StoryGraph for Authors: Should You Add It?

The work is small because there is so little to do. StoryGraph has no author program in 2026, so "adding it" means making sure your book exists there with the right data, giving readers a reason to log it, and publishing the content information you would rather write yourself than leave to strangers.

Most comparisons of StoryGraph vs Goodreads are written for readers switching apps. From the author's chair, the questions are different: what can I control, what can I pay for, and where does reader opinion get recorded?

If you still need to set up the Goodreads side, our walkthrough of the Goodreads Author Program covers claiming the profile and what is worth your time there.

Open a book on StoryGraph and the first block below the blurb is not reviews. It is a summary of how readers felt: the top moods (adventurous, dark, emotional, funny, hopeful, tense and the rest), a pace verdict of slow, medium or fast, and percentage bars for questions like "plot- or character-driven?" and "loveable characters?". Content warnings sit in their own section, split into graphic, moderate and minor.

That changes what sells. A Goodreads browser reads your star average and a few angry reviews. A StoryGraph browser checks whether your book matches the evening they want: "emotional, medium pace, character-driven, no animal death". A three-star book can win that match against a four-star book that logs as "slow, informative".

It also means your book is invisible to mood searches until enough readers have logged it. A title with two reviews has no meaningful mood chart, and readers learn to skip those.

Do this once per book, ideally before launch week so your earliest readers land on a page that already looks complete.

1. 1

   Search your title and ISBN

   Check that every format you sell (ebook, paperback, audiobook) appears, with the right cover and page count. StoryGraph imports most data from catalog sources, so self-published books with a fresh ISBN sometimes lag. If an edition is missing, add it through the app's add-a-book flow or ask a reader to.

2. 2

   Write your content warnings yourself

   List them plainly, graphic first, then moderate, then minor. Put that list where readers can find it, then contact StoryGraph support with it so the book page can show it. Readers who check warnings trust the author's list more than a stranger's guess, and they are more likely to buy when they find it.

3. 3

   Give it a permanent home

   Your warnings list needs one public address you control, so add it to your book's blurb or bio wherever you sell. If you write with AIWriteBook, the author page gives every book its own page with cover, blurb and a free first chapter, and collects the emails of readers who want the next one.

4. 4

   Brief your early readers

   ARC readers decide your first mood chart. Ask them to log the book on whichever app they use, and on StoryGraph to fill in moods and pace, not just stars. The free review request generator drafts the ARC invite; add the line from the template below.

5. 5

   Add one line to your back matter

   Readers finish the book on the last page, not on your website. A single sentence there inviting them to rate it on Goodreads or StoryGraph covers both camps. The back matter generator writes the rest of those closing pages.

Here is the use most authors miss. Thirty days after launch, open your book's StoryGraph page and compare the top three moods with your blurb and cover. The chart is a free, unprompted survey of what readers actually experienced.

The figures in that example are illustrative, but the pattern is common. When the chart and your blurb disagree, rewriting the blurb is usually cheaper than rewriting the book. The blurb generator gives you fresh drafts to test, and the KDP keyword research tool checks whether the new angle has search demand on Amazon.

The same reading works on Goodreads shelves, just more slowly: if readers file you under "dark-romance" when you marketed sweet romance, you have the same mismatch.

Three short texts, written for the three places where a reader is most willing to log a book. Swap in your details.

Tap a box to select its text, then copy.

If you track your reading on StoryGraph, please log the book there too and tick the moods and pace. Readers search by those, so your two minutes help the right people find it.

Thank you for reading. If you use Goodreads or StoryGraph, a rating there (even one line) helps other readers decide whether this book is for them.

Content warnings for [Title]
Graphic: [one or two items]
Moderate: [items]
Minor: [items]
The full list with chapter notes is on my author page.