Do you know how to put your book on Goodreads? Do you know what Goodreads is and why putting your book there might be a good idea? If your answer is no, read on.
What is Goodreads?
Goodreads is an online place where avid readers hang out so it’s a good place to have your book listed. As they say in their About Us section, ‘Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations,’ and their mission is ‘to help people find and share books they love.’
The site is for readers, and if authors use it, they need to use it as a reader, not as an author trying to sell their book. Spam is ruthlessly suppressed, and in some groups any mention that you’ve written a book could be seen as spam. Nevertheless, the site does have a role to play in building an author platform.
What readers can do on Goodreads
- See what books their friends are reading.
- Track the books they’re reading, have read, and want to read.
- Check out their personalized book recommendations. The Goodreads recommendation engine analyzes 20 billion data points to give suggestions tailored to your literary tastes.
- Find out if a book is a good fit for them by looking at the community’s reviews.
Why Authors should have their books on Goodreads
- Anyone who reviews your book and finds they don’t meet the criteria for posting the review on Amazon (an Amazon account with a $50 spend in the past 12 months) can post it on Goodreads.
- Book bloggers usually leave reviews there, so if you’re contacting book bloggers for reviews, you might as well have your book on Goodreads.
- Any positive review left there is an opportunity for you to talk about your book on your social media accounts. (Share the review URL.)
- It’s an important data base for books, and Goodreads books usually appear in the top 5 spots in internet search results.
- You can create an author profile page there, which will also come up high in search results. If you don’t have a website, then having an author page on Goodreads is important.
How to put your book on Goodreads
Create a Goodreads account at https://www.goodreads.com/
Search for your book in the ‘Search books’ box.
If the book isn’t already there, this will come up:
Click on:
Fill in the form.
Choose the ebook cover file from your computer. See top right of form.
Click ‘Create Book’ at the bottom of the form.
This will show up (with your book cover showing).
Find the book listing by clicking on the title link, then copy the URL and give it to reviewers.
That’s it, that’s how to put your book on Goodreads.
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