Are you a reader? I suspect if you’re a blog reader then you do consider yourself to be a reader.
And if you’re a reader, are you on Goodreads? If you are, great. If you haven’t done so already, FRIEND me here:
Then read the list below and tell me what else I missed that Goodreads offers to readers.
If you’re not yet on Goodreads, let me tell you what I like about it. It can be a very social media. You can choose to join lots of groups and chat about all kinds of books and book issues. If you don’t find the group you want, you can create and moderate one.
But if you don’t want to be that social, you can choose your comfort level—anywhere from social butterfly to recluse.
What else can you do on Goodreads
- When you hear about a book you want to read in the future, you can add it to your to-read list.
- Your own personal reading lists will keep you organized. At any time, you can look up what you have already read and see which books you are “currently reading,” but have forgotten about (I’ve misplaced the book or forgotten I was in the middle of one on Kindle—don’t ask). Organization can be by genre.
- Book reviews by other Goodreads readers will give you an idea if you want to read a book or not.
- Your own book reviews will remind you later of what you liked or didn’t like—and allow you to interact with others about any book you choose. They will also reward a writer whose book you really appreciated. If you already leave book reviews on Amazon, you can post the exact same review both places.
- Friends will send you book recommendations.
- Take a reading challenge.
- Follow your favorite blogs through Goodreads.
- When you’re busy, you can just ignore Goodreads; it won’t mind.
- Book giveaways are super easy to enter, and you have a good chance of winning. How do I know? I have won!
- You can follow or friend writers and correspond with them through public questions or personal messages.
- Occasionally there are book-related gigs available.
- Need a quote? Find them here.
- Quizzes, author pages, and creative writing opportunities are on Goodreads.
Those of you already on the site, what do you like best about Goodreads?
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Kin Types had an original release date of June 23, 2017, but I got an email from the publisher. They are running five weeks behind. So don’t look for your copy until the end of July or first week of August! I’m so sorry for the delay. !@#$%^&*()
In the better news category, Doll God was reviewed by an academic critic in a print journal Pleiades Book Review 14:2.
Christine Butterworth-McDermott: “Dolls, Freaks, Art: American Poets Creating a New Mythology.”
Butterworth-McDermott’s article is a feminist reading of Doll God. I love how she connected with the doll and fairy tale poems in the book. She also reviews two other books, by Susan Swartwout and Denise Alvarez, in the same piece. At the end, she says, “Readers should read and reread the works of Castle, Swartwout, and Alvarez, finding new ways of looking at the world each time.”
Since I haven’t been writing lately I started Diane Lockward’s poetry craft book, The Crafty Poet II. I am writing a few very rough drafts based on exercises in the book. It’s a good way to get started again.
I like my books and flowers in large quantity!
I’ve been on Goodreads for a while and keep up with my book reading – sorta. Not much on reviewing and following. Thanks for the nudge.
I tried to find you, but failed :(. Do you add a lot of books to your to-read section? I have found that I get quite a few emails offering for me to sign up for giveaways from the to-reads. Little tip there . . . .
I am on Good Reads, but you’d probably put me in the recluse category! I like that it records all the books I’ve read, since I often forget them afterwards and I often read reviews and occasionally post one.
Yes, you are my friend :). I like that it records, too. Plus I get a lot of giveaway signup offers through email for books from my to-read list.
I need to use Goodreads more. I don’t pop in there often enough, as my other social media accounts take up so much time…Honestly, don’t you feel like promotion takes up more of your time than writing?? I do! It’s tough to balance on top of teaching, too. I have a hard time with balance and feel like I have to cram a lot into my summers. Hope you are well!
Promotion takes a lot of time and effort. It’s so hard to balance, but I do like the interaction with people though.
I have an account with Goodreads, but the only time I go on is to post a review. I’d never get any writing done if I visited all of these social media sites. Writing must come first, after my day job, of course. Congratulations on your review in Pleiades Book Review 14:2. Woot!!!!
Thank you, Jill. It was such a pleasant surprise! I am trying to evaluate my social media usage. I really enjoy Goodreads and feel it offers a lot of wonderful features that most social media does not. I think if I didn’t have a lot of old friends that I want to keep in touch with, Facebook is on the way down for me. Twitter is quick. I had pretty much counted Instagram out, but then Adrienne (Middlemayfarms) started posting so many pretty photos over there and it was a fun place to put pretty pix of things that appealed to me. But I dunna know. It seems I need to get rid of one.
