am in danger to break my phone 😑

[@VoidDWG]

Good reads is a joke. Booktubers are infinitely more valuable than whatever that mess is.

[@yapdog]

Wait--Goodreads is _still_ a thing? 🤨

[@davidc1179]

Am I the only one who sees "EB1B2D12 C09D 40C2 9608 1938BA238CE7" as the title?

[@MsWillowbayOrelse]

Someone mentioned, in another comment, that it is from the auto translation. KZbin is havin issues with it on her vids lately.

[@inessantos4918]

Hey everyone! Am I the only one that sees the title of this video as : "EB1B2D12 C09D 40C2 9608 1938BA238CE7 "??? Wth is going on 😂

[@laurenschenck5355]

Change the star ratings to Christmas tree’s or sun or moon or something based on the holidays and none holidays and season winter etc.🎄📙❄️🎁🎅🏻🎅🏻📚❤️❤️📙📚📖💚💚💚📚📚❄️❄️❄️🎄🎄🎄🎅🏻❤️🎅🏻🎄🎄❄️❄️❄️📚🎁☃️💚💚💚📖

[@laurenschenck5355]

I wish they had more different categories for voting 🎄❤️🎄💚🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎁☃️☃️❄️❄️❄️💚🎄❤️📚📚📚📚❤️🎄💚🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎁☃️☃️❄️❄️📙📙🎅🏻🎁☃️📖💚🎄❤️❤️🎄🎄

[@laurenschenck5355]

Seriously wish GOODREADS would change the Lego and the color scheme for different charities and holidays and seasons and football sports and then special Olympics and Olympics too. 🎅🏻❤️❤️🎄🎄❤️🎅🏻🎅🏻💚🎁📖📖📙📙📙🎁🎁🎄🎄❤️🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁💚📖📙📙🎁💚❄️❄️☃️☃️📚📚