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June 6, 2022

#121 - What's this TikTok thing all about then?

Venturing into #BookTok, audiobook tracking and stats, impending work on search and reading challenges, and our Instagram Book Club!

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#121 | 6 June 2022

Venturing into #BookTok


Out of all of the user spikes we've had that were generated from other people's social media content, the biggest came from TikTok. #BookTok is a thriving, influential space.

And we've decided to finally get involved ourselves! 👀 😁
 
Screenshot of our new TikTok page. At the top of the page is our handle 'thestorygraph'. The "Videos" tab is selected and you can see 7 video preview shots, all feature Rob's face. He is wearing a black t-shirt with the words "Mr. StoryGraph" on it in pink letters and a pink baseball cap. Some of the video previews feature Rob holding up an iPad to the camera with a book cover displayed on it. Above the iPad is an image of the book cover, overlayed.
My sister asked me yesterday what it's like finally having TikTok on my phone.
I told her I still don't. Thanks, Rob. Or should I say Mr. StoryGraph? 
😆

Rob and I decided that we wanted to use the platform to showcase the power of our recommendations engine.

We asked people to comment with the type of book they're looking to read next, including any moods, topics, themes, or tropes, and then Rob puts their comment into the reading preferences survey in the app and chooses a book for the person in question.

Now and again we'll be shipping the chosen recommendations to people and the first book is on its way to its lucky winner. 😌

Are you a TikTok user? Do you use it for your company? Do you have any tips for us?

Since last time...
 

Our new and improved audiobook tracking and stats are finally live! 🎉
 
Screenshot showing a line chart titled "Pages and minutes in May 2022." There are two lines: a green one representing pages read, and an orange one representing minutes listened to. The x-axis is labelled "Day" and the y-axis is labelled "Pages read/Minutes listened". The lines wave up and down amongst one another.
You can now choose to have your audiobook listening tracked as pages or minutes!

It's also a lot easier to update your progress in your audiobooks, irrespective of how you choose to have the data displayed on the other end: 
 
Screenshot showing someone entering a progress update for an audio edition of David Olusoga's Black and British. There is an input box with '3:22' filled out and a select box to the right of it with two expanded options: "HH:MM" and "%". "HH:MM" is selected.

Have a read of the changelog post on our roadmap if you'd like to find out more!
 

Next two weeks


We plan to work on improving the experience around searching for books in the app and adding books to reading challenges. 

Some of you have been waiting an age for us to work on reading challenges again. Well, your time is finally here! 😅
 

What I'm reading


I'll be reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke in preparation for the next instalment of our Instagram Book Club on June 26th. Do join in if you can! 
Screenshot of the book pane for Piranesi on The StoryGraph. To the left is the book cover, which features a blue background and a centaur on a column. To the right is a white pane with information about the book. It has the following tags: fiction, fantasy, literary, adventurous, mysterious, reflective, medium-paced. There's a link to "View buddy read" and it has the custom tags "june-tbr" and "storygraph-book-club-june". It's marked as to-read.

Have a great week,

Nadia

P.S. Know somebody who's an avid reader or would enjoy following along with this journey? Please do forward this email to them! Thank you. :-)
 
Haven't tried The StoryGraph yet? Check it out today!
Love the app? Consider upgrading to our Plus plan!

Want to volunteer? Apply to be a Librarian!
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