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Goodreads Now Offers Ad Targeting Based on 20,000 Authors & 500 Genre Options
Posted by Veronica Moss on September 12, 2016
The holy grail of book discovery is to get your book in front of the readers most likely to be interested in reading it, and one of the best ways to do this is with highly targeted advertising. While Goodreads is home to the world’s largest community of readers, we also know that not all books will appeal to all readers. To significantly improve how Goodreads helps book publishers reach the right potential readers, we’ve therefore rolled out new enhanced genre and author targeting offerings.
We’ve expanded our targetable authors from 200 to 20,000 and our targetable genres from 50 to 500, which provides a wider selection of possible targets and enables more precision with ad targeting. For example, fans of Veronica Rossi, Marie Lu, and Neal Shusterman all enjoy science fiction, but will likely find different science fiction books appealing. Now, you can narrow down your target audiences with more accuracy and create an audience that is highly relevant to your book.
Next, we’ve made genre targeting more dynamic—it now considers both a reader’s declared (their stated preferences) and behavioral (as shown by their activity on Goodreads) interests. This is important because a reader’s taste can change over time, so behavioral signals such as recent shelving activity is a more effective way to select the best ad to serve at the right time.
Combined, these targeting improvements enable book publishers to pinpoint readers who have the highest probability of being interested in their book, and in turn, deliver even more efficient advertising campaigns. And it’s great for our members too as this will help them discover even more books that better reflect their reading tastes.
When book publishers have a title they want to advertise on Goodreads, they can work with our Ad Sales team to develop a list of authors they’d like to target using one or more of our display ad products across web and mobile surfaces. Our best practice is to select up to 10 authors to target, with at least 5 authors from our list of top 200 authors in order to guarantee effective ad delivery.
Typically the publisher will suggest an author, or set of authors, that they believe would be relevant for the campaign; our Account Managers will augment or refine that list to optimize ad delivery and performance. Display ads, including our high performing Native Ads, are then targeted to readers based on their shelving and rating activity. Of course, you only want to reach fans of an author, so we automatically filter out anyone who has rated an author’s books less than 3 stars.
More dynamic than in the past, a member’s genre preferences are based on the books they shelf, which lets us identify the most relevant set of genres for that person at that point in time. And, we’ve built out our selection of genre options even more broadly than before. Any genre with a material amount of fans on Goodreads will work as a marketing target, giving book publishers an opportunity to increase discoverability of their featured titles. Some of the new genre options include coming of age, outdoors, and zombies. Like Author targeting, display ads, including Native ads, are then targeted to our readers based on their declared genre preferences and their behavioral preferences.
If you’re a current advertising partner, look for an announcement coming from us over email. For further questions, feel free to reach out to your account manager. They can walk you through the changes, and help you take advantage of the new targeting for your next campaign.
Download and search our new library of targetable authors here, and targetable genres here.
If you’re new to Advertising with Goodreads, contact us at [email protected]. We would love to help you market your next book!
Next: Getting the Most Out of the New Native Ads on Goodreads Newsfeed
You might also like: Five Tips for Running a Giveaway on Goodreads
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Veronica Moss on September 12, 2016
The holy grail of book discovery is to get your book in front of the readers most likely to be interested in reading it, and one of the best ways to do this is with highly targeted advertising. While Goodreads is home to the world’s largest community of readers, we also know that not all books will appeal to all readers. To significantly improve how Goodreads helps book publishers reach the right potential readers, we’ve therefore rolled out new enhanced genre and author targeting offerings.
More options means more refined targeting
We’ve expanded our targetable authors from 200 to 20,000 and our targetable genres from 50 to 500, which provides a wider selection of possible targets and enables more precision with ad targeting. For example, fans of Veronica Rossi, Marie Lu, and Neal Shusterman all enjoy science fiction, but will likely find different science fiction books appealing. Now, you can narrow down your target audiences with more accuracy and create an audience that is highly relevant to your book.
Better data delivers improved results
Next, we’ve made genre targeting more dynamic—it now considers both a reader’s declared (their stated preferences) and behavioral (as shown by their activity on Goodreads) interests. This is important because a reader’s taste can change over time, so behavioral signals such as recent shelving activity is a more effective way to select the best ad to serve at the right time.
Combined, these targeting improvements enable book publishers to pinpoint readers who have the highest probability of being interested in their book, and in turn, deliver even more efficient advertising campaigns. And it’s great for our members too as this will help them discover even more books that better reflect their reading tastes.
How Our New Author Targeting Works
When book publishers have a title they want to advertise on Goodreads, they can work with our Ad Sales team to develop a list of authors they’d like to target using one or more of our display ad products across web and mobile surfaces. Our best practice is to select up to 10 authors to target, with at least 5 authors from our list of top 200 authors in order to guarantee effective ad delivery.
Typically the publisher will suggest an author, or set of authors, that they believe would be relevant for the campaign; our Account Managers will augment or refine that list to optimize ad delivery and performance. Display ads, including our high performing Native Ads, are then targeted to readers based on their shelving and rating activity. Of course, you only want to reach fans of an author, so we automatically filter out anyone who has rated an author’s books less than 3 stars.
How Our New Genre Targeting Works
More dynamic than in the past, a member’s genre preferences are based on the books they shelf, which lets us identify the most relevant set of genres for that person at that point in time. And, we’ve built out our selection of genre options even more broadly than before. Any genre with a material amount of fans on Goodreads will work as a marketing target, giving book publishers an opportunity to increase discoverability of their featured titles. Some of the new genre options include coming of age, outdoors, and zombies. Like Author targeting, display ads, including Native ads, are then targeted to our readers based on their declared genre preferences and their behavioral preferences.
Get Started
If you’re a current advertising partner, look for an announcement coming from us over email. For further questions, feel free to reach out to your account manager. They can walk you through the changes, and help you take advantage of the new targeting for your next campaign.
Download and search our new library of targetable authors here, and targetable genres here.
If you’re new to Advertising with Goodreads, contact us at [email protected]. We would love to help you market your next book!
Next: Getting the Most Out of the New Native Ads on Goodreads Newsfeed
You might also like: Five Tips for Running a Giveaway on Goodreads
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Getting the Most Out of the New Native Ads on Goodreads Newsfeed
Posted by Steve on September 06, 2016
At Goodreads, we’re committed to being on the forefront of book discovery and brand advertising solutions for publishers and authors. Among our most anticipated new ad products this year has been “native” ads on our newsfeed and we’re excited to share some very powerful results from the first months of activity, along with five best practices gleaned from our initial campaigns.
To be an effective environment for native ads, newsfeeds must offer context, targeting, and, most importantly, scale. When it comes to reaching readers, the Goodreads newsfeed is the largest digital conversation dedicated to reading and books.
The newsfeed is where our millions of monthly logged-in members first arrive both on desktop and with their phone or tablet to engage with their friends and people they follow. To connect you with these passionate readers, Goodreads has the advantage of massive scale combined with our unique and proven targeting offering a powerful platform to bring native newsfeed ads to market.
Since we introduced our improved native ads in the first quarter of 2016, average click through rates (CTR) and engagement of these ads are nearly 3X higher than our typical, already-strong-performing display ads. Native ads on the Desktop have seen 2.3X higher CTR than a standard 300X250 display ad, and native ads on Mobile are 2.8X higher than a standard 320X50 placement.
While measuring the overall effectiveness of native newsfeed ads, we’ve also seen some clear signals on what works best to drive high engagement:
Crown Publishing’s smart use of quotes in the ad copy for Erik Larson’s Dead Wake drove strong engagement and intention. Seth Morris, Assistant Director, Advertising and Promotions, Crown Publishing, said, “We realized that placing a book in front of a highly targeted audience when they are focused on connecting with friends about what they are reading is the key strength of native ads on Goodreads.
We decided to experiment with native ads for the paperback edition of Dead Wake and were pleased to see that the campaign drove a significant amount of adds by Goodreads members to their “Want to Read” shelves. Even better, thanks to how all of these “Want to Read” adds were then shared in the updates feed of their friends, we generated social notifications about Dead Wake that amplified the effect of the native ad.”
Penguin Young Readers also saw great results with their native ads to promote the YA title Summerlost. Erin Toller, Associate Director Advertising & Consumer Marketing, Penguin Young Readers said, “We knew that it was important to create a native ad that felt a natural part of the updates feed. Incorporating actual reviews from Goodreads users added credibility to this title as Goodreads members really trust reviews on Goodreads–we saw excellent click-thru rates as a result! We plan on including Native Ads in future media buys on Goodreads.”
This example from iUniverse promoting The Siren illustrates the use of calling out “bestselling” status in the native copy:
These results show that including Goodreads newsfeed ads in your overall marketing mix is an effective way to reach readers and drive the best results for your book.
If you are interested in learning more about running a native ad campaign on Goodreads, please visit our advertising page to learn more and get in touch.
Next: The Successful Marketing Behind the Debut Novel Lilac Girls
You might also like: Goodreads Deals: A New Way to Promote EBooks to Millions of Goodreads Members
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Steve on September 06, 2016
At Goodreads, we’re committed to being on the forefront of book discovery and brand advertising solutions for publishers and authors. Among our most anticipated new ad products this year has been “native” ads on our newsfeed and we’re excited to share some very powerful results from the first months of activity, along with five best practices gleaned from our initial campaigns.
What makes native ads so powerful on the Goodreads Newsfeed
To be an effective environment for native ads, newsfeeds must offer context, targeting, and, most importantly, scale. When it comes to reaching readers, the Goodreads newsfeed is the largest digital conversation dedicated to reading and books.
The newsfeed is where our millions of monthly logged-in members first arrive both on desktop and with their phone or tablet to engage with their friends and people they follow. To connect you with these passionate readers, Goodreads has the advantage of massive scale combined with our unique and proven targeting offering a powerful platform to bring native newsfeed ads to market.
Since we introduced our improved native ads in the first quarter of 2016, average click through rates (CTR) and engagement of these ads are nearly 3X higher than our typical, already-strong-performing display ads. Native ads on the Desktop have seen 2.3X higher CTR than a standard 300X250 display ad, and native ads on Mobile are 2.8X higher than a standard 320X50 placement.
