How To Have a Top Book on Goodreads

by | Jun 21, 2017 | Book Marketing Basics, Goodreads Marketing & Promotion

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Goodreads has become a front-and-center social network for authors.

First with their Amazon relationship (Amazon purchased Goodreads in 2013), and now they’re topping out at over 50 million users.

Though many authors and publishers vowed to close their Goodreads accounts after the merger, Goodreads is still going strong and maintaining its independence.

Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler cites three primary factors behind this acceleration: “a critical mass of book reviews,” “explosive” mobile growth, and international expansion.

Not on Goodreads? You should be!

If you’re not on Goodreads or if you haven’t touched your account in a while, you should consider all the benefits this site offers. I go into more in-depth strategies in my upcoming, updated, edition of How To Sell Books By The Truckload so keep an eye out for the release in August!

In the meantime I want to ensure you know about Goodreads’ awesome list and ranking feature: Listopia.

Listopia is one of those very unique features you don’t see anywhere else in such an organized format, that people actually go back to again and again.

Essentially Goodreads allows readers to create lists of recommended books by topic and genre, sometimes really specific ones too like: top time travel romance novels or top Vietnam war books.

And the best part? You can petition your fan base and those who read your books in general to add your books to lists and vote on them, the more votes you get, the more exposure you get to the 50 million+ readers on the site that utilize these lists to get their next great book recommendation.

Plus, wait for it, the lists show ranking! So if you get enough votes you can get to the top 10 on a Goodreads reader voted list for your topic or genre! How kickass is that?

Stay Classy

Of course as with any self-promotion, keep it classy.

Don’t ask your followers to throw your books on all the lists at once. Do a little research yourself, find the lists that best fit your book, pull those links, and then ask your followers to add your books and vote. Simply go to the Listopia home page and do a search for your topic or genre to see what lists already exist. Share those on social, in your newsletter, on your blog, or even in just a basic email to everyone in your network. The key is to make it easy for them to help you out, so the more you can provide them in regards to guidance, the better. It’s a really simple process that can make a big impact!

It’s also a good idea to vote on other books you’ve read or for authors you’re familiar with, participate on the site in general, Goodreads rewards authors who actually get involved and use the site the way it was intended to be used by book lovers.

And if you happen to have a network of author friends and colleagues who write in the same genre, start your own list and give it a catchy name and put a compilation of your books in at and then harness the power of multiple networks when it comes to petitioning fans for votes and exposure!

If you feel clueless about Goodreads, and well, book marketing in general, we can help you, we have a fantastic Goodreads program. We also have one specifically for authors who are already using the site, but aren’t using it to its full potential. To learn more about our programs just reach out and we’ll talk book promotion!

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