Why Goodreads.com is better than Facebook for book promotion

Libbie said:

I admit I've never gone to kk.org; I'll check it out. Goodreads makes engaging with only a handful of the most interested very easy; check out their Groups feature and search for a group pertaining to any aspect of your novel. There is one out there (probably more than one), I guarantee it.

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It's an interesting article. I plan to use FaceBook for engaging with others (Social signals are becoming more relevant to Search engines). GoodReads is in my Firefox bookmarks, I can see they have quite extensive categories for groups, 75 groups for "Guitar" but a squillion groups for "Thriller" with members in the 1000's.

I'm not active on either GR or FB. I network within my genre through Yahoo groups and other sites. I could probably stand to do some stronger marketing, but I'd rather be writing.

I did notice that my book spiked a bit on Amazon after I got a positive mention on a very popular writers' blog this morning. But I laid the groundwork for that in a thank-you letter to the blogger three months ago.
That leads in well with a blog hop I'm doing later this week.

Until I have more than one book in the pipeline, I see no reason to throw actual money at marketing.

Luis, thank you for offering your information. It's interesting (and quite depressing) but it reinforces what I've been reading in my book promotion research, which is: interact with people, get to know them, make contacts, but don't push. This takes patience and work. I'm by no means an expert. My book has only been out since October 5. It seems like my sales were the best the first few days surrounding the release, which is probably to be expected. Now I'm trying to figure out the best way to build sales.

I haven't pushed or asked anyone to add my book on Goodreads, but people have been slowly adding it. And I do a little happy dance each time. The ads don't really work on me either--not usually.

One thing I've noticed with my Facebook author page, my updates are only seen by maybe a third to a half of my "fans." Of course I can pay to have my posts seen more widely. I don't plan on doing that. I've noticed I've had more interaction when I post a picture on my fan page. (My dog is a great model. He wears hats well.)

Again, thank you for your data. Best of luck with your book, Luis!

Medievalist said:

Book buyers don't buy books based on ads--an ad may let them know that Favorite Author has a new book out, but they'd likely buy the book anyway.

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I've heard about new books from items in the news (J. K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy) or directly from posts on the authors' Facebook pages. I was looking out for any mention about them, anyway, so an ad would have been ineffective in my case since, as you suggested, I'd already known about them when they were released.

I'm on Goodreads but have done very little interaction beyond adding my books. I can't do giveaways since they don't allow e-book promotions, which I didn't know about until I was 3/4 of the way through submitting the information. Haven't done much with Library Thing, either, beyond putting a link on my blog. I've seen a few spikes in sales after RT Booklovers Convention and a couple blog hops I've done but considering the numbers, paying for advertising is cost prohibitive at the moment.

Medievalist said:

I wouldn't spend any money on advertising, at all.

I would send out review copies, and offer E-Arcs for those who are fine with ebooks. So there would be postage costs there.

I would have a Web site, but I wouldn't spend money beyond the hosting and domain.

I would offer giveaways on blogs, Good Reads and Library Thing.

I absolutely wouldn't pay for ads, online or in print.

Readers who buy books buy them based on word of mouth/written reccs from people they know, trusted reviewers, and book packaging (i.e. cover, cover copy, point of sale displays, online data on retail sites).

Book buyers don't buy books based on ads--an ad may let them know that Favorite Author has a new book out, but they'd likely buy the book anyway.

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I was going to say, wouldn't the money spent have been better off being spent on extra copies to hand out, give to charities, send as review copies, etc.? Man, $400 for 5 sales? He seemed to get fairly decent exposure, but that seems extremely excessive in terms of $$.

Filigree -- I figure I'm going to spend X number of hours per week socializing online anyway; I might as well do it on Goodreads where it will net me a bunch of sales rather than on Facebook, where I'll just see more stupid political posts or whatever.

Good point. For me, AW is about the limit of my sociability. I lurk on GR, but last year's various thrill-rides about reviews and AgentFail turned me away from actually reaching out as an author.

FB is right out.

I use goodreads mainly as a reader, I write book reviews there and give links on my blog to author interviews I've done with other authors. I do have an author page there, I have a few fans, friends and people who follow my reviews. Will they buy my books? I don't know, but I think my sales have increased a bit since I've been on goodreads. I promote my books by not promoting them, just interacting with the boards/readers

I do not know if you can say that goodreads boosted your sales or not. The margin is so low it could just be the trend at the moment.

