How to interact with readers on Goodreads
“I can’t figure out Goodreads!”
It’s a common author lament. While Goodreads is a social network of sorts, the site for book lovers doesn’t look, feel, or operate like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms you might use. It’s so different, in fact, that many authors simply ignore it because doing that is easier than spending the time required to understand the site and how to use it.
That’s a shame, because the best authors are also big readers, and Goodreads is the place to be if you love books. It’s where avid readers share what they’re reading, want to read, and think of what they just read. You can learn a lot by studying readers on Goodreads.
Use Goodreads for market research
Smart authors take advantage of the market research information they can get from Goodreads. When you know your target audience, you can use readers on Goodreads share on that site to learn more about your ideal reader’s tastes and preferences.
Still, Goodreads isn’t as intuitive as other social sites, and that intimidates many. Understanding that, Goodreads recently published a helpful blog post that explains how to leverage that site as an author.
I think that one of the most interesting points in the article is that you can review your own book there. But should you? I’ll write about that here soon.
Here are the first few paragraphs of the Goodreads blog post followed by a link to the full post. I recommend clicking through and reading all of it.
How Authors Can Engage with Reviewers on Goodreads
Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations, and an attractive spot for authors to promote their books to readers to get reviews. Authors sometimes wonder how to effectively reach and engage with reviewers on Goodreads, especially when they can see how much Goodreads reviews can impact the success of a book.
There are two different approaches for authors when it comes to promoting books on Goodreads that authors should leverage together. There’s the “pure marketing” approach, for which Goodreads provides suite of advertising products for authors to use to build awareness around their books. The other approach involves investing in building long term relationships with readers that can pay off over time.
If you have the time and are willing to invest it, here are some ways to engage with reviewers on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1234-how-authors-can-engage-with-reviewers-on-goodreads
You might also be interested in these Build Book Buzz articles about Goodreads:
- 3 mistakes you’re making on Goodreads
- 3 cool things you can do as a Goodreads author
- Expand your audience exponentially with smart Goodreads marketing
Are you active on Goodreads? What do you like and dislike about the site? Tell us in a comment.
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I do find Goodreads very hard to navigate. It is frustrating, to say the least.
The good side is that I enjoy seeing what some of my author friends are reading there.
Thank you so much for the info in today’s post, Sandy! I’m tweaking some things because of it.
Thanks for this interesting information. I’d forgotten about Goodreads till I read this. There is so much to learn as an author. Once you actually write your book and have it published, it is really only the beginning. Without constant promotion no-one can find you in the midst of so many other authors.
I appreciate your advice.
Exactly, Karen. Nobody will know about it you don’t tell them. Thanks for stopping by!
Sandy
You say, “There are two different approaches for authors when it comes to promoting books on Goodreads that authors should leverage together. There’s the “pure marketing” approach, for which Goodreads provides suite of advertising products for authors to use to build awareness around their books. The other approach involves investing in building long term relationships with readers that can pay off over time.”
Actually, there is a third approach: Ignore Goodreads altogether. TOTALLY! That’s what I did.
These are probably the most important words of wisdom that I have ever read:
“It’s better to do a sub-par job on the right project than an excellent job on the wrong project.”
— Robert J. Ringer
To me, Goodreads is definitely a “wrong project.”
For the record, following these important words of wisdom from Robert J. Ringer have helped me become a successful and prosperous self-published author whose books have sold over 990,000 copies worldwide, published in 22 languages in 29 countries.
Ernie, I do not say that — the Goodreads blog says that, as noted by this text introducing that paragraph: [ Here are the first few paragraphs of the Goodreads blog post followed by a link to the full post.]
It also does not say that all authors should be doing what you’ve quoted from the GR blog. It’s offering 2 different approaches for authors who want to use that site for marketing purposes. Goodreads, like me, knows that what works for one book doesn’t work for another.
In addition, not all books and authors will do well on Goodreads, even if the authors understand the site and know how to use it effectively. It’s quite likely that your audience isn’t using Goodreads.
But that doesn’t mean all authors should ignore it. The trick is to know your audience and your own skills and availability for marketing, and put together a plan based on that.
Sandy
I headed right to Goodreads with my first novel; I was already a member (as a reader) though not very active.
I wasn’t happy with how things went. I figured it out quickly enough, but when I asked a support rep a question via message, I got a nasty attitude. “Is this a real ebook you’re talking about?” she wrote. I remained polite, but I was rolling my eyes and wondering what she was suggesting—and why.
The problem (unsolvable, as it turns out, at least according to her) was that I had changed my cover several times on Amazon, and Goodreads was showing the original cover. Which was lousy 🙂 Somehow (I forget how it went), I ended up with 3 versions of my book cover on the site. I’d also edited the novel, and I wasn’t sure which version was showing.
In addition, I had published a short self-help book way back around 2010, and I had unpublished it 6 months later; it’s really not my thing. That was showing, too, though it had been unpublished on Amazon for years. Not fixable, according to the rep. It was in the cloud somewhere, and Goodreads had snagged it somehow.
I finally deleted my account. That was two years ago. I know the value of Goodreads, though, so I’ve set up a new account. I haven’t tried for an author account yet, though (or to get my books showing; as far as I can see, a reader account comes first, then you can get an author account though I may be mixing things up.
So this was my frustration with it, not so much figuring it out. I see the value in it as an author. And if it were in my budget, I’d hire someone to take care of it 🙂 For now, it’s at the bottom of my list.
Hi Sandra- behaving as a reader, rather than a writer, is the most succinct advice for Goodreads. Keeping that in mind, i recently had success interacting w/GR reviewers: prior to the May 8 pub day of my new novel, The Orphan Daughter, I had a handful of reviews of the NetGalley ARC. Most were generally positive (yay!) and a few included a line to the effect that they’d read another one of my books (double yay!) As it happened, both the Kindle and paperback editions of my debut novel are on sale this month. I hemmed and hawed for a couple days, knowing the conventional wisdom on authors not replying to reviewers, but in the end decided to go for it. On all the reviews that specifically said they’d read another book, i replies with a super-short: “Hi, X, thanks for reviewing The Orphsn Daughter. Since you mentioned you’d read another book, I thought I’d let you know that my debut novel, Sparrow Migrations, is on sale in both paperback and Kindle thru May 31. Have a great day.” So far, 2 replies thanking me and saying they would look for the other book, no negative feedback at all. I think the key to it was the sale- offering them something of value, which is exactly how i’d reply in-person, too.
Thanks for sharing this, Cari! My mantra about Goodreads is to use it as a reader, not an author (see this article I wrote: https://buildbookbuzz.com/3-mistakes-youre-making-on-goodreads/), so I’m so happy to have you validate that advice.
I’m glad you hemmed and hawed before making your decision — that alone suggests that you made the right one. I suspect that you also studied the review and maybe even the reviewer to make sure that providing that helpful sale info would be received the way you hoped it would be.
And congrats on the new book! Lake Union seems to provide solid support to its authors, so I know it will do well.
Sandy