Goodreads 101...

Since I’m having a Goodreads Giveway for the next few weeks, I thought I’d do a post on building an author presence on Goodreads in order to get your book(s) into the faces or your targeted readers. First things first, authors need to be ACTIVE on Goodreads. That doesn’t mean you need to be on it daily—if you can that’s great—but try to organize your schedule so that you can pop your virtual head into Goodreads on a weekly basis.

Here’s a great plan to follow:

1. Add a new book to your shelves, one you are reading, want to read, or a book that inspired your writing. Simple and fast.

2. Write a review for a book. If you do a lot of Amazon reviews feel free to grab the content from there and repost it to Goodreads. And if you want to be a real rock star of the review world, grab your Goodreads review and cross post it to Amazon. Hey, why not? Wouldn't you love it if someone did that for you?

3. Rate books. This is easy and oh-so-simple. Give books a starred rating. You don't even have to write a review to do this one.

4. Blog post. If you update your blog post weekly that's fantastic, if you don't then I suggest that you update your Goodreads status once or more a week. You can also just add a favorite book passage or author quote. It doesn't have to be a long post. You're just aiming for profile activity, that's key.

5. Groups. Join them. Post to a group, comment or respond to someone's question.

6. Add friends. I recommend adding friends weekly if possible. You'll find people in the groups that you want to friend or reviews you want to follow. Building a healthy friend list is really key to expanding your network (and getting more reviews) on Goodreads.
Bonus: If you can, set up a Goodreads Giveaway (paperbacks only) at least four or more times a year. You won’t believe the feedback and the amount of entries you get. This alone will build your presence and help find the audience you’re looking for.

And speaking of a Goodreads Giveaway, here’s a chance to win the first book in my MG/YA time travel series, The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis until December 10th… .goodreadsGiveawayWidget { color: #555; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; background: white; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget img { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0 !important; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0; color: #660; text-decoration: none; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:visted { color: #660; text-decoration: none; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:hover { color: #660; text-decoration: underline !important; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget p { margin: 0 0 .5em !important; padding: 0; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink { display: block; width: 150px; margin: 10px auto 0 !important; padding: 0px 5px !important; text-align: center; line-height: 1.8em; color: #222; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #6A6454; border-radius: 5px; font-family:arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layo... background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color:#BBB596; outline: 0; white-space: nowrap; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink:hover { background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layo... color: black; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; }
Goodreads Book Giveaway The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis by Sharon Ledwith Giveaway ends December 10, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win