Kobo e-readers now have Storygraph integration, another move to close the gap with Amazon

If you want an e-reader but don't want anything to do with Amazon, the alternative is a Rakuten Kobo e-reader. Kobos are speedy, easy-to-use, and a great value, but now, they're teaming up with another bookish company for the ultimate reading integration. The Storygraph, a platform for tracking everything you read, is now coming to all Kobo devices in June.

The integration syncs Kobo e-readers and apps to a Storygraph account. That means your reading progress will automatically be captured in your Storygraph account, so when you finish a book, it's marked as read without any additional effort from you.

"Our mission is to make reading lives better, and removing the friction from tracking is one of the most direct ways we can do that," says Nadia Odunayo, Founder & CEO, StoryGraph. The new partnership between Rakuten Kobo and Storygraph further cements both brands as anti-Amazon alternatives.

So much of the book industry is dominated by Amazon. The mega-brand makes Kindles, the most popular e-readers, and is a major online bookseller of physical and e-books. Since 2013, Amazon has owned Goodreads, the original book tracking platform. Kindles and Goodreads are already integrated, offering features similar to those in the Kobo and Storygraph integration, including progress tracking.

But with plenty of readers feeling resistant to Amazon and the impact it has had on independent bookstores, there's a desire for alternatives, whether that be with e-readers or a place to track reading.