Recommending a book on Goodreads

Meh, I wouldn't be very impressed. All the authors I have friended on Goodreads, I already know all their books and I've read them or made an educated decision not to read them. Unless someone said, ohhhh, what was that book of yours again? or otherwise expressed interest I'd think it was weird and off-putting to recommend your own book.

Why don't you do a Goodreads giveaway?

No.

Don't do that. Don't recommend or star or review your own books.
Do wax enthusiastic over the books of others that you actually like.

Do participate in discussions; just don't be constantly flogging your own book.

No not good etiquette at all. I get authors on goodreads pretending to friend me all the time so they can recommend me their book, or spam my inbox with 'I don't know if you have noticed but I have a book out', really annoys me when I find out that they didn't friend me to genuinely know me, usually de-friend them then. Use your book in promotion for a good reads giveaway, you'll get interest in your book and you and someone who wins it will most likely read and review.

I'm in the middle of a GR giveaway right now. You must have a paperback book (no e-books) that you agree to send in a timely manner once the giveaway is finished. You can giveaway one book or many. I've given away two both times I've done them. I don't know if it increases sales, but I believe it's good PR.

There is a small group that I found in goodreads called 'Connecting Readers and Writers'.

In this group there is a place where they encourage writers to post links to their books. I haven't done it yet, but lots of others have. They seem to be pretty supportive of each other but to be honest I haven't been there long enough to give a solid opinion.

What I did do, was decided that I wanted to review some stuff that other people wrote, so I posted a link that I was willing to do that. So far I have reviewed two novels and I have about 6 more waiting in my 'to do' folder. This has turned out to be a great way to get to know people.

There was also another person there who was offering to do reviews. I emailed her a copy of my book and she added it to her 'to-read' list. When she did that, all of her friends added it as well. Goodreads has this status update thing that lets you see when people do stuff like that. It was a pleasant surprise.

I would argue against ever bragging about your work or just spontaneously posting it, but I also know that a lot of goodreads members LOVE checking out FREE ebooks. The giveaway is one of the best ways to get a little attention.

WackAMole has pretty much sussed out GoodReads.

Promoting Your Book Without Looking Like A Pimp


You are participating in a conversation in order to find readers, and to converse with people who share your interests in books and writing.
Offer book giveaways on your blog, on the blogs of those who

• Review similar books, and you do politely email reviewers and offer them a free copy if they'd be interested in reviewing.
• Establish Author pages on Amazon and GoodReads and LibraryThing.
• Don’t use display sites. They make you look like an amateur.

On Book Reviews

Don’t read them. Reviews aren’t for you. They’re for readers of your book. They’re nothing to do with you, and often, will have little or nothing to do with the book you wrote.

If your publisher or agent wants you to run review and press inquiries by them, you provide contact information for the person responsible on your Website’s Contact page.

Participate in free giveaways of review copies on GoodReads, LibraryThing, and review blogs for your genre that you actually follow, are familiar with, and are reputable. Create an Amazon Author profile page, and contemplate linking your blog’s RSS feed so that your posts are automatically re-published to your Author page.

If you’re handling press inquiries or requests for review copies yourself, don't automatically email back the ebook or send a free review copy. You look at their reviews and what they review, and then you decide if it makes sense or not for your book. You are never rude. If you think you and a particular reviewer aren't a good fit (you've written a cookbook, and it's a site about Harleys, you have a queer main character and they're charter members of NOMA, etc.) you politely thank them for their interest but indicate that you think you're not a good fit, or—you may simply decide to ignore the request if you can see no courteous way to disengage.

The Author’s Big Mistake


Do not engage in the Author's Big Mistake. The phrase “author’s big mistake,” or A. B. M. is derived from an essay by Paul Fussell in Harpers, February 1982. The author’s big mistake is in responding to, commenting on, or correcting a review of his or her books. It never ever ends well. In short:

• Never publicly comment on a review of your own books at all. Ever.
• Never ever review your own books ever at all under any name or account.
• Do not post using a sock puppet. Ever.
• Do not engage with reviewers of your books beyond answering specific questions, and at most, a thank you. Do not comment, argue, debate, correct interpretations or disagree.

Also, please don't troll though reviews of similar books to your own, then spam all the reviewers/commenters with an "I see you really liked X, I just came across another book called Y which is really similar but even MORE awesome! You should buy it!" Shites me no end. I no longer read the messages in my goodreads mailbox.

Dave, there are quite a few genre groups on Goodreads. I know that the ones to which I belong have a discussion thread where author members are encouraged to announce their books. For example, in the AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION group, we have something called a billboard for new release announcements, giveaways, etc. Just do a search on your genre to see what groups exist. When you find a match, make sure that you read all of the introduction discussions to ensure that you follow the group's wishes with regard to self-promotion. Many don't like self-promotion outside of specific discussion threads.

I would also add the caveat that most groups don't appreciate the "hit and run" approach. That is to say, if you are going to promote your work, it's good manners to participate in other discussions of that group so that you are an active member.

I would say its also good to add yourself to a few list of soon to be released books in your genre. If it's soon to be released

Just wanted to say thanks to Wack-a-mole, the Medievalist, and the OP for this info. I too have been wondering how best to use Goodreads without being a jerk. This helps a lot.

A lot of the time, the gut instinct test will tell you if it is or isn't a good idea. Would you rush out to buy a book because the author said it was wonderful? Would you buy a book because an author spammed a social group you're a member of? What would you think if you saw the author had rated their book five stars?

Chances are you wouldn't be impressed. Which is why when you're about to do it, your innards tell you, "Something's fishy... I should ask on AW if it's okay."

This test only fails if you're the sort of person who wouldn't be upset when someone broke your foot by rolling over it with a steamroller. For everyone else, you often know it isn't a good idea before you ask. That's why you're asking.

I do the Goodreads giveaways which work well.

I do the GR giveaways and they seem to do well in getting me a little exposure.

I've found that posting in the groups helps with exposure and if you need reviews offer ARCS. I've had at least a dozen or so people contact me wanted an ARC.

I'm yet to try the giveaways but they look quite exciting!