The Goodreads Author Program is a free feature designed to help authors reach their readers.

Good for profile—good for sales

For authors wanting to develop their profile and boost their book sales, Goodreads is a great place to focus your attention.

As the go-to site for bookworms looking for their next read, this bespoke, book-oriented community is a great place for authors to hang out and talk to an interested audience.

Getting used to any new platform can be a bit daunting, so we’ve put together this simple guide to get you started. If you’re a Goodreads rookie, this easy-to-follow fact sheet should have you up and running in no time.

Check out our other general Goodreads guide to help you develop your profile and maximize your impact on Goodreads.

What’s the first step?

If you are not already a member of Goodreads, go to Goodreads.com and create an account. Once you’ve joined, or if you are already a member, sign into your account. Search for yourself and click on your published author name. Clicking on your name takes you to your basic author profile page. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Click “Is this you?” to send a request to join the Author Program. It can take a few days for Goodreads to respond but you should receive a confirmation email. When an author joins the Author Program, Goodreads will merge your user profile

with the author profile.

Once I have my profile what next?

• Add a picture and bio• Share your list of favorite books and recent reads with your fans!• Write a blog and generate a band of followers• Publicize upcoming events, such as book signings and speaking engagements• Share book excerpts and other writing• Write a quiz about your book or a related topic• Post videos• Add the Goodreads Author widget to your personal website or blog to show off reviews of your books

Author Program

When an author joins the Author Program, Goodreads will merge your user profile with your author profile.

How to

What’s the benefit of having an author profile?

Becoming a Goodreads Author carries special privileges, such as the ability to edit profile information, add book cover images, post events, write a blog, upload videos, and start featured author groups. You’ll also have access to a special Author Dashboard that contains useful links and statistics about your books.

A powerful tool

Goodreads is undoubtedly a powerful tool for building your audience and fan base. The site is home to a wealth

of information about how to boost your profile and lay the foundations for better book sales.

You can access information about the author program here: http://www.goodreads.com/author/program check out the slide show at the bottom of the page - which will give you an overview of what to expect.

For an overview of different features - a host of mini presentations that will walk you through the basics of operating your dashboard, how to encourage readers to review your books, how to manage giveaways and how to make the most of groups can all be found on one page. You can access it here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/how_to

We would encourage each and every one of our authors to invest an hour of their time to review these helpful guides to help you get the most of this fantastic marketing and networking tool.

Good for profile—good for sales

You’ll also have access to a special Author Dashboard that contains useful links and statistics about your books.