Rick Soper's Blog - Posts Tagged "goodreads"

About five minutes ago I got my 1,000th Friend on Goodreads and I'm ecstatic. I published my first book, The Rock Star, on November 17, 2012 and I joined Goodreads a few days afterwards. I wish I had done it much sooner. Goodreads people are my people. I've been reading novels ever since I made the jump from comic books into the nether world of Stephen King's Horror novels way back in the 1970's when I was still a pre-teen. But as I've grown up, gone to college, and started my multiple careers, my friends and colleagues haven't always been readers, so my joy in finding and reading great novels was just something I enjoyed by myself. But in publishing my first novel I found Goodreads and now I get to share my joy of reading with all the readers like me that are here on a constant basis. I now publish a review for every book that I read, I'm part of groups that are made up of other self-published authors who have similar problems and joys that I have, I'm part of groups that share my similar interests in books, and through those groups I'm able to learn things I wouldn't have learned with out my fellow Goodreads friends, and find books that I wouldn't know about unless I was reading the group discussions and updates from my friends who are introducing me to whole new reading worlds.
And as a self-published author I'm able to introduce myself and my books to whole groups of readers that I would never be able to get in front of without Goodreads. Now the number of friends you have on Goodreads does not necessarily translate directly into sales of your various books, but it does give you another line of promotion that will lead to some sales. If you combine those promotional efforts with similar efforts on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and your own blog/website than you are going to sell a few books. Of course the best way of selling more books is to write good books that people will want to read, and people will find you. But being on Goodreads and the other site will help those people find you, and after writing a good book, thats the greatest battle.
I want to thank each and every one of my friends on Goodreads. I come here every day, multiple times a day, to read comments, to make comments, and to find new books to read. My only problem in life is having the time in a day to be able to read all the books I find here, be able to review them, make comments about others, and still be able to write my own books. But it's always better to be busy and entertained than bored and filled with the overwhelming need to cause trouble. It's much more productive to write about troubled individuals and get paid for it.
Thanks to all 1,000 of my Friends here at Goodreads I hope you enjoy my comments, reviews, and books as much as I enjoy all of yours, and look forward to a long and happy relationship.

As we steam towards the end of this year tonight and the start of the New Year tomorrow I'd like to say Thank You to the many people who've helped me be a successful independent writer this year. I will always thank my parents first for their love, support, and raising me with the idea that I could achieve anything I wanted to if I put my mind to it. And my mom is always the last one who reads my books before they go out to print because she was the first one to call me when she found errors in my first book, so as thanks for that I make sure my books have the MOM seal of approval before they're printed. I need to thank Beverly for supporting me through all the turbulence of my chaotic existence. I'd like to thank April Heath Pastis and H & P Publications for helping me get my books formatted and published correctly. I'd like to thank Sharon Stevenson for being the first fellow author I made a connection with, I've greatly enjoyed all of her books, her advice, her reviews, and look forward to everything she'll be writing in the new year. I'd like to thank David Weeks and Independent Book Promoter who provide one of the best best advertising services than any independent author will ever find. I'd like to thank Stevens Long for his editing prowess in taking my wildly written books and refining them into the finished products that so many readers have enjoyed. I'd like to thank fellow independent author Ken Pelham, who I made a connection to through Goodreads, I've enjoyed his books, conversations with him, and his reviews, and look forward to reading more from him. I want to thank Deena Rae from E-Book Builders for doing an interview with me and highlighted me during their Rocktober celebration, I really appreciate your support and respect the support and advice that you give to all independent authors. I'd like to thank Amazon for providing an easy to access platform through which independent authors like myself can get out work out to the public. I'd like to thank Twitter and all my followers there for being able to Tweet, Re-Tweet, and find new potential reader for my book, authors for me to read, and finding a great amount of articles to read and enjoy. I'd like to thank Goodreads because it provides the perfect platform for authors to find readers, readers to find authors, and its' a great place to find people to talk to about books.

Lastly...

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY!

I'd like to thank each and every person that picked up a copy of any one of my books! Writers don't work without readers, so I appreciate each and every one of you who took the time to find my books, read them, and hopefully enjoy them. I hope that I'm writing books that you can really enjoy reading, because I really enjoy writing them.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! AND THANK YOU!