Like others said, it is still not cost effective.

Between reviews and an advert(s) for the same type of thing in the same place, people will much more likely choose the reviews.

Advertising relevant complementary a product (or finding where your product is relevant and complementary) would be better I think as you are not directly competing.

For example I would not advertise a childrens book on the children's book review site, but a "Learn to play the piano for kids" book or "Online Music games for kids" advert on a children's book review site, yes worth a shot. Romance novel advert on a dating site, yes worth a shot. I am doing similar soon.

I haven't spent any money on advertising, and I can't imagine ever doing so.

My advertising occurs on my Facebook Page, on Twitter, on my blog, in my YouTube videos, and in my signature here and at Highlander and Sailor Moon message forums.

Heck, I'm not even spending any money on covers. I just do text covers in Publisher. I'm developing an upcoming fiction series centered around casino gaming, and I'm going to purchase a piece of green felt at Wal-Mart. My covers will be cards on a "casino table". I'll make my money back with the first sale.

Now, I'm interested in checking out Goodreads. I'm seen it mentioned a lot, but I think it's time that I really look into it.

Medievalist said:

I buy every damn thing Jo Walton writes, and have since she sold her first novel.

I buy them because she wrote incredibly smart, thoughtful, and engaging posts on UseNet

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Not because she's a good writer?

Not necessarily. In Jo's case, I appreciate her posts from UseNet, too, but I've not gotten around to reading her work. Possibly because I thumbed through the first three pages of one book, noted some things that threw me out of the story, and set it aside. I'll give her another try.

I can like an author's essays and reviews, and not really like their fiction. I can adore a writer's work even after I discover he or she is somewhat dickish in real life. Or I can privately loathe someone's fiction, but regard the writer as a hilarious and wonderful human being.

I think Goodreads and other sites give readers much more information about authors than was previously available. I still don't know if that's a good or bad thing. I'm not using it to full potential; I'm as reticent as Sherwood is about self-promotion. I've seen it backfire badly on other authors.

If this is the first step for developing cost effect methods, that's great. But just having spent some money is not an achievement in advertising any more than it is in publishing.

Luis said:

Goodreads exposed my book to serious readers, got me on 19 “to-read” lists and 2 reviews. That alone was worth the $200.

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I would disagree.

Getting on a GR "to-read" list means nothing. I have books on GR that are OOP and *still* have a TBR listing from people who slapped it on back when it was available and never read it.

The two reviews are nice but at $100 each I wouldn't see it as a good use of your cash.

I would ask yourself how far you're willing to go into the red to push this book. Because at this rate you're going down fast, IMO with these trials.

If you are willing to spend money on ads than try book blogs. If you can't get reviewed there than maybe you can buy an ad there and get more exposure.. Could be cheaper ads than Facebook too..

Don't spend money on ads.

Spend money on shipping printed books to legit reviewers that have agreed to review your book.

When you approach a reviewer (or any possible reader) you need to have a Web page that includes the cover of your book, any back cover copy or teaser/blurb, and a sample of at least a chapter.

Link to places online and offline where readers can order your book. Include the publication data -- and especially -- the ISBN number as part of the title /author block.

Make sure prospective reviewers have looked at the page about your book so that they have a good idea regarding what the book will be like.

You will have reviewers who agree to review the book, but don't, for whatever reason.

Don't harass them. Don't comment about it. Don't. Just let it go.

Instead of paying for ADS on Goodreads do a Giveaway. It's free, gets visibility for your books and you only have to give away 1 book for it. Then invite the leads of people interested in the book but didn't win the giveaway to either be a reviewer (get free copy of the book for honest review) or you send them a coupon for 30% if they are interested they will buy. This was very effective for me and cost me nothing but time.

This thread makes me feel better about the fact I have zero money to spend on any kind of advertising.

Medievalist said:

You will have reviewers who agree to review the book, but don't, for whatever reason.

Don't harass them. Don't comment about it. Don't. Just let it go.

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Yep, this. Act like a professional if you want people to take you seriously. There is still enough of a stigma around self-publishing that you're going into it with an automatic handicap; readers and reviewers and everybody else has already formed an opinion of you, which will be unfavorable by varying degrees, based solely on the fact that you've self-published. The times are a-changing, but slowly. You have to understand that you still have to overcome the assumptions of others and anything you do to make yourself look like an unprofessional person will hinder you greatly.

