Data on Reader's only groups

[Henry]

What is the data on Goodreads regarding readers and reader groups? Is there a separate category in Goodreads demarcating authors and readers? Overall, is Goodreads author-centric, reader-centric or is a generally equal? What is the data for Goodreads between readers and authors?

[Paul]

I can't provide data, only anecdotal evidence, so sorry that I'm not competent to properly answer the question.

However, it appears to me that Goodreads is far-and-away a site for readers. The largest and most active groups discuss and share books from a reader's perspective, and most users are not authors. The site began as a place for readers, and that is what it largely remains. But, of course, anytime you get together a bunch of readers, there's a good chance that some of them also write or at least aspire to it.

One thing that can be distorting to our perception is that there are some groups that discourage promoting one's books, and there are others where plugging a book is limited to one ghettoized thread. Then there are groups that encourage promoting one's books. Those groups tend to be worthless, because they attract tons of authors who are not really interested in discussing anything, and aren't really interested in one another's books, they just want to promote their own. So you get threads full of messages from members who only post once or twice to say "Hey, I've got a great deal, blah, blah, blah," get no response, and then vanish. There may be huge numbers of such groups, but they hardly qualify in my mind as "groups," since there's no community, no sense of group membership.

Then there are groups such as this one which can have a sense of community, where authors can chat about authorly things, where there can be support and useful information, but there will be little interaction with readers as readers. Hence, cultural divide.

But I definitely recommend getting into and participating in some readerly groups and enjoying that side of the site. Befriend members who make interesting comments on books you're interested in, read and comment on their reviews, get into some group-reads and participate in discussion threads. You'll get a sense of the community that way, and it's rewarding in itself.

I like a group called The Roundtable: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/..., but I'm sure there are many many more groups like it where what matters is not just the group's theme or focus, it's mainly the people in it and the culture they're forming.

[Henry]

Appreciate your comments. Variety of writers including topics and themes is seemingly endless reflecting everyone's varied backgrounds.

[Sharon]

New to the group so had no idea readers were a separate group or am I mis-reading this.

[Eric]

Sharon wrote: "New to the group so had no idea readers were a separate group or am I mis-reading this."

Sharon,

I'm not a Goodreads employee, volunteer, but basically Goodreads is all about readers. It's authors who have, or join, separate, much, much smaller groups where they can not only talk about their writing, but if they're smart/lucky it'll be a group of writers in their genre who can share, commiserate, cheer on, give advice, etc., etc.

I'm sure there are many, many, many GR groups about various genres that readers can join, although I don't know where to suggest you look for whatever your particular favorite genres might be. Or you don't join any group at all, you just follow your favorite authors, check their author pages, ask questions, post reviews, etc., and considering the way author pages and book pages are set up, you may well find other authors to try.

Hope this is of some help, but at most, it's just my USD .02.

Eric-the-ever-penny-offering

[Sharon]

Loved the USD .02
Great answer for me. Thanks.