Launching Today: Goodreads Q&A! Ask Your Favorite Author or Fellow Readers Questions on Goodreads!


If you could ask Margaret Atwood, Khaled Hosseini, or James Patterson anything, what would it be? Maybe you want to know their writing inspiration, what they read as a guilty pleasure, or you have a burning question about one of their bestsellers. Now's your chance because these three are among the 54 major authors who are helping us launch an exciting new program on Goodreads—Ask the Author!
Ask the Author allows readers to ask questions and get answers from their favorite authors. At Goodreads, we believe the relationship between authors and readers is very special. Authors tell stories and create worlds that spark the imaginations of their readers. Now readers can deepen that connection by asking questions about the new worlds, ideas, and people they've discovered in books.
Starting today, you can submit your questions directly to any of the 54 authors participating in the Ask the Author launch. (Full list below!) If an author answers your question you'll be notified, and every answer will be shared on the author's page so that other readers can enjoy them, too. In the coming weeks, all of the 100,000+ authors in the Goodreads Author program will be able to opt in to the feature. (To check whether an author is participating, visit his or her author profile and look for the "Ask the Author" section.)
We asked international bestselling author Dan Brown a question of our own about his thoughts on Ask the Author. His answer: "One of the most rewarding things about being an author is hearing from readers. I love engaging in dialogue with them, and I'm excited to have a brand-new way to stay truly connected with my fans. I'm looking forward to discussing writing, secret codes, ancient mysteries, and anything else that comes up with the Goodreads community. Then, of course, I will need to get back to writing because the most common reader question I get seems to be: 'When is the next book coming, Dan?'"
Reader Q&A
Of course, fellow readers are an endless source of book knowledge, too! So, we're also starting to roll out Reader Q&A over the coming weeks to provide our passionate, opinionated, and curious community with another way to connect over the love of books.
Reader Q&A for The Goldfinch

