For New Writers - The Value In Joining goodreads
For New Writers - The Value In Joining goodreads
If you are a new writer, and especially if you are an indie, the hardest part is to self-publicise your work.
There seems to be the assumption that to promote or recommend your own book is in some way bad form. However most indie authors have a limited budget so most, if not all, of their book promotion is done by self-promotion on social media sites.
One site that is particularly useful for this is goodreads. This is part of the Amazon group, is free to join site, and attracts both writers and readers.
It can be a bit of a confusing site, with an unhelpful layout. However, I have found several useful features on it that really help with self-promotion. For instance, there are groups that you can join, which have subjects that you are interested in. And you can create and moderate your own group.
My group is https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... This is a group for my series, The Paradox Child, and also moderated by Dan. Having a group means that I can talk about the ideas and the information in my books, and add photos of items that are displayed in the Pitt Rivers which are mentioned in the series. Best of all, I can email everyone in my group on mass in one hit, so I can share news of the books and any promotions.
Goodreads also tells you who has added, is reading, or has read your book; and shows their star rating review, if they have left one. It also allows you to contact your readers, giving a valuable connection, which often leads to pleasant exchanges. All in all, this feedback direct from your readers gives valuable insight, and in my case, the encouragement to keep writing.
Another useful feature is that when your book is first out you can offer some as a prize. This is both free for you to add your book, and free for people to enter to win it. I did this with my last book, Original Destination https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh... In this case, 690 people entered: this not only means that people get to know about your book, but also that they have the option to add it to their to read list on goodreads.
This read list feature means you can list you book, or any that you like, to a list and this helps get you book out there for people who are interested in a particular genre. For example, a book with therianthropy (people who can turn into animals) can be added to the list here. https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...
If goodreads doesn’t already have list that you want you can make your own.
So even although it’s a bit of a fiddle navigating the site (at least initially), it’s definitely worth joining.
Please add me as a friend!
Jane https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Dan https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3...
Edited by the marvellous Chis Keppie
If you are a new writer, and especially if you are an indie, the hardest part is to self-publicise your work.
There seems to be the assumption that to promote or recommend your own book is in some way bad form. However most indie authors have a limited budget so most, if not all, of their book promotion is done by self-promotion on social media sites.
One site that is particularly useful for this is goodreads. This is part of the Amazon group, is free to join site, and attracts both writers and readers.
It can be a bit of a confusing site, with an unhelpful layout. However, I have found several useful features on it that really help with self-promotion. For instance, there are groups that you can join, which have subjects that you are interested in. And you can create and moderate your own group.
My group is https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... This is a group for my series, The Paradox Child, and also moderated by Dan. Having a group means that I can talk about the ideas and the information in my books, and add photos of items that are displayed in the Pitt Rivers which are mentioned in the series. Best of all, I can email everyone in my group on mass in one hit, so I can share news of the books and any promotions.
Goodreads also tells you who has added, is reading, or has read your book; and shows their star rating review, if they have left one. It also allows you to contact your readers, giving a valuable connection, which often leads to pleasant exchanges. All in all, this feedback direct from your readers gives valuable insight, and in my case, the encouragement to keep writing.
Another useful feature is that when your book is first out you can offer some as a prize. This is both free for you to add your book, and free for people to enter to win it. I did this with my last book, Original Destination https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh... In this case, 690 people entered: this not only means that people get to know about your book, but also that they have the option to add it to their to read list on goodreads.
This read list feature means you can list you book, or any that you like, to a list and this helps get you book out there for people who are interested in a particular genre. For example, a book with therianthropy (people who can turn into animals) can be added to the list here. https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...
If goodreads doesn’t already have list that you want you can make your own.
So even although it’s a bit of a fiddle navigating the site (at least initially), it’s definitely worth joining.
Please add me as a friend!
Jane https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Dan https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3...
Edited by the marvellous Chis Keppie
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