Goodreads is a website that is full of the people authors love and yearn for - readers. Amazon obviously thinks Goodreads has massive potential, as they have just bought it. If you are an author, are you using the awesome power of Goodreads to its full potential? It is growing at a phenomenal rate, doubling its membership from 6.5 million users in 2011 to 13 million in 2012. Membership is currently (October 2015) 40 million and rising. An astonishing 21% of Goodreads group members are also book bloggers. These are the people we as authors need to reach. We have to do it in a respectful, professional way though. Too many authors can be seen on other social platforms screaming, 'Buy my book!'. No-one gets away with that on Goodreads. Goodreads users are educated, passionate, and can spot self-promoting authors with ease. You don't need to self-promote, and you don't need to leave your success to luck. What you do need to do is set out in this book - together with a suggested schedule of how to engage your readers via your activity on Goodreads (just minutes each day). It is the result of months of study, research, testing, and writing. The chapters are written in the steps authors need to take to get started on Goodreads: claim your author profile, add your blog (or start one), add videos, photos, quotes, etc., add your book(s), join helpful groups, meet readers and potential readers, harness the power of Giveaways, promote your free days/offers, and much, much more, such as: * Find out how 50 Shades Of Grey and other bestsellers harnessed the power of Goodreads - with real figures and statistics showing the viral effect in action. * Understand how to create this effect yourself, for your own books. * Learn strategies to promote your book online, without having to waste hours on Twitter and Facebook (you'll find out why that isn't a very valuable thing to do with your time). * Find out how to use Goodreads's self-serve advertising to test ads and targeting in order to create a viral effect on Goodreads in order to promote your book on Amazon. You don't have to resort to sneaky tricks or black hat tactics to be successful on Goodreads. You just need to learn how to use the site properly, respect other users, and let them find your books naturally, using the site's numerous tools.
