r/books discussion

Is anyone aware of this feature on goodreads?

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway

I've been aware of it for quite awhile and actually won a book contest on it and received a free book in the mail.

Has anyone else explored other features of the site ? I know about the trivia and quizzes, but aside from our book club, what other features do people regularly use on goodreads? I used goodreads to keep track of my reading andthe book challenge. Anyone still doing the book challenge? I leave the occasional review as well. Anyone use the goodreads app?

I have also one a book from there and enjoyed it a lot. I'm still waiting for the second one. :(

The book was Upload.

I was thinking of trying to set up a buy sell trade thing in the group, and maybe try and pass books like this around so the authors can get even more exposure.

I also use the app. It is great because I can finish an audiobook at work and immediately mark and rate it.

As for other features, I love to keep track of some of my favorite authors and mark the quotes I really like.

I recently started doing reviews. I have one review. I started cross posting to my blog about it and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm trying to review the book more as I received it and felt about it rather than just a summary, which I noticed book reviewers tend to do.

I think it's a great idea to have a buy/sell/trade, maybe it will work in the group.

I know reddit has a subreddit for it here that might be helpful as well!

http://www.reddit.com/r/bookexchange

Well, I don't usually write too much for reviews, but reviewing books you win in giveaways helps improve your chances to win additional giveaways.

I check out the sub and am in the process of an exchange from a submission from there right now.

How does writing reviews increase your chances of winning?

That's the whole point. Many giveaways are some early, or directly at release copies of a relatively newer authors book. They want to get reviews up, and they reward those that receive the book and help out the authors.

From the terms and conditions of the giveaway page:

You are not required to review the book if you win a copy. However, we encourage you do to so, as it's the reason the publishers are giving us free books in the first place. People who review the books are also more likely to win more advance copies in the future.

I've actually won a nice number of books from giveaways... Maybe 6? 7? I haven't signed up for any lately, though, because I have too many books already on my shelves waiting to be read! I always read my winnings quickly and review them, and I think that contributes to my multiple wins. They also check how frequently you use the site, and I am pretty active.

I review almost every book I read, and a lot of that is for my own purposes. I'd like to think my reviews get read sometimes, but I doubt it's often. I like to be able to go back and see what I thought and felt about the book rather than what I rated it (my rating can vary wildly from day to day, I think...). As someone said (on my phone, can't pop back to other posts), I prefer to give a true review rather than a synopsis. You can get a synopsis from a number of places, but only I can write what Jenna thought!

I also like to look at a few reviews that are different from mine after I finish the book. If I hated it, I like to see a few 4 or 5 star ratings to see what they saw that I didn't. And vice-versa.

Cool! I'll have to use it at some point.

What books, Jennifer? Can you link your reviews? I'm more than happy to check out small name authors if the books sound interesting and there is positive feedback for it.

@Philip, it looks like I have won 10! One of them I haven't read yet... it took them forever to send it to me, so I am taking my time reading it!
Here is the link to my page of Goodreads-giveaways tagged books-- feel free to see what I have said about them! Some of them are little-known, but some (Wheel of Time) are big books or a little more well-known.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

Haha. You must be quite lucky. Wheel of time is quite the popular series, and I have a copy of A First Rate Madness as well!

What did you think about A First Rate Madness? I found it fascinating but thought it had some holes and wouldn't really stand up as an academic test.

I liked it. Some were interesting. A lot of using conjecture to support his case, but it was a new idea I liked. Especially the JFK and Hitler sections.

Agreed. I think the JFK part was fascinating to me mostly because you only hear of him as some sort of saint...

By the way I would be totally on board with the book exchange or whatever... I never seem to like what I see on /r/bookexchange

I haven't ever really participated in the giveaways here on goodreads until just recently. I did, however participate in a reddit book exchange and it was pretty fun-- I got Hitchhiker's Guide which I've been wanting to read and a book of poems.

I won my fist one today http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17... I will review when it's here as anything to help up the chances is a good thing.

I've won a Goodreads giveaway for a book called Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction... I have yet to finish reading through it and reviewing it, mostly due to the fact that I'm in the middle of moving (technically, twice...stupid leases...) So far, it's an optimistic view of how we could possibly survive a mass extinction ie.,, dinosaurs.

Now, what is the ratio to the giveaways you enter to the ones you win? Do you purposefully go for less sought after books?

I enter all the giveaways in my spare time and I find that I have a lot of spare time. I've entered giveaways that I won where my chances are 1 in 800 and others where there are 10 copies of the book going to 150 readers. I've won 6 books in different genres and have received 3 of them. I've been finishing up my reading at this time before I can start them.

I do intend on reviewing them all, the least I can do for free books, because seriously, who has the money to splurge anymore?

These are the books I've won and my odds.

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...





My hometown is Las Vegas, so I like to think I know a few things about odds, and it's not simple luck on how I won 6 books. I did a quick estimation. I won 2/3rds of a book per 100 entries. So for my 6 books I've won, I've entered about 900-1000 giveaways.
The odds are not in my favor. It mind boggles me when I think why do people believe gambling is a good idea.

As for the ability to enter so many contests, let's just say that I do this when I'm waiting around and before this month, it seems that all I've been doing is put on hold.

As far as book giveaways/contests, goodreads appears to be a goldmine. I've won books off of other contest on author's websites and such but those are few and far between.

Thinking of entering one for Timebound! Do we have to pay shipping and handling?

Nope. Its all free.

Sweet! Thanks!

@house03, just make sure that the giveaway list your country in which countries the giveaways are open to. :) good luck!