Anne and the team refer to me as the “spreadsheet queen.” That’s partially because I do some metrics reporting for Modern Mrs Darcy but also because I use spreadsheets for everything. However, I didn’t start tracking my reading via spreadsheets until 2018, all thanks to a Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club class.
Book Journaling Inspiration
In 2018, Anne led a class called Book Journaling for Book Lovers (which I continue to rewatch) for MMD Book Club. She shared her straightforward method of writing down the books she wanted to read and then noting when she finished them. She also talked about writing down the recommendation source of where you first heard about a book so you can start to learn over time what your best sources are. She also shared some favorite supplies like pens and highlighters, which is one of my favorite topics.
I almost started a reading journal after watching this class but the more I thought about it, the more I realized a spreadsheet would work better for me, mainly for the following two reasons:
- I could continue to add books to the spreadsheet over the years so I’d have one big, easily searchable, document where I could sort and filter data however I wanted.
- I could use the spreadsheet to come up with some pretty charts and graphs at the end of the year, including year over year views.
Here are a couple of examples…
Favorite Data I Track
Here are some examples of reading data I track in my spreadsheet…
- Source: As noted above, this was Anne’s tip from the class and it’s helped me to figure out what the best recommendation sources are for me. There’s also been a delightful side benefit. One of my favorite things about the MMD Book Club is checking out the forum called Reading This Week. I get SO many great recommendations there. When I add a book to my TBR, I note the source and once I’ve read (and often loved) the book, I send the recommender a direct message on the Book Club member site thanking them. This has started many wonderful conversations!
- Tropes: This is a new category for my tracking. It’s easy to identify the trope for some genres like romance (enemies to lovers, second chance love, fake relationship) and mystery (amateur sleuth, police procedural, locked room). It’s been fun trying to identify themes in other genres like multiple timelines, hero’s journey, magical realism, family drama, and more. I can’t wait until the end of the year when I can put together a chart showing which tropes had the highest star ratings!
- Publishing Imprint: I make sure to note the specific publishing imprint so that I can see patterns of which are my favorites. For example, I won’t list Simon & Schuster, which is the parent company; instead I note the division/imprint like Atria, Avid Reader Press, or Gallery. I also include this information when I add a book to my TBR because I definitely have some favorite imprints at this point, which helps me in deciding what to read next. Some of my favorites are Minotaur, Pamela Dorman Books, Riverhead, Flatiron, and Entangled: Red Tower.
How to Get Started
- First, think about whether a spreadsheet, journal, or an app like The Storygraph is right for you. (I actually use all three!) A few questions to ask yourself are: do you like to customize what data you track? Do you like to see metrics and charts or do you prefer to write out reviews? Do you want to be able to easily search what you’ve read in the past or is that not a priority?
- Second, if you decide you want to give spreadsheets a try, I think the easiest thing to do is to search on Etsy for “reading tracker” and pick a Google Doc template that works for you. I use this spreadsheet from creator With Ali.
Tracking my reading on a spreadsheet brings me both a lot of joy, as well as many insights into my reading. I will be forever grateful that the MMD Book Club inspired me to start this practice!
Do you track your reading? Are you a spreadsheet aficionado? Please share in the comments.
P.S. Why star ratings matter—and when they don’t and Book journaling tools for every reader.
About the author
Donna Hetchler helps out with our numbers, keeping a high level view of the business. Her go-to genre is mystery. You can find Donna on Instagram @dhetch.
41 comments
Great topic! I’ve used Book Riot’s annual book tracking log/spreadsheet for the last several years.
https://bookriot.com/introducing-the-2025-reading-log/
It includes all sorts of data and then creates stats and piecharts. It’s fairly easy to add to as well. I like the idea of tracking tropes (I haven’t done that). I’m glad they created this super detailed spreadsheet because otherwise I would have had to do so myself!
That’s such a great tip! I love spreadsheets but even I am happy to use someone else’s to get me started and then I adjust it as needed. I’ll have to check this one out!
