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Does Goodreads help to sell your books
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Garfield
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May 07, 2016 11:51PM
Can anyone tell me the role Goodreads play if any in helping to sell their books?
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I can't say for certain, of course, but I'm not sure I've sold a book because of GR. I use GR for the exposure through giveaways, and so forth. If the eyes looking at my book translates to dollars in my pocket, so much the better. But it's certainly not something I expect. That's just my experience, though. Others may have experienced something different.
We've found GR good for connecting with people thru SIA, but it has played no discernible role in helping sell our books. To be fair, after for one giveaway we ran early on (and which was not a good experience for us), we decided not to use GR for marketing or promotion at all, and frankly, if we could remove our books from GR, we probably would. So our experience cannot be considered typical.
Owen, I'm curious to hear about your experience if you're open to sharing it.
Goodreads certainly gets me exposure. It helps me connect with other readers and writers. I've gotten some very good reviews from folks whom (it appears) obtained a copy of my book and were sufficiently moved to write a review. I've also solicited reviews here, and, though that was not what I'd call an overly positive experience, interestingly enough, I obtained a few new friends as a result. Through SIA, I've "sold" over 400 free ebooks. In this brave new Indie pub world, getting noticed seems to be the hardest thing, and Goodreads IMO, definitely does that.
But if you're thinking "hard sell," marketing, this is not the place. It, IMO, is a social site for readers and writers who will resent hard sell tactics.
But if you're thinking "hard sell," marketing, this is not the place. It, IMO, is a social site for readers and writers who will resent hard sell tactics.
I , so far, feel the same about Goodreads. I made an event for my promotion and sent invites to friends; that was quite handy. I'll know results in a few days. Some of you mentioned SIA. What is that?
Goodreads have a very good widget which you can load to your site which displays reviews. That's beneficial, though I can't tell how many sales it generates.
SIA is the Support For Indie Authors group, which is immensely helpful and supportive.
Mod
I've found it useful in getting the word out about new books or free offers. It's good for connecting with other writers and readers. I'm not sure it is directly responsible for any sales, though.
Mod
SIA stands for Support for Indie Authors, the best best BEST place in the world for the independent author to mingle and meet other authors, get tips for selling and marketing, discuss the art and business of writing, have some fun, relax, etc.
It's run by the Supreme Overlord Ann (all hail Ann, long live Ann) and her small but mighty army of
I joined goodreads to sell books! There, I said it!I ran a ten-book Give-away world wide. It cost me about £200 uk pounds after shipping and netted me three reviews, and not really my favorites.
I joined a group that was a little helpful for author issues (though I only REALLY joined to sell books), "Better-reads." We began enthusiastically sharing opinions about covers & blurb, but the group collapsed when it came to the "reviewing stage."
It was not a review swap (ill advised) scheme but a collective in - group review scheme. My experience of that did not go well. I caution against review swaps and even looser review agreements. They are against Goodreads policy and this groups policy in any case.
I followed Christina and GG (now fellow SIA mods) here and found a writing community. We are a wide variety of indies in a free self help group. Share our thoughts and experiences with each other is simply great support! This is particularly true if you are otherwise isolated from fellow indies. I hung around and became a Mod.
Have I sold any books through Goodreads? Possibly, but not a discernable amount (and certainly not enough to recoup my £200). In terms of books sold v time spent it is a poor return.
That is not what Goodreads/SIA is about!
Goodreads is for readers and they strongly dislike Bookwhackers.
SIA is for Authors and we don't like when we Bookwhack each other. It gets in the way of discussion.
None. It doesn't help me at all in selling books or much of anything else. My Goodreads bookshelf is full of books recommended to me by other people. None of the books are in the genres I like to read but, I keep them on my bookshelf because someone else might like those genres.
I've been on Goodreads nearly two years and I have found it to be not as rewarding as I hoped it to be. Being very active on Goodreads has not helped either in selling my books. so I have decided to not upload any of my future books here on Goodreads.
Goodreads has been a great place to network with others and I've made some wonderful new "friends" who I now communicate with outside of this site as well. It's also been an invaluable aid in locating new, exciting books for me to read (which I do try to review as well, knowing the importance they tend to wield). But as for sales of my own books? Perhaps Goodreads was directly responsible for a few, but nothing I could swear to. Then again, I don't promote much on this site because what little I've done seemed to get me nowhere. I do giveaways of all my books here when they first come out and have been able to garner some reviews that way, but I'm not sure if they have led to any sales of my other works.
Anthony wrote: "Goodreads is for readers and they strongly dislike Bookwhackers.SIA is for Authors and we don't like when we Bookwhack each other. It gets in the way of discussion."
This is a very important point. Goodreads is first and foremost a site for readers. Yes, they offer marketimg opportunities and whether those are effective or not, they are the only Goodreads sanctioned advertising avenues. The best practices for authors clearly states that discussion groups such as this are not for selling.
I would highly recommend all authors read the Goodreads guidelines before posting anywhere: https://www.goodreads.com/author/guid...