Native Newsfeed Ads — Best Practices
While measuring the overall effectiveness of native newsfeed ads, we’ve also seen some clear signals on what works best to drive high engagement:
- Using custom copy vs. default book descriptions perform better.
- Custom copy should read like an authentic Goodreads review and include quotes.
- Including mentions of any awards or bestselling lists status helps increase interest and engagement.
- Avoiding “salesy” ad copy and redundant calls to action such as “add to shelf” also improve performance.
Some examples of native ads that have performed well
Crown Publishing’s smart use of quotes in the ad copy for Erik Larson’s Dead Wake drove strong engagement and intention. Seth Morris, Assistant Director, Advertising and Promotions, Crown Publishing, said, “We realized that placing a book in front of a highly targeted audience when they are focused on connecting with friends about what they are reading is the key strength of native ads on Goodreads.
We decided to experiment with native ads for the paperback edition of Dead Wake and were pleased to see that the campaign drove a significant amount of adds by Goodreads members to their “Want to Read” shelves. Even better, thanks to how all of these “Want to Read” adds were then shared in the updates feed of their friends, we generated social notifications about Dead Wake that amplified the effect of the native ad.”
Penguin Young Readers also saw great results with their native ads to promote the YA title Summerlost. Erin Toller, Associate Director Advertising & Consumer Marketing, Penguin Young Readers said, “We knew that it was important to create a native ad that felt a natural part of the updates feed. Incorporating actual reviews from Goodreads users added credibility to this title as Goodreads members really trust reviews on Goodreads–we saw excellent click-thru rates as a result! We plan on including Native Ads in future media buys on Goodreads.”
This example from iUniverse promoting The Siren illustrates the use of calling out “bestselling” status in the native copy:
These results show that including Goodreads newsfeed ads in your overall marketing mix is an effective way to reach readers and drive the best results for your book.
If you are interested in learning more about running a native ad campaign on Goodreads, please visit our advertising page to learn more and get in touch.
Next: The Successful Marketing Behind the Debut Novel Lilac Girls
You might also like: Goodreads Deals: A New Way to Promote EBooks to Millions of Goodreads Members
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
The Successful Marketing Behind the Debut Novel "Lilac Girls”
Posted by Cynthia on August 22, 2016
Getting attention for a new book is always challenging, but breaking out a new book by a debut author is especially difficult. Without an established fan base, you need to work extra hard to create opportunities for readers to discover your book.
One example to study is the remarkable success Ballantine Books has had with Martha Hall Kelly’s debut novel, Lilac Girls, which follows three characters whose lives converge at Ravensbrück, the women’s-only concentration camp in World War II. Kelly did almost ten years of research for the book, and it shows. Readers are raving about the book’s story, Kelly’s writing, and her ability to transport the reader to another time. More than 50,000 readers have added the novel to their Goodreads shelves in the first four months since it was published in early April 2016, and it has an outstanding average rating of 4.3 stars. So, the book already had an inbuilt advantage—it’s a great story that resonates with readers.
But a well-written book is not enough. This is where preparation and a good marketing strategy come together to give a good book the audience it deserves.
To understand the role Goodreads can play in your marketing strategy, you need to have the right mental model. Goodreads is about book discovery. Your goal is to get as many people as possible to add your book to their Want-to-Read shelves (Tip: You can see how many people are adding a particular book to their Want-to-Read shelves by going to the book stats page, linked in the upper right-hand corner of every book page on Goodreads) and to follow you as an author. Once you do this, you’ll see in this case study how Goodreads offers multiple ways to further promote your book.
One of the primary ways to get people to add your book to their Want-to-Read shelves is to run a giveaway on Goodreads. The publisher kick-started awareness of Lilac Girls six months before publication by running a giveway for 25 copies of the book. This giveaway resulted in a several hundred readers adding the title to their shelves. This had two benefits: 1) friends of people entering the giveaway saw a post in their Updates, 2) now this debut author had her book on the shelves of a few hundred people, starting to build her fanbase on Goodreads. Running a giveaway this far in advance of publication is one of our key recommendations for authors and publishers.
In addition, you should focus on building up your online profile. As a debut author, your biggest challenge is to make it easy for readers not only to discover but to remember you. As part of her marketing campaign, Kelly kept her online branding remarkably consistent. She uses the same author picture and images of lilacs across her website and social media pages. This helps readers distinguish and associate the author as they start to become aware of her through other channels. “Martha’s website was up way before publication,” explains Debbie Aroff, Deputy Marketing Manager at Random House, the publisher of the book. “We beefed up the book club section a few weeks after the book went on sale.”
Debut authors benefit from any opportunity to engage with readers, even if it’s just a small group of fans at first. As soon as the first giveaway ended, Kelly started taking questions from readers and engaging with them via Ask the Author. Ask the Author is the Q&A platform on Goodreads that allows readers to submit questions to an author via their author profile. Only when the author chooses to answer the questions do the questions become public. They show up in the newsfeed of people who follow the author, as well as to the friends of the reader who asked the question. In addition, the answers are included on the author’s page, helping build out a richer and more engaging profile. Readers value learning more about an author, so spend time on meaningful answers that share personal anecdotes, give more insight into the book, or show your sense of humor. Remember, you’re a writer so use that gift to write a good answer and don’t just dash off perfunctory responses.
This early buzz and activity for the author paid off and generated more awareness of the book. As a result, it helped generate twice as much demand for the second 25-copy giveaway a few months later. The snowball effect starts to build and more and more people added the book to their shelves, which in turn displayed the book to more and more readers in their Updates. All of the different pieces start to add up to significant buzz over time.
“Over time” is the key phrase there. Another important thing to remember about Goodreads is that social is at the heart of everything on the site. It takes time to build a groundswell of buzz through social interactions but the resulting fanbase can end up being one of your most powerful marketing assets.
The weeks around publication day are the most critical window for success. That’s when media will run their interviews, bookstores will host their events, and readers are finally able to purchase a book they’ve been hearing so many great things about. If you’ve done your early preparation work well, you’ll have a book page with several reviews and a healthy number of readers adding the book to their Want-to-Read shelf. This was the case for Lilac Girls around publication date. Awareness for it was high, and when readers visited the Goodreads book page they could already see several reviews as a result of those very early giveaways. These reviews played a key role in helping convince new readers to take a chance on the book.
But the book promotion doesn’t end with the publication day. A few weeks later, to keep the momentum going, the publisher ran an Author Recommended email through Goodreads. Part of our paid marketing options, this is a personalized email sent to fans of another author. In this case, the email went out to fans of Kristin Hannah, whose book The Nightingale shares a similar theme with Lilac Girls (Be sure to read our case study of The Nightingale here.)
Adding more fuel to the fire, the publisher ran a third giveaway for the book, resulting in another round of updates about the giveaway and people adding the book to their Want-to-Read shelves.
If an Author Recommended Mailer is not in your budget, teaming up with a successful author in the same genre is a valuable strategy to explore. Perhaps this takes the form of an endorsement on the book or a review on Goodreads, or maybe a joint event at a local bookstore. Consider your resources and connections, and be creative.
Another boost for Lilac Girls came when–thanks to all the buzz the book was getting–the Goodreads Editorial team chose it as one of its Hottest Books of the Summer, driving additional spikes in interest when it was posted on the Goodreads blog and featured in the Goodreads monthly newsletter (note the increased interest on the graph above).
Lilac Girls made it on the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller list as well as the Publishers Weekly and ABA IndieBound Bestseller lists, among many others, within several weeks of publication.
We realize there’s a lot to digest from this case study, and it’s only a snapshot of everything that went on to make this book a success. Keep in mind you can apply the exact same tactics we outlined here and achieve different results as there are many variables in play.
Here are a few key takeaways that any debut author should consider when trying to build buzz on Goodreads:
Start planning your marketing campaign months in advance. Start outlining your campaign nine months in advance and start active promotions six months before publication date. Read Preparing Your Goodreads Marketing Timeline
Run as many giveaways pre- and post-publication as you can afford. Double down, especially if it appears that the book is losing momentum. Each time you list a giveaway, members who have marked the book as Want-to-Read are notified by Goodreads, as well as all the people who follow you.
Make it easy for your readers to find you online. Make sure your Goodreads profile is set up, be open to questions, and respond in a timely manner. Keep your online branding consistent. Allow readers to find you and immediately recognize the real you (especially if you have a very popular name).
Delight your readers. Interact with readers on their terms, and identify some universal themes from your book that will convince readers to take a closer look. As you’re building your reputation as an author, every interaction you have with a reader counts. Your readers will be the ones who insist that other readers need to read your book, so you want them to have a positive experience. Readers value any attention you give them personally, so make any connection you have meaningful to them.
Have a great tip that helped you break out as an author? Share it with us in the comments below!
Next: Preparing Your Goodreads Marketing Timeline
You might also like: How St. Martin's Doubled Down on the Success of The Nightingale
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Cynthia on August 22, 2016
Getting attention for a new book is always challenging, but breaking out a new book by a debut author is especially difficult. Without an established fan base, you need to work extra hard to create opportunities for readers to discover your book.
But a well-written book is not enough. This is where preparation and a good marketing strategy come together to give a good book the audience it deserves.
To understand the role Goodreads can play in your marketing strategy, you need to have the right mental model. Goodreads is about book discovery. Your goal is to get as many people as possible to add your book to their Want-to-Read shelves (Tip: You can see how many people are adding a particular book to their Want-to-Read shelves by going to the book stats page, linked in the upper right-hand corner of every book page on Goodreads) and to follow you as an author. Once you do this, you’ll see in this case study how Goodreads offers multiple ways to further promote your book.
Early Preparation: Setting the Stage for Success
One of the primary ways to get people to add your book to their Want-to-Read shelves is to run a giveaway on Goodreads. The publisher kick-started awareness of Lilac Girls six months before publication by running a giveway for 25 copies of the book. This giveaway resulted in a several hundred readers adding the title to their shelves. This had two benefits: 1) friends of people entering the giveaway saw a post in their Updates, 2) now this debut author had her book on the shelves of a few hundred people, starting to build her fanbase on Goodreads. Running a giveaway this far in advance of publication is one of our key recommendations for authors and publishers.