Anyway, I mentioned earlier in this thread that I have some radio and podcast interviews coming up. The first one was yesterday. It went really well; the interviewers were very engaging and interested in my book. I've already seen a slight uptick in sales for that title which I suspect will translate into a larger jump once the podcast archive of the radio show is available. (The show that interviewed me broadcasts on an AM station that has fairly limited range; their podcast reaches a very large international audience.)

If it does indeed translate into a larger increase in sales, I'll update the thread.

I also ran six ads on a podcast. The ads were very inexpensive so I thought it would be a good marketing experiment. They didn't appear to move my average sales by much, if by any at all, so for me, spending money on advertising is still not looking like a wise move.

However, the interview was really fun! I'd do that again in a heartbeat, just because it was enjoyable, even if it didn't bring up my sales.

Meanwhile, the original book I self-published continues to sell like hotcakes even without any promotion at all. I can't explain it. It regularly rises onto the Top 100 lists on Amazon and then backs off again in pretty predictable cycles. I just can't figure out what is fueling its popularity, except that it's a good book. Readers must be recommending it to each other privately, because I don't see a whole lot of discussion of the book online. It's a mystery, but one I'm very happy to be a part of!

I've found the best bang for the buck is EreaderNewsToday. I haven't had a book of the day there for 18 months, but I have done the bargain book deal. You put your book on sale fo 99 cents for a few days and it's posted. You pay only based on sales. Last time I had 300 plus sales in a day, which cost me about $27, with a net gain of about $73. But it was actually even better because it was the first book in my series and I'm sure at least some of those people went on to buy the other books at the regular prices of $3.99 and $4.29.

When I get a new review I link to it on one of the romance Yahoo groups. During their weekly promo days I post an excerpt. I can't say it always leads to sales, but I seem to get a sales spike that day or the next.

MMcDonald64 said:

I've found the best bang for the buck is EreaderNewsToday. I haven't had a book of the day there for 18 months, but I have done the bargain book deal. You put your book on sale fo 99 cents for a few days and it's posted. You pay only based on sales. Last time I had 300 plus sales in a day, which cost me about $27, with a net gain of about $73. But it was actually even better because it was the first book in my series and I'm sure at least some of those people went on to buy the other books at the regular prices of $3.99 and $4.29.

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This is the kind of stuff we need to know. Thanks for sharing!

I really like Goodreads in terms of networking, but I certainly won't be paying for adverts any time soon! I once spent about £20 on a very limited targetted Facebook ad which resulted in four sales. If you're going to run an ad make sure it is extremely specific, I targetted teenage girls who have written on their profile that they 'like reading'. So, with facebook you can target readers. On the other hand, this was an experiment I probably won't do again because it isn't cost effective.

If it's people adding your book to their 'to read list' that you want - run a giveaway on Goodreads. I've been running one for the last few months and now have over 700 'to readers' and entries to the competition (a signed copy of my book). It's free apart from the cost of the book and postage.

I've heard that a lot of people remove your book when they don't win but what I'm going to try and do is link the competition to a 'sale' price of my book and maybe direct some of those 700 towards buying the book at a discount. I also have the sequel coming out at the same time.

sarahdalton said:

This is the kind of stuff we need to know. Thanks for sharing!

I really like Goodreads in terms of networking, but I certainly won't be paying for adverts any time soon! I once spent about £20 on a very limited targetted Facebook ad which resulted in four sales. If you're going to run an ad make sure it is extremely specific, I targetted teenage girls who have written on their profile that they 'like reading'. So, with facebook you can target readers. On the other hand, this was an experiment I probably won't do again because it isn't cost effective.

If it's people adding your book to their 'to read list' that you want - run a giveaway on Goodreads. I've been running one for the last few months and now have over 700 'to readers' and entries to the competition (a signed copy of my book). It's free apart from the cost of the book and postage.

I've heard that a lot of people remove your book when they don't win but what I'm going to try and do is link the competition to a 'sale' price of my book and maybe direct some of those 700 towards buying the book at a discount. I also have the sequel coming out at the same time.

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You're welcome. I should add that there are some criteria that your book has to meet. I can't recall exactly what it is, but something like at least 10 reviews with a 4.2 average rating or higher. If you go to the site www.ereadernewstoday.com and scroll all the way down to the small links at the bottom that say something about authors, advertise with us.