Top “Don’ts” for Goodreads Authors

Alessandra Torre, Inkers Con co-founder and contributor

I’ll start out by saying that I love Goodreads. Love, love, love it with a capital L. After all, a place where 125 million readers converge to discuss books? Sign me up all day long and twice on Sunday.

However, a lot of authors avoid the platform or don’t know how to properly use it to promote their novels. I get it. Using Goodreads as an author can be confusing.

To help you avoid any missteps on Goodreads, here are some things to avoid when you use Goodreads as an author:

• Don’t worry about getting a 3-star rating on your book. Goodreads ratings are trusted in and widely seen and interacted with. Goodreads offers users a posted scale for reviews a 3-star review in the Goodreads universe is defined as “the book was good”. So keep your chin up! Three stars isn’t a negative rating. And on the plus side – because Goodreads reviews get great visibility, that makes the 4 and 5-star reviews even more valuable.
• Don’t interact with negativity. Like any social media site – there is drama and negativity IF you seek it out, but it’s easy to avoid. Any interaction with negativity can escalate quickly – and will only bring more negative attention.
• Don’t star rate your own book. Authors can review their own book. The review section is a great place to share extras about your book like purchase links, teasers or excerpts. But it’s bad form to give your own book five stars (or any stars).
• Don’t do a giveaway post–release. Goodreads Giveaways can be powerful when used correctly (pre-release) but don’t have a strong return on investment if used after your book is released.

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