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3 More Things You Should Do on Goodreads

October 29, 2018 / Promo Tips / 23 COMMENTS

Man holding phone in front of a field.by Chrys Fey, @ChrysFey 

Back in June Elizabeth graciously had me as a guest on her wonderful blog for 3 Things You’re Probably Not Doing on Goodreads that You Should. Shortly after that post went live, I thought of 3 more things you could do on Goodreads and wanted to do a follow-up post here. So, are you ready for 3 additional tips that are easy to do and can be beneficial to you and your books?

Well, here they are!

  1. Upload YouTube Videos

Do you create videos about your books for a YouTube channel? Have you ever done a recorded reading or a book trailer? Great! Now you can post those to Goodreads.

Step 1: All you need is the full URL to the video on YouTube. Copy it and head over to your Goodreads profile.

Step 2: On the left side of your profile, beneath your followers, you’ll see a section for videos. Click “add new.”

Step 3: On the page that pops up, paste the full YouTube URL for the video into the spot asking for the “Video URL.”

Step 4: Insert a title and description.

Step 5: Fill out tags, using commas to separate them. You could use your author name, your book’s title, your series’ title, your characters’ names, and keywords that you’d use to describe your book’s genre/category on Amazon.

Other Tag Ideas: reading, author reading, book trailer, book series, readers.

You can even use popular hashtags from Instagram and Twitter for books and readers, but without the actual hashtag symbol. Ex: bibliophiles, bookworm

Step 6: Choose the type of video. Your options are: trailer, interview, reading, speech, and other.

Step 7: Select which one of your books the video is about.

Step 8: Click “save.”

Now your video is up for Goodreads members to view. Not only will it be on your profile in the sidebar, but also on your book’s Goodreads page as a bonus for readers. Only two videos are visible at a time, but all can be found by clicking “see more.” When you view all videos. there’s a counter that shows the number of views of your videos have received.

See: 10 Things You Can Do on Your Author YouTube Channel

  1. Add Your Series’ Book Titles to Book Descriptions

This is a tip I also recommend for all of the description sections for books on Amazon. If you have a series/trilogy, add the list of book titles for that series/trilogy in the description of each book’s Goodreads page below the blurb.

For example:

Series Name:

Book 1 Title

Book 2 Title

Book 3 Title

This is great for readers who stumble upon your book or stop in to check it out. By putting this list beneath the blurb, you are helping readers who may want to know the order of books. As a reader, I know it can be a pain to discover the order of books. And as an author, it’s free advertising.

TIP: You can also ask Goodreads Librarians to create a series page so that on your profile there will be a section titled “Series by (Author Name).” The name of your series will be accompanied with the cover images of your books and an average rating. Readers can then click on it to see the order of books and a few details about each book. But you have to join the Goodreads Librarians group first, which is as easy as clicking a button.

  1. Create Your Own Quotes

Scroll down on your Goodreads profile to the quote section beneath your recent updates. This is where you’ll find quotes you might’ve liked on Goodreads. If it’s empty, that just means you haven’t liked any quotes yet. But you can now! And you can make your own.

Click “Quotes by [Your Author Name.]” You’ll be taken to a new page. In the upper right-hand corner, click “Add A Quote.” Then you can fill in a quote, choose which book it comes from, and add tags (keywords).

Is there a bit of dialogue one of your characters says that reveals emotion, characterization, or hints at the plotline? What about narrative? Did you write a nice descriptive paragraph that stuns you with how good it is? Take those lines from your book and turn them into quotes. When you do, they will show up on your profile and on your book’s page where readers can like them and have them displayed in their favorite quotes section. And when they do that, their friends could see those quotes, too, and become intrigued. That’s what we want, right? Of course, it is!

With these 3 extra tips, I hope you’ve found ways to spice up your Goodreads profile and book pages, especially if you don’t usually use or go to Goodreads. Now is the time to take action and full advantage of this great platform.

Share: Your Goodreads tips.

For more information like this check out:

Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication by Chrys Fey

BIO: Chrys Fey is the author of Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication. Catch the sparks you need to write, edit, publish, and market your book! From writing your novel to prepping for publication and beyond, you’ll find sparks on every page, including 100 bonus marketing tips. Fey is an editor for Dancing Lemur Press and runs the Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s Goodreads book club. She is also the author of the Disaster Crimes series. Visit her blog, Write with Fey, for more tips. @ChrysFey www.ChrysFey.com

 

Writers: 3 Tips for Better Promo on Goodreads from @ChrysFey : Click To Tweet

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  3. Good ideas! Thanks!

    Hey, did you know that it’s not that hard to become a Goodreads Librarian? You only have to have reviewed like 50 books and then fill out the application. Then you can do all the Librarian things to your own books. (And if you already knew this, ignore me.) It’s especially helpful when you list your own book and then Amazon lists your book and you end up with multiple listings (each with their own reviews) for a single title. You can merge them together, so readers don’t get confused.

    2. Hi B.E.! No, I did not realize that. I’m not sure how many reviews I’ve done, but I’ll have to look into that and find that application. Thanks for the tip! That would be a lot easier than having to asking for helping. Although, they are really speedy about fixing an issues an author has or something an author requests. :)

      Yes, I’ve often had to merge books when Amazon lists a book I already put up, but you should be able to do that yourself. At least I can. :)

  4. These are really good ideas, for which thanks. I really ought to make more use of my Goodreads platform than I do. And you’ve provided some solid ideas for that.

    2. Hi Margot! I like Goodreads. I know it’s not for everyone, and that’s fine, but it’s an important place to be as an author, and an easy place to add updates and promo items like videos. :) Good luck with your GR profile!

  5. Chrys, These are great ideas. Thank you!

    Also thank you, Elizabeth, for hosting people who are in the know about writing, publishing and promoting.

    T.

  6. Hi Elizabeth and Chrys – what excellent ideas … and great you’ve explained how we go about it … thanks so much to you both – cheers Hilary

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