Steven Orlowski's Blog: Steve O's "So What?" Blog - Posts Tagged "books"
Is goodreads good for you?
My goodreads pal Ellis Shuman sent me a message with a link to his blog and a post with the same name as the title of this one. You can find it here EllisShuman.Blogspot.com if you like.
I think the answer to the question is yes.
Ellis first asks his blog readers to comment on the influx of "friend" requests in his email from strangers on goodreads who apparently find him unbearably appealing as a potential acquaintance. It's how he and I became friends.
His number of friends has grown since the publication of the blog post: from 760 then to 815 today. But then he asks "Please tell me, where are all these friend requests coming from?"
Come on Ellis. All of our friends are listed right there on our individual goodreads pages. You know it, I know it, anybody who is an author on goodreads knows it.
And then he states he doesn't know what an "event" on GoodReads is, or whether or not you can post the same book reviews on GR as Amazon, since Amazon now owns it...why wouldn't Amazon let us? The more the merrier.
I think Ellis has a much better handle on how to use goodreads and self-promotion in general. It seems to me he's sold more books than I have as a result of goodreads based upon his self-reported statistics. And I have three-times as many friends. Shame on me.
The thing is I didn't have a clue what to do with GoodReads in the beginning. I suspect that's a common thing. My account sat latent for months while I forgot about it and my friend total of three stayed static for months (those three being my brother, a former neighbor, and I think my brother's dog...).
But here's the bottom line as far as I see it. Sure, there are some people here that are just readers genuinely interested in finding new authors and interesting books. But I think they might be in the minority. I am quite interested in learning the percentage of authors in the total population versus readers. I would be surprised if authors did not outnumber readers handily.
Whether it was intended to be so, goodreads is a portal for authors to promote their work. And with Amazon.com buying its value proposition as a means of promoting and selling books likely has risen.
Me, I've sold a few books as a result of making friends at goodreads. I've also read more than a few books from new authors I've discovered and/or who successfully promoted themselves to my awareness here as well.
Some were good, some were horrible. But that's what you get in the new wild, wild west of indie publishing.
In the meantime I'll continue to make friends at goodreads (I have more here than I do in real life and on Facebook).
I hope a few more people buy my book. Maybe a couple will be the catalyst for the proverbial "snowball effect" and I can finally leave my necessary career behind and live the life of a full-time novelist.
Did I mention my book is available at Amazon.com for Kindle e-readers?
It's really good. I'm not just saying that because I wrote it.
And it's only $2.99, less than a Grande Cafe Mocha at Starbucks. If you need to you can download a big chunk of it for free - you know, try it before you buy it.
Please. Anyone. Hello. Is there anybody out there...
I think the answer to the question is yes.
Ellis first asks his blog readers to comment on the influx of "friend" requests in his email from strangers on goodreads who apparently find him unbearably appealing as a potential acquaintance. It's how he and I became friends.
His number of friends has grown since the publication of the blog post: from 760 then to 815 today. But then he asks "Please tell me, where are all these friend requests coming from?"
Come on Ellis. All of our friends are listed right there on our individual goodreads pages. You know it, I know it, anybody who is an author on goodreads knows it.
And then he states he doesn't know what an "event" on GoodReads is, or whether or not you can post the same book reviews on GR as Amazon, since Amazon now owns it...why wouldn't Amazon let us? The more the merrier.
I think Ellis has a much better handle on how to use goodreads and self-promotion in general. It seems to me he's sold more books than I have as a result of goodreads based upon his self-reported statistics. And I have three-times as many friends. Shame on me.
The thing is I didn't have a clue what to do with GoodReads in the beginning. I suspect that's a common thing. My account sat latent for months while I forgot about it and my friend total of three stayed static for months (those three being my brother, a former neighbor, and I think my brother's dog...).
But here's the bottom line as far as I see it. Sure, there are some people here that are just readers genuinely interested in finding new authors and interesting books. But I think they might be in the minority. I am quite interested in learning the percentage of authors in the total population versus readers. I would be surprised if authors did not outnumber readers handily.
Whether it was intended to be so, goodreads is a portal for authors to promote their work. And with Amazon.com buying its value proposition as a means of promoting and selling books likely has risen.
Me, I've sold a few books as a result of making friends at goodreads. I've also read more than a few books from new authors I've discovered and/or who successfully promoted themselves to my awareness here as well.
Some were good, some were horrible. But that's what you get in the new wild, wild west of indie publishing.
In the meantime I'll continue to make friends at goodreads (I have more here than I do in real life and on Facebook).
I hope a few more people buy my book. Maybe a couple will be the catalyst for the proverbial "snowball effect" and I can finally leave my necessary career behind and live the life of a full-time novelist.
Did I mention my book is available at Amazon.com for Kindle e-readers?
It's really good. I'm not just saying that because I wrote it.
And it's only $2.99, less than a Grande Cafe Mocha at Starbucks. If you need to you can download a big chunk of it for free - you know, try it before you buy it.
Please. Anyone. Hello. Is there anybody out there...
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