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

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In addition, I had published a short self-help book way back around 2010, and I had unpublished it 6 months later; it’s really not my thing. That was showing, too, though it had been unpublished on Amazon for years.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.

Exactly, Karen. Nobody will know about it you don’t tell them. Thanks for stopping by!

Sandy

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

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.

I appreciate your advice.

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.