Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

I thought it would be useful to create a thread on some Goodreads tips to help us learn a little bit more about the site. If you've discovered something new, or have a question, post it here.

I will make a my own list below of tips for readers and authors (expanding it as time goes on):

1) If you have a recent publication, or a book expected to be published soon, enter Goodreads's giveaway contest to mail one or more copies of your book for free. This is a great way to find new readers. Throughout the time period of the competition, you will receive a list of interested people who want to read your book--many of them adding your novel to their shelves.

Check it out sometime: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/new

And to see the currently listed giveaways, click here: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway

2) When leaving a comment on a post, you can post a book cover and a link by clicking on the "add book/author" feature just above the comment window.

This is what it looks like when I do mine:


Dreams Reign Supreme

3) Goodreads allows users to send/request book recommendations. You can use this feature by clicking on the "home" link above, then by looking down and to the right for the word "book recommendations."

4) When you see someone who reads what you read, befriend them and follow their reviews. This will keep you informed about other potential books that you can discover.

5) Readers, if you want free books, try emailing the author on Goodreads and asking for a free copy. Authors will likely tell you about free or discounted novels that are available for reviewers.

Hello Vince. I'm new to Goodreads. I have a question about author profiles.

On the first day I browsed the site, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the profile page and blog of one of my favorite Science Fiction authors from my youth -- Frederik Pohl. He's 92, but still blogs regularly. The blog is excerpted on his Goodreads profile page, and then links off to Pohl's original blog. A note on the profile says:

"Frederik Pohl isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed."

It seems that the profile was created by Librarians via a wiki-style process, and the blog excerpts are pulled in automatically from Pohl's RSS feed.

My question is: For authors who create their own profiles, are they allowed to manually duplicate/excerpt blog posts, and then link back to the original source(s)? (That is, not using RSS).

A related question: Does Goodreads claim ownership of material appearing on a Goodreads blog? I see below Pohl's excerpted posts that the footer of the Goodreads page includes a (c) 2012 Goodreads Inc ... even though Pohl apparently has nothing to do with the content appearing on Goodreads.

Thanks,

Ian Lamont

Hi Ian,

For the ownership question, you own the material you post on the blog (User-Content), but you are also granting Goodreads a non-exclusive use to that material (so they can use it on this site). You can read the terms here: http://www.goodreads.com/about/terms

For the blog question, you can post anything you want as long as you hold the rights to it (you can write it, copy and paste it, link it). Some authors post links to material that is not their own, but it is wise to leave a note about the name of the true owner.

Hope this helps.

Thanks! Your explanation clears things up for me.

Question: Where are we allowed to post our Goodread book giveaways?

Hi Lisa,

You can post your giveaway in the Bulletin Board folder, and in any folder that relates to the genre of your book.

-Vince

Buy low, sell high.

That's always been a useful tip in life, right throughout the ages.

@ Lisa, Re: Message 5.

I have my book as a Giveaway. It's a great way to promote your book. I posted on July 16th, and have 180 people who requested it.

Good luck! :)

Thanks, Vincent. This should be a good thread to follow.

I'd so do a giveaway if I could get copies of my book without having to pay for them(oh yes you heard right) and second I'm not all too sure I could give it out as a giveaway although I don't see why not since it is afterall my book and if my company had a problem oh bleepin well again its MY book right people?! haha. Anyways I have a follow up question purely opinion and thought but hear it goes..

How many people do you think that don't win a book they entered in a giveaway still look into reading and in fact purchase or try to receive a copy of that book?

It just entered my mind, please give me your thoughts.

Has anyone sent their ebook file to KDP for formatting? How did the book look on your Kindle? You happy with that experience?

Jim wrote: "Has anyone sent their ebook file to KDP for formatting? How did the book look on your Kindle? You happy with that experience?"


My books came out great, Jim, even the illustrated ones.

I was happy with mine although I had some problems with getting a decent font at first.

Thank you Patricia and Tabitha. I checked out your samples in my Kindle and they display just fine. I am using the sans serif typeface, large line spacing and the default for words per line.

I like the ragged-right margin. Subsequently, the word spacing is natural. It seems that full justification causes some annoying word spacing.

The illustrations look great in grayscale!

Tabitha - what was the font you settled with? Also, I've just started reading Gift of Continence. Already I'm laughing. Of course I'm thinking Bridesmaids!

How many people do you think that don't win a book they entered in a giveaway still look into reading and in fact purchase or try to receive a copy of that book?

Hi Justin,

When readers take part in the giveaway contest on Goodreads, they can also add the book to their reading shelves. When this happens, they can later buy that book if they didn't win it.

I've seen this happen with many giveaway contests.

In terms of the number of people who then buy the book (shelved or not shelved), it depends on a few factors: reviews, reader interest, author popularity, book marketing. This last factor is the most encouraging for independent authors because they can control the marketing they do for their books.

For example, if you later email a reader who didn't win your book about a special offer they can now get on your novel, they are more likely to buy it then if you just ignored them after the giveaway contest.

-Vince

What a great tip! I never thought of that. Wish I could go back now. Guess I'll have to have another giveaway.
A Healing Place and
Blessed Are the Merciful

I agree. That's an awesome idea!
Matthew Akers

Check out this link to get an idea the various giveaways: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway

Vincent wrote: "Hi Justin,

When readers take part in the giveaway contest on Goodreads, they can also add the book to their reading shelves. When this happens, they can later buy that book if they didn't win it. ..."

Thank you Vincent, that was very informative. Your right I guess it all depends on the elements of the book to see whether or not people will look into it.

Vincent,

Aside from a giveaway, what OTHER kind of "special deal" might an author offer. Please advise. Thanks.

Jim

Hi Jim,

You could offer many things:

- A discount on the book
- Other free stories or articles
- A personal signed copy
- A membership to a blog or group about what you write

Authors are creative; they can come up with many more.

The point is to engage and entertain the reader, and you do this by showing them your stories.

Add a top 100 book of the same genre to your giveaway. This is slipstream marketing and helps your novel when Amazon add that 'readers who bought this also bought...'

Thanks for all that perspective, Vincent and Michael. I think the discount is a great idea. Perhaps a referral discount. Unfortunately, I am not sure how the discounting mechanism would work when directed at selected individuals. Does Amazon allow an author to assign some kind of a discount code?

Hi Jim,

If you have physical hard copies of the book (most authors do), you could just mail a copy to the reader and charge him a discounted price. The same thing works with e-books--email the reader an electronic copy of the book at a discount.

It does become a little tricky if you don't have any physical copies of the book and you are only selling on one site such as Amazon. If that is the case, you might want to do another creative approach to offering a special deal.

I think the most important element of all of this is to simply contact the interested person after the giveaway is over. If you don't, then you pretty much know it will be that much harder to continue that reader's interest in your book. (All it may take is simply saying thank you for participating in your giveaway and dropping a link to your book on Amazon.)

Thanks so much for explaining all this. Online marketing, selling and transactions are new to me and my "friends."