In addition, you should focus on building up your online profile. As a debut author, your biggest challenge is to make it easy for readers not only to discover but to remember you. As part of her marketing campaign, Kelly kept her online branding remarkably consistent. She uses the same author picture and images of lilacs across her website and social media pages. This helps readers distinguish and associate the author as they start to become aware of her through other channels. “Martha’s website was up way before publication,” explains Debbie Aroff, Deputy Marketing Manager at Random House, the publisher of the book. “We beefed up the book club section a few weeks after the book went on sale.”
When Delighting Your Readers Pays Off
Debut authors benefit from any opportunity to engage with readers, even if it’s just a small group of fans at first. As soon as the first giveaway ended, Kelly started taking questions from readers and engaging with them via Ask the Author. Ask the Author is the Q&A platform on Goodreads that allows readers to submit questions to an author via their author profile. Only when the author chooses to answer the questions do the questions become public. They show up in the newsfeed of people who follow the author, as well as to the friends of the reader who asked the question. In addition, the answers are included on the author’s page, helping build out a richer and more engaging profile. Readers value learning more about an author, so spend time on meaningful answers that share personal anecdotes, give more insight into the book, or show your sense of humor. Remember, you’re a writer so use that gift to write a good answer and don’t just dash off perfunctory responses.
This early buzz and activity for the author paid off and generated more awareness of the book. As a result, it helped generate twice as much demand for the second 25-copy giveaway a few months later. The snowball effect starts to build and more and more people added the book to their shelves, which in turn displayed the book to more and more readers in their Updates. All of the different pieces start to add up to significant buzz over time.
“Over time” is the key phrase there. Another important thing to remember about Goodreads is that social is at the heart of everything on the site. It takes time to build a groundswell of buzz through social interactions but the resulting fanbase can end up being one of your most powerful marketing assets.
The Most Critical Time for Bestsellers
The weeks around publication day are the most critical window for success. That’s when media will run their interviews, bookstores will host their events, and readers are finally able to purchase a book they’ve been hearing so many great things about. If you’ve done your early preparation work well, you’ll have a book page with several reviews and a healthy number of readers adding the book to their Want-to-Read shelf. This was the case for Lilac Girls around publication date. Awareness for it was high, and when readers visited the Goodreads book page they could already see several reviews as a result of those very early giveaways. These reviews played a key role in helping convince new readers to take a chance on the book.
Adding Extra Oomph Post-Publication
But the book promotion doesn’t end with the publication day. A few weeks later, to keep the momentum going, the publisher ran an Author Recommended email through Goodreads. Part of our paid marketing options, this is a personalized email sent to fans of another author. In this case, the email went out to fans of Kristin Hannah, whose book The Nightingale shares a similar theme with Lilac Girls (Be sure to read our case study of The Nightingale here.)
Adding more fuel to the fire, the publisher ran a third giveaway for the book, resulting in another round of updates about the giveaway and people adding the book to their Want-to-Read shelves.
If an Author Recommended Mailer is not in your budget, teaming up with a successful author in the same genre is a valuable strategy to explore. Perhaps this takes the form of an endorsement on the book or a review on Goodreads, or maybe a joint event at a local bookstore. Consider your resources and connections, and be creative.
Goodreads Editorial
Another boost for Lilac Girls came when–thanks to all the buzz the book was getting–the Goodreads Editorial team chose it as one of its Hottest Books of the Summer, driving additional spikes in interest when it was posted on the Goodreads blog and featured in the Goodreads monthly newsletter (note the increased interest on the graph above).
Lilac Girls made it on the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller list as well as the Publishers Weekly and ABA IndieBound Bestseller lists, among many others, within several weeks of publication.
Takeaways for Authors and Publishers
We realize there’s a lot to digest from this case study, and it’s only a snapshot of everything that went on to make this book a success. Keep in mind you can apply the exact same tactics we outlined here and achieve different results as there are many variables in play.
Here are a few key takeaways that any debut author should consider when trying to build buzz on Goodreads:
Start planning your marketing campaign months in advance. Start outlining your campaign nine months in advance and start active promotions six months before publication date. Read Preparing Your Goodreads Marketing Timeline
Run as many giveaways pre- and post-publication as you can afford. Double down, especially if it appears that the book is losing momentum. Each time you list a giveaway, members who have marked the book as Want-to-Read are notified by Goodreads, as well as all the people who follow you.
Make it easy for your readers to find you online. Make sure your Goodreads profile is set up, be open to questions, and respond in a timely manner. Keep your online branding consistent. Allow readers to find you and immediately recognize the real you (especially if you have a very popular name).
Delight your readers. Interact with readers on their terms, and identify some universal themes from your book that will convince readers to take a closer look. As you’re building your reputation as an author, every interaction you have with a reader counts. Your readers will be the ones who insist that other readers need to read your book, so you want them to have a positive experience. Readers value any attention you give them personally, so make any connection you have meaningful to them.
Have a great tip that helped you break out as an author? Share it with us in the comments below!
Next: Preparing Your Goodreads Marketing Timeline
You might also like: How St. Martin's Doubled Down on the Success of The Nightingale
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Best Practices for Building Followers on Goodreads
Posted by Cynthia on August 08, 2016
Wondering about the difference between friends and followers on Goodreads? We’re here to set the record straight: to effectively build your presence on Goodreads, encourage readers to follow you on Goodreads.
The most obvious benefit of this is that you can have an unlimited number of followers on Goodreads, while there’s a limit to 5,000 friends. Anyone can follow you on Goodreads while you must approve each friend request that you receive (and with so much on your marketing plate already, who has time for that?).
Like most social media platforms, your activity on Goodreads is shown to the people who follow you. Your updates show up in their newsfeed, which for many defaults on their homepage when they login to Goodreads. When followers engage with your activity, it in turn shows up to their followers in their newsfeed, further amplifying the activity by reaching more readers.
However, Goodreads does something extra to specifically help promote your books: Readers receive an automatic email digest of any activity from authors they follow. They also receive an email on the publication date of a book by an author they follow, even though they might not yet have added it to their shelf. This email is tremendously valuable in raising awareness and alerting readers to your new books.
How can you increase the number of people who follow you on Goodreads? Follow these best practices:
Let people know they can find you on Goodreads by adding the Goodreads button to your website, link to your profile from your other social media accounts, and mention it in your newsletter. Link your Goodreads account to your Facebook account so that your activity on Goodreads gets further amplified.
The follow button shows up on your Goodreads Author page, but also on your giveaway landing page—the latter only occurs though when your bio is complete, so be sure to add a few lines!
Readers want to follow active, engaging, and interesting authors. When they like what they see when they first view your profile, they’ll likely opt-in to stay updated. There are several different ways you can contribute meaningful, engaging content on Goodreads. Here are the best places to start:
Book reviews, ratings, and shelvings
Our data shows that the type of content readers want most from authors on Goodreads is book recommendations. The easiest way to recommend a book to readers on Goodreads is by reviewing it.
No time for a thoughtful review? Add a star rating to give your readers some sense of what you thought of a book. You can never run out of books that you want to read, so shelve those books to give readers a sense of your tastes. Reviews, ratings, and shelvings establish you as a tastemaker and influencer in the genre, and will make readers more likely to consider your own work for their shelves.
General updates and blog posts
Posting general updates is another way to stay in front of readers without being in sales mode. Longer than a tweet but shorter than a blog post, general updates provide a simple way to share your latest news with your followers. Tell them about the progress you’re making on your new book, where you’ll be signing next, or provide some interesting research that didn’t make it into the book.
Blog posts allow you to share a more substantial update with your Goodreads audience and allow them to comment and like your content. Make sure to import your blog if you have one, or start one fresh on Goodreads. Set yourself a regular schedule (it doesn’t need to be daily!) so that readers know what to expect.
Ask the Author questions and answers
Answering questions via Ask the Author on Goodreads—the Q&A platform on your author profile page—gives followers more insight into who you are as a writer. Answer the pre-seeded questions that Goodreads has waiting for you the first time you turn on Ask the Author. Repurpose media interviews by posting the question and linking out to the full answer. Good answers are ones that are timely and thoughtful. You can even insert pictures or animated gifs!
These are just some of the top activities you can do on Goodreads. Explore to site to find areas that excite you and meet readers with similar interests.
Update your followers as frequently as possible, and at minimum 3-5 times a week. Mix it up: add a general update about your recent trip to a book store, add a few books to your shelf, and add a review to your favorite book from high school. Or create a custom shelf with books that you referenced during your research, suggest additional resources, and announce a giveaway or deal that you’re running.
Respond to their responses to your great content in the comment section. Keep the conversation going by asking them about themselves and try to find common ground. Cultivate those relationships and watch them grow!
You might not see an immediate increase in followers if you’re a debut author. Developing an online presence anywhere takes time. Be patient and consistent with your activity, strive for authenticity, and develop your own voice.
Next: Benefits and Best Practices for Ask the Author on Goodreads
You might also like: How to Run a Goodreads Giveaway
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Cynthia on August 08, 2016
Wondering about the difference between friends and followers on Goodreads? We’re here to set the record straight: to effectively build your presence on Goodreads, encourage readers to follow you on Goodreads.
The value of Goodreads followers
The most obvious benefit of this is that you can have an unlimited number of followers on Goodreads, while there’s a limit to 5,000 friends. Anyone can follow you on Goodreads while you must approve each friend request that you receive (and with so much on your marketing plate already, who has time for that?).
Like most social media platforms, your activity on Goodreads is shown to the people who follow you. Your updates show up in their newsfeed, which for many defaults on their homepage when they login to Goodreads. When followers engage with your activity, it in turn shows up to their followers in their newsfeed, further amplifying the activity by reaching more readers.
However, Goodreads does something extra to specifically help promote your books: Readers receive an automatic email digest of any activity from authors they follow. They also receive an email on the publication date of a book by an author they follow, even though they might not yet have added it to their shelf. This email is tremendously valuable in raising awareness and alerting readers to your new books.
How can you increase the number of people who follow you on Goodreads? Follow these best practices:
Tell people to follow you
Let people know they can find you on Goodreads by adding the Goodreads button to your website, link to your profile from your other social media accounts, and mention it in your newsletter. Link your Goodreads account to your Facebook account so that your activity on Goodreads gets further amplified.
The follow button shows up on your Goodreads Author page, but also on your giveaway landing page—the latter only occurs though when your bio is complete, so be sure to add a few lines!