I have been keeping a written reading journal since October 1996-probably before many of you were born!! I think I’m on my fourth or fifth journal. I track title, author, date read, and a 1-2 sentence comment. I’ve also kept a spreadsheet for my book club of the titles we’ve read and that started in November 2000!
I’ve been using the free Book Riot tracker for years, with a few tweaks, it’s worked really well for me and the charts are built in. Thinking I might add the trope category as well.
Thank you, Donna! I love these ideas. I’m not to the level of spreadsheet queen, but I do appreciate an organized system and your suggestions would put more order to my current mish-mash of notes. Those graphs are so fun, too. Thank you for sharing your expertise!
I track my reading by year, in a Word document, going back to 2008, and partially for years before that. I note the book title, author, whether rereading, and whether hardcover or audio
YES AND AMEN to buying pre-made spreadsheets via Etsy! That has saved my sanity more than once, but I’ve not thought to purchase a book journal spreadsheet! Thank you for the nudge and recommendation.
I too track the books read using an Excel spreadsheet. I’m not as detailed as you though as I have columns for title, author, series number (if applicable), date read/completed, and I put a X in a column if it’s an eBook. I have tabs based on Authors’ surnames A-B, C-F, etc. I read so many books that it helps to keep me organized as once I read a book that’s it – I move on to the next great read. Thanks for sharing how you organize your reading life.
I love how you’re keeping track by author names as well! There are some authors that I’m trying to become a completist and read all their works so this sounds like a good system for that.
Donna! I love spreadsheets too (I’m an accountant), and I download my Goodreads preiodically and add categories (like femal/male author, Imprints, genre, if it’s my first book by the author). It’s so much fun to sort – however, it never occurred to me to graph! Thank you. Love that!
I also keep a book journal – a bit of overkill, I know, but it is often easier to refer to than hopping on the computer.
Check out Storygraph. It is free and you can download your data from Goodreads and into Storygraph where it creates all kinds of graphs for you.
Yay! A fellow finance person/spreadsheet lover! If you want to chat more about journals and spreadsheets I hope you’ll reach out to me on Instagram, I’m @dhetch.
I track my reading on a spreadsheet, on Goodreads, and in a reading journal!
One thing on my spreadsheet that often throws me is author nationality. I track this data point because I want to make sure that I’m reading from authors around the world (I also track translated works as a separate data point.) When in author is born in one country but has lived a significant amount of time in another country, I’m never sure how to categorize the author. I could hyphenate (Nigerian-American), but that kind of throws off the data. I’d love to hear how others track that data point.
I struggle with this too Melanie in a similar category. I started tracking “diverse author” in 2020 and in order to support more diverse voices, but it’s not a black and white designation. I try to think about what perspective the book is providing. Is it a story different to my reality? Of course that can apply to books by authors that “look” just like me as well! There is no reading police, so just do what feels most logical to you! It could even change author to author!
This is my type of post – I am also a heavy spreadsheet user!
One question for you… has anyone come up with a good way of extracting data from Goodreads? I’ve been using it for so long (10+ years now) that even though it’s not great quality data, it’s data nevertheless…
You can export from Goodreads to a spreadsheet: https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/How-do-I-import-or-export-my-books-1553870934590
I’m a reading spreadsheet lover as well, using a sheet for books finished each year and having an additional one combining all the years, sorted by author. This inspires me to start another file for the TBR list—or at least request that Goodreads add a source field!
I love that you track the source so you can reach out to the person who recommended it. I’d like to get better about that!
Hi Cynthia! Adding the source to my TBR list after Anne recommended it was SUCH a game-changer for me—I’m a heavy library user, and frequently, a book would finally come in weeks or months after I requested it, and then I would wonder, how did I hear about this…?
Besides MMD, most of my recommendations come from friends (particularly those in my book group), NPR’s yearly Books We Love list, and the What Should I Read Next newsletter.
Many years ago, before EReaders were around, I found an address book that was only divided by alphabet. Each page only had lines and not sectioned for names. I used that to keep track of what I read by author. I might add, I have never seen another address book like that since. Once that was filled, I had already started using a kindle, and relied on Amazon to let me know if I had purchased a book before. I have since started keeping track of my reading with Goodreads. This has worked well for me and I like the addition of the star rating I now include.
