Books, Blogs, Authors and More discussion

The 'Help' section elsewhere seemed to be getting a lot of traffic and so I thought a general one in the group for people to post on anything and everything might be useful.

So if you have a question - please ask :)

Hi Melanie!!! I have a dumb question (LOL). I added my book to the bookshelf and was browsing through. I notice my book pops up in"Read" section. What exactly does this mean? That someone in this group has read it? Is the answer that simple? Thanks!!!

Hi,

I noticed in the General section it says new authors are welcome to post their books in the Bookshelf section. Is there a way of doing this even if the book is self-published on Kindle?

I assume the answer is self-evidently 'no', but thought it was worth a punt:-)

Mina - this group has a few bookshelves, with one of them being called 'Read'. You can move it to one of the other bookshelves, but to be honest it doesn't really make any difference.

Paula - As long as your book is listed here on Goodreads, you'll be able to add it to the group bookshelves.

Although it can be a bit fiddly doing so.

I am not sure if I can ask questions regarding blogs, but if anyone can help,
I wanted to know that how can i add good reads website on my blogger so that people can find me here too.

Thanks.

Looks like Michael (super yoda of goodreads and blogs) is already well up on answering the questions :)

Bakhtawar - when you go into your Goodreads profile, there's a section on widgets that will show people your books and various different things, to link your blog to here - you can copy the code and paste it in.

Mel! Where you been?

@Michael

I know - I'm terrible at the moment - no twitter, no facebook, no GR... I've been away for a few days break, but mainly been bogged down at work and STILL trying to get to the final edits of second book, which is providing tough with so much going on (you were right - I missed my self imposed deadline of 'end of summer', unless i finish and publish tonight, which is unlikely)

How's you? :)

Yeah, not bad thanks. Me PC is busted, and I'm waiting for a poxy £4 part to make it's way over from Hong Kong.

I finally got round to publishing the stuff from my blog last week.

Also off to watch the wheelchair basketball on Sunday evening...!

I would like to say Wheel chair basketball rocks that has to be the most dangerous I have seen, at least one which doesnt involve jumping off high things.

Yeah, it was good fun being there. Also bumped into one of the Australian athletes, and snapped a pic of him!

Hey! Loving your group :) I just have a quick question (had a bit of a look around but I couldn't find the answer), are we allowed to just start threads or do we request them? I have an idea for a discussion thread that could be of benefit to those looking to edit.

:)

Aprille Legacy wrote: "Hey! Loving your group :) I just have a quick question (had a bit of a look around but I couldn't find the answer), are we allowed to just start threads or do we request them? I have an idea for a ..."

Hi Aprille - you're welcome to start threads yourself - just try and find the best spot for it and 'take it away!' :)

I found something more dangerous that wheelchair basketball- wheelchair rugby. Now that is one insane sport:)

I have to say. I am not a lover of sport but I really enjoyed the Olympics and paralympics. I don't think i have seen that many grown men blub for a long time.

Yeah, it's weird how many non-sports fans got into it. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed watching sports, that I previously had no interest in.

One of the more memorable non-medal winning sights for me, was when the women got knocked out of the hockey by Argentina. They looked utterly devastated, and I was glad that they managed to win their bronze medal match.

Melanie wrote: "Aprille Legacy wrote: "Hey! Loving your group :) I just have a quick question (had a bit of a look around but I couldn't find the answer), are we allowed to just start threads or do we request them..."

Thanks! :D

There was one in the paralympics. An athelete from... hmm I can't recall where...was the only competetor in the games from his country, he was running in the 1500 m I think and he was last by A LOT. Like 5 minutes or something but he still finished and the crowd roared him home even though he was so far behind and the comenetators mentioned him.

Oh and one of the swimming events- the most severally disabled athletes some of them maybe had only one arm which worked say or extreme paralysis and they still all swam the 100m faster than I could:).

Rather newer member/author... I perfectly well understand the Goodreads rules against self promotion, but I stumbled over some Goodreads lists of popular reviewers, most prolific reviewers etc. Is it out of bounds to quiery those folks for reviews? I suppose I could slog through a rulebook somewhere and answer my own question, but that seems like work!

