As you may have heard, Team Old Town Books has been craving some organization and order in the midst of our big store move lately. This brought us to the topic of tracking one’s reads (there’s another reason too, but you’ll have to keep reading to find out…).

We polled our staff, as well as our wonderful community of readers on Instagram (follow us @oldtownbooks!), to find out their favorite methods of tracking and analyzing their yearly book consumption.

The Big Three:

• Journaling:

  • Many of our followers mentioned some form of journal for their book tracking purposes. Whether it’s a dedicated year-long book journal, month-to-month bullet journal spreads, or some variation therein, it can be extremely gratifying to look back and see which books crossed your path over time.

• Goodreads:

  • As one of the most well-known players in the online book tracking game, Goodreads was mentioned by many members of our community. Elements that earned high praise included the ability to scan covers/ISBNs straight from the app, social media connectivity, personalized shelf creation, and more. Many cited longevity as their primary selection factor (aka: they’ve been using it for years and switching now seems daunting).

  • Full disclosure: Many members of Old Town Books’ staff use or have used Goodreads. Several are trying to migrate to other platforms, however, since Goodreads is owned by Amazon, which is notoriously harmful to the book industry and indie shops specifically.

• The StoryGraph:

  • Luckily, there is a relatively new player on the scene that makes switching an easy process. The StoryGraph launched in early 2019 and allows users to import their library directly from Goodreads. While the platform does allow you to set reading goals, add books to your TBR, and track reading progress, the real fun lies in the “StoryGraph” that is created and changes as you read. Do you read more in specific genres or go for certain types of moods when choosing books? The colorful pie charts on your profile will reveal just that. You can even compare data from different months of your reading history.

  • The review feature of the site also offers more nuance for readers than the typical five-star scale. You can answer questions about the loveability and development of the main characters, tag for content warnings, and more.

  • Another fun element is your ability to create and share your very own reading challenge with unique catagories.

Our generous Instagram friends also shared some of the following methods with us as well:

• Bookly - tracks pages and speed

  • “You can scan your books or simply search for them online to add them to the app, from there you can track to whom you lend them, add favourite quotes and thoughts, and see insightful data that can help you improve or read even more.”

• Bibliophile Book Journal from OTB, fountain pen from Penny Post

  • Editor’s note: Team OTB loves Penny Post, another woman-owned business here in Old Town!

• Notes app on their phone

• Spreadsheet: title, author, genre, impressions, summary, how the book came to them

• @sarahobrady: “I keep a yearly list in the back of my planner, and I also keep a book quilt. The quilt has multiple rows of blank ‘books’ on a ‘bookshelf,’ and as I finish reading books, I write the title, author, and year read on each successive empty spine until the whole quilt is filled.”

• Happy Planner

• Leio app: This app offers a timer, tracking, duration predictions, and even deadline countdowns for those reading down to the wire.

• @artsadmngrrl: “I hold up a book and ask my husband if I’ve read it. If yes, I ask if I liked it.”

“I don’t. Tried, but it sucked joy out of the act of reading for me.”

As with genre preference, book selection, preferred reading beverage, etc, there is no right or wrong way to track your book stats! If the idea of spreadsheets gives you school flashbacks and/or hives, no worries. The beautiful thing about the world of literature is that it is the epitome of “choose your own adventure.” Keep what works and bypass that which doesn’t feel the best for you as an individual.

Why Track at All?

Based on our team’s own experiences and those shared by our community on Instagram, here are a few reasons you may wish to track your reading:

• Prevent re-buying. Have you ever returned from a Little Free Library or book store with a seemingly new addition in hand, only to look at your shelf and realize that you already own a copy? Tracking could help prevent future repeats.

• Build a habit. Do you love books, but find yourself overwhelmed at the end of the day, often reaching for a remote instead of the latest bestseller? We’ve all been there. For those who love a bit of self-competition, tracking could help you build up to reading more pages and/or for longer each month, thus deepening your reading habit.

• Participant in a community challenge. Joining a community of readers (in-person and/or online) with similar reading interests can focus your reading habits, create new friendships, broaden your literary horizons, and more.

Reading Women Podcast x Old Town Books Partnership

Old Town Books is excited to collaborate with the Reading Women Podcast to encourage our community of readers to think more globally in their 2021 reading selections. Their challenge for 2021 is titled: Reclaim the Bookshelf: Read the World. Some of our booksellers will join podcast host Kendra Winchester for a virtual Challenge Check-in on Sunday, April 25. Here is a bit more about the challenge, courtesy of the Reading Women website:

“Here’s the rundown: complete as many challenges as you can from the list below. If you have one book that covers two categories (or more!), feel free to count it for both. It's not a contest. Our goal is to encourage you to read widely (and fight the patriarchy, but that was probably a given), so just have fun with it!

This year, we’re focusing on reading international authors (authors from countries other than your own). We’re also encouraging participants to read books by trans women and people of other marginalized genders who are comfortable being included in feminine-coded initiatives.”

You can sign up to join us for the virtual check-in for free. We hope to see you there! We’ll also be posting some more informative content here on the blog throughout the year to help you along on your Challenge journey. If you’re ready to get started on your Challenge and tracking journey, check out this Read the World tracker, courtesy of the Reading Women podcast.

Photos by Nicole Blair and Stephanie Dee Photography.
Blog contribution and editing by Shannon McCarthy.