StoryGraph Readalongs: What you need to know

Last updated on 22 April 2024

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It’s here! The StoryGraph Readalongs feature has been launched.

After launching into the world in 2019, The StoryGraph is picking up more and more traffic and conversation of late, and I’m happy to say I have well and truly jumped on that bandwagon. They continue to impress me, and I’m excited to really try out the new StoryGraph Readlongs feature that was launched in December 2023.

After discovering this site earlier in 2023, I have SO enjoyed using in throughout the course of the year, and while I continue to use Goodreads, it’s fun to be using both at the moment before fully committing to one or the other. I think Goodreads will always have a place in my heart, but StoryGraph is much better at a lot of things, and they continue to do well and update their site and features (something Amazon-owned Goodreads doesn’t really do).

Speaking of features! The new StoryGraph Readalongs feature is going to be a lot of fun, I think, and in this blog post, we’re going to take a look at the feature and really dive into the details. Then you can make the call for yourself as to whether it’s something you might get on board with.

What is The StoryGraph?

The StoryGraph is a book-tracking website and app, which allows you to track your books and your lists throughout the year. You can read more about The StoryGraph in this post, The StoryGraph Review. In that blog post, we take a look at all the features on the website and how it works.

What are The StoryGraph Readalongs?

The StoryGraph Readlongs is a feature on StoryGraph which is like an online bookclub. With the new feature, you can read a book with up to 1000 pepole! And there are plenty of things you can do within your Readalong, too.

Discussions

Join the discussion about the book you’re reading with everyone else who is part of the Readalong. You’ll be able to share your thoughts and opinions, read about how different people see different parts of the book, and basically share your squees and fangirling moments with others who feel the same (or don’t! And that’s totally okay!).

Hosts

You can either be a Host of a Readalong (more on that below) or you can be a Participant and just join in. As the host, you’re able to do things like set up forums for various aprts of the book, and you can also lock certain discussions so that only people who are up to that part in the book can read them. This is great for avoiding spoilers!

How are the Readalongs different to Buddy Reads?

There are several differences between The StoryGraph Readalongs and their Buddy Reads system. The Buddy Read feature on StoryGraph is definitely more personal to me. It allows you to read books with your buddies – so you need to be friends on the platform before you can Buddy Read. Makes sense, right? But for Readalongs you can join any Readalong that is being hosted and you don’t need to have Buddies to do it.

The Book Club feature (April 2024) is different again. You can host a Book Club and have meetings (in person or online) and chat about various books. There are forums, and polls, and customisations, too. You can learn more about the StoryGraph book clubs here.

Where to find the Readalongs on StoryGraph

You can find the Readalongs on StoryGraph by logging into your account, navigating along the top menu to Community, then clicking ‘Readlongs’ which is on the sidebar on the right.

From there, you’ll be directed to the Readalongs page, where you’ll be able to see any ongoing Readalongs that you’re a part of, as well as Live Readlongs that are currently happening.

How many people can join a StoryGraph Readalong?

1000! Yup! This is perfect if you don’t have 999 friends, but still wanna be part of a group of readers. This seems like a huge number to me, and I’ll be interested to see how it plays out IRL.

How to start a StoryGraph Readalong

You can also start your own StoryGraph Readalong! It’s super easy, and similar to how you would start a Buddy Read. Here’s what you do:

Go to StoryGraph
Search for the book you’d like to start a Readalong with
On the right-hand side of that book page, there is a link which reads ‘Start readalong…’. Click that.
You will then be able to input a bunch of different details
Hit Create

Woohoo! You’ve just started your very first StoryGraph Readalong!

Adding details to one of your StoryGraph Readalongs

When you start your Readalong, you’ll be asked to populate a bunch of different details, so that everyone knows what the deal is when they join your Readalong.

At the top, it has the title of the book, and then the first box is for the Description.

This is optional, but if you want to include some details about your Readlaong, you can pop them in here. This might be things such as:

Why you wanted to create it
Additional resources or links for people that might be helpful
A suggested reading schedule
Book club bonuses
Links to Spotify playlist that might go with the book
Anything you can think of!

Next you can input a Start Date and an End Date. StoryGraph notes on the page that you can still view the comments and also add your own even if the End Date has passed.

The final thing you do to start your Readalong is to decide whether you want to make it a Public Readalong or keep it private. If you choose to have it Public, your Readalong will be able to be found by any StoryGraph user around the world. People can then click ‘join’ if they’d like to partake. You can, however, change this setting at any time if you need to.

How to join a StoryGraph Readalong

To join one of the many StoryGraph Readalongs, navigate to the Readalongs page, then scroll through the Live Readalongs until you find one that you’d like to join. You can View Readalong to read, along with all the details, if any Forums are starting (Forums can be set up to unlock at certain points throughout the book), and comments.

There is currently (Dec 2023) a note at the top of the Readlaong page that says that more features will be coming to the Readalong section in 2024, so be on the lookout for Search, Sort, and Filter options, as well as a For You section.

My overall thoughts on the new Readalong feature on StoryGraph

I think the StoryGraph Readalongs are a great idea! I’m excited to see where they take it, and what the uptake on them is. I can see a real potential for both already-established and new book clubs to use this feature, and really build up a sense of community around it.

While I don’t have plans at the moment to start a Readalong myself, I’m definitely going to be keeping an eye out for ones I can join this year, to fully participate and see how it works with large groups of people.

So what do you think? Will you be trying out the Readalong feature on The StoryGraph? Let me know in the comments!