Post great content
Readers want to follow active, engaging, and interesting authors. When they like what they see when they first view your profile, they’ll likely opt-in to stay updated. There are several different ways you can contribute meaningful, engaging content on Goodreads. Here are the best places to start:
Book reviews, ratings, and shelvings
Our data shows that the type of content readers want most from authors on Goodreads is book recommendations. The easiest way to recommend a book to readers on Goodreads is by reviewing it.
No time for a thoughtful review? Add a star rating to give your readers some sense of what you thought of a book. You can never run out of books that you want to read, so shelve those books to give readers a sense of your tastes. Reviews, ratings, and shelvings establish you as a tastemaker and influencer in the genre, and will make readers more likely to consider your own work for their shelves.
General updates and blog posts
Posting general updates is another way to stay in front of readers without being in sales mode. Longer than a tweet but shorter than a blog post, general updates provide a simple way to share your latest news with your followers. Tell them about the progress you’re making on your new book, where you’ll be signing next, or provide some interesting research that didn’t make it into the book.
Blog posts allow you to share a more substantial update with your Goodreads audience and allow them to comment and like your content. Make sure to import your blog if you have one, or start one fresh on Goodreads. Set yourself a regular schedule (it doesn’t need to be daily!) so that readers know what to expect.
Ask the Author questions and answers
Answering questions via Ask the Author on Goodreads—the Q&A platform on your author profile page—gives followers more insight into who you are as a writer. Answer the pre-seeded questions that Goodreads has waiting for you the first time you turn on Ask the Author. Repurpose media interviews by posting the question and linking out to the full answer. Good answers are ones that are timely and thoughtful. You can even insert pictures or animated gifs!
These are just some of the top activities you can do on Goodreads. Explore to site to find areas that excite you and meet readers with similar interests.
Post frequently
Update your followers as frequently as possible, and at minimum 3-5 times a week. Mix it up: add a general update about your recent trip to a book store, add a few books to your shelf, and add a review to your favorite book from high school. Or create a custom shelf with books that you referenced during your research, suggest additional resources, and announce a giveaway or deal that you’re running.
Engage with followers
Respond to their responses to your great content in the comment section. Keep the conversation going by asking them about themselves and try to find common ground. Cultivate those relationships and watch them grow!
Give it time
You might not see an immediate increase in followers if you’re a debut author. Developing an online presence anywhere takes time. Be patient and consistent with your activity, strive for authenticity, and develop your own voice.
Next: Benefits and Best Practices for Ask the Author on Goodreads
You might also like: How to Run a Goodreads Giveaway
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Benefits and Best Practices of Ask the Author on Goodreads
Posted by Cynthia on July 27, 2016
It's everybody's favorite part of bookstore events, lecture series, and presentations -- Q&A. For authors on Goodreads, it's a chance to engage with readers in one of the most tried-and-true ways: by answering their questions. Readers love the chance to interact with their favorite authors by asking them about their work, their writing inspiration, or their plans for a sequel to their story. Authors can use the opportunity to share more about themselves and delight their fans.
Ask the Author is a Q&A platform on Goodreads that allows readers to submit questions to Goodreads Authors anytime, directly from an author's profile. Ask the Author is unique in that it doesn’t make questions visible to the public until the author chooses to answer them, giving the author control over when and how to respond.
40% of all Goodreads Authors have answered questions via Ask the Author since we launched the platform in 2014. The ATA tool works so well because it’s accessible to any author, whether first time or established, fiction or non-fiction. It allows readers and authors all over the world to connect with each other and share their conversation with their friends and followers on Goodreads.
Many prominent authors and notable people have used Ask the Author to connect with their fans, including Richard Russo, Alicia Keys, Michael Connelly, Sylvia Day, Alan Moore, Kristin Hannah, Erik Larson, Lois Lowry, George W. Bush, Colleen Hoover, James McBride, Elizabeth Gilbert, Christopher Moore, and Lena Dunham.
Here are some Best Practices to help you get started with Ask the Author on Goodreads.
Navigate to your Author Dashboard. Ask the Author lives on your Author Dashboard, where you can turn on the feature and see all the pending questions.
Answer at least 4 pre-seeded questions. Give readers more content to engage with: Goodreads will display three additional questions on each answer landing page. This indicates to readers that you’re there to engage. You can always edit the answers with updated information down the road.
Leave Ask the Author on. Don’t miss an opportunity to delight a potential fan. Since questions are not visible until you answer them, allow readers to reach out to you when they first discover your Goodreads Author profile page. Turn on Ask the Author no later than six weeks prior to publication date.
Point to media coverage, or ask yourself a question. Pull out an interesting question from an interview or media appearance, provide a partial answer, and link to the complete media hit.
Ask other authors questions. Since answers show up in both authors’ respective newsfeeds, this is a great way to increase a debut author’s audience. Continue the conversation in the comments section!
Tell a story. Promote an excerpt or writing sample by simply asking to “share a story.” The custom piece will delight readers, whose engagement on it via likes and comments further amplifies the reach. Read the story Christopher Moore wrote his fans on Goodreads for Shakespeare Week!
Incorporate ATA as your FAQ page. Use those common questions to your advantage by linking to them on the Frequently Asked Questions page on your website.
Remember, questions are not public until you choose to answer them, at which point they show up in your newsfeed and your author profile page (they also show up in the newsfeed of the person who asked the question!). This gives you control over which questions to answer, when to answer them, and which to subtly avoid. The timestamp appears on the answer instead of the question, so it's ok to respond to relevant questions on their own time, even if the questions were submitted months ago.
You can also find more tips about Ask the Author Help Section here.
How have you incorporated Ask the Author into your marketing? Tell us in the comments below!
Next: Preparing Your Goodreads Marketing Timeline
You might also like: How St. Martin's Doubled Down on the Success of The Nightingale
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Cynthia on July 27, 2016
It's everybody's favorite part of bookstore events, lecture series, and presentations -- Q&A. For authors on Goodreads, it's a chance to engage with readers in one of the most tried-and-true ways: by answering their questions. Readers love the chance to interact with their favorite authors by asking them about their work, their writing inspiration, or their plans for a sequel to their story. Authors can use the opportunity to share more about themselves and delight their fans.
Ask the Author is a Q&A platform on Goodreads that allows readers to submit questions to Goodreads Authors anytime, directly from an author's profile. Ask the Author is unique in that it doesn’t make questions visible to the public until the author chooses to answer them, giving the author control over when and how to respond.
40% of all Goodreads Authors have answered questions via Ask the Author since we launched the platform in 2014. The ATA tool works so well because it’s accessible to any author, whether first time or established, fiction or non-fiction. It allows readers and authors all over the world to connect with each other and share their conversation with their friends and followers on Goodreads.
Many prominent authors and notable people have used Ask the Author to connect with their fans, including Richard Russo, Alicia Keys, Michael Connelly, Sylvia Day, Alan Moore, Kristin Hannah, Erik Larson, Lois Lowry, George W. Bush, Colleen Hoover, James McBride, Elizabeth Gilbert, Christopher Moore, and Lena Dunham.
Here are some Best Practices to help you get started with Ask the Author on Goodreads.
Getting started
Navigate to your Author Dashboard. Ask the Author lives on your Author Dashboard, where you can turn on the feature and see all the pending questions.
Answer at least 4 pre-seeded questions. Give readers more content to engage with: Goodreads will display three additional questions on each answer landing page. This indicates to readers that you’re there to engage. You can always edit the answers with updated information down the road.
Leave Ask the Author on. Don’t miss an opportunity to delight a potential fan. Since questions are not visible until you answer them, allow readers to reach out to you when they first discover your Goodreads Author profile page. Turn on Ask the Author no later than six weeks prior to publication date.
No questions? No problem!
Point to media coverage, or ask yourself a question. Pull out an interesting question from an interview or media appearance, provide a partial answer, and link to the complete media hit.
Ask other authors questions. Since answers show up in both authors’ respective newsfeeds, this is a great way to increase a debut author’s audience. Continue the conversation in the comments section!
Tell a story. Promote an excerpt or writing sample by simply asking to “share a story.” The custom piece will delight readers, whose engagement on it via likes and comments further amplifies the reach. Read the story Christopher Moore wrote his fans on Goodreads for Shakespeare Week!
Incorporate ATA as your FAQ page. Use those common questions to your advantage by linking to them on the Frequently Asked Questions page on your website.
Unique to Ask the Author
Remember, questions are not public until you choose to answer them, at which point they show up in your newsfeed and your author profile page (they also show up in the newsfeed of the person who asked the question!). This gives you control over which questions to answer, when to answer them, and which to subtly avoid. The timestamp appears on the answer instead of the question, so it's ok to respond to relevant questions on their own time, even if the questions were submitted months ago.
You can also find more tips about Ask the Author Help Section here.
How have you incorporated Ask the Author into your marketing? Tell us in the comments below!
Next: Preparing Your Goodreads Marketing Timeline
You might also like: How St. Martin's Doubled Down on the Success of The Nightingale
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Preparing Your Goodreads Marketing Timeline
Posted by Cynthia on July 05, 2016
Whether you’re traditionally published or self-published, as an author today you’re expected to participate in your book marketing campaigns. You are the linchpin! Nobody knows your books as well as you do, which makes you the best person to identify, reach, and connect with your audience. Don’t worry: Finding readers is the fun part!
When planning a marketing campaign, take the time to devise a strategy. For example, you wouldn’t be able to offer a giveaway before you have printed galleys in hand, and you wouldn’t want to run advertisements before your book is available for pre-order. Planning your activities ahead of time will pay dividends in the long run.
Here is a suggested marketing timeline to help you schedule your promotions on Goodreads. This plan should supplement your other activities, such as building a website, printing galleys, doing media outreach, scheduling readings, and all the other exciting parts of a book launch.
As you can see, a successful marketing campaign takes months of preparation and planning. Many of these steps are things you can do on a regular basis, like shelving a handful of books each week. Did we miss anything? Tell us in the comments below!
Next: How St. Martin's Press Doubled Down on the Success of The Nightingale to Take it to Greater Heights
You might also like: The Impact of Goodreads Choice Awards for Authors and Publishers
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Cynthia on July 05, 2016
Whether you’re traditionally published or self-published, as an author today you’re expected to participate in your book marketing campaigns. You are the linchpin! Nobody knows your books as well as you do, which makes you the best person to identify, reach, and connect with your audience. Don’t worry: Finding readers is the fun part!
