Tome, Goodreads competitor, shuts down after 3 years

After three years in operation, Tome, the book-tracking platform and social hub for literary enthusiasts, is officially shutting down.

The app carved out a niche by tapping directly into the influential BookTok community on TikTok, where creators discuss and review books. It gave readers a dedicated space to log and rate their reads, discover new titles, and add a personal touch by uploading photos of favorite quotes, sharing memes, or even curating playlists that matched a book’s mood. This approach resonated with a growing wave of Gen Z readers who produce book-related content online. While this movement initially centered around women promoting popular “romantasy” novels, it has since expanded to include a diverse range of readers.

However, the market for challenging the dominant force of Goodreads has become increasingly crowded. Tome faced stiff competition from a host of similar book-tracking apps, including Fable, Margins, Bookly, StoryGraph, Bookmory, Pagebound, TBR, and others. (Notably, the TBR app is distinct from the book recommendations site of the same name, which is also set to close in June.)

In a blog post announcing the closure, Tome pointed to the competitive pressures. The company revealed that its community of 100,000 readers simply could not achieve the scale necessary to sustain the costs of running a social app that supports memes, GIFs, and video. Ultimately, the service “wasn’t financially viable to keep running,” the company stated.

The app will go offline on May 29, at which point its servers will be turned off and the website will also cease to function. Tome is advising its users on how to download their data before the deadline, including posts, images, and a spreadsheet of their reading history.