Whether you’re independent or traditionally published, a good chunk of the promotion for your novels is going to fall to you, and while I live by the philosophy that the best promotion is your next book, I do enjoy some of the little things I get to do as an author to help spread the word about my stories.
One of my favorite tools is Goodreads because I don’t just love to write books, I also love to read them. I love to talk about the books I’m reading, and if I am really into a book and want others to know all about it, Goodreads is a great place to do that. There are communities and forums on Goodreads for every type of reader, which means you can virtually gather with fellow fans, share good conversation and recommendations, and even make new friends.
From an author standpoint, Goodreads has a lot of neat tools to help you connect with your readers.Maybe you already know about them, maybe you don’t, but here are a few of the things I love about being an author over there!
Once you establish yourself as a Goodreads author, you take control of your author page and gain access to some of the perks that come with being a Goodreads Author. You can add author pictures, your biography and links to your online sites. Encourage fans to add you to their favorite authors list. There is an “Ask the Author” feature, which allows fans and readers to submit questions for you to answer and then display on your page. There is an option to either blog on Goodreads, or link to the RSS feed on your blog, so every time you post it goes into your Goodreads feed and draws more attention to you, your work and your website. And, of course, there is a space to add samples and excerpts with the potential to draw others to your existing work. You have the option to add intriguing and/or profound quotes from your books. You can host paperback book giveaways, which often draws hundreds, if not thousands of potential readers to your page. The options are limitless.
This morning I set up the Goodreads page for my upcoming urban fantasy book, Siren so people can add the book to the ‘Want to Read’ shelf. I can start gathering potential fans and readers to the page, improving my visibility and potentially reaching a wider audience for a book that will be released in January.I can offer samples and snippets, post about giveaways I’m hosting and get people excited about the release. Because I’m excited about the release, and I want to share that excitement with others, so having a place beyond my blog and Facebook Author page to do that is a beautiful thing.
As with any promotional effort, it can be a lot of work, but connecting with your readers on the social front in a place where you can talk about the one thing that brought you together–books–is a beautiful thing. Readers love being able to see who you are beyond the pages of your books, and Goodreads is a great place to start.
It’s worth the effort, in my opinion, because one of the things I miss the most about university days is sitting in a classroom full of other people who love words as much as I do and having good discussions about the books we were reading.
The Write Stuff 
Yet another perfectly timed piece, as I have only recently become aware of the importance of connecting with the reading (and writing) community on Goodreads. Four friends and counting! Thanks for the great pointers.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Post your link here in the comments, Karen. I’ll friend you! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great post, Jenny! Funny, BEFORE I started writing, I used Goodreads daily, mostly to review books, but once in a while, joining in discussions on my favorite series, etc. Now that I have an author page, I’m scared witless about it. I am overwhelmed and have no idea how to start any of it, and I have very little time for the social aspect, but I’d love to be able to have selected blog posts show up there. I Have no idea how to do that, don’t know what RSS feeds mean, and wouldn’t want every post on Goodreads.
I’m going to study how you’ve set your page up, and see if I can figure any of it out. Any suggestions as to what my first step should be?
Thanks!! (And btw, I spent an hour this morning making sure ALL of my settings for each blog were correct. Yet, I have not received any messages alerting me to this post, or any new comments. On ANY blog. I have to clue what to do. I set this one up just like Bookin’ It has been set for years, and neither one of them is working, now.) 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw, don’t fear the Goodreads author page, Marcia. It’s really easy to work with. They pretty much set everything up for you, and you just fill in the blanks. Add photos, update your bio. Play around with it and know there is probably nothing you can do to break it. As for adding the RSS feed, I might be able to help. I’ll send you an email tomorrow and see if we can set you up. I’m a Goodreads Librarian, so I can do some minor assisting with things. Nothing major, usually setting up book pages and editing details, but I might be able to help.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Jenny! That would be lovely. My head seems full to the brim lately, with all the stuff I’m doing. I don’t even know if the RSS feed thing is something I want, because I don’t know what it is. I look forward to talking to you about it. (And I’m still getting NO notices of posts at all. Or comments. From ANY of my four blogs! GAH!!!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love Goodreads and would be happy to connect with any of you on there. I think the RSS feed has to be all posts or no posts. My blog does link, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep it that way. When people ‘like’ or comment on a post through Goodreads, it doesn’t transfer to the blog. As for getting post announcements, Marcia, I wonder if you need to make sure you have followed everyone’s blogs (including your own). I only get posts from my own blog (and any posts I put on Write Stuff) because I follow them. If not that, then maybe something needs to be unchecked in preferences? Not sure, but good luck figuring it out.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi, Marcia. I’ve been running 3 blogs for more than 3 years. I have them set to notify me of ALL comments, and this one set to notify me of all comments and all new posts by other authors. I’ve checked and double-checked, and I’m pretty sure the settings are right. (No, you don’t have to follow your commenters in order to be notified when they reply to a post of yours. I definitely do not follow everyone who comments on Bookin’ It, for instance.) But something is wrong, somewhere. Either I’ve missed something, or WordPress isn’t registering my settings properly anymore. I should get an email every time one of you posts here, and another every time one of you responds/comments on a post.
Not only is that not happening, but the emails I’ve been getting for years on my other blogs have stopped coming in, too. Even on my private one that only my Beta readers use. I’m tearing my hair out, here. I can’t keep up with four blogs if I don’t know when someone has responded, or initiated a new discussion. I’m also not getting notified of LIkes any more and I used to get both. I’ve even tried setting myself up as a Follower on this blog. Nothing works. The emails aren’t even coming into my ISP, so it has to be from the WordPress end. (I checked my ISP to be sure it wasn’t because they weren’t sending them on to my computer.)
Thanks for trying to help me figure it out. I suspect it’s going to take WP to find the solution. They say you can have as many blogs as you want, but it would seem 4 is too many. I guess I should see if everyone else is getting notified when new posts go up. Anyone?
LikeLike
I have been getting notified when posts go up, and when comments and ‘likes’ come in. This might seem a silly question, Marcia, but have you checked your email spam folder? I know sometimes my notifications go into that folder and I have to remind my email that not everything is spam.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Jenny. Not a silly question, but I don’t have my spam folder set up. I like to determine for myself is something is spam or not. I get a little “possible span” type warning in the subject line now and then, but all my emails come into Inbox, or the designated folder for each person. I DID, however, check the Spam folder on my ISP, in case they hadn’t been sending stuff to me, and there was nothing there from any of my blogs. I’m flummoxed.
Since it all worked until I set up this blog, I feel like the answer is here, somehow, but I’ve compared each setting page side by side with Bookin’ It, and they’re the same. I don’t know what else to do. I have a feeling getting answer from WordPress won’t be a quick thing. 😦 Any other thoughts?
LikeLike
As you’ve probably already done, I googled the problem and found a lot of people who have dealt with this. The main solution seems to be to deactivate all plugins and then reactivate them one by one. Also, uncheck and recheck all settings, make sure admin email matches in both places –(profile and general settings). One person had success by changing the Title of the site under Settings, General, Title. They had a >> symbol in between two words as a separator and changed it to l and that somehow unscrambled the mail route.
For myself, I receive notifications of every comment, like, etc. that happens on my own blog. On Write Stuff I only receive notifications of my own posts. I’m not notified when someone else does a post on Write Stuff, even though I follow the blog, but I follow in my newsfeed, NOT by email.
LikeLike