If only each sale came waving a little flag, explaining where it came from. I have no idea who is buying is my books and how they found out about them, but I did see a spike in amazon sales on the day that my goodreads giveaway ended. I am guessing it was directly related to that giveaway. Either way, I am grateful to see my books selling! :)
I use GR to stay in touch with what readers are saying about books. I also look to forums like this one to keep abreast of Indie Author experiences/concerns and helpful tips on all-things-to-do-with-writing. I can't really document one sale from GR but I have run two Giveaways for the exposure factor.
Tara wrote: "Owen, I'm curious to hear about your experience if you're open to sharing it."If you have some specific questions, feel free to send a PM.
I honestly have no idea, but it's a great place to meet other authors and discover new books, so love using it.
Rachael wrote: "I honestly have no idea, but it's a great place to meet other authors and discover new books, so love using it."Same.
Rachael wrote: "I honestly have no idea, but it's a great place to meet other authors and discover new books, so love using it."I agree with that. I've had some very interesting discussions about books here, and met other authors, so I like using goodreads.
Goodreads is the site and its up to the author who joins it to use the site to help them sell books. I will say that you want to try a subtle approach and gain a fan base, friends and connect with fellow authors. Take part in the group's, discussions and if your going to promote to sell your books do it in small quantities because no one likes to be spammed by someone coming off like a car salesman.
Justin wrote: "Goodreads is the site and its up to the author who joins it to use the site to help them sell books. I will say that you want to try a subtle approach and gain a fan base, friends and connect with ..."Definitely. Here's what doesn't ever work: when an author posts links to a book in a bunch of different threads thinking that someone will click on it and then go buy it. Those drive by posts get ignored pretty much across the board.
GR is a social forum and should be treated that way. Think of it as a cocktail party. I personally wouldn't go up to small groups of people, hijack their conversation to talk about my book and tell them where to buy it. If I did that, it's safe to say I'd be met with blank stares, eye rolls, and hopes that I'll go away and bug somebody else. Then, whenever they saw me circling around the room, they'd all be like, "Please don't come back. Please don't come back." Same goes for online social forums.
Now talking about gaining book sales, GR is good for exposure in the sense that others know you as an author exists. For authors, if someone wants to learn more about them when they post in a thread, all one has to do is click on any person's name to get to their author page. Also, I find GR giveaways are useful for letting people out there know my books exist, regardless of whether it brings reviews or buys.
Thx Quoleena....your perspective is always on point.... I like your analogy with the cocktail party.When I started this discussion I was expecting simple answers as to whether GR helps to sell their books...most persons didnt answer directly but it seems an overwhelming view that GR is really for networking....nothing wrong with that.
I've had a few sales definitely come from GR -- but only a few that I can point to for certain. One was as a result of a giveaway, one from general networking, and one from a "drive by post". hahaha The drive by post was very targeted, though.I've had some very positive reviews come from here, as well. Six of those were a result of a giveaway, which I will probably do again. Like others, and probably more importantly, I've met some great people and had great support.
In short, I don't find GR the ideal place to sell books, but it seems like an important place to be.
Like everyone else has said, GR is great for authors to meet each other and exchange advice and act socially (yay for SIA!). Not as much for selling books.As a reader, though, I've found books through Goodreads that I've wanted to read. Sometimes I order them from the library. Sometimes I have to buy them on Amazon. It's not often, but it does happen. I have to hope that others will see my book and react the same way.
(As to finding books, it's usually by recommendations of readers or because an author said something interesting and I go to their profile to see what they write.)
I enjoy Goodreads because of its perspective and it's a useful place to get help, advice and feedback as an author. Its not only where readers are but where fellow authors are and its good to connect with those who do what you do. To get back on topic, I'd say while selling books isn't the key reason for an author should be on here I think if an author is continuously contributing to groups and threads and is an active member than I think they have a better chance at selling their books.
Even if you get one sale from GRs that's one sale you possibly may not have gotten otherwise. So yes GRs has helped me set paid sales and free sales. Most importantly, it has helped me develop relationships I may not have otherwise
I pretty much interact on Goodreads as a reader, but I do maintain an author presence in case anyone clicks on my name. It really is a readers site and it doesn't feel appropriate to push my work outside designated promotion threads or groups.I think any writer who sets out with the intention to sell a lot of books here is doomed to disappointment. The best I hope for is that someone loves my novel and tells others about it, which happens now and again, but the books I believe were sold due to my being on Goodreads hardly register a blip on my overall sales.
The advantage of building a fan base on Goodreads is that if they follow you here, Facebook then picks up lag. Once a reader follows you here, then Facebook will add them to your follow list. I find Facebook is where I can market books and create buzz for the authors I help out. This does reflect in more sales.
Anthony wrote: "Goodreads is for readers and they strongly dislike Bookwhackers."What is a Bookwhacker? I am not familiar . . .