Donna – this was brilliant as always! I have used a spreadsheet to track books read since 2004 (similar to Connie with one sheet for each year and then a consolidated to search). But, just last year, Donna – you convinced me to convert my handwritten TBR to a spreadsheet and I’m loving it! Multiple tabs for different categories and also trying to reference the source of any recommendation so I can track. And…..just started using the Currently Reading Tracker in January and it’s quite robust but you can just delete columns that don’t interest you. Only available if you’re a Patreon member but you can join for one month and get it. Love that podcast!
I’ve been tracking my reads on a spreadsheet since 1996, and it works well for me. In addition to other data that’s been mentioned, I track the page count of each book and can then calculate an average page count per day or month or year. I haven’t made pretty graphs out of it, though, thanks for the fun idea!
I started tracking my reading on a spreadsheet around 1986. Before that simply kept a running written list. Mine is very simple. I mainly want to know if I’ve already read a book, if and when I’ve read previous books from a specific author. I’m not into graphics, but like being able to sort. Over the years, I’ve added more columns, physical, audio, ebook, library/purchased, etc., how I learned about the book, and more recently whether the author is LGBTQ+ , and of color. I keep a tab year by year, and at the end of the year merge that year into “All Years.” 3 years ago I started keeping my TBR at the bottom of completed books for the year. It’s easier than switching between tabs so often, and I see immediately how many books I’ve added. I’m so unrealistic & end up dropping or DNF at least a 3rd of them. Unread books (not dropped) I’m still waiting for at the end of one year are forwarded to the next year’s TBR. I’d like Anne to look at all the dropped TBR books and tell me what NOT to put on the TBR! I use drop for books I barely start once the library hold comes in. DNF if I’ve read a significant portion of the book before dropping it.
Have you ever tried LibraryThing? I’ve been using that for a couple of years. Would love to know if you have and it’s pros and cons for you. It can generate all the data your spreadsheets seem to do without all the input from me.
No, I haven’t tried the LibraryThing app but I’ll have to check it out, thanks for the tip!
I have been tracking my reading life on Goodreads for over 10 years. I’m finding it hard to want to change. Can I move all my books over to StoryGraph on my phone?
My reading tracking is a bit excessive but it makes me happy and it works for me. I do use both Goodreads and Storygraph, but I just do star ratings there. I keep a Google Doc in Drive with my detailed reviews, which I also post to Instagram. Then this year I started also keeping a spreadsheet because it was too hard to extract the info I wanted from my Drive document when I want to do my end of the year stats for the things that Storygraph doesn’t do for me – male vs female authors, diversity of authors, etc. I also keep track of where I heard about the book, and like Donna’s tropes, what I call tags – grief, humor, dysfunctional family, etc. I love having it all searchable in Drive and tracking like this has definitely helped me fine tune my book-choosing process.
I love everything you’re doing! That makes sense with the tags, that’s a good way of capturing ‘tropes’. I agree, it’s the searchable aspect that really got me started using a spreadsheet for my tracking.
i have an Access database for the books I have read. I started it January 1, 1999, and the first entry is for January 2, 1999. I had friends at the time who introduced me to the concept of a list of all of the books you had read. And at that time I was a Microsoft Access coder, so it seemed obvious to use an Access template, and this one is intended to be a book collection
The database includes title, topic, publisher name, type of book, notes (I include owner if it was borrowed, note which were book club books and month read, series name and number, etc.) It also includes copyright year, date finished, page number, and author.
I use SQL Server at work and the thought of being able to query my books would be amazing. I have an (elaborate) Excel spreadsheet, but maybe I’ll have to find a free SQL option? Great idea!
My daughter has spreadsheets as well. This year, she is crocheting a book blanket…one granny square per book read. The four colours in the granny square represent genre, rating, format (audio, e-book or paper book) and source of the book (owned, library etc). She sends me pictures of her granny squares and tells me about the books she is reading. I read too but not as much as her.
