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Goodreads Deals: A New Way to Promote Your Ebooks to Millions of Goodreads Members (U.S. Market)
Posted by Annarose Mclaughlin on May 17, 2016
What's the secret to successful book marketing? Getting in front of the largest number of readers who are most likely to be interested in your titles! With the launch of Goodreads Deals in the U.S., we’re now offering authors and publishers a new way to amplify ebook price promotions to our millions of members. The Goodreads Deals program comes with built-in personalization options based on members' Want to Read shelves, the authors they follow, and the genres they prefer—all designed to help your deals reach the readers with the highest interest in buying your books.
Goodreads Deals is unique because we'll enable you to reach existing fans and introduce your ebooks to new readers:
Above: Example of a deal
"As publishers, we always want to find readers in the most targeted and direct ways possible," says Heather Fain, SVP, Director of Marketing Strategy at Hachette Book Group. "We want to reach readers where they live, and millions of them live and breathe on Goodreads. Backed by their data, we can match a deal with a reader we know is already interested in our book, something we think will be highly efficient. Consumers have come to expect personalization, and Goodreads Deals is a terrific way to achieve that level of intimacy. Goodreads has long been an integral part of the marketing plans at Hachette Book Group, and I'm excited to see how this new product enhances that relationship.”
We know you may have questions. Here are some answers:
I'm a publisher—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals? We hand-pick deals on ebooks that will most appeal to the Goodreads community. Publishers who'd like to nominate their ebook deal should reach out to their Goodreads Account Manager to get started, or send an email to goodreads-merchandising@goodreads.com.
I'm an author—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals?
We haven't opened up deal nominations to authors as we are in beta, but we're working on it. Our plan is to have something to announce very soon, so stay tuned.
Which genres will be featured at launch?
At launch, we will offer daily emails for the following genres:
• Bestsellers
• Romance
• Mystery & Thrillers
• Fantasy & Sci-Fi
If you don't see your book's genre, don't worry. Our readers love a wide variety of books and our goal is to increase our range of genres in the coming months.
How many readers will be notified of my deal, if chosen?
This depends on the book. U.S. members who have added the book to their Want to Read shelves or are following the author will receive an email alerting them to the deal. Members can also opt in to getting deals every day in their genres of choice.
Which retailers will be included in Goodreads Deals emails?
Readers will be able to choose which retailers they would like to see in their personalized deals emails and can select from among the following: Kindle Store, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play, and Kobo.
When will Goodreads Deals be available outside the U.S.?
Goodreads Deals is launching in the U.S. Our goal is to offer all of our features in other markets, but we don't have any timing to share on this.
How much does it cost to have my deal included in Goodreads Deals?
We'll announce pricing soon. Stay tuned.
Have more questions? Find answers in the Goodreads Deals section of our Help Page.
Next: Goodreads Introduces Kindle Ebook Giveaways
You might also like: How to Get the Most Out of Goodreads in Five Minutes a Day
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Goodreads Deals is unique because we'll enable you to reach existing fans and introduce your ebooks to new readers:
- Existing Fans: Every second, our members add 6 books to their Want to Read shelves—that's 15 million books per month that have captured the interest of readers. With Goodreads Deals, you can now tap into that interest. We'll email members when a book on their Want to Read shelf has a price promotion. We'll also email any members who follow the author on Goodreads.
- Prospective Readers: At the same time, members can choose to receive even more deals by opting in to daily emails featuring books in the genres they prefer. For many of our members, their hunger for books often outpaces their wallets, and they are interested in hearing about price promotions that will help them read more books. With Goodreads Deals, you can drive discovery and sales of your ebook with a broader reader base in your genre.
"As publishers, we always want to find readers in the most targeted and direct ways possible," says Heather Fain, SVP, Director of Marketing Strategy at Hachette Book Group. "We want to reach readers where they live, and millions of them live and breathe on Goodreads. Backed by their data, we can match a deal with a reader we know is already interested in our book, something we think will be highly efficient. Consumers have come to expect personalization, and Goodreads Deals is a terrific way to achieve that level of intimacy. Goodreads has long been an integral part of the marketing plans at Hachette Book Group, and I'm excited to see how this new product enhances that relationship.”
