Marquise > Status Update

1. GR doesn't import or export your data in full. You'll lose a lot of books in the transfer to/from.

2. Don't attach too many tags/put your books in too many shelves, it'll mess w/the transfer. 1-2 are enough.

3. Most cataloguing sites/apps are unwieldy and unfriendly to users who want simple shelves w/o a gazillion tags and metadata.

4. If simplicity is your goal: spreadsheet is your friend.

5. If complexity is your goal: LibraryThing is your friend.

6. Do not use paid sites/apps. Not worth it for small/medium personal libraries.

7. GR is still the best place for quick/easy/no frills cataloguing. Had to reimport my data back here because the others sucked for my personal needs.

I forgot:

8. If you have books added here that have been since decatalogued or retired from Amazon, you'll lose them in the transfer too, and you won't be able to re-add/re-import them.

It's pitiful that GR, as shitty as it is, is the best thing going. Don't the millions of readers out here merit something better?

...and by the way, welcome back.

Ugh I wish there was a GR ARC readers filter….if you know of any apps that have such a thing let me know! Some ARC readers are amazing and honest- but I have been swindled by a good many books 😂

Thanks for the tip. I must say I've reached exactly the same conclusion. Only too bad GR cuts us off from private messengers.

I started a spreadsheet myself earlier this year after seeing several people say that GR might unceremoniously delete your reviews! I’m terrible at excel so I’ve been trying templates which breeds a whole other problem. Anyhow, I sadly agree that GR is the most user friendly and only site with cataloging & social options that I care for. The others either have too many unnecessary features or too few sorting options for me to bother. One can only blindly hope that the site improves (ha) or that a new Goldilocks app pops up for us to pivot to.

Left Coast Justin wrote: "It's pitiful that GR, as shitty as it is, is the best thing going. Don't the millions of readers out here merit something better?"

Yeah, it is, and they know it and can abuse the userbase with impunity knowing only a small bunch will leave for greener pastures.

I mean, how hard would it be to create a GR clone with better fixtures?

Left Coast Justin wrote: "...and by the way, welcome back."

Thank you! <3 Still not fully back, still doing lotsa organising and polishing the mess that my personal catalogue has become after this last experiment. :(

Breezy wrote: "Ugh I wish there was a GR ARC readers filter….if you know of any apps that have such a thing let me know! Some ARC readers are amazing and honest- but I have been swindled by a good many books 😂"

You know, Breezy, people online (not just here) claim to want honest reviewers, but once truly honest reviewers appear, the internet chews them up and spits their bones out, and thus they eventually disappear.

The online world isn't made for honesty. It makes you pay a price one way or another.

ERIC wrote: "Thanks for the tip. I must say I've reached exactly the same conclusion. Only too bad GR cuts us off from private messengers."

Yeah, we have to make do with what we have. For me, it's my mighty spreadsheet and my Calibre. :P

C wrote: "I started a spreadsheet myself earlier this year after seeing several people say that GR might unceremoniously delete your reviews!"

They already shadow-ban reviews, did you know? I have a few that were shadow-banned. They don't break rules so they can't delete them straightaway, but it has offended some authors or their fanbase enough that they've mass-reported them until they got them shadow-banned (not shown on the main page and visible only to me and friends).

You could try Calibre and see!

If you really want something to be private, offline is the only way to go. If I wanted to take the trouble to actually catalog my books or keep track of everything I read, I would use a relational database on my hard drive. But that is way more work than I want to do.

Fred wrote: "If you really want something to be private, offline is the only way to go. If I wanted to take the trouble to actually catalog my books or keep track of everything I read, I would use a relational ..."

Yeah, spot on conclusion. That's what I was doing, I started my spreadsheet catalogue earlier this year, all very neat 'n' nice, and was happy with it (you probably noticed I wasn't adding or reviewing as many books as before, yes? I was doing it on my spreadsheet...)

But since I'm cursed from birth, I had started that on my old personal laptop and was moving things to folders to organise for backing them up before moving to my brand spankin' laptop... and the stupid thing crashed on me!!!!

That's how I was sent into this cataloguing quest. :'( Having to rebuild my catalogue manually now.

Oomph hearing about you losing your spreadsheet hurt. If you export from goodreads it should still have a good bulk for you though, right? You're not starting from scratch?

I do my own spreadsheet each year and write out my reviews in Word beforehand as backup. It glitched too many times while writing a review directly in the site.

I still suspect Amazon wants to replace GR with their own version -- more advertising than social media -- but hasn't happened yet.

Morphing Erebus wrote: "Oomph hearing about you losing your spreadsheet hurt. If you export from goodreads it should still have a good bulk for you though, right? You're not starting from scratch?"

No, not from scratch. Only that all my reads for 2025 and 2026 were on a spreadsheet and I had reviewed them in Word. I lost all those, so save for a few books I had already added to here and for which I posted reviews over at my website, I'm starting from scratch.

Audrey wrote: "I do my own spreadsheet each year and write out my reviews in Word beforehand as backup. It glitched too many times while writing a review directly in the site."

I was doing exactly that when disaster struck before I had time to transfer my stuff to the backup. :'(

Oh, of course they want to do that. I'm not going to give them any more free content, this site is to direct traffic to my reviews and to interact with the friends I care about, nothing more.