When planning a marketing campaign, take the time to devise a strategy. For example, you wouldn’t be able to offer a giveaway before you have printed galleys in hand, and you wouldn’t want to run advertisements before your book is available for pre-order. Planning your activities ahead of time will pay dividends in the long run.
Here is a suggested marketing timeline to help you schedule your promotions on Goodreads. This plan should supplement your other activities, such as building a website, printing galleys, doing media outreach, scheduling readings, and all the other exciting parts of a book launch.
6 months before publication
- Update your author profile. Make sure you have a current author profile picture and that your bio is complete. Here are a few tips to make your Goodreads author profile great.
- Review the titles attributed to you. If you see books on the list that you didn’t write, contact our support team and we’ll fix it.
- Review the information on each of your book pages, and email us if anything needs to be corrected.
- Start or import your blog. Keep the content fresh and relevant to cultivate your personal brand.
4 months before publication
- Shelve some books. Log books you’ve read in the past—including the ones in your physical bookshelves!—so that readers can get a sense of who you are based on what you read. Some other ideas:
- Create a bookshelf of the books that you used for researching your book.
- Browse the list of best books of the 20th Century and add the ones you’ve read.
- Suggest books for “Further Reading” about the topics in your book.
- Join groups that interest you. Start reading the conversations, and feel free to chime in. Begin to build relationships with the people you meet.
- Upload an excerpt from your new title to the book page. Give readers a taste of what’s to come! You can also use your blog or writing section for this.
3 months before publication
- Schedule a giveaway for galleys. The more that books are circulating, the more likely you’ll get reviews, and the sooner you do this, the better. Galleys don’t need to be typeset or have the final cover, but the content should not change.
- Actively participate in groups. Join the ones that genuinely interest you and participate in the conversations. Don’t just talk about your own book!
- Create an editorial calendar for your blog, or post an “evergreen” message to make use of the space on your profile. (check out Khaled Hosseini's profile for an example of this kind of post!)
1 month before publication
- Schedule another giveaway for advance reader copies. These should have the final cover. Read some tips for running a giveaway on Goodreads.
- Turn on Ask the Author. Answer at least three of the pre-seeded questions from Goodreads to provide some content for this section. Don’t expect too many questions from readers yet, but decide when you’ll answer questions. Here are five tips for using Ask the Author.
- Create events for both in-person and online events. Pssst: Answering questions on a particular date via Ask the Author—that’s event worthy!
- Schedule an ad campaign to start on your publication date. Create several ads in the campaign, each uniquely creative.
Publication week
- Schedule a giveaway for your signed, finished copies to start the day after your publication date.
- Answer pending questions via Ask the Author.
- Enjoy your publication day! Is it just us or is the sky is just a little bluer today...?
1 month after publication
- Review ad campaign stats. Edit ads if needed.
- Continue to participate in group activities, answer Ask the Author questions, and shelve books that you’re reading.
- Share some special content, like an alternate point-of-view story or a recorded video message, to delight fans looking for more.
As you can see, a successful marketing campaign takes months of preparation and planning. Many of these steps are things you can do on a regular basis, like shelving a handful of books each week. Did we miss anything? Tell us in the comments below!
Next: How St. Martin's Press Doubled Down on the Success of The Nightingale to Take it to Greater Heights
You might also like: The Impact of Goodreads Choice Awards for Authors and Publishers
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
How St. Martin's Press Doubled Down on the Success of The Nightingale to Take it to Greater Heights
Posted by Patrick Brown on June 07, 2016
"Books have always been launched like rockets. The publisher commits maximum firepower to getting them off the ground. Most crash to earth. Some go into orbit."
Michael Shatzkin, The Idea Logical Company
It's a rare breed of book that flies high enough to make it onto the bestseller lists and stay there for more than a year. With more than 65 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers List, Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale not only shows no signs of losing steam, but is gaining momentum. You can see from the graph below that more Goodreads members, on average, are adding it to their shelves today than were doing so a year ago when the book was in its key publicity phase. With this kind of traction, The Nightingale has the potential to become 2016's version of The Help, another book that picked up greater momentum in its second year.
But how did we get here? How did The Nightingale become such a sensation? For a recent presentation at Book Expo America, we took a closer look at the marketing and promotion surrounding the book. In examining the success that Hannah and St. Martin's Press has had with The Nightingale, it’s helpful to start in an obvious place: the book itself. Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale tells the tale of two sisters in Occupied France during World War Two. Hannah's core focus is ordinary women surviving and dealing with extraordinary circumstances, which was also at the heart of The Nightingale. And this has resonated with readers in a way that few books have – it currently has an average rating of greater than 4.5 stars, despite having more than 171,000 ratings. That is truly exceptional, and it's worth keeping in mind as you consider the marketing that helped make this book a hit. An author or publisher could do everything exactly the same and not necessarily see the same results because you must have a book that connects with readers.
Another key point that stands out in this case study is that St Martin's Press did not put all of their eggs in one basket. They undertook a number of marketing tactics - both paid and free - that amplified each other over time. And with each new milestone, they have added more marketing fuel to the fire.
It starts by getting the book into readers' hands
St. Martin’s Press wanted to build a groundswell of reviews before publication. They knew that if they got the book into the hands of enough readers early on, the power of the story in The Nightingale would drive that all-important word-of-mouth buzz that can make a great book take off. They went big and ran giveaways for more than 200 copies of the book on Goodreads before publication.
"Giveaways are a fantastic way of generating early buzz and those crucial early reviews," said Laura Clark, Senior Marketing Director, St Martin’s Press. "What we love the most about giveaways on Goodreads is how when someone enters a giveaway, this also gets shared with their friends and followers in their newsfeed, creating a series of mini alerts about a book and helping more people discover it. Our team knew this book was something special – it became the book everyone wanted to read at the office – so we decided to go bigger than usual and commit to 200 books in giveaways."
The giveaways drove the first bit of sustained interest in the book on Goodreads. But giveaways alone won’t keep the momentum on any book, no matter how good. For that, you need to keep reminding people about a book. And to do that, paid advertising can be a powerful tool.
Using advertising to reach the readers most likely to be interested in your book
Paid advertising on Goodreads can be a very effective means to generate a lot of awareness for a specific book among just the right readers, and build on buzz that you are creating on Goodreads. In the case of The Nightingale, St. Martin's wanted to reach Kristin Hannah's existing fans to let them know that a new book from one of their favorite authors was on the way. This was important as Kristin Hannah hadn’t published a book in nearly two years.
To reach Hannah’s existing fan base, St. Martins used display advertising on Goodreads – targeted to fans of Kristin Hannah. These ads were meant to reach a very specific audience with just the right message for them. In addition to display advertising, St. Martins used a relatively new email ad product called a Personal Selection mailer. The Personal Selection mailer is an advertisement that sends a personal note from the author straight to a reader’s in-box. What makes this so effective is that the author is able to tell the reader about her new book in her own voice. Readers love to hear from an author whose work they have previously enjoyed in this way. Note the incredible spike in people adding the book to their shelves on the day this email was sent.
"I think the Personal Selection mailer is one of the best book marketing tools out there," said Clark. "Email marketing is very powerful when done right, and the Personal Selection Mailer is a great example of this. It delivers fantastic results because it’s reaching the people who already love an author's books and most want to hear about the next one."
Staying in touch with readers
It's no coincidence that Kristin Hannah would be so good at providing this personal touch, as she is an author who intuitively gets Goodreads. First, she shelves books that she's read. This gives readers a sense of what her taste is like, both as a reader and an author, and is a way for her to stay in touch with fans in between her own books. She also provides readers with a personal connection by answering questions through Ask the Author. Readers consistently tell us that what they want most from their favorite authors is to have a personal connection with them, and being able to ask questions directly is a key part of this.
Publication month...and the buzz keeps building
At publication in early February 2015, Kristin Hannah was featured in the monthly Goodreads newsletter, which goes to roughly 40 million people worldwide. This was obviously valuable exposure for the book, but it's important to keep in mind that a key factor our editors look at when choosing those interviews is how much a book is resonating with our membership – how many people have added it to their shelves (more than 20,000 people had added The Nightingale to their shelves before it was published), what are the early reviews looking like. This reinforces the need to get your books into the hands of readers early so your book can stand out closer to publication date and start to get traction on Goodreads.
From there, the book took off, with an average of 600 to 800 people per day discovering the book on Goodreads and adding it to their Want to Read shelves. Reviews continued to come in, and the average rating remained extremely high. The book was also picked as a book of the month by Amazon and independent bookstores in February. All of this combined to help it hit the bestseller list in February 2015, and it continued to sell well throughout the year. Kristin Hannah, for her part, continued to do what she could to keep momentum going - answering questions through Ask the Author and engaging with readers in a special group St. Martin's created to spark discussion of the book.
Goodreads Choice Awards take The Nightingale to greater heights
Let's jump to the end of 2015, when we announced the nominees for the annual Goodreads Choice Awards, and The Nightingale was nominated for Best Historical Fiction. This nomination was the result of so many readers finding, highly rating, and discussing the book on Goodreads.
As you can see from the graph - and as we discussed in a previous blog post - winning the Goodreads Choice Awards had an enormous impact on the number of people adding it to their Want to Read shelves, even on a bestseller like The Nightingale. For Kristin Hannah, the value of the award was also measured in terms of recognition. "Most year's best lists are compiled by critics who don’t even consider commercial fiction," Hannah said, "So it is so important - and meaningful - to hear what real readers love."
St Martin's adds more fuel to the fire
St. Martin’s understood that the free awareness such an award brings was a major opportunity to double down on the book. They listed more giveaways and booked native newsfeed ads - ads that run in the newsfeed on Goodreads as well as in its mobile apps - to keep it front of mind with readers.
The Nightingale has sold more than 2 million copies in about a year and a half, and has become a popular pick with book clubs, something sure to build sales once it comes out in paperback. And with TriStar having optioned rights to produce the movie, we’ll likely be hearing more about The Nightingale for a long while yet.
We’re working on more case studies to share with you, including how indie authors have been able to utilize Goodreads book marketing tools to help their books break out. We’ll keep you updated on this - and other interesting news – in the monthly Goodreads Authors newsletter.