This blows my mind. How creative!
I use the tracker from Sarah at Sarah’s Bookshelves Live and I love it! Highly recommend. I have been tempted to also try Kaytee’s at Currently Reading but have not tried yet.
I record quotes that strike me (from books) into a written journal. My family knows that if there is a fire — grab my book journal first!
I used to develop databases for businesses who outgrew the use of spreadsheets or were concerned about messing up their data when they sort or filter it. I started out using a spreadsheet but found it a little too clunky for me. I now use a “pseudo” database that I created using Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/). I have a template that I use to create a separate file for each book I want to read. Then I add notes when I read it. Here are the data points I record for books (I also track short stories and articles read as well as short fiction podcasts I listen to).
– Date added to my TBR
– Why added to my TBR (why it interests me)
– Who suggested it
– How I learned about the book (recommendation, search, heard it on a podcast, etc.)
– Title
– Author
– Book type (fiction or nonfiction)
– Genre (if more than one applies, the main one goes here)
– Publisher (or imprint)
– Publication Date
– Pages
– Word count (this can be hard to get but internet searches help)
– POV (first, second, or third person or a combination of some sort)
– URL (for the book on The Story Graph, my main social book tracking tool)
– Date read (when I finished the book)
– Rating (1-5 stars)
– Summary (a brief description of what the book is about)
– Tags (secondary genres and whatever else I think of; I often add the cities and/or states/countries that a book takes place in here)
I can query my super simple database to find any combination of these data points like a short science fiction novel or a long thriller. It took me some trial and error to develop my system, but it works for me.
Great suggestion Donna – that one looks great and I’m tempted. Even though it includes TBR list I’m looking to focus on my TBR list (currently on Goodreads.) Perhaps sorting by many of the fields used on “With Ali’s” reading tracker including source but for the hundreds of titles on my TBR. Any suggestions?
I echo the above request for (beginner level) directions on how to download from Goodreads and how to import into another spreadsheet.
Here are the instructions from downloading from Goodreads.
https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/How-do-I-import-or-export-my-books-1553870934590
I went thru my TBR ealier this year with the intention of selecting books from there and surprisingly I was able to remove quite a few! Some I added because they were “hot” in the moment, some are on topics that no longer interest me or relevant (baby books when my kids are 8 and 10) and some I have no idea why I added and are easy to let go. Maybe you’ll be surprised!
I have kept a detailed spreadsheet since 2014 (downloaded from Shelfari in 2015 when it shut down…RIP, something about seeing all the covers lined up on “shelves” I really loved) and have added lots of categories since. I use Goodreads to keep track of my TBR and it’s really handy for adding books on the fly, but as many people brought up, it’s not great for tracking where the recommendation came from. I tend to only add books I’ve read to my spreadsheet and by that point, it’s been a long time since someone recommended it to me! This has inspired me to create a TBR Tab so I can track those recommendations!
I love the idea of using a spreadsheet to track my reading! This is a super nerdy question for all other spreadsheet lovers out there – does anybody know what that type of chart that “Multiple Stats” chart is? It’s the same format I was trying to use for a work project but I couldn’t figure out what type of chart it was!
Hi Sara! The Multiple Stats chart is a “Column Chart” graph in Google Sheets. I hope that helps!
I’ve never done a spreadsheet in my life, but I’m inspired to try. Very fun to read the different ways that readers track/curate their reading lives. I have kept a basic book list for ages, but I’ve learned much from WSIRN over the past years on the pleasure of refining & spending time on my list. I am getting so much more from my reading life & enjoy keeping a written book journal. Thanks for this.
Donna, this was all so interesting! I started a spreadsheet in 2000 because I kept picking up the same book from the library thinking I hadn’t read it!! It started as just Year-Title-Author but through the years I have added a lot of columns (not as detailed as yours) with the things I want to remember: Audio or Print, Star Rating, Genre-ish, Source, a one-liner that will jog my memory, etc. Thanks for sharing all of this; I appreciate all you do for the book community!
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