Ask the Author - Q&A

[Cynthia]

Hi there! I'll be opening this thread up to Goodreads authors after my webinar about "Ask the Author" on August 19th!

[Cynthia]

OK I'm here! Feel free to ask any questions about Ask the Author - I'll be here live until noon.

[Monet]

There's a page on Goodreads for featured authors answering readers' questions. Can an author choose to be featured on it or are they chosen randomly?

[Elinor]

Is it possible to send a message to all my Goodreads friends telling them that I am answering questions?

[Pamela]

How do we remove attribution?

[Elinor]

My book reviews show up on Facebook -- is it possible to have the Q and A show up there as well?

[Lori]

Hi Cynthia,

Good information! Are you allowed to post webinars regarding information that is relevant to writers and the publishing industry?

[Cynthia]

Hi Monet! The featured section is rotated weekly by our team, so authors cannot choose to be on it. If you're answering questions though you have a shot of being selected!

[Lori]

Is it possible to post a webinar that will discuss give tips to writers regarding the publishing industry?

[Cynthia]

Elinor wrote: "Is it possible to send a message to all my Goodreads friends telling them that I am answering questions?"

That's a great question. There's no broadcast function on the messaging tool but you can invite them one at a time. Keep in mind the newsfeed does a good job at broadcasting to your friends and followers any activity that you do. Whatever you do, don't spam people, even your friends. Be very selective about who you message and how much you send private messages in general.

Be specific about when you'll answer questions.I think that's the main thing I've learned so far. You can (and should) take questions all the time, but it might only work out for your schedule to answer them once a day or once a week. Tell your readers so that they know what to expect.

[Mary]

Hi Cynthia, I turned it on; great new tool. Q: Do I get notified when and if someone does ask me a question? --Mary

[Cynthia]

Lori wrote: "Hi Cynthia,

Good information! Are you allowed to post webinars regarding information that is relevant to writers and the publishing industry?"

Thanks, Lori! My webinars focus primarily on how to integrate Goodreads into your overall marketing strategy. I've worked on the book PR side at various publishing houses throughout my career, so I know about all the work that goes into a complete marketing campaign. Goodreads should be part of that from the start, whether that's including your GR profile and book page information on your press material and your galley copy, when to schedule a giveaway, and when to take questions from readers (I think Ask the Author is a great tool to enhance author tours, for example.)

[Cynthia]

Mary wrote: "Hi Cynthia, I turned it on; great new tool. Q: Do I get notified when and if someone does ask me a question? --Mary"

Awesome! Yes, you'll get notified via email that you have new questions waiting for you. You can determine how often you want to receive that message (Daily or Weekly; I recommend Daily). Then you can decide whether to answer or skip the question.

[Cynthia]

By the way, another Best Practice I forgot to mention:

Have an interesting bio! I've personally asked several authors questions based entirely on what they have in their bio, for example, someone travelled a lot but their book was about Korea... Why Korea? Her answer helped me understand more about her book to consider reading it.

Put something funny in the bio, like if you like pigeons, or if you like to cook (see the example I gave in the webinar on Edan Lepucki, who received a question about what her favorite recipe is).

Use the bio as a starting point for someone to inquire more about you, and help make the decision to pick up your book.

[Cynthia]

Pamela wrote: "I think I figured it out-- have to hit refresh pretty regularly?"

Yep, that's the trick ;)

[Monet]

Yes I know that this feature is new, but can the Q and A show up on Facebook?

[Pamela]

You mentioned that if we are asked an interesting question in an interview that we can then use that question on GR and then remove attribution… can you run us through those steps, please...

[Bill]

My one book has made little impact so far and my reach has been modest. I appreciate this webinar and clearly need to pay more attention to my Goodreads presence. Does Goodreads wander about its site seeking out novels and writers who need some sort of bump?

[Lori]

Cynthia wrote: "Lori wrote: "Hi Cynthia,

Good information! Are you allowed to post webinars regarding information that is relevant to writers and the publishing industry?"

Thanks, Lori! My webinars focus primari..."

