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April 10, 2023

#143 - To The Fair!

Visiting the 2023 London Book Fair, improving the stats dashboard, and making our Giveaways platform more self-service.

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#143 | 10 April 2023

To The Fair!


The first time I went to the London Book Fair was in March 2019.

I wore a badge that read "NADIA ODUNAYO - CEO - THE STORYGRAPH".

Only, the product didn't exist yet! I was on my own with just an idea. I did feel a teeny bit like a phony. 😅

Pretty much every industry person I spoke to that day didn't have a lot of confidence that I could get anywhere with my idea for a new book recommendation and reading tracking app.

But I didn't let that dishearten me!  💪🏾

The few months of customer research I'd done by that point suggested that there was space for something new and different...
Screenshot of a large convention hall from a higher level looking down on a a series of exhibition stands.
A photo I took not long after arriving at the 2019 fair.
...and I'm so glad I continued to explore this space, because now I'm heading back to the Fair four years later, and the badge will say exactly the same thing, but where I am product and company-wise is vastly different! 😊

The focus of my visit will be getting more authors and publishers onboarded to our giveaways platform. I'll be giving out a special discount code for a Premium listing too! 👀

If you'll be at the fair and have any questions about giveaways on StoryGraph, or know somebody who would be interested, hit "Reply" to let me know and hopefully we can have a chat face-to-face!
 

Since last time...
 

We've taken the first step in enhancing our stats dashboard as part of the V4 updates!
 
Screenshot of the top of a StoryGraph stats dashboard. There's a dropdown with the label "Viewing stats for". "Read books" is checked, but the dropdown has been expanded to show the following three further options: To-Read Pile, DNF Books, Owned Books.
Now you can access To-Read, Did Not Finish, and Owned Books stats from the main stats page.
And a more behind-the-scenes update, with respect to regular users: Authors or publishers wanting to list a giveaway on StoryGraph can now purchase credits directly on the website!

Before I’d send them external payment links, then I’d send Abbie information about who paid, and she’d load in their credits manually. Now it’s all automatic. 😍

We're one step closer to the full launch of a self-service platform. 🥳
Screenshot of the Author/Publisher Giveaways Dashboard. The top left has a title in green reading "Giveaways Dashboard". Top right is a grey button labelled "Create giveaway". Underneath is a dashboard pane labelled "Available credits". There are two boxes, side-by-side horizontally. The left one reads "Premium — 3 — Purchase more". The right one reads "Standard - 2 - Purchase more".

 

Next two weeks


The next step with stats will be adding the new dropdown options to the Plus Compare Stats feature. 😁

We'll also be revamping our onboarding flow to make it more effective and engaging, and Rob's been hard at work on new recommendation models. 😍
 

What I'm reading


Next month, I'll be seeing a friend star in a theatre adaptation of The Beekeeper of Aleppo and so I have to read the book beforehand, or I never will. 😆

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!

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