A current promotion by a big-name trad-pubbed historical romance author: To enter the competition, you must add her new book to your "Want To Read" shelf on Goodreads.
Presumably, the publisher's objective is to get a large number of readers to add the book to their Want to Read list.
Presumably, the publisher sees great marketing value in having a large number of readers do this.
My theory is that, if a large number of readers "tell" Goodreads they "want to read" this new book, then the Goodreads algorithm gets all excited, decides that this book must be a "hot new release" and then the book gets included in the Hot New Releases section in the monthly romance newsletter that goes out to all Goodreads members who signed up for this list. Which, presumably, is a very big list.
(My theory only, but why else might the publisher want to encourage this?)
This book comes out next week. So far, 3550 people have shelved it on GR as "want to read". It has about 80 ARC reviews.
This particular book was included in the Romance list on the Goodreads "New December Books" (I don't know if this slot is bought by trad publishers or algorithm based).
Yet to be seen if it will be included as a hot new release on the December Romance Newsletter (which comes out at the end of the month).
Any indies with money and reach want to test this? Or already have? Or know anything more?
I suggest 2 reasons why Goodreads is NOT a good place for marketing and not to bother (again, only my theories; I might well be wrong):
1. Mostly it uses algorithms based on readers' behavior: little is curated, the author/publisher have minimal control or influence. (E.g. for a new book to be included in the list of new releases in a genre, a certain number of readers must shelve it as that genre. It doesn't matter if the author/publisher says it is in that genre, or whether the readers shelve it correctly.) This means there's little we can do to influence it (although I would not be surprised if big publishers can buy promotions.) -- except by trying to influence readers' behavior, like the above promotion.
2. Readers on Goodreads do not want to be sold anything. They are there to track their own reading and to get reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations. Even though it's owned by Amazon, this gives it a level of neutrality and authority that the commercial sites don't have. In the limited reader communities I observe, a GR rating has more authority than an Amazon rating.
Personally, I like that Goodreads isn't overcome with ads. Lamenting the loss of Also-Boughts on Amazon because of Sponsored Ads? If ads on Goodreads were effective, then it would be all advertising and Goodreads would lose its USP.
BUT -- even though GR is not good for direct marketing and sales, it's not useless. Don't be sorry that you have more ratings on GR than on Amazon, because it is a network, readers do read the reviews, and you never know who is reading what, or how they are connected to each other, and word-of-mouth is powerful.
Three examples from my limited experience (1 book, 10 weeks old):
1. About a month ago, I received a five-star review from someone who has 1000 followers on Goodreads. That means that this review would have been in the feed of 1000 people. *Potentially*, 1000 people saw a recommendation of my book by someone who, presumably, they like and trust. No idea if it had an effect, but even if only 1 of those bought it as a result, it was a sale I didn't have to work for or pay for.
2. This week, I got a positive review from an influential reader/reviewer. This review has received a lot of likes and some comments (indicating engagement). My sales had been falling but in the days since that review was posted, they jumped. There is no way of knowing whether there is a correlation, but I am doing no marketing at all, so it wasn't anything I did. (No idea what Amazon is up to, or who else is talking about the book.)
3. On the flip side, an early reviewer hated my book. She also has lots of followers who "liked" and commented on her review. As a result, the top review on GR is my only two-star review. (Note: This review did not kill my book. In retrospect, I think it might even have been beneficial, because anyone bothered by the issues she mentioned won't read the book, and so no more "I hated this book" reviews.)
So for my book: 3 reviews out of 170 ratings that likely had some influence. Not a big proportion, lots of luck involved, but also no work or money involved.
Goodreads is also excellent for market research -- find out what readers do and don't like about your books, find out what other books your readers are reading, find out what readers think about your competitors' books, notice shifts in readers' views of what is acceptable or not, what they like, what they're bored with, what they're sick of. If you're planning to try a new genre, read reviews of books in that genre to find out what readers like and don't like. It is a goldmine of market information.
Plus, as someone else noted, some of those reviews are just great reading in themselves.
