Tag: GoodReads

Posted in Social Networking

Back to Goodreads: Unclogging a Piece of Social Networking

Posted on by beckylevine

I hear myself saying this a lot to people–if social networking isn’t fun for you, don’t do it. And I’m serious about that–I have fun here on my blog, fun on other people’s blogs, fun on Facebook and fun on Twitter. And, yes, if you add them up in some fancy mathematical equation, it’s way too much fun.

I don’t know about fun with LinkedIn. I’m there, and I check in every so often, but–honesty–haven’t figured that site out yet. If you have a brilliant epiphanetical revelation for me about it, please do share. So…I wouldn’t rate LinkedIn as high on my fun scale, but it doesn’t cause me any stress either.

Unlike Goodreads. Or, to be more specific, the current state of my Goodreads account. When I first signed up for GR, I did like it. For a long time, I liked it. And then, I think, I let myself be sucked into the social-networking shoulds:

  • You should use X to market your book
  • You should link your blog to X
  • You should friend lots and lots of people at X, especially if they send you a request

Um…

As a small piece of social networking, these should are true.  But, and here’s the important thing, I think–we can’t do everything everywhere!

I like Goodreads because it gives me a place to rave about a book I love, and the site makes it super easy for me to share that rave with people on…yes Facebook & Twitter. I like Goodreads because, when I’m running low on book ideas, I can scan people’s lists and get ideas. Except, as it stands, there are way too many people and way too many lists for me to do that. My site is clogged. So do I use Goodreads for the part that makes me happy? No. Am I using Goodreads productively for social networking? Definitely not.

A while ago, Sherrie Petersen announced on her blog that she was stepping away from Facebook. As much as I like it out there on FB, Sherrie’s post made it clear that this was a great choice for her. And that doing a reality check every now & then about our social-networking habits can be sanity-making.

Time for me to back up. I’ve decided I will no longer use Goodreads as a piece of my social network. I’m not closing out my account, but I will be going through my list and deleting quite a lot of the people there. Most. This feels a little bit like crossing people off the wedding list because the park isn’t big enough. (Yes, we had our wedding celebration in a park–where else can you find a big enough BBQ pit?) And that part isn’t the best feeling.

The part about just leaving people on the list whose book recommendations I really, really want to see sounds great. I often get a craving for some seriously great fantasy–I know who’s list I’m going to go to for those. I am on constant look-out for new MG and YA and PB books; I’m going to keep some big readers in those genres. Mysteries, historical novels–I need a steady feed of suggestions.

But that’s it. If you read my blog and if you friended me on Goodreads and if you find out you’re no longer on the list (is that even possible), I still do want to talk. Come find me on Facebook or Twitter, where I’m having actual conversations! For me, Goodreads needs to be the quiet corner of the public library, where I quiet-as-a-whisper pass books back and forth with a few like readers.

What’s overloading your right now? Is there a piece of the social-networking pie that you’d feel happier (and lighter) without? Drop into the comments & share your thoughts. Or don’t! 🙂

Posted in Marketing, Promotion, Social Networking

Social Networking: GoodReads

Posted on by beckylevine

Last month, I put up a post about various links to people “talking” about social networking. Included in the list was Martha Engber’s post about GoodReads, which included a brief discussion on how authors can use the site to market their books.

Right after I blogged about this, I signed up for GoodReads. (You can see the button to my GoodReads page over there on the right–it took me WAY longer to add that button than to complete my GR profile, BTW!) I admit, signing up was, for me, sort of an exploratory mission. I’ve never been one to catalog my books in any ways, and I was just stepping out of a review job and was looking forward to NOT writing up my opinions for a while.

Well, of course, I found myself having fun. I do like listing the books I’m reading, and I like checking out the updates I get about my Friends. I haven’t started using the site as a source for my own to-read list, but that may be because I’m knee shoulder deep in reading research books for The Critiquer’s Survival Guide right now.

The other thing I haven’t yet dug into is the marketing/promotion aspects of the site that Martha talks about.  I’m curious, though, so I spent a little time today browsing the web to see what other people think about GoodReads. The overall consensus seems to be that it’s a wonderful sort-of online book group, but there isn’t that much talk out there about using it as an author, not just a reader.

I did find a few links, in addition to Martha’s, for you to check out.

I also took a first step and browsed the GoodReads Help pages for info about the author’s program. The best thing I saw is that, yes, it’s free to set up your own page, if you’re a published author. Always a nice feature. You can list all your books (or just the ONE that’s coming out next fall!),  put up an excerpt of your writing, add y our schedule of events, and run book giveaways. 

Here are a few links to GoodReads information about how authors can use their site:

Finally, just so you can take a look at a “final” product, here’s the GoodReads Author page of one of my favorite mystery writers, Dana Stabenow.

Are you on GoodReads? How do you use it–for fun as a reader, or promotion as a writer? (Or both?) Or do you belong to one of the other book-based social networking sites–LibraryThing or Shelfari? What do you think of them? I’d love to hear your take on these sites in the comments!

Posted in Marketing, Social Networking, Somebody Else Says

Somebody Else Says: Social Networking Links

Posted on by beckylevine

One of the very cool things about writing my critique book for Writer’s Digest is the timing. They’re doing a lot of reorganizing, shifting themselves–as I understand it–from several distinct businesses into one integrated community. I think I, and the book, are going to benefit greatly from this, not to mention having a fun ride along the way.

The whole online community thing is an amazing tool or toy, depending on how you look at it or how much you know about it. I feel as though I’m walking into a giant ocean, putting each foot down ahead of me very carefully, to see how deep I’m getting and to identify what’s actually swimming around out there. I know I can avoid the sharks, and I’m kind of excited that I might get to see some of those bright, colorful fish that hang out in the coral.

In other words, I’m still learning!

So I thought I’d post a few links today to help you dip your own toes in. See what you think. And throw some of your theories, hopes, and worries about social networking into the comments!

This first one’s a bit intense, with a bit of a 1984/Big Brother feel to it, and the participants throwing around a lot of jargon and TLAs (Three-Letter Acronyms). But if you substitute “I” for “We” and pretend their talking about individual writers instead of big corporations…well, there’s some interesting stuff. Thanks to Jane Friedman for the link.

http://www.foliomag.com/video/folio-roundtable

Martha Engber was doing a little research on Good Reads, which I’ve been wondering about lately. She’s got a good summary of how it works for marketing, as well as finding great book recommendations.

http://marthaengber.blogspot.com/2008/11/goodreads-offers-good-reads.html

Mary Hershey and Robin LaFevers always have great info at their Shrinking Violet Promotions blog. In this post, they “reprint” Robyn Schneider’s “Facebook: A Guide for Authors.”

http://shrinkingvioletpromotions.blogspot.com/2008/01/more-marketing-tasks-facebook.html

And Michelle Rafter has a post about how freelance writers can work with LinkedIn.

http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/how-writers-can-use-linkedin/

Enjoy!