Best Practices For Authors Using Goodreads

 

Not sure what to do to market your book? Join Goodreads. What is it, you ask?

 

“Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations,” according to their site. “Our mission is to help readers discover books they love and get more out of reading. Goodreads launched in January 2007.”

 

What can you do on their site? They say:

 

·         “See what books your friends are reading.

·         “Track the books you're reading, have read, and want to read.

·         “Check out your personalized book recommendations. Our recommendation engine analyzes 20 billion data points to give suggestions tailored to your literary tastes.

·         “Find out if a book is a good fit for you from our community’s reviews.”

 

Below are some best-practices to implement on Goodreads:

 

·         When you begin on Goodreads as a “user” you get a user profile. You then can upgrade to an author profile. You can add a blog, video, and useful content. Learn more by going to www.goodreads.com/author/program 

 

·        Join a bunch of targeted and relevant groups. Participate. 

      Be on the lookout for when a group has book giveaway or freebie days, and use it as an opportune time to announce your Goodreads giveaway. 

      Plenty of groups have a “bookshelf” – seek out the moderator of each group to explore if they will put your book on their shelf. 

      You can also participate in polls and roundtable discussions, but that can be time-consuming with less of a pay-off. 

       Check these groups out:

 

www.goodreads.com/group/show/26399-book-giveaways

 

www.goodreads.com/group/show/26989-goodreads-authors-readers

 

·         Giveaways can definitely help with discoverability and drive awareness of your book within the Goodreads community. For books on Amazon KDP, authors can give away up to 100 kindles Do it! Your goal is to get readers and reviews.

 

·         Create events for anything that you want to promote. 

 

·         Post frequently – every other day.

 

·         Create a network of followers by reaching out with a thoughtful message.

 

·         Stay in touch with the top users in your groups and connect in a way where you can offer them a book for review and to be engaged.

 

·         Network with the people who selected your book for a give-away – see goodreads.com/giveaway.

 

·         There are a lot of sharing of lists and authors writing book reviews. I don’t know that I would recommend all of that, but it is there if you want it. Making Goodreads quizzes is another thing an author can do but I don’t recommend spending much time on this. Same with doing polls, trivia,

 

·         Look at other authors in your genre and see what they are doing. What can you model or

who of their connections and followers can you steer towards your page?

 

·         Lastly, do an author Q and A. On your author page, there is a section where readers can ask you questions. Answer them. These answers get posted to the Goodreads pages of your fans and friends. 

      Additionally, consider creating a “Featured Author Group.” This can enable you to have your answer to questions to be posted to both the “Authors” and “Groups” sections of Goodreads.

 

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over 3.9 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.