Tag Archives: reader communities

Marketing a book on Goodreads

29 October 2012 Jordan 1 Comment

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Marketing: social media

Goodreads is a great place to find readers where they’re hanging out online. It’s been one of my favorite sites as a reader to scope out books, compare reviews with friends and keep track of what I’ve read (though I’ve seriously slacked on that part this year!).

But in addition to being a fun place as a reader—and a good place to find new readers by becoming a genuine part of the community—Goodreads also offers several ways for authors to market directly to readers.

Marketing on Goodreads

Naturally, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the site if you’re not already a member. As an author, you can “claim” your books and have a centralized profile page for readers to learn more about you and your books, and possibly connect with you. You can connect your blog also, so that you have fresh content on your GR page. (However, I’m totally gun-shy about reviews, positive or negative, so if you’re the same way, remember that as you set up your author page. I wonder if there’s an option to hide the reviews from yourself. . . .)

As with all reader communities, behave well. Goodreads has active forums, but spamming them definitely won’t win you any friends, let alone sales. (We covered more about this last week.)

Use the excerpt feature

Author Elana Johnson blogged earlier this year that Goodreads had added the ability to upload an excerpt from your book, like a free preview for readers. She advises:

I’ve found that a PDF works/looks best, and you can upload the entire book and then choose to only show a certain percentage of it, so it’s probably a 5-minute job to do this.

Then, what I do, is advertise using the word “free” in my ad. Like, “Fans of The Hunger Games and Matched, read the first two chapters of POSSESSION, a dystopian novel, for free.” (Or something more eloquent… But I definitely reference the best-sellers!)

I’ve had over 40,000 views in a single day on an ad like that. And all I did was upload the first two chapters of POSSESSION–which has been free on my website for over a year anyway. But it’s getting it into the hands of READERS in a place where READERS hang out.

Exactly.

Goodreads gives instructions on how to upload your excerpt here.

Goodreads advertising

Goodreads also runs targeted advertising in the right-hand sidebar. I tend to notice the ads most when they’re more dynamic, as opposed to static images. Here’s a static image of a typical dynamic ad in action (the text was moving when I did the screencap):

Personally, I believe these ads are most effective if your “call to action” at the end of the ad is something like “Add [Book] to your To-Read List!” or “Enter the Goodreads giveaway for a free copy” (more on that below)—i.e. they’re fully integrated with Goodreads, and you know that call to action isn’t going to dump you on the Amazon sales page. Plus, adding a book to your digital TBR pile or entering a drawing fora free copy is a lot less of a commitment than even a $0.99 purchase. Finally, when people add books to their To Read list, it shows up in their friends’ news feeds and perhaps email digests of friend activity—more publicity for you.

However, it does seem that few people see a real increase in sales from Goodreads advertising. If you do decide to use their advertising system, I advise making your ads as targeted as possible. Consider targeting people who’ve added (or are currently looking at) books by a similar author, or the like, to truly reach your audience. With such narrow targeting, you’ll reach a smaller audience, but that audience will be more likely to be interested in your book.

Goodreads giveaways

The final aspect of Goodreads that I want to cover is their giveaways. Through Goodreads, you can offer free copies of your book, hard copy or e-book, and people sign up for the giveaway. You set when the contest starts and ends, and all people have to do is click a button in the interim to win one of your free copies. (Want to enter a giveaway? Go to Explore > Giveaways to find the current listings.)

Novel Publicity President Emlyn Chad offers some great advice on maximizing your Goodreads giveaway. Among other points, she says to

Offer giveaways in multiple countries
Schedule future giveaways
Keep the entry period short

She expands on these and eight other interesting tips for more effective giveaways on Goodreads. It seems to be working for her, so if you’re interested in using Goodreads for marketing, definitely check out that article!

What do you think? Are you a member of Goodreads? How do you see it used for marketing, either in a good way or . . . not? Come join in the conversation!

Coming up this week: more last-minute Nano prep, and the starting gun!

