THE Group for Authors! discussion

Hi all other authors out there. wondering if anyone could give me a hand. on your author profile page can anyone tell me how to understand the stats pls when they say 'total books added' with a number next to it (when on your author dashboard)

thanks

what does it meen? how do you read and understand the stats?

number of works2
added by unique users39
total books added104 fans13 total ratings28 friends278
total reviews14
books I've added447
on to-read shelf27
books I've reviewed61

Is this what you mean?
Total number of works is how many books you have written which are attached to your aurhor profile.

Added by unique users- I am not sure
Total books added- not sure could be via the librarian thing
Fans are people following you

Thanks Alexandra, yes that's what I meant,
id like to know what the
'total books added and unique users means'

I think the unique users bit means how many individuals have shelved your book (instead of how many shelves it has been added to). For example, I might shelve Lord of the Rings as fantasy, books I've read, My top ten books and modern classics, but on Tolkien's author page I would show up as one unique user that has added it, despite me adding it to 4 shelves.
Sorry if that isn't very clear. I am not fully caffienated yet this morning :~)

ohhhh thanks Victoria awesome- that makes sence!
and total books added? - how many people have added it?

Um...not too sure about that one. On my author dashboard the number is the same as the unique user bit so I'm guessing it means everyone who has shelved my book has only put it on one shelf. Not certain though - bit of a newbie on Goodreads myself ;~)

yes not sure on the total books added.

I believe "total books added" is the number of times your books have been added by Goodreads members. I don't mean the individual shelves - if one person adds your book and puts it on five shelves then that's one add. It's just the total number of times your books have been added by people. It could be to-read, read, etc.

I'm not sure about "added by unique users." I think if one person adds five of your books (for example) that counts as one unique user, even though they've added more than one book. I think.

Always look at more shelves added than just the to-read stats. Different members will use that in various ways; some as the intended wishlist/interested-in shelf. Others only for books already bought waiting to be read.

Sometimes better than to-read is to be on shelves named things like "must read" "buying next" "March book club book of the month" ... Just before anyone gets discouraged at low "to read stats."

Maybe the best shelf to be on is "currently reading"!

VICTORIA- MONA- DEBBIE- thank so much for all your imput I think I just figured out ' unique users' - people who are not your 'friend' on your normal profile?

I was excited when my book was added to "want to read" or "to read", even "wish to read". However, some readers have like 5000 books on their "to read" shelf and when do you think they'll get to yours? Even the "currently reading" shelf isn't safe. My book has been on one reader's "currently reading" shelf for three months. Either they're a very slow reader or they lost the book.

The only true and important one is the "read" shelf - and then hope that they read the book not just the back cover.

Really I'm not mad or being sarcastic - even though its coming out that way. I'm just providing facts for those who want to know why I took my long walk of the short pier. Now that would be a good title for a book - "The Long Walk off a Short Pier" I called dibs first!

I know; the ratings stats are better than nothing but hard to get real meaning even from average rating (members don't always use the same star system, some are very used to amazon 3 meaning ok where goodreads has 2 meaning okay, some post odd scale info on their profiles, some are convinced 1 is the very best top Grade A No. 1 rating for their very favorite books).

I'm very guilty (do a lot of ebook reading) of a "sample to read" that's out of hand. And boxes/shelves of read books not on goodreads at all.

Plus, my currently reading just got out of hand with preorders. I'm normally a book a day reader but since holidays have not been reading (likely not pick back up until late March)—a really odd year and no reflection on the ton of books preorders and library eholds have been downloading.

There are readers only reading 2-5 books a year.

Goodreads says they have either 5 books per second or 1 book per 5 seconds added to the site (lost link to exact stats), not all of which are new or even in print books, but still, it's a lot.

Frederick wrote: "I was excited when my book was added to "want to read" or "to read", even "wish to read". However, some readers have like 5000 books on their "to read" shelf and when do you think they'll get to yo..."

Fredrick- I understand what you meen, but isn't that a bit pessimistic? surely all added shelves by readers are a good thing- I'd rather not bum anyone out by negative feedback

Debbie wrote: "I know; the ratings stats are better than nothing but hard to get real meaning even from average rating (members don't always use the same star system, some are very used to amazon 3 meaning ok whe..."

Debbie- if you ever find that link it would be really interesting to see. Im an avid reader myself and if a book interests me I read it in one day- 2 if its a big book, but others that don't I go back and forth to over quite a while.

Kerry, thanks for starting this discussion. I was also not sure about the author stats and this helps clear things up a bit.

