At eFrog Press we encourage authors to connect with their potential readers. Unfortunately, writing your book is only the beginning of the publishing process. Next, you must find readers. With the Internet there are more options than ever before; however, the number of options can be a problem. It is easy to get lost in social media and spend too much time connecting with other authors, people who are not interested in your genre, and just surfing the net. A writer’s time is precious and needs to be strategically devoted to marketing the new book and writing the next.
We have shared insights about tapping into the power of various social media in previous posts:
Why Create a Book Trailer? You want readers, not viewers
Save Time for Writing With Social Media Tools
Take the Leap Into Social Media
Facebook 101: Create an Author Presence
The Top 10 Ways Authors Connect to Readers on Facebook
Twitter 101: A Crash Course for Authors
How Do My Readers Find Me on Twitter? Advice for Indie Authors
How authors can use YouTube to connect with their readers
Getting Connected on LinkedIn® Professional Networking Services
An Author’s Profile Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Today we encourage you to explore Goodreads—a special site for readers with 20 million members! Looking for readers? Here they are. You can join groups just for your genre and create an author presence to promote your book(s).
Although we recommend Goodreads to authors, we have discovered they do not always take to it right away. Some are puzzled by the format and how to find possible readers. Goodreads is not a place to post comments like “Read my book,” but it does provide an opportunity to find people who love to read and may love your book. So here is some advice for starting your journey.
Getting Started with Goodreads
1. Edit Your Profile: If you already have a Goodreads profile, be sure your name is the same as the author name on your book. Some authors use initials (J.K. Rowling), so be sure to modify your profile so your name matches or you will not be able to create your Author Dashboard with your existing account.
2. Writers are Readers: Goodreads is about sharing book recommendations, listing books you have read, plan to read, and are reading.
- Review/Rate Books: Before you begin to promote yourself as a writer, become active as a reader.
- Add Friends: Find people you know and people you don’t know who read books you like to read.
- Join Groups: Explore Groups and join a few that appeal to you. Comment in discussions and resist talking about your new book—yet.
3. Add Book Cover: Search for your new book. Often it is listed sans cover. To add your cover, click on Groups (top menu bar) and then in Find Groups field, put Goodreads Librarians Group. You can post your request in the discussion group to have your cover added.
4. Claim Author Profile: Once you locate your book, click on your author name. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the link next to “Is this you?” Once you identify yourself as the author, Goodreads will review your profile and then link your existing profile with your Author Profile.
5. Author Dashboard: Complete your Author Profile and look through the tutorials on the Author Program. There are many ways to connect with potential readers here.