Next: Goodreads Marketing Advice from Debut Author Scott Hawkins
You might also like: The Impact of Goodreads Choice Awards for Authors and Publishers
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Patrick Brown on June 07, 2016
Michael Shatzkin, The Idea Logical Company
It's a rare breed of book that flies high enough to make it onto the bestseller lists and stay there for more than a year. With more than 65 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers List, Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale not only shows no signs of losing steam, but is gaining momentum. You can see from the graph below that more Goodreads members, on average, are adding it to their shelves today than were doing so a year ago when the book was in its key publicity phase. With this kind of traction, The Nightingale has the potential to become 2016's version of The Help, another book that picked up greater momentum in its second year.
But how did we get here? How did The Nightingale become such a sensation? For a recent presentation at Book Expo America, we took a closer look at the marketing and promotion surrounding the book. In examining the success that Hannah and St. Martin's Press has had with The Nightingale, it’s helpful to start in an obvious place: the book itself. Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale tells the tale of two sisters in Occupied France during World War Two. Hannah's core focus is ordinary women surviving and dealing with extraordinary circumstances, which was also at the heart of The Nightingale. And this has resonated with readers in a way that few books have – it currently has an average rating of greater than 4.5 stars, despite having more than 171,000 ratings. That is truly exceptional, and it's worth keeping in mind as you consider the marketing that helped make this book a hit. An author or publisher could do everything exactly the same and not necessarily see the same results because you must have a book that connects with readers.
Another key point that stands out in this case study is that St Martin's Press did not put all of their eggs in one basket. They undertook a number of marketing tactics - both paid and free - that amplified each other over time. And with each new milestone, they have added more marketing fuel to the fire.
It starts by getting the book into readers' hands
St. Martin’s Press wanted to build a groundswell of reviews before publication. They knew that if they got the book into the hands of enough readers early on, the power of the story in The Nightingale would drive that all-important word-of-mouth buzz that can make a great book take off. They went big and ran giveaways for more than 200 copies of the book on Goodreads before publication.
"Giveaways are a fantastic way of generating early buzz and those crucial early reviews," said Laura Clark, Senior Marketing Director, St Martin’s Press. "What we love the most about giveaways on Goodreads is how when someone enters a giveaway, this also gets shared with their friends and followers in their newsfeed, creating a series of mini alerts about a book and helping more people discover it. Our team knew this book was something special – it became the book everyone wanted to read at the office – so we decided to go bigger than usual and commit to 200 books in giveaways."
The giveaways drove the first bit of sustained interest in the book on Goodreads. But giveaways alone won’t keep the momentum on any book, no matter how good. For that, you need to keep reminding people about a book. And to do that, paid advertising can be a powerful tool.
Using advertising to reach the readers most likely to be interested in your book
Paid advertising on Goodreads can be a very effective means to generate a lot of awareness for a specific book among just the right readers, and build on buzz that you are creating on Goodreads. In the case of The Nightingale, St. Martin's wanted to reach Kristin Hannah's existing fans to let them know that a new book from one of their favorite authors was on the way. This was important as Kristin Hannah hadn’t published a book in nearly two years.
To reach Hannah’s existing fan base, St. Martins used display advertising on Goodreads – targeted to fans of Kristin Hannah. These ads were meant to reach a very specific audience with just the right message for them. In addition to display advertising, St. Martins used a relatively new email ad product called a Personal Selection mailer. The Personal Selection mailer is an advertisement that sends a personal note from the author straight to a reader’s in-box. What makes this so effective is that the author is able to tell the reader about her new book in her own voice. Readers love to hear from an author whose work they have previously enjoyed in this way. Note the incredible spike in people adding the book to their shelves on the day this email was sent.
"I think the Personal Selection mailer is one of the best book marketing tools out there," said Clark. "Email marketing is very powerful when done right, and the Personal Selection Mailer is a great example of this. It delivers fantastic results because it’s reaching the people who already love an author's books and most want to hear about the next one."
Staying in touch with readers
It's no coincidence that Kristin Hannah would be so good at providing this personal touch, as she is an author who intuitively gets Goodreads. First, she shelves books that she's read. This gives readers a sense of what her taste is like, both as a reader and an author, and is a way for her to stay in touch with fans in between her own books. She also provides readers with a personal connection by answering questions through Ask the Author. Readers consistently tell us that what they want most from their favorite authors is to have a personal connection with them, and being able to ask questions directly is a key part of this.
Publication month...and the buzz keeps building
At publication in early February 2015, Kristin Hannah was featured in the monthly Goodreads newsletter, which goes to roughly 40 million people worldwide. This was obviously valuable exposure for the book, but it's important to keep in mind that a key factor our editors look at when choosing those interviews is how much a book is resonating with our membership – how many people have added it to their shelves (more than 20,000 people had added The Nightingale to their shelves before it was published), what are the early reviews looking like. This reinforces the need to get your books into the hands of readers early so your book can stand out closer to publication date and start to get traction on Goodreads.
From there, the book took off, with an average of 600 to 800 people per day discovering the book on Goodreads and adding it to their Want to Read shelves. Reviews continued to come in, and the average rating remained extremely high. The book was also picked as a book of the month by Amazon and independent bookstores in February. All of this combined to help it hit the bestseller list in February 2015, and it continued to sell well throughout the year. Kristin Hannah, for her part, continued to do what she could to keep momentum going - answering questions through Ask the Author and engaging with readers in a special group St. Martin's created to spark discussion of the book.
Goodreads Choice Awards take The Nightingale to greater heights
Let's jump to the end of 2015, when we announced the nominees for the annual Goodreads Choice Awards, and The Nightingale was nominated for Best Historical Fiction. This nomination was the result of so many readers finding, highly rating, and discussing the book on Goodreads.
As you can see from the graph - and as we discussed in a previous blog post - winning the Goodreads Choice Awards had an enormous impact on the number of people adding it to their Want to Read shelves, even on a bestseller like The Nightingale. For Kristin Hannah, the value of the award was also measured in terms of recognition. "Most year's best lists are compiled by critics who don’t even consider commercial fiction," Hannah said, "So it is so important - and meaningful - to hear what real readers love."
St Martin's adds more fuel to the fire
St. Martin’s understood that the free awareness such an award brings was a major opportunity to double down on the book. They listed more giveaways and booked native newsfeed ads - ads that run in the newsfeed on Goodreads as well as in its mobile apps - to keep it front of mind with readers.
The Nightingale has sold more than 2 million copies in about a year and a half, and has become a popular pick with book clubs, something sure to build sales once it comes out in paperback. And with TriStar having optioned rights to produce the movie, we’ll likely be hearing more about The Nightingale for a long while yet.
We’re working on more case studies to share with you, including how indie authors have been able to utilize Goodreads book marketing tools to help their books break out. We’ll keep you updated on this - and other interesting news – in the monthly Goodreads Authors newsletter.
Next: Goodreads Marketing Advice from Debut Author Scott Hawkins
You might also like: The Impact of Goodreads Choice Awards for Authors and Publishers
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Marketing Advice from Scott Hawkins
Posted by Cynthia on May 27, 2016
Calling The Library at Mount Char Scott Hawkins’ first book is technically not accurate–his Goodreads Author profile shows several computer reference books he wrote before then. However, the overwhelming majority of the 7,000 ratings and 1,200 reviews he’s received are on his debut novel, which is was originally published in 2015, received a Goodreads Choice Award nod, and is now out in paperback. We asked Scott a few questions about how he’s navigated Goodreads so successfully. Here’s what he said:
How has Goodreads played a role in your overall promotion campaign?
As a debut novelist, the biggest challenge is getting people to notice the book in the first place. To that end, [my publisher and I] used banner ads targeted at fans of authors working in the same space—Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill and so forth. That has generated a good bit of awareness. I’ve had in-real-life friends tell me they saw the ad, which is encouraging.
I personally focus on connecting with readers. I get quite a few questions and messages, which is great. Writing the book was my main hobby for a couple of years, so I love talking about it with other people.
What’s your approach to responding to reader questions via Ask the Author?
Overall it’s pretty casual. Honestly, I’m always thrilled that there are questions, so I tend to gush. I’ve also found that I tend to clinch up if I think in terms of a zillion people reading, so I make an effort to respond if I were talking to whoever asked one-on-one. For me that makes it easier.
Sometimes the Q&A turns into conversation and spills over into comments—the other day a guy asked me something and we ended up getting into a back and forth on Joseph Campbell. A couple months back a lady in South Africa confirmed that a little Afrikaans quote from the book did, in fact, say what I hoped it said. I’ve also made a couple of goodreads buddies that way.
In practical terms, I check for questions every couple of days, usually at the end of the day. I’ll answer anything new that’s come in the next morning as I’m having coffee. I try not to let stuff sit.
What’s your favorite thing about Goodreads?
In terms of fun, I like the updates screen. I’ve buddied up with a couple dozen people. Some of them read a lot. If they liked my book, our tastes tend to overlap at least a little bit, so I’ve found a lot of good stuff just by looking at what they liked.
On the professional side, reading the reviews has also been hugely helpful. A minority seemed to love my book without reservation, which is of course fun, but a lot of the people who liked it seemed to have the same general concerns—“a little confusing in the early stages” is something I see mentioned a lot. I’m trying to be mindful of that while I work on the follow up. That sort of thing is an absolute gold mine in terms of feedback.
Last but not least, quite a few of the people who straight-up hated it wrote about why they hated it at length, using thoughtful and well-supported arguments. Often they were quite convincing. I have a tear-stained notebook where I keep the best ones.
How do you encourage reviews of your book on Goodreads?
I have the widgets installed on my blog and on my Facebook page, and I have WordPress set up so that it publishes automatically to Goodreads.
What’s one exciting, possibly hidden feature you’ve discovered on Goodreads?
The author dashboard has a feature called "Work Stats." It gives you a listing of how many readers added your book(s), by date. That can give you insight into the impact your promotional work is having.
What are you working on right now?
Right now I’m working on a new fantasy/mystery set in the modern world:
Jackie Hadder is a middle-aged murderer working as a fry cook. One day the pretzel billionaire Bob Thackeray approaches her with a job offer. Bob thinks Jackie’s experience as a fugitive might be useful in investigating an old school shooting, and he pays very well.
