18 January 2026 · Book Assembly Team · 4 min read
If you've been tracking books on Goodreads for years, you've probably got a decent chunk of your reading life stored there. Ratings, reviews, dates, shelves - the lot.
The good news: you can get all of it out. Goodreads lets you export your library as a CSV file. The less good news: actually doing something useful with that file takes a bit more effort.
Here's how to export your data, what you'll get, and what your options are from there.
Full disclosure: we built Book Assembly, but this guide works regardless of where you end up importing to.
Step 1: Log into Goodreads
Head to goodreads.com and sign in.
Step 2: Go to My Books
Click "My Books" in the top navigation.
Step 3: Find the Import/Export option
Look for "Import and export" in the left sidebar, near the bottom. Click it.
Step 4: Click Export Library
You'll see a green "Export Library" button. Click it.
Step 5: Wait
Goodreads will prepare your file. If you've got a small library, this takes seconds. Larger libraries (1,000+ books) might take a few minutes - they'll email you when it's ready.
Step 6: Download
Once it's ready, download the CSV file. Done.
You get a CSV (spreadsheet) file with one row per book. The columns include:
It's fairly comprehensive. The main things you don't get:
This is where it gets a bit fiddly. A CSV file is just data - you need somewhere to put it.
Option 1: Keep it as a backup
Honestly, not a bad shout. Stick it in a folder, forget about it. At least you've got a copy if Goodreads ever disappears or you lose access to your account.
Option 2: Open it in a spreadsheet
Excel, Google Sheets, whatever. You can sort, filter, and analyse your reading. How many books did you read in 2023? What's your average rating? It's all there if you fancy doing the maths yourself.
This works, but it's a bit manual. And you won't be adding new books to a spreadsheet for long before it becomes tedious.
Option 3: Import into another book tracker
Several alternatives to Goodreads accept CSV imports:
Each handles imports slightly differently. Some map your shelves cleanly, some dump everything into one pile and make you re-sort. Worth checking before you commit.
A few reasons people do this:
You're leaving Goodreads
Amazon owns Goodreads. If that bothers you, or you just fancy a change, exporting is step one.
You want a backup
Years of reading history in one place you don't control. Feels a bit precarious when you think about it.
You're curious
Sometimes it's just interesting to see your data in raw form. How many books have you actually read? What's your most common rating?
The app's annoying you
Goodreads hasn't changed much in years. Some people find the interface frustrating, the recommendations unhelpful, or the social features more noise than signal. Your data shouldn't be the reason you stay.
If you're moving to another app, pay attention to how it handles your Goodreads shelves.
Goodreads has three "exclusive" shelves (a book can only be on one):
Plus any custom shelves you've created (which aren't exclusive - a book can be on multiple).
Some import tools treat all shelves the same. Others recognise the difference and map them properly. If you've got a carefully organised library with custom shelves, this matters.
Exporting from Goodreads takes about two minutes. What you do with the file depends on what you're after - backup, analysis, or moving somewhere new.
If you're looking for somewhere to import to, Book Assembly handles Goodreads imports and maps your shelves automatically. It's free while in beta. But whatever you choose, getting your data out is worth doing - it's your reading history, after all.
Have questions about exporting or importing your library? Get in touch or join the community at r/BookAssembly.
