Author Support Group discussion

Hey Group!

So what is this author popularity thing on Goodreads. I did explore/authors and discovered we are being ranked on here. Novel idea???? How do they get their stats? What do you all think about that?

I think the "ranking" such as it is, has more to do with the number of goodreads members who have that author's book(s) on their shelves than any other means of measurement. They may also take into account the number of fans/followers but I think it is mostly based on the number of ratings/reviews/average rating, etc. Ex: Neil Gaiman's stats are:
avg rating: 4.18 | 221,798 ratings | 20,185 reviews | 199 distinct works | 2680 fans

Sheesh, no wonder he's got the top spot in popularity!

That's a cool idea. I'm glad I ran across this site. I just found it by accident. I didn't find it when I was doing a book club search.

You're right...Neil is the man, but I have never heard of him outside of this site, no offense to him. What is distinct works? Does that man the books we have written?

His genre is described as, I think, "graphic novels" which, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe is a fancy term for comic books in novel form. The Graveyard Book is one that I seem to see mentioned quite a bit.

Oh, Neil Gaiman is HUGE!! Like he started with an underground following when he penned the Sandman graphic novels and just took off from there. He's big in the fantasy/dark fantasy genre. Let's see, American Gods, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, Stardust...does movies, music. He's originally from the UK and quite cute. Ha ha.

But, yeah, I didn't stumble upon him until about five years ago. I got to meet him in Tokyo at a book signing. Real nice guy.

The Graveyard Book rings a bell to me... I think it's juvinile literature?

Thersa wrote: "I got to meet him in Tokyo at a book signing. Real nice guy."

Cool. I get that feeling from what I read on his blog. :o)

Sherry wrote: "The Graveyard Book rings a bell to me... I think it's juvinile literature?"

I think so. I first heard about it in a kid-lit group.

Yeah, it's children's (mid grade?). I think he just got a Newberry Award for Graveyard and a Locus Award as well. Neil did this neat book reading thing where he went to a different city and read one chapter -- first city Chapter one, second city Chapter two... until the book was done. He had them taped so you could go online and listen to the book one chapter at a time until it was done. I think you can still go somewhere and watch them all if you want. A neat idea.

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Thersa wrote: "Yeah, it's children's (mid grade?). I think he just got a Newberry Award for Graveyard and a Locus Award as well. Neil did this neat book reading thing where he went to a different city and read on..."

Very cool. Thanx for sharing, Terrie!