Marketing

Marketing: finding new readers online

22 October 2012 Jordan

This entry is part 2 of 7 in the series Marketing: social media

The Internet has become a great place to find new readers and potential book customers. A lot of the time, we think about marketing messages that we get to send out on our own platforms: our blogs, our Twitter accounts, our Facebook pages. And that’s a great way to interact with your readers and keep them engaged, but it probably won’t do much to help you find new readers.

Say what? Aren’t new readers supposed to see how awesome we are on the Interwebz and then come to us?

When is the last time that you, as a reader, came to an author’s books through his/her website, blog, Facebook or Twitter? It happens, but it’s extremely rare. So how do you go hunting for these elusive new readers?

Well, the answer is, sort of, you don’t. You have to approach it from a different mindset. You’re not hunting for victims to wrest away their dollars on your book—you’d probably have more luck picking pockets! Instead, we’re building relationships with people who love the same kinds of books we do. If you’re going to go into a community of readers with the attitude of burn and conquer, you’ll crash and burn, and quick.

It’s that darn sincerity thing again

People can see a shill a mile off, and they won’t stand for it. If we come into a reader community looking to take advantage of the people there, it will come through in every post you make, and you’ll be making the opposite of friends.

Please say it with me: don’t join a readers’ community to push your books. Don’t join a readers’ community to push your books. Don’t join a readers’ community to push your books.

But . . . you said . . .

Yes, I know, I said you can find new readers in readers’ communities. But that doesn’t mean you should respond to every “What should I read next?” post with “MY BOOK HEREAREEIGHTY-SEVENPURCHASELINKSHAVEACOUPON!!!!”

Social media—like readers’ communities—is about being social. It’s built on relationships—and not the buyer/seller relationship. Like I also said before, when we approach a readers’ community, it’s with the attitude of building relationships with people who love the same kinds of books we do.

You do read in your genre, don’t you? Your genre is one of your favorites, right? Then you’ve got all the credentials you need to hang out with other people who read in your genre.

Not. Being. Pushy.

In case I haven’t hammered this home yet, let me reiterate that aggressively pushing your book will not sell it. This is true in all media—just like constantly blogging or Tweeting or Facebooking “BUY MY BOOK HEREAREEIGHTY-SEVENPURCHASELINKSHAVEACOUPON!!!!“, attacking a readers’ community and carpetbombing it with coupons is not an effective marketing strategy.

So, then, what can you do?

Look around to see how other authors interact. Figure out if you want to mimic their styles, see what works for them, figure out the best way to interact with people here.
Mention your book in your post signature—but again, don’t be pushy. The title, the tagline, the cover image, and genre, maybe.
Do reply to and acknowledge people who ask you about your book directly.

You might also consider offering a coupon to members of the community (if you have that capability, such as via self-publishing on Smashwords) or other incentive—but only after you’ve made a good, consistent effort to build those genuine relationships and get to know the community.

Reader Community Etiquette

Again, the best first step is to observe the community first. If there are any other authors there, pay special attention to them, how they mention their books, how they approach relationships there. They might not be good examples, but you might learn even more effectively from bad examples.

A few blanket caveats:

Do not engage with trolls (belligerent and abusive people) at any time or any place.
Choose your battles—and better yet, walk away.
Do NOT argue with people who didn’t like your book. Publishing is subjective. You haven’t loved everything you’ve ever read, have you?
Even if they get the facts wrong, DO NOT ARGUE WITH PEOPLE ABOUT YOUR BOOK.
Never, never, never attack someone for disagreeing with you—especially not about your book.
In fact, if there’s a discussion on your book, unless you’re invited to join, it might be best to stay away.

I’ve had this post written for over a month, but I’ve been sick and tired. Sorry about the delay! I hope we’ll be getting back to a more regular posting schedule as I pull out my “gearing up for NaNoWriMo” posts, as well as inspirational posts to help us through everyone’s favorite month!

So, what do you think? Where do you hang out as a reader? What kind of online behaviors from an author have you seen that you like or don’t like? Are you doing Nano?

Photo credits: salesman—Pete Simon; Salesmen seen by appointment only—John

Jordan McCollum