Good Reads 101 - Part 2 Tell me about your book...

There are many opportunities on goodreads to tell people about your book. The most common is an "authors promotion folder" they exists in just about every group and this is an open invitation to tell others about what you've written. Other possibilities are threads to announce book signing, new releases, etc.

I cringe when I see how poorly these are executed by most writers. They usually look something like this:

Hey guys I have a just finished a book called Me and Rover and I'd love for you to check it out. It's about a boy and his dog and the adventures they go on. Thanks!

What a wasted opportunity!! Here are some pointers for your post:

• Subject of post : Title of book/series and your short (4 word tagline


• Make it easy on them. For god's sake your post MUST have goodreads links to your book/books and to your author page. More about this in a minute.


• Have covers of your book


• Tell them about your book - make it "just right" not too long or too short
  
  
• Samples - every post should have a place where they can read samples of your work


• Establish credibility

SUBJECT
Some groups have a folder where an author has a post per book/series etc. As mentioned above this has to have your title (book or series) and your VERY SHORT tagline. This way even if people don't click into the link, you at least had an impression. I see so many people's posts that say something like: New fantasy adventure or my latest book. Here are some examples I've used:

• Basic - The Riyria Revelations: Unlikely Heroes...Classic Adventure
• Freebie - The Viscount and the Witch: FREE Riyria Short Story
• Announcement: The Heir of Novron: Named #2 Most Anticipated Release of Q1 2012 by Fantasy Book Critic
  

NOTE: Sometimes you don't get a "post just for you" in which case this becomes the "headline" before you describe your book/series. But if you are allowed a post all to yourself you need to get the name out there and an enticement.

GOODREAD LINKS
Every book and every author has a goodreads link that looks something like this:

• [author:Michael J. Sullivan|2063919]
  
• [book:Heir of Novron|11100431] or [bookcover:Heir of Novron|11100431]

I keep a separate file with these links in them for quick reference when I'm creating a post. How do you find the link specific to you? It's easy...Just start a message, and just above the body of the message you'll see a link to "add book author" Use that to do a search to find your books then copy/paste the results into a file for future use. NOTE: if you use [book: it will put just the title of your book with a link (good for in-line discussion) If you use [bookcover: it will put a small thumbnail of your book.

COVERS
Just having a picture of your books really elevates your product listing. I suggest if you have a series you put all of them in single image (Maximum width = 430). Don't forget to link these to a meaninful page (either your author page on goodreads or your "book" page on your website.) Also don't forget to use bitly so you know how many times the image is seen.

BOOK DESCRIPTION
As in the above example, the person didn't say enough. But more often than not people ramble on longer than they should. You need ONE paragaraph of hopefully no more than 200 words. If you have multiple books in a series, then have one "overview" paragraph for the series and one paragraph for each book.

CREDIBILITY
This section should be updated frequently as you gain more and more credentials. In the beginning it may just be some quotes of others (bloggers or readers). If you get awards or high acclaim then add them in as well. If you start to get some serious numbers on Amazon or goodreads - use those. Basically what you use this section for is to give people a reason to "trust" that your books are worth looking at. Make sure that if you are using a quote provide a links so they can "see for themselves.

Okay, now each situation is going to be different but let's look at the post I use for Michael's books:

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Hello all, I'm Michel J. Sullivan and I want to thank you for the opportunity to tell you a bit about my books. For those that don't know the original books in the Riyria Revelations are now out of print as the series is being re-released by Orbit (Fantasy Imprint of #2 Publisher Hachette Book Group).

RIYRIA REVELATIONS: Unlikely Heroes...Classic Adventure
There's no orphan destined for greatness or ancient evil to destroy…just two rogues in the wrong place at the wrong time. Royce Melborn, a cynical thief, and his ex-mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living performing dangerous assignments for petty nobles…until a simple job to steal a sword finds them framed for the murder of the king. And so begins this simple tale that uncovers a conspiracy far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.



I wrote all six books before releasing the first, and five of them were published by a small imprint run by my wife. They did well...I sold 70,000+ copies, and have 2300+ ratings and 500+ reviews here on goodreads. Now, they are being re-released as a trilogy in 3 consecutive months: Nov, Dec, and Jan. The "older" books that you might be more familiar with are here:





REVIEWS
"Filled with adventure and clever dialog and featuring a pair of not-quite-heroes whose loyalties to each other provide them with their greatest strength, this epic fantasy showcases the arrival of a master storyteller." -- Library Journal

Hair-raising escapes, flashy sword fights, and faithful friendship complete the formula for good old-fashioned escapist fun." -- Publisher's Weekly

"Wintertide (A++) is the second top-rated combo (with The Emerald Storm) of 2010 for me and establish the series as one of the best traditional epic fantasies currently being published and a top 10 novel of mine." — Fantasy Book Critic

Please consider adding one (or all) of the following to your shelves and let me know what you think of them, good, bad, or indifferent all I ask is for honest opinions....thanks!

Michael J. Sullivan: Theft of Swords | Heir of Novron | Rise of Empire

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Let's look at this post and why I did what I did:

• You need at least a two-line introduction to your post (as you're picture will be to the left of it and it is good to use your name AND a link to your goodreads author profile.
  
  
• Series name and headline followed by a SHORT description (168 words)
  
  
• Covers of the book that goes to Michael's book blog page
  
  
• The next paragraph/set of pictures is specfic for Mihael's situation. You of course wouldn't have this. The reason I have it in here is most people on Goodreads are already familiar with these books. Also Michael has a LOT of reviews and book sold. I say once you get above 5,000 books you can start bragging with that and 500+ ratings and 100+ reviews are worth mentioning
  
  
• A button that takes them to a page to read samples. I'll talk more about how to "construct" this page in the future but this is essential.
  
  
• Reviews to establish - third party validation notice I'm using the "big names" in the industry and the genre.
  
  
• Closing: Quick access to GOODREADS links to his author page and the books. This makes it easy for them to add them to their shelves.
  

This was not developed "overnight" It took me years of experimentation to get it "just right" and as your writing career expands you'll have to update these postings. Again I suggest having a separate file with all your "author links" so that each time one needs updating you can copy/paste to all the others.