Adding Own Books to Listopia?

[C.V.]

Hello, Goodreads people. I'm new to Goodreads and I want to make sure I do things right. It was required that I add my own book to Goodreads to apply for an author's page, so I did. Now that it is added, it says that my book isn't yet on any Listopia lists...and do I want to add it to some. Is it okay to add my own book to the lists, or is that bad form, too much self-promotion? Should i just wait and see if it is added, eventually, by others. What is the proper way for an author to do this? Thanks.

[Amara]

This is really up to you; there's no rule against authors adding their books to Listopia lists. Personally, I would refrain from adding my book to any "Best of [Whatever]" lists and stick to general genre/cover/subject matter lists, but that's also entirely up to you.

[C.V.]

That sounds like good advice. I, too, think that writers should let readers decide what is "best".

[Amara]

Glad to help! Since you're new to the site, here's the link to the official Goodreads Author Feedback Group in case you haven't already found it; it's really the best place on the site for these kinds of questions. :)

[Bryn]

Yes, it's your sense of what's right. But I agree and feel the Lists are for readers. It can be seen who has added the book, and when this is the author, a vote on a 'best of' list is discounted - to me, backfires. Just my feelings.

[Lobstergirl]

There are some authors who abuse this to an absolutely ridiculous extent. One guy put his novel on probably 100 different lists - best of this, best of that - even some lists that were for nonfiction (I removed it from those). Some GR users don't care about author self-promotional abuse, some do. It depends how you want to be perceived. I think the most prudent course would be to add yourself to lists where no one can accuse you of base and disgusting self-promotion; say your first novel was published in 2012, you could add yourself to a "Debut Novels of 2012" list. That way you're sticking to actual facts.

[Kara]

Just a quick note because you seem like a really good guy who wants to do this Goodreads thing right: if you're concerned that it may be "bad form" to add yourself to Listopia lists, you may want to remove your five star rating of your own book. The synopsis you posted in your review is the same as the book description, so you've probably got that covered.

Best of luck with your book! It looks interesting, and I've added it to my TBR list.

If you would like to claim your author page, you can do so here :http://www.goodreads.com/author/confi...

[Riona]

I personally find it really tacky when authors add their own books to listopia, especially when they vote for only their own book and just seem to go adding it to every vaguely-related listopia they can find within minutes.