How to organise your reading (Notion, Storygraph, and more!)

Hi friends! I have a super exciting post for you today. I’m going to be talking about how to organise your reading! This will include a Notion tour, plus some fun other platforms that you can use to track your reading. Let’s hop in!

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What is Notion?

Notion is one of my favourite ways to keep track of my reading. I started using it to track my reading in 2022, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop. Notion is an all-in-one, sandbox note-taking application that gives you full customisation of your dashboard. Think of it like building your own website to take notes, just much easier.

Notion as a reading tracker

Now, because I also use a spreadsheet, my Notion is more for aesthetics than anything else. I like looking at it, and I enjoy updating it. At the end of the day, you can use 100 different ways to track your reading, but they will only be successful if you enjoy doing it. So let’s take a look at my Notion dashboard!

Here is the main part of my dashboard, or the homepage as I call it. I have a database that shows what I’m currently reading, and then a navigation bar.

Yearly Reads

I use a very simple database for my yearly reads, as I mentioned before I have a spreadsheet for more in-depth tracking. Notion doesn’t do well with statistics, even though the databases are reminiscent of Excel, there’s not really a function to make graphs and such (yet).

What I do like about Notion is the ability to create relations. Meaning you can link an entry in one database to an entry in another database. As you can see in my yearly reads list, I have relations going to my genres database and my series database.

Another reason I like Notion is the ability to take notes inside of a database. I can open a side panel where I can write my reviews and thoughts about books that I read. I even have a template that I can reuse each time to make things easier.

Going back to my homepage, I have a small section for my yearly reading goals that I can fill in, along with a book counter, links to other platforms, and my Upcoming ARC and Possibility Pile.

The Possibility Pile database is linked to the yearly reads database. So if I add a book to the yearly reads database and set the read status to “TBR”, that book will show up on the main dashboard under Possibility Pile. I like the ability to view one dashboard in multiple ways through the filters.

ARC Tracker

My ARC and eBook tracker is the second major database on my Notion reading tracker. I constantly forget which ebooks I have and which ARCs I have, because they aren’t physically sitting on my bookshelf and haunting me. So I need a visual representation.

I have both an ARC tracker and a Kindle Library tracker, and they are linked to views on the homepage. The Upcoming ARC view on the home page is set to show the books releasing in the month we’re currently in. So if we were in January, that view would show all of the January ARC release dates.

Genre Tracker

Next up is my genre tracker. This database has a relation to the yearly reads database. So if I add a book to the yearly reads database, and set it to fantasy, that book will show up in my genre tracker under the fantasy tab. I haven’t gotten to filling out all the genres yet, that’s a project for 2024.

Series Tracker

Another simple relation that I created to keep track of my series. I do keep track of my series on my spreadsheet as well, so this isn’t a very detailed view. It just tells me how much progress I’m making in my series.

Reading Goals

Next up is my reading goals database. It’s a simple database where I can set my reading goals for the next year, and track how I’m doing with them. I like having the visual, so that I don’t forget about my goals halfway through the year.

Reading Corner

The last section of my Notion page is what I call the reading corner. I have a Pomodoro timer set, as well as a Spotify playlist. I use this when I want to read, it sets the atmosphere and it just looks fun. This is also where I keep my favourite fanfic links, just so that I don’t lose them.

That’s basically my Notion dashboard in a nutshell. I really enjoy working on Notion, and I’m planning on releasing a Notion Reading Tracker template soon!

For now, let’s recap why you should use Notion to organise your reading:

Why you should use Notion to organise your reading

• The databases are easy to use, and if Goodreads ever disappears, you’ll still have a database of all your books.
• You can link one database to another by using relations, making it easy to keep track of your books, series, genres, and more.
• It looks pretty (seriously, don’t discount aesthetics).
• You can write in-depth thoughts on your books in a convenient place.
• You can access Notion from anywhere, your phone, iPad, or computer. Your dashboards will always be synced.
• You can keep all of your reading in one place – especially helpful for reviewers.
• The filters for dashboards are incredible, and you can view one dashboard in multiple ways on multiple different pages.

Reading Spreadsheet

I won’t go into massive detail here, because you can check out this post about my reading tracker spreadsheet.

Personally, I like using my spreadsheet because I can store more detailed data on it, and I can make a bunch of graphs and charts. It’s also good for tracking your book hauls (which I don’t track on Notion), book requests (if you request books from publishers), your pages read, and a bunch of other stuff.

Why you should use a spreadsheet to organise your reading

• You can store more detailed data offline, so if Goodreads is down you can still access your books.
• You can turn your data into graphs and charts more easily.
• Tracks your book hauls, as well as the costs of your book hauls.
• Track detailed metrics like pages read, hours listened, and more.

Goodreads & Storygraph

I’ve been a Goodreads user for a long time now, and while the site has a lot of issues, I can’t seem to pull myself away from it. I don’t know if it’s a habit or simply that my brain cannot take on anything new at the moment, but I can’t let go.

Probably the main reason I still use Goodreads is that I just want a simple database of all the books I’ve read, and all the information on that book, without having to input myself. Goodreads comes preloaded with that data, and if I see a book I want, or want to add a book I’ve read, I can just press a button.

BUT, I am well aware that there are better platforms out there, so instead of telling you to use Goodreads, I’m going to tell you to use Storygraph instead to organise your reading.

Why you should use Storygraph to organise your reading

• You can import your Goodreads library to Storygraph, so no need to worry about losing the progress you’ve made so far!
• You can give half-star ratings.
• You can DNF books (an option that Goodreads does not have).
• Storygraph has a bunch of graphs and charts, so if you’re not a spreadsheet girlie, this is for you!
• It’s easy to use and you can find almost any book on it.
• It gives better suggestions about what to read next.
• You can set up your own reading challenges for the year, which is fun.

Bonus: Bullet Journaling to organise your reading

Last, but certainly not least, we come to bullet journaling. I could never get into bullet journaling. I hated my own handwriting, and it felt too restrictive. You couldn’t move pages around, and if you made a mistake it was there forever.

While that form of bullet journaling didn’t work for me, another form did. Now I’ve been consistently journaling for almost a year, and I love it.

I decided I was simply going to make a journal spread for every book I read, writing my thoughts on it in the journal. I have Notion and my spreadsheet for stats, so my bullet journal is purely for my own enjoyment.

And there you have it! These are just a few ways to organise your reading.

Chat with me about your reading!

How do you organise your reading?

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