What Should an Author Do on Goodreads?

The first thing to do on Goodreads is join the free Goodreads Author Program, so you control your author profile and your book listings. After that, treat the site as a place where readers talk about books, not a place to sell to them. Below is how to claim your profile, what giveaways are, and what to do about a 1-star rating that has no review.

How do I claim my author profile on Goodreads?

Goodreads says any published author, anywhere, can join the Author Program for free. You need a published book, or one soon to be published, in its database (Goodreads Author Program). Applying is done on the desktop site:

1. Sign in or create a Goodreads account.
2. Search for your most popular book by ISBN, ASIN or title, and open it.
3. Click your author name, scroll to the bottom of your author profile and click “Is this you? Let us know!”
4. Complete the application.

Goodreads says it emails approval within 2 business days, and your login stays the same.

What can I do once I am approved?

Goodreads lists three things. You can manage your profile, which means updating your photo and bio and correcting your book listings, and approval adds an official Goodreads Author badge. You can promote your books, with giveaways, a connected blog and advertising. And you can talk with readers through Ask the Author, write reviews and share what you are reading.

My advice is to do the first part now and the rest slowly. Fix the listing so your cover, description and all your editions sit under one author name. If your book page on Amazon is also thin, work on that too: how to optimize your Amazon book page is the same job, and Goodreads readers often check both.

Are Goodreads giveaways worth it?

Goodreads’ giveaway page describes two formats. A Kindle Book Giveaway lets you give away up to 100 copies with no book cost or shipping, and is open to self-published authors who use Kindle Direct Publishing. A Print Book Giveaway means you mail the books to winners yourself, so you budget for printing and shipping; it targets the US and Canada marketplaces (Goodreads giveaways).

Goodreads’ giveaway page does not list a price, so check the cost when you set one up. A giveaway gets your book in front of readers who enter, but entering is not the same as buying or reviewing, so set it up for exposure and treat any reviews that follow as a bonus. It will not help much if the book has no cover, blurb or listing worth looking at. To get reviews the safe way, see how to get Amazon Kindle self-publishing reviews.

What do I do about a 1-star rating with no review?

Nothing. Goodreads’ author guidelines are blunt on this. They say authors should not engage with readers who rate or review their books negatively, that replying will not win new readers, and that other readers may see an author’s reply as hostile however carefully it is written. They also tell authors to expect some negative reviews, since even bestselling authors get one-star ratings (Goodreads author guidelines).

If you think a review breaks Goodreads’ Review Guidelines, the same page says to report it to the Goodreads team rather than answer it. The page does not say what Goodreads does with a rating that has no review, so I will not guess. For the same problem on Amazon, I wrote what to do about a negative review.

What should I do first?

Join the Author Program, fix your listing, and then spend your marketing time where your readers already buy. For most new authors that means a launch plan and a way to reach readers directly, such as an email list. My free checklist walks through the whole path from manuscript to launch: get the free self-publishing checklist.

Start with the free checklist

The checklist is the 12 steps I follow for every book I publish, from choosing a profitable niche with keyword research to setting up the marketing machine. It is free, and you get it straight away.

Get the free checklist