We know you may have questions. Here are some answers:
I'm a publisher—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals? We hand-pick deals on ebooks that will most appeal to the Goodreads community. Publishers who'd like to nominate their ebook deal should reach out to their Goodreads Account Manager to get started, or send an email to goodreads-merchandising@goodreads.com.
I'm an author—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals?
We haven't opened up deal nominations to authors as we are in beta, but we're working on it. Our plan is to have something to announce very soon, so stay tuned.
Which genres will be featured at launch?
At launch, we will offer daily emails for the following genres:
• Bestsellers
• Romance
• Mystery & Thrillers
• Fantasy & Sci-Fi
If you don't see your book's genre, don't worry. Our readers love a wide variety of books and our goal is to increase our range of genres in the coming months.
How many readers will be notified of my deal, if chosen?
This depends on the book. U.S. members who have added the book to their Want to Read shelves or are following the author will receive an email alerting them to the deal. Members can also opt in to getting deals every day in their genres of choice.
Which retailers will be included in Goodreads Deals emails?
Readers will be able to choose which retailers they would like to see in their personalized deals emails and can select from among the following: Kindle Store, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play, and Kobo.
When will Goodreads Deals be available outside the U.S.?
Goodreads Deals is launching in the U.S. Our goal is to offer all of our features in other markets, but we don't have any timing to share on this.
How much does it cost to have my deal included in Goodreads Deals?
We'll announce pricing soon. Stay tuned.
Have more questions? Find answers in the Goodreads Deals section of our Help Page.
Next: Goodreads Introduces Kindle Ebook Giveaways
You might also like: How to Get the Most Out of Goodreads in Five Minutes a Day
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Comments Showing 1-28 of 28 (28 new)
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Man I'm glad I don't use the "to-read" shelf.
Obsidian wrote: "How do I turn this off? I don't want emails."Under your account settings there's now a Deals tab where you can update your preferences/opt out.
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Man I'm glad I don't use the "to-read" shelf."Doesn't matter. Doesn't even matter if you've unsubscribed from all goodreads emails.
There's now a new "Deals" tab in your profile settings you need to click to make sure the new goodreads deals emails (linked to genre, to followed authors and to the "to read" shelf) are set the way you want them.
It's pretty odd they are linking another new feature to "follow author" without fixing that last buggy rollout of follow author button.
Not that it's not already odd this opt-out feature wasn't sitewide announced outside of this advertiser blog post, odd to claim this was a frequently requested member feature never seen in the feedback groups unless requested by one of the 2K author profiles, to not make this opt-in, notify folk before they sent out the first batch, change TOS to reflect your account email will now be getting third party content, etc.
Truthfully, if I hadn't seen an announcement on a thread in a group few members used linking to here, I would have assumed such an email was spam from an author pretending to be from goodreads and reported as spoof and as spam without even checking if lnks and headers were valid for goodreads.
Just wanted to mention that many authors, including me, offer free newsletters (usually once a month) that you can sign up for on their website. These usually mention price promotions, new releases and other items of interest. And you can unsubscribe at any time.
Jacqueline wrote: "Just wanted to mention that many authors, including me, offer free newsletters (usually once a month) that you can sign up for on their website. These usually mention price promotions, new releases..."I love those! And lovely author tracker type of ones from publishers where I get a bunch all in one place. More authors should mention their mailing lists on their author profiles here.
Before the follow author bugs, I used to visit goodreads partly to read author blog posts (where their blogs were synced to goodreads). It was so convenient having all in one place; I miss being able to do that.
I probably shouldn't be so cranky about being subscrubed to this new mailing list without my permission -- it's not like I pay that much attention to any emails I'm not expecting. It's my own fault; I gave goodreads a disposable email when I joined then trusted them with my real email because sure they would never use an account email for other purposes *smacks self in head * ...
ETA: typos.
Obsidian wrote: "How do I turn this off? I don't want emails."You can edit your Deals preferences in your Account Settings here.