Hooray for getting back into writing! And congratulations on the book review! 🙂
I’ve stayed away from Goodreads because reading is my drug of choice, and I have a hard enough time managing the addiction as it is. I’m pretty sure I’d be less functional than an active heroin user if I ever set foot in there. But I’m very glad that lots of other people are able to participate responsibly. 😉
Thanks so much on both counts, Jennifer! They are both important to me. I know what you mean about Goodreads hahahaha. But at least I feel that it is all productive stuff going on over there, whereas the other sites (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) are less important. Of course, I am forgetting that I am addicted to Pinterest, but then I keep my addiction in check by only pinning 8 pins per day. 😉
OK, sometimes 8 is 16. But never more.
I envy your self-control. ;-o
😉 I did 16 today and will try to refrain tomorrow.
I enjoy Goodreads too. I have an author account, but I also set up a personal one (I just sent you a friend request with that one). I interact differently on each, and I feel more comfortable leaving reviews as reader Carrie than author Carrie. But I don’t take advantage of the benefits as much as I should. Never enough time.
Sorry about the book delay. I know that’s frustrating.
Now that is an interesting idea. (I didn’t get the friend request! What the hay?) Does it get confusing? Sometimes I think people confuse my two Facebook accounts.
Never. enough. time. So true!!!
Hmm, I just tried to send another friend request, but it’s not accepting my response to the question that needs to be answered first. I’m entering “DollGod” but it’s not taking it. Technology, go figure.
Stinken technology. I need to fix this. But how? Ugh.
I have successfully weaned myself off 98% of social media and one of the reasons I did so was to find more time to read! It’s working. I discovered a new/old poet in the library last week called Carol Ann Duffy and the book was “The Bees”. I recommend it – but I won’t use Goodreads to do so!
98%? Hmm, I take it you don’t count WordPress as social media haha? Because if WP is the 2%, my gosh, there aren’t that many other social mediums, are there? 😉
Ah, you didn’t use Goodreads, but I did. I just ran over there and put The Bees on my to-read list! Thanks, Susanne!
I forgot to say how marvelous to have such glowing reviews of your work. You are a truly fine poet. As for my poor numeracy skills, I was reaching – unsuccessfully, it appears – for a numeric metaphor to indicate my reduced use of social media. I used to have accounts on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and WordPress and now ONLY WordPress. Not sure what that adds up to but by now you’ve fallen asleep or have gone for a walk or taken a shower.
I hope you like The Bees.
I didn’t fall asleep and that is meaningful because after my shower I sat on the bed to put my shoes on and fell asleep. (Woke at 1AM and was up until 4 so I’m tired).
I followed you on Goodreads!
I like how Goodreads tracks my books and gives recommendations based on books I’ve read. I’m a “light recluse,” however. I’ll post book updates and read other’s updates, but I don’t join groups.
Thanks, Desiree! I think I friended you back. I hope it worked!
I love the tracking.
Funny you mention that about the groups. I have joined several groups, and I end up not really participating. They do take more time than I have for it if I want to blog, and I’ve found some of the participation less than compelling. Wondering if you ever tried any and found the same thing?
I haven’t joined any Goodreads groups, but I did observe a few to see if I’d like them. I saw some book clubs that were very active, but they weren’t reading anything I liked so I didn’t bother joining. Then there were clubs that weren’t active enough. I also saw a few creative writing clubs on Goodreads. I didn’t join them because I could always share my writing on my blog.
I’m sure there’s some pretty good clubs out there that others might enjoy, but I haven’t find the one for me.
I tried to friend you, but I don’t know the right answer, so I have been rejected. I followed you as an author instead. 🙂
I don’t love the Goodreads. I rarely visit. I should do it more, but I just don’t. Middle daughter practically lives there.
Oh gee. Dagnabbit. Did I set up some stupid question at some point? And now I can’t figure out how to undo it. Wow, that is wonderful that middle daughter loves Goodreads. I view that as a stamp of approval on the site!
You did. It wants the name of your first poetry collection.
I saw that finally. And then Carrie said DollGod didn’t work and it is supposed to so I figured out how to “dismantle” it. Yay!
Oh, well I’ll hit you up another time then 🙂
Thanks!
I’m not on it. I’ll never read all those I have 🙂
Haha, isn’t that the truth though? I have piles of books I still haven’t read and keep getting more. And although I guess I keep getting more cats, at least I hug each one every day.
🙂
Congratulations on the great review, Luanne!
I joined Goodreads a couple of years ago, but I thought it was kind of annoying, and I haven’t really been on it in a long time–except sometimes I go there to look for quotations (though they’re not always accurate). I get emails from it sometimes telling me about a book that it says I started years ago. 🙂
Merril, thank you so much. It really was not only a surprise but something quite special.
My favorite thing about Goodreads besides the reviews and my own lists are that I get emails at least once a week, sometimes 2 or 3, inviting me to enter a giveaway on a book on my to-read list. VERY convenient and a nice feature.
