Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Hello, Everyone

There are loads of sites where you can advertise your books on the side of their web pages, or you pay so much and they email a list, your book included, to their thousands of subscribers all over social media. I thought we could help one another out by posting what works for you, and what doesn't.

Does having your book advertised on the side of a book site really result in sales for anyone? If so, could you list it?

This is what has worked for me so far: I highly recommend Bargain Booksy. Each time I promote with them, I get sales. They can be pricey, but they're worth it. I know a couple of authors whose books even tripled in sales (not me)

And I wouldn't recommend BookReader Magazine. The way they display the list of authors' books is not appealing to me; they claim to have thousands of subscribers, and I didn't get one sale during my promotion with them. Maybe someone else did better though and would recommend them.

So, what promotion site worked for you? What didn't?

Hi all.

I will look into bargain booksy thanks groovy!

Amazon advertising not really working for me.. Nor facebook

www.alexthomasdavisbooks.wordpress.com

I hope it works well for you, Alex. If you don't mind my asking, is it the pay-per-clicks on Amazon? Or the free giveaways?

I agree Facebook doesn't work, too many people have said that.

I offered "Zombie Turkeys" for free on Kindle and combined that with BookDaily's free Kindle promotion. The two together have in two days given away over 250 books, more than five days without the BookDaily promotion.

Hi, Groovy! I tried hundreds of promotional/advertising sites but I can't say for sure that they were the direct result of sales. I see more improvement when I've done promos for my books in groups with other authors collectively.

Andy, just think how much you would have made if you did that for 99c?--LOL! I'm glad it was successful for you. I do free Kindle, too, and that always works because readers LOOOVVVEE free!

Hi, Angel:)

I agree that avenue works. I've been in a few of them with you. I'm going to try as many 'paid promotions' as I can, then come back here and state whether they're worth it or not.

So far, Bargain Booksy, Free giveaways, and working collectively with other authors work. Stay tuned!

Groovy wrote: "Andy, just think how much you would have made if you did that for 99c?--LOL! I'm glad it was successful for you. I do free Kindle, too, and that always works because readers LOOOVVVEE free!

Hi, An..."

The question is, how many of the 250 would not have downloaded it for .99? 100?150? My goal is to get the book into the hand of as many people as possible so they'll buy my second book, "My Undead Mother-in-law".

I write sci-fi, paid $66.50 for a FreeBooksy promo 25 days ago--got 1612 downloads, bumped my ratings up to porn star status, got an untold number of page reads, but my number of reviews is at 20.

I have not had a successful experience with bargain booksy. I may get a few sales but not much to speak of. I did do a bookbub promotion. It's expensive and very hard to get approved but I had thousands of sales from it from my .99cent kindle countdown and an average of ten thousand pages read a day. The reads stayed at a high number for a good two to three weeks later. I haven't been able to get into bookbub again.
Much cheaper and VERY effective is ReadingDeals. I've used them several times and get the most sales on the day of that promotion. It is also very reasonably priced.
I still haven't been able to bring myself to give away my books. I know it can drive sales to the second one in the saga but I'm conflicted. I don't think our hard work should be given away. Even .99cents is ridiculous when you think about the time you put tinto writing it. Not to mention the cost of cover design and professional editing.
I do have some other sites that did pretty well, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. I'm at work and I don't have my list on hand. To be continued...

Good question, Andy. I respect that you feel free gets it into the hands of potential followers so they'll buy your next book. Undead Mother-In-Law--now that sounds interesting:)

I do want to say that free doesn't necessarily mean they'll read it. I hear all the time where readers swoop up thousands of free books, have had them on their Kindle for over a year, and don't know if they'll even get to them because they keep downloading more and more. I've had my books downloaded free in the thousands and have yet to see any real results from that. That's why my free's will be very few and very, very far between.

Good for you, Andria. And twenty reviews? As hard as they are to come by, that's impressive. I'm fortunate if I get three in one sitting:)

Effie, I agree with you. I don't like "constantly" free. I think it cheapens all the hard work we put into our work. It irritates me when someone brags about not bothering to pay for Indie books because they can get them free. I don't mind every once in a while, especially if someone asks, but to just expect us as Indies to give, to me, is not being supportive to them. Okay, that was my soapbox speech for the day:

So, ReadingDeals gets a thumbs up, everyone. I'm going to try it and let y'all know how I faired. Thanks for that tip, Effie. When you remember the others, don't forget to let us know. Have a good day at work:)

Groovy wrote: "Good question, Andy. I respect that you feel free gets it into the hands of potential followers so they'll buy your next book. Undead Mother-In-Law--now that sounds interesting:)

I do want to say ..."
Groovy, excellent comment about reading free books. I have a pile of 5 or 6 awaiting me to read them. Perhaps next time I'll try .99 again.

