THE Group for Authors! discussion

Good day all, as I'm fairly new here I feel quite daunted to jump into discussions so maybe starting one with other authors will break the ice a little :)

I was wondering about the process of readers adding your book to their shelves, I notice how so many of Goodreads members can have up to a thousand books added to their shelves, so I figure that the probability of them reading 'your's' any time soon (or even at all) is quite slim. Also, it seems that they aren't 'adding and purchasing the books directly either.' Would you say it's a relative waiting game?

What are other authors thoughts/experience on this subject?

Thanks!

Hi Carla,

Personal interest in the genre, helping some 'indies' that I know, and word of mouth from friends at Goodreads generally guide me to picking books to read these days.

My limits to available time severly guides my ability to change 'to read' to 'read'. Like you, I am totally puzzled at those with thousands of books and I am a voracious (sic) reader. There are 1500 books on my wall right now and all of them have been read several times - and atleast 5 times that many have been lost or finally sold off down at the used bookstore at the demands of my wife. Don't even start to count the hundreds assigned to me back in college. It's a mystery but I take them at their word. I hear that David Ben Gurion (sic again) is known to have read 70,000 books in his lifetime.

What's that old tee shirt say: 'So many books - so little time'.

Yeah, some people have so many books on their "shelves" here that, given the average lifetime of a human being, they'd have to read a book a day for the rest of their life to get through them.

I haven't noticed that adding them to shelves translates to sales. A lot of people "add" mine when I run ad campaigns, but there's no corresponding bump in sales at, say, Amazon.

On the other hand, I also have a number of books on my shelves I want to read and haven't. Some of them were too expensive when I checked, for example ($20? Probably not going for that one right away!).

wow Steven 1500 books? I don't think I'll even achieve that in my lifetime! I don't even want to re-read books because I think even with a story I've loved, there are SOOOO many others still to go, and I feel like I'm wasting time on something I've done already!

K.A perhaps the answer is within the little invisible hole between 'to-read' and 'read' strain of thought!
I agree that the price of a book can affect a readers decision, but then would it be silly to flog your hard work at a substantially lowered price just because it's not being read? Some do think, yeah you should! But there are so many free books out there anyway, you'd never compete with the masses and does it really just boil down to competition and that sort of resignation? I think if someone likes your book ENOUGH they will buy it, if it turns out to be worthy of its price.

I have over a hundred books on my to read shelf but in 2012 I read 96 books. I read around 100 books a year while writing my own stuff. I read a lot of ebooks because it is so much easier to purchase not to mention greener. To read shelves to me means that you are interested in reading a book and some day you want to read it. Many readers know that they won't read all of the books that they want but putting those books on a shelf makes buying books easier when you already know that you want to read them. I got a 30 dollar giftcard for B&N for christmas and I went in there and used their free wifi to find all the books that I wanted and I was out in twenty mintues. Honestly gr has made my life a lot easier and keeping track of my books gives me a feeling of accomplisment. Also I've been getting a lot of free books directly from authors because of my thorough reviews. Wow. Long post. I really believe that the toread shelf equals interest.

Yeah, my mom, busy wanting me to do chores while I was busy reading, told me often that my reading was not a virtue but a vice.

K.A., I did not get a real bump in sales after my free days either - much less any reviews. Well, one came in about a month after the give away and the reviewer was no one I knew. Still, I let myself be flattered that several hundred folk (some even in England, Germany, and Spain) now have my ebook. I can only hope they get around to reading it. And, sales dropped away after I raised the price the second time.

Hannah, I'm afraid that I don't load up my reader with freebies as tempted as I am. I don't have the time but more power to them.

I use my "to read" shelf the same way that I use my Wishlist on Amazon, to jog my aging brain. Easier to skim the list (although not if I had 1,000 books!) than to search all of GR for a half-remembered title.

