GoodReads Book Promotion

This week, our Blog Book Tours class explored the social forum called GoodReads which attracts anyone with an interest in reading and books. Beth Groundwater gives these tips for using the forum to book promotion advantage:

I'm in a number of groups on Goodreads related to my genre: mystery lovers, Cozy Mysteries, Chick Lit, and some general groups such as BOOK-A-HOLICS, Constant Reader, and Book Buying Addicts Anonymous. But, I'm much more active on the site.

I often go "trolling" in my groups for friends. If anyone joins mystery lovers or Cozy Mysteries and has books like mine in their books list, they get a friend request. Same goes for anyone who makes a comment about cozy mysteries in any of the groups. I now have over 1000 friends. Many of those friends have put my book on their to-read list or even actually read it and reviewed it.

A REAL BASKET CASE is now on the books lists of 162 members, has 18 reviews, 35 ratings, and has an average rating of 4.3. If someone who is not a friend puts the book on their to-read list (which I can see when I go to the book profile), they get a thank-you note and a friend request from me. The book had nowhere near as much activity on its profile before I joined Goodreads and started making friendships and commenting in group discussions. After HinH is published, I plan to do a book giveaway.

Also, for personal pleasure, I keep track of my reading list there, take recommendations and add them to my to-read list, research books that my book club is considering by reading reviews of them, etc.

I enjoy the Goodreads community more than general ones like Facebook, because it is focused on books and reading. Here's my link there, if anyone wants to befriend me:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/471598.Beth_Groundwater
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Beth Groundwater, http://bethgroundwater.com/
A REAL BASKET CASE, Five Star, 3/2007, Best First Novel Agatha Nominee
TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET, Five Star, May 2009