You see, I did it last Christmas and only got one download. Then I did the free one in April and got about 180. Now I'm up to 300 new ones this time.

I gotta go with what works.

Duly noted, Andy. And I respect that:)

I have a .99 coming up next week. Stay tuned....

has anyone tried magic beans book store? and if so how did it fair?

I never heard of magic beans bookstore. I'll have to look it up and see what it's all about.

The 'free' offers have their pros and cons. I know a few people that tell me they download every free book with a cover they like, but rarely get a chance to read them because there is such a big list on their kindle library to get through. In addition, they say they end up putting them on the back burner for books that are getting a lot of hype. Other people (and this I'm hearing more and more) have given up on the free books because there were too many times they started one and it was horrible. So, for some, the perception has become 'free book, bad book.' Many are wonderful and a great way to get exposure, but, like all things in life it only takes one or two bad experiences to sour someone on an idea. An the minority can ruin a good thing for the majority.

My feeling is this, .99 cents is just about free. Hell, I pay $4.00 for a cup of starbucks. If they want it they will pay the .99c and feel as though they've gotten a bargain while it's presented as a limited time price. and they are more likely to read it because they did pay for it.

Now for other promotional sites:

I've done pretty well with Kindle National Daily/ Book Gorilla. However, it is more expensive than others

Kindle Book Review has quite a few options from reasonable to more expensive. I like working with them.

Just Kindle Books has been successful for me as well.

Also try Bookoftheday.com

ENT - Readers News Today seems to have some clout. You have to submit and wait to be accepted.

I have plenty more that were just so-so but I want to share the ones that had the best exposure and return.

I submitted to Reading Deals today. They're pretty strict, and I'm waiting to hear back.

If you want quality reviews--and free except for your reading/writing time--I'd recommend this Goodreads Reviewer group: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also, the rumor that more reviews increases your Amazon rank? Untrue. I've slipped 100k spots per day over the last 5 days--despite about 1 new review added per day and improving my tags.

You must have a blog, Effie. I appreciate the advice you give and it is so spot on. Thanks. And thanks for the list. I'm going to be busy.

S.W. thanks for the review group information. I'm going to pass it around. Let us know how Reading Deals went.

Groovy, I don't have an author blog yet. I write a food blog - something I've done way before I wrote my first novel. I keep putting it off but I know I have to start a blog that's relevant to writing and promoting my books. But I'm always happy to help anyone out with what I've learned over the past few years. I had a couple of great mentors when I published the first book and now they come to me for marketing/promotion advice. I'm happy I could help them out as they've helped me.

Yes, S.W., Reading deals is selective but not as impossible to get into as bookbub. You want them to be selective. When they send out deals and suggestions to their subscribers in their newsletter, the reader is trusting them that it's a good recommendation. I'm sure that's one of the reasons I've had so many sales from their site. Thanks for the review group. I'll look at it now!

A food blog--Nice! I've been having an affair with food for years--just saying:)

Effie wrote: "I still haven't been able to bring myself to give away my books. I know it can drive sales to the second one in the saga but I'm conflicted. I don't think our hard work should be given away."

I completely agree with you in this matter. The arts in general continually decline in value and a major reason why it's struggling is we are pricing ourselves out of making a living at our craft.

The longer we keep lowering our rates for the cost of books, the cost of art, the cost of any creative craft, eventually none of us will be able to afford to create.

And we do it to ourselves. We should resist pimping ourselves out for less than almost any other job out there.

Keep resisting giving your work away for free.

I agree, Adriana. This began with the popularity of e-books. Because there is no tangible item in the hand and no cost of printing, there is a perception that there is no value. But the reader is still getting the same 'finished product' - the words, the story, and the art. Take away the cost of printing and charge less, yes! But free or even the small amount most of us are charging per book because we are 'indie' is ridiculous.

I signed up with BooksGoSocial for the first time this week. My paid promotion goes live, tomorrow, so I'll keep you guys posted on the results.

First update: Day 1 is finished and I am beyond disappointed.

But, who knows, tomorrow is another day...

Effie wrote: "I agree, Adriana. This began with the popularity of e-books. Because there is no tangible item in the hand and no cost of printing, there is a perception that there is no value. But the reader is s..."

Totally agree.

I charge the same for a print book cover commission as I do for an ebook cover. I've gotten some heat from authors thinking because it's an ebook that I should charge less, but it's no less work.