Mod
But, that is because I have done the work. I networked all over the place, interacted with others, put up promos in the right places, and did book giveaways (of just one copy, which works just fine btw, save your money!)
Goodreads is a great tool for connecting! You need to do the leg work though.
Mod
What is a Bookwhacker? I am not familiar . . ."
A bookwhacker is someone who stops by a thread only long enough to drop a link to their book with a perfunctory hello, only meant to drive sales. We don't want that, we want people that interact on the boards, and you're much more likely to get responses from others if you interact.
Think about bookwhack as bird droppings. Everyone is having a picnic. The sun is shining. The food is good. The conversation is flowing. Then, suddenly a bird flies down and leaves a dropping, ruining the day for everyone.Bookwhacking is doing the same with your book. Going into threads and dropping your book name or cover or blurb without being invited. You fly over, drop the bomb. and leave. It's finding any reason to push your book in the face of people who were not expecting it.
Hope this helps. :P
Now to answer the OQ, I'd have to say that I probably made most of my sale through Goodreads. I haven't done much marketing elsewhere. I have a presence on Twitter and Facebook. While I love the latter, I don't really like Twitter. I didn't connect with anyone there aside from maybe the people from SIA.It's hard to tell which website worked and from which one came the people who bought my book, but since I have the strongest presence here, I'm guessing here.
Bookwhacking is very bad manners; I'd never heard that word before, but I've certainly encountered the phenomenon!Goodreads is a great place to hang out and talk about books - other people's. It doesn't directly help me to sell my own. Only advertising on emailed lists (such as BargainBooksy), and to a lesser extent Twitter, does that. Goodreads does help indirectly, though, as you can link up with other writers and find out which of those lists have helped them.
One Goodreads tool that could directly help writers sell books is the giveaway, but only if Goodreads were to send an auto notification to the non-winners, saying they hadn't won but including a link to the book. As it is now, I think people just forget they've entered the giveaway. I have had the odd review from giveaways, but like Anthony I have found they haven't been the best ones.
No doubt I've sold a few books because I listed myself as an author on Goodreads and participated in the discussions. But I think the overwhelming majority of sales came when the books were listed as new on Amazon. They get the spotlight there, relatively speaking, for about 90 days. On the other hand my second book sold much more during that time than my first book did, so some additional thing I did—Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, and a website—must have helped a great deal. I just don't know which one it was.
I am a massive advocate for GRs over any other platform because for starts everyone here to one extent or the other is already interested in books. So that's half the battle!Now the only way you can benefit from being here is by putting in the work. By this I mean building relationships. When you build those relationships, sometimes you get sales as an indirect consequence.
Well that's just my 2 cents
Just an aside to everyone saying they'd never heard the term bookwhacking before. Yes, it was coined by our very own ninja mod, VM, so you are not likely to hear it outside of the SIA. However, if you have posted within this group, you have seen the word because it happens to be in our rules. The rules that appear in the yellow box to the right whenever you post. Should you encounter a word or concept that you do not fully understand in context, please do not hesitate to PM one of the mods with your questions.
I've definitely sold books because of Goodreads, and love networking with other authors and readers. I promote ONLY in the appropriate places and dont bookwhack.
I didn't join Goodreads to sell books. I just thought it would be interesting to interact with other book lovers. And it has been.I do have an author page, although that only came about because I have the same name as another author and my books were listed on her page. I thought about letting her take the blame, but that wasn't fair :-)
It's hard to tell. Honestly, I joined Goodreads more as a reader than a writer. It has helped me to connect with helpful resources - I found my beta/proofreader here, and I've scored a few reviews and interviews for my books. But does it drive a lot of sales? No. I'm still working on that magic formula to find my breakthrough. I think it helps some, but it's no magic bullet. You're better off treating it as you would any other social media site: as a place to connect with people that share your tastes and common interests.
Not that I've noticed, but then I don't use it particularly well, either. I am social-networkly awkward.
Garfield wrote: "Can anyone tell me the role Goodreads play if any in helping to sell their books?"Nothing significant. My marketing does best on social media sites. Twitter is my best mover of books.
Goodreads doesn't sell books for you. However, it does provide you with tools to help you market your books (such as giveaways and advice) and you can use it to connect with readers and like-minded people. It's all in the networking and connecting with others.
I sold well early on that I can attribute to being here. Much fewer in recent months. I did, however, earn friendships here with both writers and readers whose support and pro-active efforts all around social media that help me sell many books. Several met here became highly ranked amazon reviewers as well as very active across places like G+, FB, and twitter who are dependable in spreading the word about my work as needed. I am energetic in returning the favors.
Does bookwhacking also apply to Twitter? I get annoyed by writers who tweet nothing but ads for their books. I take more interest in writers who tweet personal comments, funny comments or info about writing and build a relationship, while occasionally tweeting about their books.
For me, Goodreads has provided valuable resources I may not have found on my own through topics brought up in group discussions. If I can generate an interest in my books and gain more visibility as an author, the site would have served its purpose.