Cynthia wrote: "Lori wrote: "Hi Cynthia,

Good information! Are you allowed to post webinars regarding information that is relevant to writers and the publishing industry?"

Thanks, Lori! My webinars focus primari..."

Thank you. I guess I didn't ask the question correctly:-) Can authors post/promote webinars. The information would focus on relevant information to writers and the publishing industry.

[Lori]

Cynthia wrote: "Lori wrote: "Hi Cynthia,

Good information! Are you allowed to post webinars regarding information that is relevant to writers and the publishing industry?"

Thanks, Lori! My webinars focus primari..."

Cynthia wrote: "Lori wrote: "Hi Cynthia,

Good information! Are you allowed to post webinars regarding information that is relevant to writers and the publishing industry?"

Thanks, Lori! My webinars focus primari..."

Thank you. I guess I didn't ask the question correctly:-) Can authors post/promote webinars. The information would focus on relevant information to writers and the publishing industry.

[Lori]

I wanted to know how you update a book cover?

[Cynthia]

Pamela wrote: "You mentioned that if we are asked an interesting question in an interview that we can then use that question on GR and then remove attribution… can you run us through those steps, please..."

Absolutely! Ask yourself a question and you'll see it show up on your author dashboard. Answer the question, and then you'll see the link to see your question (or you can see it on your ask the author page). Click to delete the question (it's a small gray link underneath the question) and that will then tell you that the question can't be deleted, but would you like to remove your name from it? Click 'Yes' and voila!

[Lori]

Cynthia, sorry for the confusion on that last question. But, what I mean is that I have a new cover for my book and I want to upload the new one on my page to replace the one that is currently there.

[Lori]

Also, just in case the revised question didn't come through: Can authors post/promote webinars?The information would focus on relevant information to writers and the publishing industry.

[Pamela]

This is a question about blogs posts-- once a post is posted, how can one edit it, say if there's a typo in it?

[Pamela]

Cynthia-- can you extend this see ion-- are you still there answering… hard to tell on our end :)

[Cynthia]

Lori wrote: "I wanted to know how you update a book cover?"

Once book covers are on Goodreads, we can't delete them, so make sure you're uploading the final version of your book cover!

You can email us at support at goodread dot com with help creating a new edition for a new book cover.

[Cynthia]

Bill wrote: "My one book has made little impact so far and my reach has been modest. I appreciate this webinar and clearly need to pay more attention to my Goodreads presence. Does Goodreads wander about its site seeking out novels and writers who need some sort of bump? "

Congrats on your book! While our editorial team does tend to look at site activity for a book when making editorial decisions, keep in mind that, for the most part, Goodreads is a social platform, like Twitter or Facebook. It's more about using the site to promote your work than it is Goodreads deciding to promote you. We make the tools to promote your book available to you via the Author Program, and using those tools and integrating Goodreads in with your marketing campaign will help get the word out about your book.

It sounds like you're pretty new to Goodreads, but I'm glad you've taken the first step and claimed your profile. It sounds like you're planning to do more!

[Cynthia]

Pamela wrote: "Cynthia-- can you extend this see ion-- are you still there answering… hard to tell on our end :)"

Yep yep, just taking the time to write coherently with a growling stomach ;) It's lunchtime in SF!

[Cynthia]

I'll hang out until 12:30 pm PST to make sure I get to all your questions, then I need to eat...

[Monet]

Thanks so much for your help!

[Cynthia]

Lori wrote: "Also, just in case the revised question didn't come through: Can authors post/promote webinars? The information would focus on relevant information to writers and the publishing industry."

It sounds like you have a webinar that you want to lead about publishing, correct?

If that's the case, there are some groups especially for authors who are looking for help with marketing - doing a quick search for "author marketing" in the groups section should yield some relevant ones. Just make sure you're reviewing the rules of the individual groups and not posting anything that can be perceived as spam.

You can also use your status update on Goodreads to let people know about an upcoming event. Or even better, create an event (like I did for the webinar), and invite people to that so you can see who RSVPs.

