Goodreads is the social site for people who love reading. It is amazing! What is even more amazing is that you can win free books on the site (see How To Win Books On Goodreads, below).

At its most basic, it’s a way of cataloguing your books on virtual shelves, but it is much more than that.

If you make friends with people on the site – and add friends from the physical world, social networking sites and email contacts – you can see each other’s books and get/make recommendations. I have discovered authors via friends and picked new books thanks to their reviews. You start with three shelves, to show books you have already read, books you are currently reading and books you want to read. Then you add shelves, with names of your choice:

There are also discussion groups – you’ll find me talking extensively about Twilight! – and book clubs.

Also fun is the opportunity to compare books with friends and other Goodreads’ users. This shows you how you have rated books compared to their ratings, and brings up books they have reviewed to give you the chance to add them to your shelves – either ‘To Read’ or ‘Read’.

Bookshelves on Goodreads. You get three standard ones and can add as many custom ones as you want.

One of the most popular areas of the site, that many members visit every single day, is the Giveaway section. You can find it at: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway.

It has lists of contests to win free books (paperback versions, not eBooks) and the winners receive the books in the post. Authors are encouraged to offer their books free on Goodreads for these contests. The idea is that many of the people who win a free book will be good enough to write a review of it on Goodreads (some people are so enthusiastic that they write reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Shelfari, and elsewhere!). Reviews help book sales, so publishers and authors are keen to do this.

Goodreads recommend that authors/publishers offer about 10 books per contest. Some offer more, some less, but there will often be more than one chance of winning each book.

Of course, lots and lots of people enter these contests to win books so how do you go about increasing your chances of winning? Try these tips, which I unearthed while researching my book, ‘Goodreads For Authors’.

 

How To Win Books On Goodreads

Be sure to have a good number of books on your Goodreads shelves. There isn’t a minimum but a good rule of thumb is 20, because that is the amount you need in order to trigger the Goodreads Recommendations Engine, so it is obviously a number that brings you to their attention as a committed user of the site.
Have books on your shelves that are in the genre of the book(s) you want to win (you can select the contests by genre). Remember that the incentive for authors giving their books away is that they may get some reviews. Goodreads are more likely to pick you as a winner if you read books in the same genre, it shows you are keen and therefore more likely to read and review the book. If authors get reviews, they are more likely to offer free books in future, so keeping the Goodreads Giveaway section busy and popular!
Rate lots of books and write as many reviews as you can. Rating is easy, you just click a star underneath the book. Writing reviews takes longer but isn’t difficult. Some people are scared of writing reviews but they don’t have to be lengthy, you can just say you really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to other [the genre] fans. Don’t worry that the author will object if you write a less than glowing review – Goodreads tell authors not to respond to reviews. They want to keep the site independent, lively and honest.

To summarize how to Goodreads Giveaways: rate and review, keep genres in mind and have lots of books on your shelves.

As an added bonus, lots of the books in the contests are offered pre-publication (publishers like to build up a bit of enthusiasm about a book before they release it) so you may even get your hands on a book before everyone else is able to buy it!

 

 

 

You may also like:A Little About MeEinstein's Desk Was As Cluttered As Mine!With A Little Help From My FriendsWould You Like To Read A Bit Of 'Mo'?

The post Goodreads Giveaway Tips appeared first on Michelle Booth.