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.