Thanks for this post & update, Marquise 💚

I am sorry to see that you are having so much trouble with all of this. Goodreads is, as far as I've seen, still the best place to organize your books and reviews. My wife says that The Story-Graph is great for this as well. Though, she says that it is better to just do it all manually, since most sites that boast easy export/import, you almost always will have issues with losing book reviews and information during the transfers. It seems it's not an option that has been perfected for the reader on any site, as of yet.

If you truly wish to move your books ‘to a private place out of sight of nosies and trolls’ then I think StoryGraph might be your friend. You can, just like here on Goodreads, put your profile to private but you can also disable friend request entirely and I don't know exactly how but some users even have their follow button disabled, so you may use this site just for tracking if you want. I haven't encountered any trolls there and it also makes your tags private. StoryGraph transfers all your books and if any of them aren't in its catalogue it will automatically create a new book with all the information given, just for you.

If Goodreads ever shuts down for good, I would be satisfied with StoryGraph. Did the transfer process get worse or is my data just less complicated to transfer than yours? At least for me, Goodreads exported my data without any issues.

Margo wrote: "Thanks for this post & update, Marquise 💚"

You're welcome, Margo! 💚

Mika wrote: ".If Goodreads ever shuts down for good, I would be satisfied with StoryGraph. Did the transfer process get worse or is my data just less complicated to transfer than yours? At least for me, Goodreads exported my data without any issues."

I tried StoryGraph, and it was too much for my needs. I basically just want a glorified spreadsheet like GR, and SG gives me tags for pace and mood and whatnot that I absolutely don't need at all, and it's automatic, so it's not like I can choose either.

Craig Vasiliev wrote: "Goodreads is, as far as I've seen, still the best place to organize your books and reviews. My wife says that The Story-Graph is great for this as well..."

Yes, and yes! She did tell me that too, which is why I went to try it. For me, StoryGraph is a nightmare made for all the Goodreaders who wanted the bells and whistles that the site denied us, and they can't agree on simplicity so they've made the site a monstrosity of excessive bells and whistles for what I would like.

@ Marquise~ I think StoryGraph, it's more simplified than GR is, actually.. The only thing they deny you is gif options for your reviews.. But strictly for reviews and catalog purposes, it's pretty straight forward. Almost generic in its simplicity actually..

I do like also that it's not really a crazy social network that GR is.. But you can also add books to the library yourself, if a certain version you're reading- (digital, hardcover, audio, paperback) hasn't been added yet.. Which is one benefit that GR has taken away from us here..

You can also do blog posts (another benefit GR took from us) or create your book group platform.. just like here, but without all the bells and whistles of this site.. So there are pros and cons there.

I guess it just depends on what you want.. I like using their book tracking on your personal reading progress and goals, way better than on GR-which is why I do my personal book challenges and tracking on there now and not here any longer.. I do also like the half star rating options we don't have on GR. And I love the breakdown categories you can place on your reviews, to give review readers even more info on whether they want to read the book you're reviewing or not.

But if you are looking for strictly organizing your books & keeping your privacy as well, as you stated; then I would say StoryGraph is your best option without much fuss or headache. OR stay with the GR shelf and just make your profile private and greatly reduce your current friends' list for privacy purposes for your bookshelf.

I'll have to retry it, then. I've already tried it twice, and honestly didn't like it. But all I need is a private cataloguing and book-tracking place, nothing else.

I'll reconsider, thank you, Nya! <3

Marquise wrote: "I'll have to retry it, then. I've already tried it twice, and honestly didn't like it. But all I need is a private cataloguing and book-tracking place, nothing else.

I'll reconsider, thank you, Ny..."

You're welcome.. Just ignore all the other stuff on the site you don't need. It will work better that way for your purposes.

I'm giving it a 3rd (and final) chance, and honestly it's very frustrating. It has imported my reviews too, which I don't want, even some that I had already deleted here.

I think StoryGraph is best to start from scratch...

Yes..It's best to start from scratch.. Since you have such a vast review and book empire.. I do too, since I've been on GR since 2009. So there was no way I was gonna do the import/export thing, cause I know too many folks who had issues with doing it on ANY site that offers this benefit. Honestly, it would have been better for you to do everything manually.. That's what I did.. So I had no issues with adding my books there or keeping track of my books that I've read and want to read. Rate or review.

It took me about 2 months (from when I joined there in Dec 2025) to get everything as I wanted it, but it was still easier, cause I would just make sure I went there every time I was on GR also. So now it's all organized and the way I want it, regarding my older books and ratings. Now I'm just on there daily whenever I add a new book or rate and review one as well. Or if I want to see where I'm at with my personal book challenges and reading progresses..

Ive been using Notion. So far So Good.

Asaji wrote: "Ive been using Notion. So far So Good."

Nah, no AI for my cataloguing. It doesn't meet my simplicity requirements.

~*~Princess Nya Vasiliev~*~ wrote: "Yes..It's best to start from scratch.. Since you have such a vast review and book empire.. I do too, since I've been on GR since 2009..."

So, it's basically migrating from here to another site. And manually. :(

It's a lot of work to do, I think I'll just start the 2026 releases cataloguing manually, and continue slimming down my GR catalogue manually too. Very time-consuming, but I'll have to do it in small batches at a time, so maybe next year it'll be all set up the way I want it.