The shooter was never caught. Now, ten years later, his formerly unremarkable hostages seem to be up to something. Megan Hodges just set off a nuclear bomb in Antarctica. Beth Portier is running a bond trading operation out of a Chicago office staffed mostly by anacondas. Mark Lambert, who rarely leaves the basement of his Boston home, seems to be secretly in charge of the Russian Navy.
They seem like the sorts of people who might have an evil plan, but what is it, exactly? And why are they so interested in Jackie? And whose side is she on?
For any authors interested in follow up questions to this interview, Scott will respond in the comments section below on Monday, June 13, at 4 p.m. EST/1 p.m. PST (and to anyone who comes across this post throughout the week).
Also, be sure to check out the great Ask the Author answers Scott provides for his readers here and be sure to follow him to be inspired by his ongoing great activity.
Next: Goodreads Deals: A New Way to Promote Your Ebooks
You might also like: Marketing Advice from Author Kendare Blake
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Cynthia on May 27, 2016
Calling The Library at Mount Char Scott Hawkins’ first book is technically not accurate–his Goodreads Author profile shows several computer reference books he wrote before then. However, the overwhelming majority of the 7,000 ratings and 1,200 reviews he’s received are on his debut novel, which is was originally published in 2015, received a Goodreads Choice Award nod, and is now out in paperback. We asked Scott a few questions about how he’s navigated Goodreads so successfully. Here’s what he said:
How has Goodreads played a role in your overall promotion campaign?
As a debut novelist, the biggest challenge is getting people to notice the book in the first place. To that end, [my publisher and I] used banner ads targeted at fans of authors working in the same space—Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill and so forth. That has generated a good bit of awareness. I’ve had in-real-life friends tell me they saw the ad, which is encouraging.
I personally focus on connecting with readers. I get quite a few questions and messages, which is great. Writing the book was my main hobby for a couple of years, so I love talking about it with other people.
What’s your approach to responding to reader questions via Ask the Author?
Overall it’s pretty casual. Honestly, I’m always thrilled that there are questions, so I tend to gush. I’ve also found that I tend to clinch up if I think in terms of a zillion people reading, so I make an effort to respond if I were talking to whoever asked one-on-one. For me that makes it easier.
Sometimes the Q&A turns into conversation and spills over into comments—the other day a guy asked me something and we ended up getting into a back and forth on Joseph Campbell. A couple months back a lady in South Africa confirmed that a little Afrikaans quote from the book did, in fact, say what I hoped it said. I’ve also made a couple of goodreads buddies that way.
In practical terms, I check for questions every couple of days, usually at the end of the day. I’ll answer anything new that’s come in the next morning as I’m having coffee. I try not to let stuff sit.
In terms of fun, I like the updates screen. I’ve buddied up with a couple dozen people. Some of them read a lot. If they liked my book, our tastes tend to overlap at least a little bit, so I’ve found a lot of good stuff just by looking at what they liked.
On the professional side, reading the reviews has also been hugely helpful. A minority seemed to love my book without reservation, which is of course fun, but a lot of the people who liked it seemed to have the same general concerns—“a little confusing in the early stages” is something I see mentioned a lot. I’m trying to be mindful of that while I work on the follow up. That sort of thing is an absolute gold mine in terms of feedback.
Last but not least, quite a few of the people who straight-up hated it wrote about why they hated it at length, using thoughtful and well-supported arguments. Often they were quite convincing. I have a tear-stained notebook where I keep the best ones.
How do you encourage reviews of your book on Goodreads?
I have the widgets installed on my blog and on my Facebook page, and I have WordPress set up so that it publishes automatically to Goodreads.
What’s one exciting, possibly hidden feature you’ve discovered on Goodreads?
The author dashboard has a feature called "Work Stats." It gives you a listing of how many readers added your book(s), by date. That can give you insight into the impact your promotional work is having.
What are you working on right now?
Right now I’m working on a new fantasy/mystery set in the modern world:
Jackie Hadder is a middle-aged murderer working as a fry cook. One day the pretzel billionaire Bob Thackeray approaches her with a job offer. Bob thinks Jackie’s experience as a fugitive might be useful in investigating an old school shooting, and he pays very well.
The shooter was never caught. Now, ten years later, his formerly unremarkable hostages seem to be up to something. Megan Hodges just set off a nuclear bomb in Antarctica. Beth Portier is running a bond trading operation out of a Chicago office staffed mostly by anacondas. Mark Lambert, who rarely leaves the basement of his Boston home, seems to be secretly in charge of the Russian Navy.
They seem like the sorts of people who might have an evil plan, but what is it, exactly? And why are they so interested in Jackie? And whose side is she on?
For any authors interested in follow up questions to this interview, Scott will respond in the comments section below on Monday, June 13, at 4 p.m. EST/1 p.m. PST (and to anyone who comes across this post throughout the week).
Also, be sure to check out the great Ask the Author answers Scott provides for his readers here and be sure to follow him to be inspired by his ongoing great activity.
Next: Goodreads Deals: A New Way to Promote Your Ebooks
You might also like: Marketing Advice from Author Kendare Blake
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Goodreads Deals: A New Way to Promote Your Ebooks to Millions of Goodreads Members (U.S. Market)
Posted by Annarose Mclaughlin on May 17, 2016
What's the secret to successful book marketing? Getting in front of the largest number of readers who are most likely to be interested in your titles! With the launch of Goodreads Deals in the U.S., we’re now offering authors and publishers a new way to amplify ebook price promotions to our millions of members. The Goodreads Deals program comes with built-in personalization options based on members' Want to Read shelves, the authors they follow, and the genres they prefer—all designed to help your deals reach the readers with the highest interest in buying your books.
Goodreads Deals is unique because we'll enable you to reach existing fans and introduce your ebooks to new readers:
Above: Example of a deal
"As publishers, we always want to find readers in the most targeted and direct ways possible," says Heather Fain, SVP, Director of Marketing Strategy at Hachette Book Group. "We want to reach readers where they live, and millions of them live and breathe on Goodreads. Backed by their data, we can match a deal with a reader we know is already interested in our book, something we think will be highly efficient. Consumers have come to expect personalization, and Goodreads Deals is a terrific way to achieve that level of intimacy. Goodreads has long been an integral part of the marketing plans at Hachette Book Group, and I'm excited to see how this new product enhances that relationship.”
We know you may have questions. Here are some answers:
I'm a publisher—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals? We hand-pick deals on ebooks that will most appeal to the Goodreads community. Publishers who'd like to nominate their ebook deal should reach out to their Goodreads Account Manager to get started, or send an email to [email protected].
I'm an author—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals?
We haven't opened up deal nominations to authors as we are in beta, but we're working on it. Our plan is to have something to announce very soon, so stay tuned.
Which genres will be featured at launch?
At launch, we will offer daily emails for the following genres:
• Bestsellers
• Romance
• Mystery & Thrillers
• Fantasy & Sci-Fi
If you don't see your book's genre, don't worry. Our readers love a wide variety of books and our goal is to increase our range of genres in the coming months.
How many readers will be notified of my deal, if chosen?
This depends on the book. U.S. members who have added the book to their Want to Read shelves or are following the author will receive an email alerting them to the deal. Members can also opt in to getting deals every day in their genres of choice.
Which retailers will be included in Goodreads Deals emails?
Readers will be able to choose which retailers they would like to see in their personalized deals emails and can select from among the following: Kindle Store, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play, and Kobo.
When will Goodreads Deals be available outside the U.S.?
Goodreads Deals is launching in the U.S. Our goal is to offer all of our features in other markets, but we don't have any timing to share on this.
How much does it cost to have my deal included in Goodreads Deals?
We'll announce pricing soon. Stay tuned.
Have more questions? Find answers in the Goodreads Deals section of our Help Page.
Next: Goodreads Introduces Kindle Ebook Giveaways
You might also like: How to Get the Most Out of Goodreads in Five Minutes a Day
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Annarose Mclaughlin on May 17, 2016
What's the secret to successful book marketing? Getting in front of the largest number of readers who are most likely to be interested in your titles! With the launch of Goodreads Deals in the U.S., we’re now offering authors and publishers a new way to amplify ebook price promotions to our millions of members. The Goodreads Deals program comes with built-in personalization options based on members' Want to Read shelves, the authors they follow, and the genres they prefer—all designed to help your deals reach the readers with the highest interest in buying your books.
Goodreads Deals is unique because we'll enable you to reach existing fans and introduce your ebooks to new readers:
- Existing Fans: Every second, our members add 6 books to their Want to Read shelves—that's 15 million books per month that have captured the interest of readers. With Goodreads Deals, you can now tap into that interest. We'll email members when a book on their Want to Read shelf has a price promotion. We'll also email any members who follow the author on Goodreads.
- Prospective Readers: At the same time, members can choose to receive even more deals by opting in to daily emails featuring books in the genres they prefer. For many of our members, their hunger for books often outpaces their wallets, and they are interested in hearing about price promotions that will help them read more books. With Goodreads Deals, you can drive discovery and sales of your ebook with a broader reader base in your genre.
"As publishers, we always want to find readers in the most targeted and direct ways possible," says Heather Fain, SVP, Director of Marketing Strategy at Hachette Book Group. "We want to reach readers where they live, and millions of them live and breathe on Goodreads. Backed by their data, we can match a deal with a reader we know is already interested in our book, something we think will be highly efficient. Consumers have come to expect personalization, and Goodreads Deals is a terrific way to achieve that level of intimacy. Goodreads has long been an integral part of the marketing plans at Hachette Book Group, and I'm excited to see how this new product enhances that relationship.”
We know you may have questions. Here are some answers:
I'm a publisher—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals? We hand-pick deals on ebooks that will most appeal to the Goodreads community. Publishers who'd like to nominate their ebook deal should reach out to their Goodreads Account Manager to get started, or send an email to [email protected].
I'm an author—how can I get my ebook deal featured by Goodreads Deals?
We haven't opened up deal nominations to authors as we are in beta, but we're working on it. Our plan is to have something to announce very soon, so stay tuned.
Which genres will be featured at launch?