Ken wrote: "Kerry, thanks for starting this discussion. I was also not sure about the author stats and this helps clear things up a bit."

No problems- my problem is your problem :) hahah and aparantly everone elses. I'm glad other authors have been able to help me and each other :)

Kerry wrote: "Frederick wrote: "I was excited when my book was added to "want to read" or "to read", even "wish to read". However, some readers have like 5000 books on their "to read" shelf and when do you think..."

You're right! Just caught me at a bad time and I'm a little frustrated. You are right, it is a good thing because it means at least it got to first base and a few books are added every now and then. So I'll say good night and the sun will come out tomorrow.

Frederick wrote: "Kerry wrote: "Frederick wrote: "I was excited when my book was added to "want to read" or "to read", even "wish to read". However, some readers have like 5000 books on their "to read" shelf and whe..."

all my best I hope the sun shines brightly for u tomorrow x

goodreads does consider shelving a sign of popularity. Several features sort by popularity so more likely your book hard noticed by members exploring shelves, genres (in the case of highly shelved on a genre or shelf name members get recommendations from goodreads for, a really big help. Possibly; depending on genre you write your book could be up against books with thousands of shelvings and ratings).

Every shelf and notice does help. If you spot your book suddenly seeing a lot of shelving activity and discussion topics, could be the right time to offer an author Q&A or stay on top of any status updates to feed the interest.

Debbie wrote: "goodreads does consider shelving a sign of popularity. Several features sort by popularity so more likely your book hard noticed by members exploring shelves, genres (in the case of highly shelved..."

good point Debbie/ do you have any self marketing ideas

<===reader and goodreads librarian. I know a bit about some of the goodreads stats (particularly about bug complaints with the stats). Goodreads actual staff, versus librarian volunteers, use the word "shelving" a lot for a lot of things (confuse me a lot).

Not an author and know less about self-marketing success in the face of such a high volume of books already being self-marketed.

I do notice that authors seldom put their own books on custom shelves for genres, subgenres, or categories. Doing so (a) takes only two shelvings as a genre to put your book in a genre (I think) and (b) is the closest equivalent goodreads has to the product tagging amazon does on book pages.

When you click "groups" from top menu, it shows three official groups, this one (obviously you found), librarians group for book and author profile specific issues, and the feedback group for site related bugs, suggestions and questions. Nothing like butting your head up against something not working so check the Feedback Group bug section in case something's up. Goodreads can be confusing enough without trying to deal with an already known site bug.

Check for groups in your book's genre or that are discussing books that might have similar interested readers. Never promote until you've lurked a bit and checked for group rules and guidelines about author self-promotion. Different groups, different rules and welcomes. Many have separate promotion folders to stick to; others are actively seeking to connect authors with readers. If in doubt, ask the moderator or lurk a bit and see if other authors are welcomed or shot down.

Helps if asking for requests for things in librarians group like updating bookcovers that you keep in mind that bookseller sites like amazon have product pages for you to keep updated on what's for sale; goodreads is more library with data pages that do keep all published editions; if it was ever published we're not going to pull it off any member shelves or out of the database. New cover = new edition. Authors can set which edition shows first ("primary edition" - edit book details menu midway down righthand side); but, old edition does not get deleted or have isbn/asin or bookcovers overwritten. There's a brief author FAQ section at top of librarians group discussion threads that doesn't always get read.

Not sure how much it relates to marketing, but from the help desk end of things the best thing authors can do to make the "get a copy" green button purchase links to work is to make very sure the isbn or asin info is correct. Very common and perfectly correct for an ebook to have one isbn13 978######### ; works fine with just setting format to ebook, with or without isbn10 number.

Sometimes an ebook edition gets a vendor specific isbn such as a nook book bnid 294########## (nook books can also use the 978) or kobo 12########### — those numbers go in isbn13 field without anything in isbn10 field (bombs out the Barnes and Noble purchase link every time on the 294 books for some reason if anything in isbn10 field).

Speaking of bugs and stats, there is currently one with the rating details on book pages (not author dashboards, the small "ratings detail" near title that's supposed to have a miniscule bar chart at left and that enlarges with info on ratings when clicked).

It's showing, blank (empty box), zero, or wrong sometimes (not all books or always but is happening).

Until bug fixed, can request a ratings detail refresh for a book over in librarians group. Or during bug or at any time you want, authors can edit book details, midway down righthand side where you can set primary edition is a menu choice to refresh stats (may have to hit refresh more than once to have it work).

It is being worked on.