D.A. misses no commercial use & opt-in wrote: "Doesn't even matter if you've unsubscribed from all goodreads emails."
If you unsubscribed from all Goodreads emails in the past, you should not be opted in to receive future Deals emails. If this is not the case for your specific account, please email support at goodreads dot com so we can look into this bug for you!
Very bad move, GR. Forcing people to opt out is unethical and contemptible. You continue to degrade your already bad reputation.
Seems skewed to favor trad publishers . . . no help for Indie authorsPer Goodreads - "I'm an author—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals?
We haven't opened up deal nominations to authors as we are in beta, but we're working on it. Our plan is to have something to announce very soon, so stay tuned."
Owen wrote: "Very bad move, GR. Forcing people to opt out is unethical and contemptible. You continue to degrade your already bad reputation."Agree 100%
They really do need to help us indie authors more. Indies are what MADE Goodreads, not the trads, yet they treat us like second class citizens.You should always stick with the one who brought you to the dance Goodreads, and not dump them at the first opportunity because someone else looks better. The trads are dying, otherwise, you wouldn't be here.
I own a small press. When I contacted GR at the email given, I was pretty much given the brush-off and told they had not opened this to publishers. I was nominating a book, just as you stated to do.When will this be open to small presses and indies? It's already been 5 months since this announcement. How long is your beta period?
Red Adept Publishing wrote: "I own a small press. When I contacted GR at the email given, I was pretty much given the brush-off and told they had not opened this to publishers. I was nominating a book, just as you stated to do..."I'm fairly certain at this point that they are never going to offer it to indies or small press.
It has now been 6 months since this announcement.When will this be open to small presses and indies?
Red Adept Publishing wrote: "It has now been 6 months since this announcement.When will this be open to small presses and indies?"
Apparently never. Our money isn't good enough for them.
It has now been 10 months since this announcement.When will this be open to small presses?
It has now been 12 months since this announcement. When will it become open to indies?
Yes, I would like to know when it will become open to small presses. I sent an email to the address you gave in the article, but no one even responded.
Red Adept Publishing wrote: "Yes, I would like to know when it will become open to small presses. I sent an email to the address you gave in the article, but no one even responded."Red Adept.. it's now been 3 months since you last posted... did you ever hear back?
No. They didn't respond to my email, either.
Laurie,I did post on their newest thread that mentions this promo opportunity, and I got a response to that.
Apparently, they have only opened it to a few publishers, and they are still "beta testing."
Red Adept Publishing wrote: "Laurie,I did post on their newest thread that mentions this promo opportunity, and I got a response to that.
Apparently, they have only opened it to a few publishers, and they are still "beta te..."
Thanks for the prompt reply. I've sent an email to them, but we (Smoking Pen Press) are much newer than you, and much smaller than you, so I'm sure Goodreads is much less interested in us than they are in you!. I'll keep an eye out for new developments, but won't hold my breath.
I'd love to know how to get my books featured as Goodreads Deals, too. There's no information anywhere that I can find, and it seems I'm not the only one who's been wondering. I've emailed asking one of the experts who helped me with my current giveaway, so I'll let you guys know what she says.
Elizabeth wrote: "I'd love to know how to get my books featured as Goodreads Deals, too. There's no information anywhere that I can find, and it seems I'm not the only one who's been wondering. I've emailed asking o..."I'm very interested in hearing what they say. I'm hoping they'll open up to indies soon. It will only help them!
I've had several BookBub deals, and advertising with amazon AMS and BookBub ads, too. But as others have said, the "very soon for authors" note posted last year hasn't happened and there's still no info anywhere. I just received an email with deals from GoodReads...their handpicked books...so apparently this is still only open to publishers who "nominate" their own books for the program. So, guess I'll continue purchasing advertising for my 30+ books elsewhere.
Please expand Goodreads Deals beyond the US :(
Well, it's been almost two years. Any news on opening this up to small presses?
ETA: that's how it was announced in the helpdesk/feedback group -- that the goodreads deal emails would be for books on "to read" and for specific genres.