Every Monday, I share tips on how to promote your books.
One of the easiest things I’ve found to market my books is to make sure they are listed on GoodReads. I know this isn’t everyone’s favourite site for keeping track of reading, however it is a ‘set and forget’ platform. You don’t need to be active on there if you don’t want to.
GoodReads has a lot of users and is now owned by Amazon, so if your books are listed on Amazon, chances are they are listed on GoodReads automatically.
I recommend people list their books there, partly because it’s a site that I use to keep track of what I read and it gets irritating if a book I read isn’t already there, but also because I have discovered a number of books in my feed that look interesting that I may not have discovered any other way.
As an author, I like the set and forget nature of GoodReads. I make sure my books are listed, then forget about them. Occasionally I will look to see if there are reviews, but generally I ignore them. Whenever I do look at reviews, or who has added my books to lists, I find there are people I don’t know who has added them, and that’s pretty exciting. The biggest advantage is that it’s free.
I also read somewhere that AI looks at GoodReads for books to recommend when people ask, so that is another way for readers to find your books, especially as more and more people are using AI as a search engine.
As a reader, I keep track of the books I’m reading and I know they will show up in my feed for others to discover. I also put reviews there, when I can be bothered, most books I read I don’t worry about rating. With adding reviews on GoodReads, I don’t need to worry about a minimum spend as I do on Amazon. I also list every book I read, including picture books.
The Marketing Monday tip for your books this week is to have your books listed on GoodReads. It’s free and you never know who will discover your book this way.