Congratulations on the review, Luanne! As far the delay for Kin Types, us readers will simply think of it as “Christmas in July” when it arrives :). I do have an account on Goodreads but I rarely visit unless I’m leaving a book review. I can’t even remember who I am friends with, so I’ll check and see if we’re connected. I could probably trade out the time I spend on Facebook for Goodreads. FB, for me, is so much more of a time suck 😉
Christmas in July! Oh, that’s nice, Marie. Thank you. FB IS more of a time suck. And I think maybe Instagram and Pinterest are too, but they are so pretty and I am addicted to Pinterest. We ARE friends on Goodreads.
Yay! I checked Goodreads and was happy to see that we are. The thing is, I keep getting people I don’t know asking to connect with me on Goodreads. Is it bad form to ignore them? I just always feel apprehensive about strangers. With FB, I totally ignore people who I don’t know (and even some I do 😉 ).
If I remember right that’s why I put in where you have to answer a question to friend me–that stumped Joey above. I must have put in something idiotic. That way just anybody can’t friend you, but then shows you I don’t have a good handle on it. Yes, I would ignore those you don’t want like on FB!
I should check to see if I have a question. I had one on LinkedIn but people ignored it somehow. Sigh.
I just got rid of mine because it wasn’t working for people. All they had to say was DollGod and it didn’t work.
I am on Goodreads but have got out of the habit of using it, Luanne. When it was on my sidebar I kept it updated, but since I revamped the site and took the sidebar out I haven’t really missed it. It was another demand on time that I thought could be better used (though whether I use it better is highly debatable 🙂 )
I think Goodreads is one of my favorites because it has so many good qualities. I swore off Instagram for awhile and then went back, but honestly I think it takes up time that can be better spent elsewhere. I probably am only on it because my daughter uses it much more than Facebook. I don’t even like Facebook much any more, but how else to stay in touch with so many people? 🙂
I find Facebook a pain but it’s useful for folks you don’t see much. I tend to use Twitter to promote stuff and I’ve just started taking photos on my phone so Instagram’s a novelty. I love books but I’m not so fussy on reviews. 🙂
I agree about Facebook. There are people that I can only contact that way, too. Twitter is for promotion.
I think I have an account from years ago but I’ve never done much with it. i am reading so much right now trying to prepare for all the summer tutoring I’m doing. Four books at once – yikes!!
Oh ugh. I never could figure out how anybody could take more than one English lit course at once and read Middlemarch while they were reading Oliver Twist, say.
Hi Luanne!
I have very little data room on my phone, so actually have been deleting apps! I will join this as soon as I get rid of more stuff. . .
I love flowers and have a summer series coming up! I think I have a green post which I remembered to include you and both books! I’m heading off to my long, Hot day at work soon. hugs xo 💐 🌸
You are such a sweetie. Green post! and flowers! Good stuff . . . . Speaking of data, I have to figure out why my phone is out of data. I got a bill for $40 for extra data. Maybe because of my son’s wedding? But the problem doesn’t seem to be fixed although I barely have any photos/videos on it now. So I need to figure out all the places data hides on the phone!
Wow! I didn’t know Goodreads offered all this! I am on it but not very active, posting reviews now and then. At the moment the most I use it for the Reading Challenge and keep order of the books I read…I’ll try and get round to becoming more part of the community…soon!😀
The best thing IMO is to put a lot of books on your to-read list and then you will get emails for giveaways! No work on your part and so easy to sign up for them.
Thanks for the tip…I love lists and book ones are the best! 😀
Great discussion post, thank you for sharing this!
As a new book reviewer, Goodreads has offered such a wonderful place for me to discover new authors and inspire my reading. When I write my own book reviews, I tend to preview the Goodreads review first as a way of making sure my own review is written differently than the Goodreads review and give readers different ways to preview the same books.
Lately, I have been a bit of recluse on Goodreads and more active on my blog site, but I like how on Goodreads, as opposed to on wordpress where it is essential for us to be active within the book community, Goodreads gives us a break and is, in a sense, more enjoyable.
That’s how I feel about Goodreads. I like to make sure I get out at least one blog post per week on both my blogs, but Goodreads I can do whatever whenever, so it feels fresh each time. The only thing I don’t care for is the star rating system as it’s very limited. I would prefer a star system that ranked 4-5 different aspects of a book. So many times I feel a book is very valuable and warrants an 5 to get people to read it, but maybe it needs better editing or somesuch. I would prefer to give it a 5 in one category and maybe a 2 or 3 in another category. Make sense? I’ll check out your blog!
I have a virtual library on Goodreads. I like reading the reviews and finding new books to read later.
It does feel as if we have a library at our fingertips!