How to Move Your Library from Goodreads (or LibraryThing, or a Spreadsheet)

If your Goodreads shelves feel more like a data hostage situation than a reading companion, you're not alone. The platform hasn't had a meaningful update in years, Amazon's ownership is increasingly visible, and the social feed has become more noise than signal. The good news: your data is portable, and moving it isn't as painful as it sounds.

This guide covers three migration scenarios: moving from Goodreads, from LibraryThing, and from a spreadsheet.

Moving from Goodreads

Step 1: Export your data

1. Log into Goodreads on desktop (not mobile — the export option isn't available in the app)
2. Go to My Books → Import and Export (in the left sidebar)
3. Click Export Library
4. Goodreads generates a CSV file and emails you a download link within a few minutes

The export includes: title, author, ISBN, average rating, your rating, your shelves (read, currently reading, want to read, and any custom shelves), date added, date read, and your review text.

What it doesn't include: your friends' data, reading notes stored outside the review field, or any data you've marked private in certain ways.

Step 2: Know what you have

Open the CSV in any spreadsheet application. You'll see one row per book with the fields above. Before importing anywhere, it's worth cleaning the data:

• Remove books you no longer want in your catalog
• Standardize shelf names if you plan to use them as tags in your destination app
• Note that the ISBN column may be empty for many books — Goodreads doesn't always record ISBNs reliably

Step 3: Choose your destination

Plumerie: Import your Goodreads CSV directly. Plumerie maps Goodreads shelves (read, currently-reading, to-read) to the equivalent reading status fields. Your ratings and notes come through as well.

StoryGraph: Has a dedicated Goodreads importer. Go to Import → Import from Goodreads and upload the CSV. StoryGraph is focused on reading tracking; it won't give you a physical library catalog, but if that's what you need, it works well.

LibraryThing: Manual import is possible but more involved. LibraryThing has its own import from file feature that accepts the ISBN column from your Goodreads export.

Back to a spreadsheet: Your Goodreads CSV is already a spreadsheet. Open it in Google Sheets or Excel, clean up the columns, and you're done. Not a step forward in functionality, but a clean starting point.

Moving from LibraryThing

Export from LibraryThing

1. Go to your account → Import/Export → Export from LibraryThing
2. Choose Tab-delimited or CSV format
3. Download — the export is generated immediately

LibraryThing's export is richer than Goodreads' — it includes more metadata fields, tags, dates, and collection information. The Common Knowledge fields (series, awards, etc.) are not all exported but the core catalog data is.

Importing LibraryThing data

LibraryThing's export format isn't a standard any other app imports directly. You'll need to remap columns before importing. The key fields: title, author, ISBN (use the Primary ISBN column), and your tags/collections.

In Plumerie, use the CSV import and map the LibraryThing columns to the corresponding Plumerie fields. Title and author are straightforward. For reading status, LibraryThing's collections (Read, To Read, Currently Reading) map to Plumerie's read/unread/reading status.

Moving from a spreadsheet

If your catalog lives in a spreadsheet, you have complete control over the format. Before importing anywhere, standardize the columns:

• Title (required)
• Author (required)
• ISBN (optional, but enables cover images and metadata enrichment)
• Reading status (in whatever format your destination app expects)
• Location (if you track where books are shelved)
• Notes (any free-text fields)

A spreadsheet with clean, consistent columns imports cleanly into any catalog app. A spreadsheet with merged cells, color-coded formatting, and formula-dependent fields needs cleanup first.

What changes after the move

The practical shift depends on why you're moving.

If you're moving because of Amazon/privacy concerns: Any of the alternatives above are not owned by Amazon and store less behavioral data.

If you're moving because Goodreads doesn't manage your physical library: Plumerie is built around this use case — physical books on physical shelves, in specific locations, lent to specific people. Goodreads doesn't know about your shelves; Plumerie does.

If you're moving because you want family sharing: Plumerie supports this. Goodreads, LibraryThing, and StoryGraph are all single-user systems.

If you're moving because the interface feels dated: StoryGraph has the most contemporary interface for reading tracking. Plumerie is more focused on library management. Both are more actively developed than Goodreads.

For a full comparison of apps and what each does well, see best book organizer apps for your home library, Goodreads vs StoryGraph vs Plumerie: which should you use?, and how to catalog your book collection at home.

Plumerie accepts Goodreads CSV imports. Bring your reading history with you — your shelves become reading statuses, your ratings carry over, and your catalog is ready to use immediately. Try it free →