How to Add Editorial Reviews to a Book's Page?

[Deanna]

Hi. I'm new to this site. I joined the Author Program, so I'm able to add information to my books' pages, but I can't figure out how to add editorial reviews to the pages. I checked the Librarian Manual but didn't see anything on this. For one of my books I tried adding editorial reviews in the "Librarian Comments" section, but the reviews don't appear on my book's page.

On Amazon there's a section where you can quote from editorial reviews, followed by a section for reviews from customers. Isn't there a way to do something similar on Goodreads? After mailing out many print review copies to book review publications and receiving many positive reviews as a result, I find it disappointing if there's no way to share those reviews on the books' pages.

Thanks for your help.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Goodreads is primarily a place for reviews from users, not outside sources. So there is no place within the actual book data section for such reviews.

Authors have a few options:
* Quote them in their own review space (obviously making clear that this is a quite from another source) for the book
* Add them to your bio section on your author page
* Add a blog post with them

[Deanna]

Rivka, thanks for your reply. I don't know how to access the book's review space without first rating the book. Is there any way to add a review (one that quotes various editorial reviews) without first rating the book? I don't think it's right for authors to rate their own books, and some of the review publications didn't use star ratings.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

You can shelve a book (place it on read, to-read, or currently-reading) without rating it. That will allow you to access the review space without rating the book.

[Deanna]

OK, thanks. On the empty review form I see five empty stars. If I fill out the form and post the review quotes without clicking any stars, will that give the review 0 stars? I don't want to artificially inflate or deflate the overall star rating.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Blank or zero stars count as unrated, and have no effect on the rating.

[Deanna]

It worked! Thanks very much! :-)

[Deanna]

Actually, I think it didn't work after all. When I view the book's page while I'm signed into my account, I see the editorial reviews under "My Review." But when I sign out, do a search of the book, and view the book's page, the editorial reviews are no longer visible because they don't fall under "Community Reviews." I wanted them to be visible to anyone who views the book's page, whether or not the person is signed in. I don't even know if other people can see the reviews when they're signed in. A fellow Goodreads author checked the book's page from his computer, and he couldn't see the reviews either.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

The community reviews section is cached, and takes 24-48 hours to update.

[Deanna]

OK. Thanks again!