Have you spent any time on Goodreads, the big reader site? I’ve been building a platform there for a few months, but haven’t written about it yet.
Goodreads is a great place to meet people who love books, and love to talk about them. Since most self-published authors are also avid readers, it serves us both ways. You can get great recommendations on books or take part in discussions.
Reader communities like Goodreads are one of the least utilized but fastest-growing resources online, and that’s very exciting for self-publishers.
As authors, Goodreads also allows you to post an Author page and there are many ways you can use the community and the tools there to create interesting in your books.
The site is so rich, it can take a while to explore.
That’s one of the reasons I was very interested in a webinar that Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, just ran.
Last month I gave a presentation with Joan at the IBPA Publishing University, and I was impressed with her experience at helping authors succeed. I learned a lot from her, and last week Joan interviewed me for a blog post about Goodreads.
Rather than repeat what I said in the interview, here’s a link to her article:
How to boost the number of your friends on Goodreads
But Joan’s webinar went way, way beyond just an introduction to Goodreads.
She looks at four types of sites, each of which is of interest to self-publishers:
- Book review sites, forums and discussion groups
- Librarians
- Bloggers who review books
- Freelance reviewers and others
I’ve just finished looking through the webinar and the slides Joan used, and I have to say this is one of the most comprehensive, yet streamlined presentations I’ve seen.
It also includes lots of supporting material that can help save you a ton of time and work:
- The complete 90-minute webinar as an MP4 movie file
- The Powerpoint slides used in the webinar
- A 6-page PDF that brings together all the links you’ll need to check out all the resources, over 50 links in all. This PDF alone could have saved me hours of hunting.
- The webinar as an MP3 audio file
Like a lot of other authors, I find the most valuable part of a learning experience like this one is the time you can save. Sure, I’m pretty good at research, and I could find a lot of this stuff on my own.
But what is it worth to have reliable info gathered in one place? And Joan shows how to get started right away, so there’s no lag between learning and doing.
If you want to find your market online, locate reviewers, and understand how to get lots of people to notice and pay attention to your book, this is something you should check out.
Here’s the link to the article again, click the green banner ad at the bottom of my interview for the page that tells you about the webinar.
How to boost the number of your friends on Goodreads
As always, I’m interested in what you think and whether this is helpful for you, so let me know in the comments.
Photo by the author. This is an affiliate promotion and if you purchase a webinar from Joan, I will receive part of the fee as a commission.
