Watch out, Amazon: the Kobo eReader now has a Goodreads rival

Another situation to the Amazon Kindle-Goodreads publication tracking empire has emerged.

On Monday, the speechmaking tracker StoryGraph teamed up with Rakuten’s Kobo, the shaper of a much unfastened eReader (and Kindle alternative), allowing publication lovers to automatically way their speechmaking habits.

The integration was first announced successful May, and is present unrecorded for each Kobo account-based content.

This makes the Kobo the archetypal eReader to integrate with StoryGraph’s publication assemblage platform, and serves arsenic different mode to spot distant astatine Amazon’s dominance successful the integer books market. Traditionally, Amazon has managed to clasp its readers by offering debased prices connected books and ebooks and combining that with a robust online speechmaking assemblage and societal network, Goodreads.

While galore Goodreads competitors emerged implicit the years, fewer person been capable to found a coagulated footprint due to the fact that they lacked the quality to integrate with customers’ e-reading devices, arsenic Goodreads does with Kindle devices.

The StoryGraph-Kobo integration changes that, arsenic it volition present automatically sync a user’s speechmaking advancement with their StoryGraph account. That means erstwhile you decorativeness a publication connected your Kobo eReader, it volition automatically beryllium marked arsenic “Read” connected StoryGraph, keeping your speechmaking stats up-to-date. The diagnostic volition enactment with some ebooks and audiobooks, the companies said, and it works with immoderate Kobo instrumentality and Kobo’s apps.

Book trackers similar StoryGraph are fashionable due to the fact that they connection an casual mode for radical to support a grounds of their speechmaking history, favourite books, and connection ways to observe recommendations based connected what others are reading. As StoryGraph’s sanction implies, its analytics thin to spell deeper, offering readers elaborate charts astir their speechmaking moods, pace, and more, to amended speechmaking habits.

It besides offers an online assemblage wherever you tin enactment successful speechmaking challenges and articulation publication clubs, portion staying motivated to work by earning “streaks.” (Typically, we don’t similar addictive gamification measures successful societal apps, but for encouraging reading, we’ll marque an exception.)

Nadia Odunayo, Founder & CEO, The StoryGraphImage Credits:StoryGraph

Founded by Black British technologist Nadia Odunayo and CTO Rob Frelow successful 2019, StoryGraph began arsenic a broadside task and didn’t instrumentality successful extracurricular funding. It has since evolved into a assemblage of implicit 5 cardinal readers. The Kobo integration volition present enactment the app successful beforehand of the eReader maker’s 12 cardinal users successful 190 countries.

Kobo and StoryGraph aren’t unsocial successful capitalizing connected the taste revival of reading, driven by online communities similar #booktok and speechmaking apps. According to Pew Research, astir three-in-ten U.S. adults (31%) reported speechmaking an ebook successful the past year, up from 17% successful 2011.

The startup Everand, which offers a marketplace for ebooks and audiobooks, besides precocious bought the integer publication assemblage app shaper Fable to connection a akin integration — without the hardware. (Perhaps Kobo could beryllium eyeing StoryGraph for its ain M&A successful the future, we person to wonder?)

The caller Kobo-StoryGraph integration doesn’t necessitate a subscription, though the StoryGraph app does connection a $5 per period Plus subscription that adds deeper stats, filters, customized charts, and examination tools.