And authors should charge more for their ebooks than $.99 unless they put no time into the book, didn't pay for an editor, and didn't pay an artist a fair price.

The only difference in cost between a print and an ebook should be the cost of printing. And they should not be comparing the cost to what the big-six can print the books for because they get a volume discount from the printer. Most small PHs and indies don't. They are forced to POD, which costs more per book.

They should cost-compare against what it would cost them to POD, subtract that from the retail price they would have to charge for a POD book, then charge THAT for their ebook.

Devaluing their own work devalues it to the buyer, too.

Anyone tried Ripley's Booklist? I got rejected when my book was new, but it didn't have any reviews.

I think, also, the reason Indie authors charge .99 or are eager to give their work away free is because they're unknowns, and readers aren't willing to spend the same amount on their books as they would on someone like Stephen King or Terry McMillan. Once you get to their level, you can charge what you want.

But I agree, we are devalued as authors, so why should they pay anything over .99; why wouldn't you give your book to them for free? They won't even consider reading your work otherwise.

I learned a good lesson during these years of writing and publishing. For one, I must give value to myself as an author who can write just as well as any of the popular ones. Like any business, I may lower the price and give out a sample now and then, but that will no longer be the constant.

Amira, I can't wait to hear how your promotion went. Make sure and update us. I'm going to look this site up. I hope your promotion is successful!!!!!

S.W., I've never heard of Ripley's Booklist. I must add that one, too.

Groovy wrote: "I think, also, the reason Indie authors charge .99 or are eager to give their work away free is because they're unknowns, and readers aren't willing to spend the same amount on their books as they ..."

You have an excellent point Groovy. I've resisted keeping the price at .99 cents, but there's no way anyone will pay 6 or 7 dollars for my e-book edition because I am an unknown author. I've heard and seen some from big name authors going for 13 or 14 dollars! I've nearly choked.

However, there's a fine line between cheapening your work to the point where some readers wonder if it is crap because it's so cheap, and not having the price set so high that readers don't want to pay for someone they never heard of.

I've heard if you have 3 or more books in a series it is worth making the first one available for 99 cents to hook the reader, but I'm not sure if that's true anymore.

I have used Digital Book today late last year to promote my first book during one of my few Kindle Free Days. Depending on how many reviews you have, you can list it for free or for $15. I did mine for the $15 dollars and I noticed huge spike in downloads for those days and I believe a few sales came in afterwards as well.

Hey all, maybe this is too obvious a question, and that why I haven't seen anyone mention it, but has anyone tried advertising with Goodreads, and if so, what was their experience? Is running a Goodreads giveaway with paid promo worth it?

Also, does anyone know anything about a site called the Books Machine? I was recently contacted by them through my blog, after running a Kindle Scout campaign. Being a bit green with the business end of authorship, my feeling is that it's probably just a scam or a marketing ploy on their own part, but I'm still curious.

This discussing as been really informative. I have not done any kind of paid marketing for my books yet, but know I need to. It's just a matter of where to start, and what will work. So I hope the discussion continues. :)

I have a goodreads ad running for both of my books. Its a pay per click model. I've yet to see my ad on goodreads. The same for amazon ads which run the same way but I think I have a better result with that one because I get a lot of exposure on kindle unlimited. I used books machine on my last kindle deal. I don't belive it helped me one bit.

So far I've tried AMS ads, GR giveaways, Bargain Booksy, and GR ads (with and without a giveaway). Also leaving promo postcards in various places. I've had success with all of these, and Bargain Booksy came out on top for sales. GR giveaways have given me the most measurable exposure for my book. I have also enrolled my book into KDP Select, so people can download it (and I still get royalties) if they want to try out a new author. I don't think I'd let it go for free, unless it's a review copy.
I hope that's of help.

Groovy wrote: "I think, also, the reason Indie authors charge .99 or are eager to give their work away free is because they're unknowns, and readers aren't willing to spend the same amount on their books as they would on someone like Stephen King or Terry McMillan. Once you get to their level, you can charge what you want."

I both agree and disagree. First, King could spit on a paper towel, wrap his book in it, and it would sell, but he got to that point because he wasn't trying to give it a go as an indie until years and years AFTER he became famous (he's a hybrid author last I heard). Second, all market research agrees on one thing. The cover sells the book roughly 70% of the time. 70%!!!

Indie authors sell their books at $.99 because they don't know how to market themselves. Most authors don't know. They have publishers, agents, and publicists who worry about that. So indie authors do the only thing they can think of to tempt people to read their book over a famous author, they under value their work in hopes of gaining readers. Unfortunately, that doesn't really work as intended.

