Goodreads for Authors: How to Utilize The World’s Largest Reader Community

This post is written by Steve Sarner, Goodreads’ 216th member and former Head of Sales.

When I joined Goodreads in 2007, it had 216 members. Fast forward to 2025 and it’s the world’s largest community of readers, with over 180 million users. For almost 20 years, the platform’s reviews and ratings have helped bookworms decide what to read next, what to add to their wishlist, and what to gift their friends and family members. 

But in 2025, Goodreads’ reach extends beyond its own ecosystem. Amazon shoppers can now see their Goodreads lists in their personal library, and AI models increasingly pull data from the platform when surfacing and recommending books. A strong Goodreads presence is no longer a nice-to-have; it has become critical to any author’s visibility and success.

In this post, I’ll walk you through what you need to know about Goodreads as an author — from claiming your profile to engaging with fans to running promotional giveaways.

Let’s get started.

Set yourself up as a Goodreads Author

(Already a Goodreads Author? Feel free to skip ahead.) 

If you’re not yet a regular member of the Goodreads community, head over to Goodreads.com to create your free account.

Once you’re logged in as a reader, find your Author Profile by searching for your name directly or navigating to your book page and clicking on your name from there. Scroll down to “Is this you? Let us know” to access the author claim form. 

Once your application has been approved, you can copy your author bio and photo over from Amazon (if you haven’t optimized your Amazon author page yet, now’s a good time to do so).

Then, head to your Author Dashboard to view your stats, read helpful marketing advice on Goodreads’ Author & Advertisers Blog, and access engagement features such as “Ask the Author” (more on that below).

Take a moment at this point to check that your book details are actually correct; I see mis-listings all too often. If necessary, you can edit your book’s info by following these instructions.

Congratulations! You now have a presence on Goodreads. But to really thrive on the platform, there are several more things I recommend you do — and they only take a few minutes.

Repurpose your content

The first way to enhance your Goodreads profile is to connect it to your existing content. Add outbound links to your website, newsletter, podcast, and/or social media accounts. Integrate your YouTube videos onto Goodreads and connect your blog or Substack feed to automatically import new posts. 

Patrick Rothfuss provides a stellar example of how an author can repurpose existing content. From his Goodreads profile, he links to his website and Twitter/X account. He also integrates his blog feed, which fans can choose to read on Goodreads itself or on his blog, and some of his YouTube videos:

Many authors I’ve worked with over the years have seen noticeably better sales conversions on Amazon after adding content to their Goodreads profile page and securing more reviews and ratings.

Curate memorable quotes from your book(s)

Another quick and easy way to boost your Goodreads profile is by filling out your “Quotes” section. Quotes can circulate independently across Goodreads, often getting liked, shared, and added to readers’ “Favorite Quotes” — they have the potential to generate new leads almost effortlessly.

All you need to do is choose 5–10 lines that capture your voice or convey impactful ideas. Add them to the “Quotes” section of your author page and attribute them to the correct book.

Your selected quotes should stand alone, be short, and express an incisive observation or universal truth. Pick out lines that feel wise, emotionally resonant, and memorable — something a reader immediately understands and wants to keep. Avoid anything that requires context from the book or rambles past 20–25 words. In short: be concise, specific, and insightful and skip anything confusing, long-winded, or lecturing.

Pro Tip: Post quotes around the time of your book launch or other milestones, as the Goodreads algorithm surfaces recently added quotes to readers following similar authors.

Turn on “Ask the Author”

Although it takes more time, it’s also worth enabling Goodreads’ “Ask the Author” feature to engage directly with readers. Not only can you interact with your fans on a personal level, but you can also influence what AI “knows” about you through the mini-interview format.

Feel free to seed the first few Q&As yourself (you may need a friend to post it from their account). Give thoughtful answers to common questions such as:

• What inspired your first book?

• Who do you hope will read your books?

• What are you working on next?

You can find plenty more Ask the Author examples here.