[Cynthia]

Cynthia wrote: "Lori wrote: "I wanted to know how you update a book cover?"

Oooh, another thing you can do is post in the librarians group:

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

This is a really good group to be in because the folks who run it know everything there is to know about Goodreads so they can sometimes assist you faster than the even the Goodreads Experts via the support email.

In general, when you have a question and are comfortable with the group thread format, I would try the Librarians group first. Your question might already have been answered, too - or your question might help someone who has the same question.

Otherwise, email.

[Cynthia]

Pamela wrote: "This is a question about blogs posts-- once a post is posted, how can one edit it, say if there's a typo in it?"

I'm pretty sure you can, just like you can edit these responses. I guess it depends if your blog post is being pulled in via RSS, or if it's direct on Goodreads. If it's direct, click through to the post, you should see a little 'edit' link.

[Cynthia]

Elinor wrote: "My book reviews show up on Facebook -- is it possible to have the Q and A show up there as well?"

Not automatically, I'm afraid. You'll need to use the unique link of either the Q&A page or the link of the question itself (by clicking on the question) and post it to FB or Twitter.

Always remember to do a trackable link so you can measure your click through!

[Cynthia]

So... question for you guys, before I devour my pizza - was the webinar useful to you? Going into detail on a specific area of the author program - would more of these be interesting to you?

[Mary]

Terrific, kudos, big time! Thank you.

[Pamela]

Cynthia wrote: "So... question for you guys, before I devour my pizza - was the webinar useful to you? Going into detail on a specific area of the author program - would more of these be interesting to you?"

Very helpful, thank you! I think any help re author program will be immensely useful.

[Bill]

I really appreciated it. Hopefully I can incorporate some of the ideas. Enjoy the pizza...

[Lori]

Thanks Cynthia!Looking forward to the next webinar!

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

Psssst...while in the Librarians a group, there is a brief Author's FAQ at top that might be useful (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... ). In my personal experience, librarians usually handle most questions and edit requests within 3-30 minutes.

(FAQs that include how to setting your newest cover edition to be the default/primary/featured one that shows on your author page, in search results, etc.— and also explain about the book cover changes requiring a new alternate cover edition for authors managing to completely bypass obtaining new isbn/asin when changing covers...)

ETA: there's also an author FAQ thread at top of this group's discussions also - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[David]

What is a webinar? I imagine it's a sort of cyber-seminar, with people chipping in on an announced topic at a certain time. Am I right?

[Bill]

That seems to be a fair working definition, David. I have only been linked in to a few over the past couple of years. As for chipping in by participants, that can occur. In this situation, commentary and questions came online afterwards. Webinars are, from my slight experience, excellent and efficient ways to have information shared to many without the cost of real time travel.

[Pamela]

Cynthia wrote: "Pamela wrote: "You mentioned that if we are asked an interesting question in an interview that we can then use that question on GR and then remove attribution… can you run us through those steps, p..."

Maybe I did it wrong, I followed the steps but it didn't work… also I was wondering how to put photos in my ask and author answers...

[David]

Bill wrote: "That seems to be a fair working definition, David. I have only been linked in to a few over the past couple of years. As for chipping in by participants, that can occur. In this situation, commenta..."

Thanks Bill. I suppose you have to be invited, or at least indicate your intention to contribute?

[Bill]

David wrote: "Bill wrote: "That seems to be a fair working definition, David. I have only been linked in to a few over the past couple of years. As for chipping in by participants, that can occur. In this situat..."

David wrote: "Bill wrote: "That seems to be a fair working definition, David. I have only been linked in to a few over the past couple of years. As for chipping in by participants, that can occur. In this situat..."

Hi David,
It's not exactly like a party line where you can just pick up the phone (I mention this because I dimly recall party lines from my childhood and have always wanted to reference them.)In the Goodreads experience just past, invites were sent out to many, I believe, and some indication of wanting to be involved was required. There may have been some maximum capacity as well I suppose but I am guessing there. Take care.

[David]

Sounds like fun, Bill. I'll just wait to be invited.