I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that the “To Read” shelves on the Goodreads platform are only there to enable PR companies to deliver the shelf numbers they promise for the fees they take from authors. A sophisticated con? How have I come to this conclusion? Well I apparently have my novels on 38,000 “to read” shelves. I have probably sold less than 400 copies. Of course the same is in someway true of ratings. Author pays PR company for promised number of ratings. PR company issues free PDFs to its reader lists. Ratings and reviews delivered – sales impact zero. And it is all perfectly legal. I am clearly growing cynical in my old age.