I'd recommend against just messaging reviewers out of the blue like that.

Some groups have specific schemes setup for that sort of thing, and this is one of them!

If you look at the thread below, it's a list of reviewers/bloggers who are willing to review books in exchange for a free copy. Some of them only review one or two genres, or won't accept digital copies, so make sure you contact someone who will be interested. Don't post to the thread, contact them via the method they state.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...

Thanks!

I need help adding the Goodreads Facebook Author Tab. I don't know where to find the facebook app page. Help! Thank you. I just finished my third book in a series and sometimes still feel like a neophyte!

Thanks,
Joyce Shaughnessy

I don't think that particular Goodreads app exists any more, or even if it did.

Like you, I followed the links/instructions that are in the author profile page but it never works!

There were discussions about it, and it seems that Facebook keep changing things that breaks it - so they stopped bothering with altogether.

I have a question that I'm sure someone on goodreads would have an answer to. Is there a website or something where I could put all of my favority poems or quotes into a book just for me?

Candace,

We just had an 88 yr old man in my writing group do that for his grandchildren, and it's wonderful, full of his poems and short stories.

Someone helped him do it on the computer, but he used CreateSpace. I saw the book, and it's beautifully done. They even picked out the cover from one of several that Createspace offers. Hal and Don ordered some paperbacks, but they also offer e-books only if you had rather do that, and they said everything was very inexpensive. Another lady in our group used Createspace to put some children's stories that their aunt had written into a paperback. They did it because she was dying from cancer, and they wanted her to be able to see the stories in print. It cost even less than the regular paperback because they used spiral binding. Anyway, they all said that the people there were easy to work with.

Candace wrote: "I have a question that I'm sure someone on goodreads would have an answer to. Is there a website or something where I could put all of my favority poems or quotes into a book just for me?"

Not sure that you can do that actually, if the poems and quotes are not your own. The PID companies such as Createspace and Lulu require that you (the author) have rights to the material being published.

Lulu might actually, if you kept it private and just had it printed for yourself. One of the options is only you can access the book and have it printed. I suppose so long as you aren't selling them as your own you might get away with it. They have OK forums and support so you could ask.

As Miles said CS probably not. The other option would be make a word or pdf document and take it to a printers/binders but that might be quite expensive.

Some public libraries or bookstores have machines that allow you to print and bind a single copy of a book. See http://ondemandbooks.com/self_publish... about Espresso self-publishing machines.

I just logged into my author profile and there are 2 books there that I don't remember writing. How do I remove them? :) I only wrote and and not the other two. And how do I add a cover photo? Thanks!

Ask a librarian.:)

Any librarians or Goodreads wizards able to help me with this?

As a Mod you can broadcast message the whole group - I wanted to do something similar with my Goodreads friends - is this possible?

As I understand it, the reason why Goodreads doesn't allow the ability to broadcast for anyone other than group mods is because spammers could take advantage of this ability.

Hey Melanie, does this group hold blog tours? I was curious because my 2nd book is coming out soon and I am looking to hold blog tours through groups Im apart of here on GR.

Dylan had a book added to his page--I had one disappear. My latest novel simply vanished into thin air!!! What do I do now. Re-add it?

Problem solved.

Miles wrote: "Candace wrote: "I have a question that I'm sure someone on goodreads would have an answer to. Is there a website or something where I could put all of my favority poems or quotes into a book just f..."

Canada, I have used Lulu.com to print single copies of fan fiction that I've written - not to sell (perish the thought) but simply so that I have a permanent physical record of my pre-professional author work. Fanfic was my training ground and its nice to have a personal memento of that. I have also done it for other fanfic that I love and will want to re-read, again single copies only for my own use. If you go for the black and white, Royal size (you still get a colour front and back cover) then depending on the length, you can get a very professional looking book for a price only a little over what a similar sized book for be priced at in a bookshop. And as Alexandra says, you can keep it private.

Let us know what you decide and how you get on!

I have a question, maybe two:

First, can anyone tell me what the heck is up with Twitter? I personally don't get the reason for it, but I've heard it's helpful for authors. I really don't know what I could do with only an allowance of 140 characters but who knows, maybe I'm missing something? I don't use it mostly because I don't have anyone to talk to on there, but maybe that could change?