Reader Q&A for The Power of Habit

Reader Q&A for Night Film

Once Reader Q&A is activated for you, you'll find a new Reader Q&A section on every book page, just below your friends' reviews. When other readers start responding to a question, Goodreads members can click "like" on the answers they find most interesting, and the best ones will rise to the top.
To try out Reader Q&A, go to the book page for your favorite book or a book you've just read and submit a question for the Goodreads community. You can also look for questions to answer! If Reader Q&A is not yet showing for you, it will be coming shortly!
We'll be opening up Ask the Author to all Goodreads Authors in the coming weeks, but right now you can ask a question of any of the following authors:
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERS
Isabel AllendeAuthor of The House of Spirits [image error] | Margaret AtwoodAuthor of The Handmaid's Tale [image error] |
Dan BrownAuthor of The Da Vinci Code [image error] | Deepak ChopraAuthor of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success [image error] |
Khaled HosseiniAuthor of The Kite Runner [image error] | James PattersonAuthor of Kiss the Girls [image error] |
FICTION
Michael CunninghamAuthor of The Hours [image error] | Kristin HannahAuthor of Firefly Lane [image error] |
James McBrideAuthor of The Color of Water [image error] | Liane MoriartyAuthor of What Alice Forgot [image error] |
Jojo MoyesAuthor of Me Before You [image error] | B.J. NovakAuthor of One More Thing [image error] |
Robin SloanAuthor of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore [image error] | Jeff VanderMeerAuthor of Annihilation [image error] |
Ayelet WaldmanAuthor of Red Hook Road [image error] | Jesmyn WardAuthor of Salvage the Bones [image error] |
NONFICTION
Mark BittmanAuthor of How to Cook Everything [image error] | Geoff DyerAuthor of Another Great Day at Sea [image error] |
Tim FerrissAuthor of The 4-Hour Work Week [image error] | Daniel GolemanAuthor of Emotional Intelligence [image error] |
Arianna HuffingtonAuthor of Third World America [image error] | Anne LamottAuthor of Bird by Bird [image error] |
Frances MayesAuthor of Under the Tuscan Sun [image error] | Michael PollanAuthor of The Omnivore's Dilemma [image error] |
Gretchen RubinAuthor of The Happiness Project [image error] |
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN'S
Laurie Halse AndersonAuthor of Speak [image error] | Holly BlackAuthor of Tithe [image error] |
Sarah DessenAuthor of Just Listen [image error] | Rebecca DonovanAuthor of Reasons to Breathe [image error] |
Susan EeAuthor of Angelfall [image error] | Gayle FormanAuthor of If I Stay [image error] |
Jeff KinneyAuthor of Diary of a Wimpy Kid [image error] | E. LockhartAuthor of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks [image error] |
MYSTERY & THRILLERS
David BaldacciAuthor of Absolute Power [image error] | Joseph FinderAuthor of Paranoia [image error] |
Douglas PrestonAuthor of Relic [image error] | S.J. WatsonAuthor of Before I Go to Sleep [image error] |
ROMANCE
Bella AndreAuthor of The Look of Love [image error] | Kresley ColeAuthor of A Hunger Like No Other [image error] |
Sylvia DayAuthor of Reflected in You [image error] | Barbara FreethyAuthor of Just the Way You Are [image error] |
Christina LaurenAuthor of Beautiful Bastard [image error] |
FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION
Kevin J. AndersonAuthor of Jedi Search [image error] | Jim ButcherAuthor of Storm Front [image error] |
Warren EllisAuthor of Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1 [image error] |
Lev GrossmanAuthor of The Magicians [image error] |
Laurell K. HamiltonAuthor of Guilty Pleasures [image error] | Brian HerbertAuthor of The Butlerian Jihad [image error] |
Hugh HoweyAuthor of Wool [image error] | Sherrilyn KenyonAuthor of Styxx [image error] |
Bob MayerAuthor of Lost Girls [image error] | Richelle MeadAuthor of Vampire Academy [image error] |
John ScalziAuthor of Old Man's War [image error] | Michael J. SullivanAuthor of Theft of Swords [image error] |
Is your favorite author missing from the list above? Let us know which author you'd like to ask a question of in the comments below and we'll pass on the message!
Comments Showing 1-50 of 320 (320 new)
I love this, but more authors would be REALLY good like the latest and most recent authors of the very popular books of the YA gen:) I would love to talk to Veronica Roth, Cornelia Funke or even Suzanne Collins or Tim O' Rouke or even J.K Rowling I know many people would love the chance to speak to these writers too.
Rose wrote: "I love this, but more authors would be REALLY good like the latest and most recent authors of the very popular books of the YA gen:) I would love to talk to Veronica Roth, Cornelia Funke or even Su..."I'd love to ask questions of some of those writers too! Right now this feature is only live for the authors listed in the post, but we'll open it for all authors in the coming weeks. At that point, someone like Veronica Roth might also take advantage of Ask the Author.
What about Markus Zusak? His novel "The book thief"is translated into more than 40 languages and was also awarded many times for the best YA book.
I'm excited about this new feature, and the list of authors presented already is impressive. Thank you Goodreads (and authors, of course)
Aditi wrote: "Is this even real? I mean seriously the authors will reply to us? I can't believe my own eyes."Depends on who they are. PR depts. of big publishing companies will do that for any authors that want it. Soon Fiverr will offer to do it for SPAs I'm sure. (view spoiler)
Tony DiTerlizzi
and
Cinda Williams Chima
are two authors I can think of who interact with fans but aren't on this list. Would love for this to be expanded NOW :)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie!!!!! Please!!!!!Also:
Dave Eggers
Jonathan Franzen
Salman Rushdie
NoViolet Bulawayo
Maria Semple
Edwidge Danticat
Haruki Murakami
Also I second the Markus Zusak suggestion
I must say, this is a total lie, even people from good reads can also reply on behalf of the authors, after all this is not a random chat like facebook or video-chat like skype. Sorry I cannot believe this initiation of good reads. But still it'll attract a lot of readers I'm sure. Keep up the good work good reads!
please include :--kristen ashley **********
-darynda jones
-sarah rees brennan
-stephanie meyer
-samantha young
Aditi wrote: "I must say, this is a total lie, even people from good reads can also reply on behalf of the authors, after all this is not a random chat like facebook or video-chat like skype. Sorry I cannot beli..."Hey Aditi! This feature is enabled for Goodreads Authors, those who have signed up for personal accounts on the site. These answers will all come from the authors themselves, not from Goodreads staff.
Please include Harlan Coben
Karen rose
Karin slaughter
Neal shusterman
Nicholas sparks
Lurlene McDaniel
Andrew gross
Lisa black
Lisa Gardner
Mary burton
John green
Julie Gregory
Allison Brennan
Jeff Abbott
Huh, Aditi is just trying to say there's no way to prove that the authors will actually reply our questions themselves...
Kameron Hurley, Nnedi Okorafor, Catherynne M. Valente, N.K. Jemisin, Sofia Samatar, and Ann Leckie come to mind as great for this feature. Among many others.
Two words: homework help.At least the 'ask readers' one sounds like it. /:
I don't like that sort of thing. You don't learn anything from letting other people do your work.
Otherwise, nice idea.
Christine wrote: "Well maybe they will"I don't think Goodreads will hoodwink us into believing some cock and bull story that the famous authors will reply and instead the staff replies to our questions. Savage, i'd call it. I think this Q&A or whatever is genuine, don't you think so Christine?
Why not more POC authors?Junot Diaz
Ellen Oh
Marjorie Liu
Marie Lu
Lydia Kang
Sandra Cisneros
Juan Gabriel Vasquez
Jorge Franco
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Cindy Pon
Natsuo Kirino
Just to name a few.
It would be great to include:-JK Rowling
-Rick Riordan
-Veronica Roth
-John Green
-Markus Zusak
-Neil Gaiman
-Katheryn Stockett
-S.E. Hinton
-and William Shakespeare. (Just kidding.)
I think that the authors should have a goodreads account to participate here.So JK Rowling and the others who have not an account will not answer.
I would like to see Phillipa Gregory, J.K. Rowling, and Diana Gabaldon please :)
Thanks for this opportunity Goodreads, there are already so many great authors here!
Thanks for this opportunity Goodreads, there are already so many great authors here!
Mickey wrote: "I think that the authors should have a goodreads account to participate here.So JK Rowling and the others who have not an account will not answer."
Yes, this is how the feature works! All of the above authors are members of Goodreads.












































































Also, first.