An interview with Nadia Odunayo on building Goodreads alternative StoryGraph, remaining bootstrapped, reaching 3.8M active users, not allowing DMs, and more
Software engineer and developer Nadia Odunayo created the social media readers' platform StoryGraph and its popularity has rocketed Bluesky: @justsmudge , @ben-esse , and @davidmbarnett Mastodon: @Climatehistories … and @DazzlingDamo@mastodon.ie Forums: Hacker News , r/HappyBlackWomen , r/TheStoryGraph , r/books , and r/technology See also Mediagazer Bluesky: @justsmudge : 🌿☕ — “Learn to read, read to learn..” — I've just learnt Goodreads is owned by Amazon and that there is a new kid on the block.. books out 📚 @thestorygraph.com — www.theguardian.com/books/2025/ f... Ben Esse / @ben-esse : I just started using The StoryGraph after never being into book tracking apps/platforms and I love it so far! Lots of good reasons to use it over Goodreads outlined in this article #booksky — www.theguardian.com/books/2025/ f... David M Barnett / @davidmbarnett : For the Observer this weekend I wrote about the rise of Goodreads challenger @thestorygraph.com — www.theguardian.com/books/2025/ f... Mastodon: Athena / @Climatehistories@mastodon.social : I ditched Goodreads four years ago and never once looked back. — I really like StoryGraph - it's simple, clean and refreshingly clutter-free. — And behind it all? The brilliant Nadia Odunayo. — https://www.theguardian.com/ ... #books #StoryGraph — [image] Damien Scully / @DazzlingDamo@mastodon.ie : Nice write up on Story Graph. Does make me reflect on how little I am reading currently 😕 — https://www.theguardian.com/ ... Forums: Hacker News : ‘Reading is part of my identity’: the woman taking on Goodreads owner Amazon r/HappyBlackWomen : ‘Reading is part of my identity’: the woman taking on Goodreads owner Amazon r/TheStoryGraph : ‘Reading is part of my identity’: the woman taking on Goodreads owner Amazon r/books : ‘Reading is part of my identity’: the woman taking on Goodreads owner Amazon | Books r/technology : ‘Reading is part of my identity’: the woman taking on Goodreads owner Amazon | Software engineer and developer Nadia Odunayo created … See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
StoryGraph’s rise follows years of dissatisfaction with Goodreads: former employees described an Amazon-owned service that received limited resources while its user-generated data remained valuable.
The platform was already identified as a Goodreads challenger in earlier coverage; its current scale turns that challenge into a more consequential test of whether a focused, independent reader community can compete with an incumbent.
First-order effects
- StoryGraph now has a 3.8 million-active-user base while remaining self-funded, giving Nadia Odunayo’s company a meaningful operating position without external investors.
- Its decision not to offer direct messages keeps the product centered on reading activity and removes a major user-to-user communications surface from the service.
Second-order effects
- Goodreads faces a more credible independent rival after years in which its design and feature gaps helped create room for challengers such as StoryGraph’s earlier competitive push.
- The no-DM design differentiates StoryGraph from engagement-maximizing social platforms, concentrating competition on the utility and community value of the reading product itself.
Third-order effects
- If StoryGraph sustains this growth, it would show that an Amazon-owned incumbent’s gatekeeping position in reader communities remains contestable even without venture backing.
- The case points to a narrower kind of social product: communities can seek scale while deliberately limiting private-interaction features and the operational burdens they create.
The trend: Specialized, independently run communities are exploiting product gaps at large incumbent platforms while using more bounded social features to differentiate.