StoryGraph Drama??

I thought the announcement that you could now block users on StoryGraph would just pass by quietly. After all, there aren’t many ways to interact with users on the app, especially strangers, so most people don’t have a need for it.

But instead, releasing the feature got people all sorta curious and amped up! 😅

StoryGraph Protection

A new piece of functionality that I’m proud of: we now autosave in-progress reviews.

It’s not a flashy new feature, but it’s practical, improves the user experience, and contributes to the app feeling more and more mature each month.

The hardest part of the upcoming Private Books feature has been completed: the V1 specification. Getting there was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be.

Now I just need to get my head down and implement it…

Each time I try though, something comes up.

This morning, for example, we discovered that our self-hosted analytics server was down, which was causing loading issues in the app. After writing this newsletter I was meant to continue my work on Private Books before an evening dance class, but now I feel like I have to prevent crashes on that server from impacting the app going forward. And I think this experience has helped me realise why the homepage is often slower to load on the app than on the website. I wanna deal with that ASAP as well! 😩

SGAI: Making A Name For Itself

A small thing, but it was really cool to see the acronym I’d developed used in a Play Store review:

Dusting Off Book Club

Remember when I announced that I was starting a book club, because I definitely needed another side project in my life? 🥲

Well, since I did the call for longlist nominations, I haven’t done a single thing on it.

But that stops this week! 🙅🏾‍♀️

For our first cycle we’re going to be figuring out what the top three fairytale retellings are.

If you want to be part of that journey, now is the time to join! 🧚🏾

What I’m Reading

One of my friends gave me Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda on my 30th birthday and told me it was his favourite book.

I vowed to read it.

Said friend is getting married in 19 days, two days after my 35th birthday. What better wedding gift than telling him I’ve finally read his favourite book five years after he gave it to me? 😆

Have a great week,

Nadia