Writing is a LOT of work. Charge for it! Show the buyer your work is worth the extra few dollars.

Thanks, everyone. Believe me, ALL of this information is so helpful. I have so many places to try now, that I'd never heard of before. So far, I don't think I'll try Books Machine since it wasn't given a very high mark.

L.J., AMS is Amazon, right?

Goodreads giveaways are so expensive, whereas Amazon giveaways are free to the author, you just pay for the amount of books you want to give away. That being said, to me, all it accomplishes is readers getting your book free. I have yet to see any reviews or spike in sales. But that's just me. Since some of you are pleased with Goodreads, I will give it a try when my budget allows me:)

Aidana, you are so right. I love that statement about Stephen King, which is so true. But I know I'm one author that sucks at promoting. I have a stack of flyers about my books and website, and I'm ashamed to say they've been sitting on my dining table for over a month now. I'm going to grow a spine from here on and work hard to show my value as an author.

Groovy wrote: "Thanks, everyone. Believe me, ALL of this information is so helpful. I have so many places to try now, that I'd never heard of before. So far, I don't think I'll try Books Machine since it wasn't g..."

Hi, yes, AMS is Amazon, and it can turn out a bit pricey, especially when you see the clicks mounting up and your budget needs increasing to keep the momentum going! I've placed 4 AMS ads since my book launch, and have had Kindle Unlimited downloads plus sales for all of them. I've not tried an Amazon giveaway yet, as I've only given away signed paperbacks on GR, but I will give it a try.

I agree that a professional-looking book cover (plus an exciting blurb) can really help when placing ads.

Also, in harmony with Aidana, I forgot to mention this in regards to giving books away free. A few times this week readers have mentioned how they have so many free books on their kindle (in the 100's) that they are going to delete them because they don't have the time to get to them, or they're not interested anymore.

Now, do you think if they had paid for them, that would happen? Just a thought.

Groovy wrote: "A few times this week readers have mentioned how they have so many free books on their kindle (in the 100's) that they are going to delete them because they don't have the time to get to them, or they're not interested anymore.... Now, do you think if they had paid for them, that would happen? Just a thought."

You hit the nail, Groovy. If someone spends their own, hard-earned money on a book, they are less likely to throw it away, even if they do have limited time to read. They're more likely to find some time.

I wanna say Stephen King self-published his first book on the school copier lol. Old school self-publishing! :D

Marie wrote: "I wanna say Stephen King self-published his first book on the school copier lol. Old school self-publishing! :D"

According to his book on writing, he's been writing stories since he was a kid, so you may not be too far from the truth. But I've also heard he nearly wall-papered a room with rejection letters before being traditionally published. And it's fairly recently he started hybrid-ing (I know it's not a word, but I an artist, not a writer, lol).

Shari wrote: "Hey all, maybe this is too obvious a question, and that why I haven't seen anyone mention it, but has anyone tried advertising with Goodreads, and if so, what was their experience? Is running a Goo..."
Any attempt at promotion on Goodreads is jumped on by the moderators of the groups - except for the authors group, where it seems pointless as you need to target your genre groups. However, Amazon now owns Goodreads. Hence policies may have changed. You may well be one of the first to try. The last moderator reply to me was "Goodreads is for the benefit of readers not for authors!" Strange, I thought it was symbiosis.

Groovy wrote: "Thanks, everyone. Believe me, ALL of this information is so helpful. I have so many places to try now, that I'd never heard of before. So far, I don't think I'll try Books Machine since it wasn't g..."
Groovy. I entered both my published books in a giveaway through Goodreads. The only time it becomes very expensive is if you extend it over seas. The postage can be steep. I still did it however, because I wanted to get my name and work out to different parts of the world. I really liked the experience. I even got two reviews from them even though that was not the reason I did it for. I was appreciative all the same. One review was great and one was terrible. Even the bad review I didn't mind. I'm not going to say it didn't smart because I would be lying if I did. But these first three books that I wrote are very erotic. What the reader didn't like in that bad review were those points, so I would advise everyone to be clear about the content of your books. I have learned my lesson. As far as the experience of the giveaways I liked it and will do it once again with the release of the conclusion of my trilogy, Broken, which will be released this year.

Aidana wrote: "Groovy wrote: "A few times this week readers have mentioned how they have so many free books on their kindle (in the 100's) that they are going to delete them because they don't have the time to ge..."
Aidana, you know that makes sense. I ran nightclubs for a lot of years. When ever we gave away anything customers just wanted more for nothing. It really didn't make the club any more money, just got people in who maybe didn't normally come out to the club. Tips for employees even were not what they usually were on those nights. It seemed that the mind set was if they didn't have to pull their money out for one thing, they didn't for anything.
That being said I don't think the same is true for discounts or giveaways. I know for myself I love a good bargain, and to win anything is a thrill.

