Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

As authors we want readers to find us and our books. There are a couple of sites that offer author profiles that you can set up yourself. Firstly, there is Goodreads. Not only can you create your own profile but actively promote your book(s) and also connect with readers and review other author’s books. As many f you know I review every book I read on Goodreads and Amazon. It is my way of giving back to the community.

The process to set up your author profile is pretty easy and there is a helpful guide on the site if your get stuck. Follow these steps and add another avenue to your author platform. You will also have a follow button so your readers can click that to keep updated on your new releases etc. You can also follow all your favorite authors.

How To Set Up Your Goodreads Author Profile

Step one: Claim your book (or manually add it)

First, search Goodreads to see if your book has already been added to their database. One of your readers could have already added it for you.

If you don’t find your book listed, take these steps to manually add your book:

• Click “My Books” along the top
• Click “Import/Export” along the left side
• Click “manually add books” along the top
• Or use this link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/new

Once you are on your book page, click on the link for your name. It will open up to an author profile page. Click on the link that says “Is this you? Let us know.” and you will be able to send a request to join the Author Program.

Step two: Customize your author profile

There are many things you can do to customize your Goodreads author profile.

• Add your author photo.
• Add a compelling author bio
• Add your blog.
• Add upcoming events, give away’s and/or teasers for your next book.
• Add ‘ask the author’ questions for each book. Make sure to activate

Step three: Getting started on Goodreads

When you are first getting started on Goodreads, here are three things we recommend doing:

1. Rate at least 20 books. This will unlock additional features that are not available to you until you add and rate at least 20 books.
2. Start adding friends. Personally, I got started by importing friends from Facebook. This helped me add friends quickly.
3. Remember to ask reviewers to post to Goodreads as well. Get the URL of your book page and give it to reviewers who agree to post a review for you.

Now you have your author profile added here are several tips on using the site for promotion.

Getting exposure for your author profile on Goodreads can create interest in you and your books. Here are a 9 ways you can get your profile image to show up around Goodreads once you have your account set up:

1. Update your progress on a book you are currently reading. Click update status on that particular book’s Goodread’s page.
2. Vote on a list http://www.goodreads.com/list
3. Vote on a poll http://www.goodreads.com/poll
4. Blog updates – this will happen automatically if you’ve connected your blog to your author profile.
5. Rate a book and/or review it.
6. Add a book to your shelves.
7. Find a book and click “want to read”.
8. Click the “like” button under someone else’s review.
9. Respond to friend requests.

The more you interact the more exposure you and your book(s) will get, so get it done!

Good luck and let me know when I can follow you! Here’s mine:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6477059.Mandy_Eve_Barnett?from_search=true&from_srp=true