Respond publicly and personally to all (reasonable) reader questions. Goodreads members value authenticity over polish, so keep answers conversational and genuine. Where appropriate, you might like to mention upcoming projects or signpost readers to other resources. At ShelfLife, we have seen clients gain new newsletter subscribers directly from participating in “Ask the Author”.

Pro Tip: Next time you host a Q&A or AMA on social media, encourage readers who DIDN’T get their questions answered to head to Goodreads. That way you can maintain the time-limited exclusivity of the AMA while still redirecting the overflow in a valuable way.

Engage with the community

While polishing your profile is a must, engaging with the community outside of your author page is slightly less essential. That said — try to set aside a few minutes each week or month to participate in a group discussion, leave a review on a fellow author’s new release, or reply to (select) reader reviews. This can positively affect your reputation and visibility in the long term.

If you do decide to be active in the Goodreads community, be sure to follow these ground rules to ensure the experience remains positive:

• Approach any community activity as a reader, not as an author with a marketing agenda.

• Participate authentically in genre-specific group discussions without engaging in self-promotion.

• Comment sparingly on your own reviews — only where you can add genuine value or insight, for example by answering an explicit question. Only ever respond to positive or neutral reviews, and never argue with negative ones.

• And be careful when leaving reviews for other authors, especially in your own genre or subgenre. Praising the book is always safe, of course — but if you can’t leave an honestly positive review for one of your peers, it’s probably best to avoid leaving a review at all.

That’s everything you can do on Goodreads for free! However, if you want to leverage the platform to its fullest, you can also get involved in its paid marketing opportunities.

Run a giveaway

Goodreads Giveaways can be highly valuable for self-published authors, as they are one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to get books into the hands of real readers.

Each month, millions of people browse available book giveaways on Goodreads and enter the ones which interest them. Goodreads also sends millions of personalized emails to users each month, promoting giveaway titles which match their interests and preferences. Listing your book for a Goodreads Giveaway will expose your title to tens of thousands of readers or more.

You can either run a Kindle or print giveaway, donating up to 100 copies of your book. Print giveaways typically draw 50% more entrants, but Kindle giveaways are automatically delivered to the winners’ devices at no extra cost to you.

Speaking of cost, standard giveaways are $119 to list and will typically capture 500 to 5,000 entries — sometimes even more. So while it’s obviously more expensive than doing a giveaway via your author website or social media, the audience reach on Goodreads may be worth it. Basically, it can help a ton of new readers discover you for the first time, rather than relying on readers who already know and follow you. 

Not only will the winners hopefully leave a rating or review, but your book is added to each entrant’s “Want to Read” shelf — and thus their Amazon book page. This puts your title at the top of readers’ minds the next time they are looking for a new book on Amazon. 

If you run a pre-order giveaway, entrants will even get a free “On Sale” notification email when the book is released.

Look out for new advertising programs

For authors who have a higher marketing budget, there’s also the possibility of running ads on Goodreads.

Unlike Amazon ads, which are great for driving direct sales, Goodreads Advertising is primarily a brand awareness opportunity. In addition to display ads, Goodreads offers a “native” in-feed ad unit as well as several email opportunities. 

In the past, these products have required high minimum spend levels ($5,000+) and have been used primarily by traditional book publishers. Recently, however, Goodreads has begun to offer lower priced options, paving the way for self-published authors to gain “Want to Read” shelvings and improve their visibility, too.

While these programs are currently new or in beta, they are worth monitoring for future use. You can find out more by filling out this inquiry form on Goodreads.

Goodreads is no longer a nice-to-have author platform — it’s a key engine that shapes how books are discovered, discussed, and recommended across the web. From Amazon’s integration to the AI models now learning from reader behavior, your Goodreads presence directly impacts your books’ visibility and discoverability. 

Investing even a small amount of time to optimize your profile, encourage engagement, and participate authentically can yield beneficial long-term results — helping to ensure your ideal reader finds you and your book.