Secondly, I have heard a lot of hooplah about Smashwords and how it's so great so awesome by my book's been on there for a few months now and nothing has happened. I feel I've wasted all that time when I should've just stayed with Amazon so I could have that 70% on my ebook sales. Maybe I'm missing something though? Did I over look some all important detail in the formula for Smashword success?

Help a girl out ya'll -_^

I guess it depends what people meant when they said that Smashwords was awesome.

I like it because it makes my books available in all formats, it's quick to publish, pushes the books out to other stores, and I can create coupon codes for giveaways and things.

You can still choose the 70% royalty option on Amazon even without being Select.

Alexis wrote: "I have a question, maybe two:

First, can anyone tell me what the heck is up with Twitter? I personally don't get the reason for it, but I've heard it's helpful for authors. I really don't know wha..."


Hi Alexis:

I use Twitter to get readers to my blog. My typical tweet is something like, "Meet Alex, sexy leading man in romance novel THE DECEPTION. (Link to blog post about Alex.) This gets them on my blog, and, hopefully, they will click on a link to buy the book.

I don't use Smashwords myself because I've heard the same complaint you have from many other authors. My books seem to do well on Kindle.

Hope this helps.

(re message 36) Alexis, you can use Twitter to draw people's attention to articles that readers and/or writers might find interesting -- and, in addition and without overdoing it, tweet links to interviews you do, reviews of your book, updates to your blog or other website, and new releases.

I don't sell much on Smashwords either, but it's handy as a way to give reviewers a free e-copy of a book (using their coupon codes). It's also an alternative way to give away books, by publicizing a coupon code -- though at present, it's much less effective for promotional giveaways than is the KDP Select program, which requires exclusivity.

Justin wrote: "Hey Melanie, does this group hold blog tours? I was curious because my 2nd book is coming out soon and I am looking to hold blog tours through groups Im apart of here on GR."

Hi Justin - we don't hold tours directly - however, if you review the 'Bloggers Available' in the connections area, and the general 'Blog' threads, you will likely find lots of people willing to support and take part in a blog tour.

Good luck!

Thanks, ill check it out also I commented in the Horror section of the Connecting Authors and Readers section but haven't heard anything, I take it its just slow and no takers yet?

It can be sometimes, it depends on whose looking. I've had some contact directly from the threads and have used the blogger thread to reach out directly to interested bloggers. We're just finishing up an Indie Author event on the blog I run, and we filled some of our spaces through approaches to authors on the YA list.

Maybe I should get organised now and do a horror indie author event on the run up to Halloween :) Probably a bit cliche

Horror event? That sounds fun! I should have a laptop by then so I will definitely help out with that!

That sounds like a good idea. Us horror folk tend to come out in bunches whenever there's a horrorfest :(

Hi i'm new on this website and i don't know how to get the book up so i can read it. :(

You probably need to go to a website where you can buy the book or download it for free. The book will have links to where it is available.

If you are doing a book giveaway - would it be better to give away a "bunch of books" all at once, or try giving away 1 or 2 per week with a book giveaway every week or two over an extended period of time?
W.D. Currie
The Burn Rose: Pirates to Privateers

Does anyone get reviews the real way when they release a new book? I feel like when I am reviewing a newly released book that it always has five to eight reviews all of which are five stars.

I never see a book that has five reviews and they have anything other than five star reviews.

Chris wrote: "Does anyone get reviews the real way when they release a new book? I feel like when I am reviewing a newly released book that it always has five to eight reviews all of which are five stars.

I nev..."

Chris,

You are not alone in questioning the validity of the majority of reviews posted on Goodreads.

The rating standard established by Goodreads is: 1-star = "didn't like it"; 2-stars = "it was okay"; 3-stars = "it was good"; 4-stars = "very good"; 5-stars = "amazing".

Very few books, including those written by well-known, best-selling authors, meet the criteria for being "amazing".

What is truly amazing (pun intended) is the number of SPA's and indies who routinely toss humility aside and post a review of their own work, never failing to award it a 5-star rating.

Yeah I've never understood why the site even allows an author to rate their own books. It's not something I've done myself