But the number of "to reads" for a book also determines its genre and raises its profile, making it more discoverable. That seems to be the payoff for giveaways: not a direct, immediate increase in sales, but more visibility over the long haul, which allows people who like the idea of your book to find it.

At least, that's what I was told by an author friend more knowledgeable than I.

I think the UGB roll out puffed up everyone's "to read" shelf at goodreads. Pretty much everyone now knows "Want to read" puts a book on your to read shelf; but, before UGB a chunk of goodreads readers used "to read" to mean "already bought and waiting to read" plus after been on goodreads a while create a lot of custom shelf names that might be a better indicator ("buy next" "read next" are better shelves to be on). I know the promotion wordings all make it sound like the to-read shelving means a lot. Mine means the durn UGB got hovered over too long or mistakenly clicked.

(Could just be my own klutziness; I am now just completely ignoring my "to read" shelf after a few initial cleanups moving real to read choices to my peronal shelf names "to read have bought" "to read not bought yet" "i marked to read").

I don't think it translates in sales but the more people have your book their list the more visibility it gets. The more visibility it gets the more people are likely to buy it.
As a lot of things in the book world, it is a waiting game but worth it in the end.

I agree. I'm a new author and I'm looking for all the visibility that I can get. It shows that they are interested even if they have not purchased the book.

Janiera wrote: "I don't think it translates in sales but the more people have your book their list the more visibility it gets. The more visibility it gets the more people are likely to buy it.
As a lot of things ..."
I was wondering about that. I just finished doing a Goodreads Giveaway. It was gratifying that 435 people added my book to their "to read" shelves, but it didn't translate into sales. Still, I'm going to do another one.

Marian wrote: "Janiera wrote: "I don't think it translates in sales but the more people have your book their list the more visibility it gets. The more visibility it gets the more people are likely to buy it.
As ..."

Brave thing, Marian. Let us know how it goes. I'm hot and cold about free days. I may or may not do it again though I tease myself about doing it as a 'present' to all the good people here one day in the future like you did. Maybe, I'll do it with my present one as I release my next one. Don't know.

Marian wrote: "Janiera wrote: "I don't think it translates in sales but the more people have your book their list the more visibility it gets. The more visibility it gets the more people are likely to buy it.
As ..."

This is my first giveaway and 155 people are interested. I just might do another giveaway in the next few months.

Is it okay to do another giveaway in the next quarter or should there be more time between one giveaway event and a 2nd one? Also, is it more of a motivator to do 5 books are more for a giveaway?

I ran a giveaway over two weeks and 850 added the book to their shelves. It took a few weeks for new sales and ratings to come through. Very slow, but it shows people are buying it after shelving it.

Eliza wrote: "I ran a giveaway over two weeks and 850 added the book to their shelves. It took a few weeks for new sales and ratings to come through. Very slow, but it shows people are buying it after shelving it."

Thank you, Eliza. Your message is encouraging.

I am having a difficult time with marketing; it was suggested to join this author's group. Hopefully my book will become an interesting read; how can this group help meBeaumount Treasure: An Adventure

The number has risen to 400 people being interested in my giveaway. I only had 7 copies. I wish I had more.

Just wandered in to add my few thoughts in about the "to-read" shelves. I have several hundred on my TBR list right now and use it as a semi-wishlist. I fully intend to read every book on it, in due time. Rarely do I buy a book immediately after discovering it, I log it on my list as a reminder to keep an eye out for it on Amazon, in the store or at the library - at a time when money allows. Many authors may not think readers will actually ever "get around" to them but never underestimate the will of a devout bibliophile. ;)

Funnily enough I am usually the other way around to you, Tima. I tend to only put books I actually own on my TBR. Not always but mostly.

I don't always buy books immediately after discovering them either. There are just so many books I'd like to read but haven't gotten around to reading yet.

I have books I own but have not had time to read and books I would like to read but haven't bought yet so my shelves are a mix.

I think there are about 30 books that I have not read yet but would like to.