At launch, we will offer daily emails for the following genres:
• Bestsellers
• Romance
• Mystery & Thrillers
• Fantasy & Sci-Fi
If you don't see your book's genre, don't worry. Our readers love a wide variety of books and our goal is to increase our range of genres in the coming months.
How many readers will be notified of my deal, if chosen?
This depends on the book. U.S. members who have added the book to their Want to Read shelves or are following the author will receive an email alerting them to the deal. Members can also opt in to getting deals every day in their genres of choice.
Which retailers will be included in Goodreads Deals emails?
Readers will be able to choose which retailers they would like to see in their personalized deals emails and can select from among the following: Kindle Store, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play, and Kobo.
When will Goodreads Deals be available outside the U.S.?
Goodreads Deals is launching in the U.S. Our goal is to offer all of our features in other markets, but we don't have any timing to share on this.
How much does it cost to have my deal included in Goodreads Deals?
We'll announce pricing soon. Stay tuned.
Have more questions? Find answers in the Goodreads Deals section of our Help Page.
Next: Goodreads Introduces Kindle Ebook Giveaways
You might also like: How to Get the Most Out of Goodreads in Five Minutes a Day
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Goodreads Introduces Kindle Ebook Giveaways Beta Program (U.S. market)
Posted by Greg Seguin on May 03, 2016
Last year, Goodreads helped authors and publishers give away more than 300,000 print books in our popular Giveaways program! Thanks to this success, authors and publishers have been clamoring for the option to run ebook giveaways with Goodreads. Today, we have the news you’ve been waiting for! The beta launch of our new Kindle ebook giveaways program is now underway.
Here’s how it works: The author or publisher of a book – whoever controls the digital distribution rights to the book – can now offer up to 100 copies of the Kindle ebook in a giveaway. The author or publisher chooses how long the giveaway will run, and Goodreads does the rest. At the end of the giveaway, Goodreads randomly chooses winners and automatically sends the Kindle ebooks to their preferred devices and Cloud accounts. Winners receive real Kindle ebooks, complete with all the great features and security that Amazon’s Kindle platform provides.
Kindle ebook giveaways will initially be open to Goodreads members in the U.S. During this beta period, Goodreads is working with Amazon Publishing to host Kindle ebook giveaways, but once out of beta, the program will be open to any author or publisher - whoever owns the digital distribution rights for the book - who sells their ebooks on Amazon.
The cost of listing a Kindle book giveaway is $119, which allows you to offer up to 100 Kindle ebooks. Listing a print book giveaway will continue to be free. Why the difference? Both types of giveaways give authors and publishers a powerful way to market their books, reach lots of new readers, and drive buzz. With a Kindle ebook giveaway, we give you the opportunity to offer a large number of free books, reaching even more readers. We also save you on both costs and hassle. No more printing books, hauling them down to the post office, filling out address labels, and paying to ship them off to winners (which can cost hundreds of dollars for a 100-copy giveaway). No more delays in getting your books in winners’ hands. The readers who win your Kindle ebook giveaway will get their Kindle ebook instantly and will be able to start reading right away, which means you can get readers talking about your title faster than ever.
Authors and publishers have come to count on Goodreads print giveaways as a key part of their marketing plans. They are a powerful way to raise awareness of an upcoming book or reignite interest in a previously published book, and they generate the kind of engagement that makes readers take note. Giveaways are especially useful before a book is published, building the buzz and word-of-mouth excitement – through pre-release reviews and friends seeing their friends adding the book to their want to read shelves – that help successfully launch books.
Why should I run a Goodreads Giveaway?
The primary benefit of running a giveaway on Goodreads is generating excitement for your book. Many giveaway winners review the books they win, meaning that you can build word-of-mouth buzz early in your book’s life. The ability to offer up to 100 copies of a book will greatly increase your chances of receiving a good number of reviews.
Additionally, when a reader enters your giveaway, a post appears in all of their Goodreads friends’ and followers’ newsfeeds, which in turn, creates more entries, more people adding your book to their Want To Read shelves, and more awareness. That’s something you won’t get anywhere else.
Giving away 100 books or more is the technique that large publishers have been using for years with great success on Goodreads. For example, Riverhead Books has said that Goodreads played a major role in helping The Girl on the Train break out to early success. To help drive early reviews, they gave away 100 copies on Goodreads (case study). In total, they printed more than 4,000 advanced copies of the debut novel, as they knew that getting the book into a lot of readers’ hands was a key way to help make it a breakout hit.
Will I still be able to run print book giveaways?
If you love our print book giveaway program, don’t worry; it’s not going anywhere. Print book giveaways will remain free to list (though you are responsible for the costs of printing and shipping the books to the winners).
I’m an author and I want to run a Kindle book giveaway. What do I do?
For this initial beta, we are working exclusively with Amazon Publishing, but you’ll be able to list a Kindle ebook giveaway soon. We will open up Kindle ebook giveaways to all publishers and KDP authors with an ebook in the Amazon store in the near future. Stay tuned for more!
When will Kindle ebook giveaways be available outside the U.S.?
We’re starting off with the program in the U.S. Our goal is to make sure that we offer all of our features in other markets, but we do not have any timing on this.
My book isn’t published yet. Can I offer ebook ARCs?
You can run a giveaway for a book that has not yet been published yet. The only requirement is that the ARC must be in a Kindle ebook format and loaded into the Kindle store before you list your giveaway.
How are these giveaways different from Amazon Giveaways?
The two programs are completely separate. With Amazon Giveaways, you purchase each copy of whatever book you want to give away. With Kindle Ebook Giveaways, you pay a flat listing fee to give away up to 100 copies of your book. Additionally, Kindle Ebook Giveaways are available for pre-publication titles, while Amazon Giveaways are not.
Next: Six Lovely Lessons Learned at the Romantic Times Convention
You might also like: Five Tips for Running a Giveaway on Goodreads
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
Posted by Greg Seguin on May 03, 2016
Last year, Goodreads helped authors and publishers give away more than 300,000 print books in our popular Giveaways program! Thanks to this success, authors and publishers have been clamoring for the option to run ebook giveaways with Goodreads. Today, we have the news you’ve been waiting for! The beta launch of our new Kindle ebook giveaways program is now underway.
Here’s how it works: The author or publisher of a book – whoever controls the digital distribution rights to the book – can now offer up to 100 copies of the Kindle ebook in a giveaway. The author or publisher chooses how long the giveaway will run, and Goodreads does the rest. At the end of the giveaway, Goodreads randomly chooses winners and automatically sends the Kindle ebooks to their preferred devices and Cloud accounts. Winners receive real Kindle ebooks, complete with all the great features and security that Amazon’s Kindle platform provides.
Kindle ebook giveaways will initially be open to Goodreads members in the U.S. During this beta period, Goodreads is working with Amazon Publishing to host Kindle ebook giveaways, but once out of beta, the program will be open to any author or publisher - whoever owns the digital distribution rights for the book - who sells their ebooks on Amazon.
The cost of listing a Kindle book giveaway is $119, which allows you to offer up to 100 Kindle ebooks. Listing a print book giveaway will continue to be free. Why the difference? Both types of giveaways give authors and publishers a powerful way to market their books, reach lots of new readers, and drive buzz. With a Kindle ebook giveaway, we give you the opportunity to offer a large number of free books, reaching even more readers. We also save you on both costs and hassle. No more printing books, hauling them down to the post office, filling out address labels, and paying to ship them off to winners (which can cost hundreds of dollars for a 100-copy giveaway). No more delays in getting your books in winners’ hands. The readers who win your Kindle ebook giveaway will get their Kindle ebook instantly and will be able to start reading right away, which means you can get readers talking about your title faster than ever.
Authors and publishers have come to count on Goodreads print giveaways as a key part of their marketing plans. They are a powerful way to raise awareness of an upcoming book or reignite interest in a previously published book, and they generate the kind of engagement that makes readers take note. Giveaways are especially useful before a book is published, building the buzz and word-of-mouth excitement – through pre-release reviews and friends seeing their friends adding the book to their want to read shelves – that help successfully launch books.
Why should I run a Goodreads Giveaway?
The primary benefit of running a giveaway on Goodreads is generating excitement for your book. Many giveaway winners review the books they win, meaning that you can build word-of-mouth buzz early in your book’s life. The ability to offer up to 100 copies of a book will greatly increase your chances of receiving a good number of reviews.
Additionally, when a reader enters your giveaway, a post appears in all of their Goodreads friends’ and followers’ newsfeeds, which in turn, creates more entries, more people adding your book to their Want To Read shelves, and more awareness. That’s something you won’t get anywhere else.
Giving away 100 books or more is the technique that large publishers have been using for years with great success on Goodreads. For example, Riverhead Books has said that Goodreads played a major role in helping The Girl on the Train break out to early success. To help drive early reviews, they gave away 100 copies on Goodreads (case study). In total, they printed more than 4,000 advanced copies of the debut novel, as they knew that getting the book into a lot of readers’ hands was a key way to help make it a breakout hit.
Will I still be able to run print book giveaways?
If you love our print book giveaway program, don’t worry; it’s not going anywhere. Print book giveaways will remain free to list (though you are responsible for the costs of printing and shipping the books to the winners).
I’m an author and I want to run a Kindle book giveaway. What do I do?
For this initial beta, we are working exclusively with Amazon Publishing, but you’ll be able to list a Kindle ebook giveaway soon. We will open up Kindle ebook giveaways to all publishers and KDP authors with an ebook in the Amazon store in the near future. Stay tuned for more!
When will Kindle ebook giveaways be available outside the U.S.?
We’re starting off with the program in the U.S. Our goal is to make sure that we offer all of our features in other markets, but we do not have any timing on this.
My book isn’t published yet. Can I offer ebook ARCs?
You can run a giveaway for a book that has not yet been published yet. The only requirement is that the ARC must be in a Kindle ebook format and loaded into the Kindle store before you list your giveaway.
How are these giveaways different from Amazon Giveaways?
The two programs are completely separate. With Amazon Giveaways, you purchase each copy of whatever book you want to give away. With Kindle Ebook Giveaways, you pay a flat listing fee to give away up to 100 copies of your book. Additionally, Kindle Ebook Giveaways are available for pre-publication titles, while Amazon Giveaways are not.
Next: Six Lovely Lessons Learned at the Romantic Times Convention
You might also like: Five Tips for Running a Giveaway on Goodreads
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