I run the Goodreads giveaways often. I'm starting one again on august 5th actually. I learned my lesson though and limit it to the US. It cost me 27$ to mail books out of the country. Within the US I can send them through the post office by media mail and it only costs me input $3.54. When Goodreads begins the e-book giveaway promotion I will open it up to all countries.

Shari wrote: "Hey all, maybe this is too obvious a question, and that why I haven't seen anyone mention it, but has anyone tried advertising with Goodreads, and if so, what was their experience? Is running a Goo..."
I have just finished a Goodreads paid advert.
Result:- my $s are all spent and I have had my quota of clicks for what that is worth. However, strange as it may sound to Goodreads I couldn't care less about my clicks. What I wanted was an increase in sales and on this front this advert has made absolutely no difference whatsoever to my sales.
Has it been worth it? The short answer is definitely not. The longer answer will take take longer to ascertain - maybe my book title and my author name will have lodged in the memory of a few - who knows? - and may be subsequently they will go out and buy. But I am not holding my breath!
Also for what it is worth - as I read Effie's contribution on giveaways - I confess I don't appreciate the difference between a Goodreads giveaway and an Amazon one. However, I suspect they are very similar in that the "buyer" gets one's work for free, and so would add that I have found free giveaways on Amazon a complete waste of time as well. There are people out there that want to grab anything that is free - ref Mary's comments! - but they are not interested in giving reviews, or similar, so one ends up no further forward.
If anyone does find anything that REALLY DOES WORK, I am sure we would all be pleased to know!

I have done both Goodreads and Amazon giveaways. Although I can't guarantee I'd get a review, it is worth it for the exposure. I have had winners post reviews though. Not all of them, but a few. On amazon you ask that they either follow you on twitter or your author page. Every time something new is posted on you or your book all those entrants get notified. On Goodreads, entrants put you on their to be read list. Every time you post news on your events or books or upcoming promotions they get notified. If nothing else, you gain exposure. I do believe both of these giveaways have helped me.

Effie wrote: "I have done both Goodreads and Amazon giveaways. Although I can't guarantee I'd get a review, it is worth it for the exposure. I have had winners post reviews though. Not all of them, but a few. On..."

Just wondering whether people who have our books on their 'to read' shelves are also notified if we create a new blog post, or a general status update?

If your paperbacks are on expanded distribution with Createspace or Ingram, you can find them in The Book Depository, which has worldwide free shipping. If you do an international giveaway, you can ship the book to the winner straight from Book Depository.

RE: goodreads ads. From what I've gathered from other authors who have used goodreads ads, the best you can expect is to have your book seen and added to "to read" shelves. You can achieve this same result for less money and with more efficiency in a Goodreads Giveaway.

Leslie wrote: "Shari wrote: "Hey all, maybe this is too obvious a question, and that why I haven't seen anyone mention it, but has anyone tried advertising with Goodreads, and if so, what was their experience? Is..."
I advertised on Goodreads with my first book, A Temptation. I was satisfied with it. Quite a few people added my book to their list. That meant it was being looked at and the title and my name was getting out there. At least that is how I looked at it.

If you have a Facebook Author's Page you can pay Facebook to promote your works. I write short SF stories. Facebook does OK with me!

NAMASTE C.E Gee AKA Chuck

http://www.kinzuakid.blogspot.com

Marie wrote: "If your paperbacks are on expanded distribution with Createspace or Ingram, you can find them in The Book Depository, which has worldwide free shipping. If you do an international giveaway, you can..."

You're correct, Marie. I have sent books directly through my createspace account overseas. Funny, I never thought about it with a Goodreads giveaway. I've only done it a couple of times with personal contacts. I'll have to remember to open it up worldwide next time.

I want to do a promotion with Readingdeals.com. But out of the two books I want to promote, I can only use one because of their rule of having over 5 reviews with an average of 4 stars, which I understand. The book I can't use falls short by one review. I say this to emphasize the importance of reviews.

Reading Deals has declined my feature in the past because my star rating average was only 3.9 instead of 4+, but I think they are a good promotion site.

[Edit: good on them, they did refund my $29 a few days later. Now onto a 99cent promo on a site that's been around longer....] Groovy, Marie, Reading Deals is fake I think. I suspect that as this month my "also viewed" banner on Amazon never changed, meaning my book got zero clicks or it would have shown the prior-viewed books of the clicker. I sent screenshots requesting a refund twice....