This week’s Tuesday Tutorial is written by our own Melissa Pearl. Thank you, Melissa!
For those of you who haven’t spent much time on Goodreads, it is an amazing site. I love it. There are some fantastic features that benefit both authors and readers.
From a reading point of view, adding books to my “TO READ” list, totally rocks. It’s such an easy way to keep track of all those books I want to read.
Another feature that is really beneficial to both the reader and writer is LISTOPIA. You can find this by looking at the top of any page (if you’re logged in). You will see EXPLORE with a drop down menu. Listopia is first on the list.
This then takes you to a page where you can search for specific lists or see which ones are recommended based on your personal preferences (the types of books you’ve rated highly). Here is a direct link to the most popular lists.
Most people glance at the Top 10 – 20. This no doubt sparks reading ideas and multiple books are added to people’s “TO READ” lists.
This is where Listopia is completely brilliant for authors. Getting on one of these lists is simple. You can either Create Your Own List or you can find a list that suits your book and ask someone to add your book to it.
My books have been added to lists like Best Time Travel Romance Novels and Best YA Romance. I actually was surprised to find someone had added my book to The Most Eye Catching Cover of 2012. Excitement!!
To see which lists you’ve voted on you click on MY LISTS. This will show you where you’ve voted and is the easiest way to find which lists your books are on. (On come on! We all know you vote for your own stuff!!)
That brings me to my next point… voting. Once your books are on the appropriate lists you then need to start rounding up some votes. The more votes you have, the higher up the list you climb. Your book ratings come into play here too, but more than anything, you need votes. Obviously the higher up the list you are, the more exposure your books are going to get.
Here is an example of what the voting page looks like…
My books actually made it to slots #1 and #2 on this list, but time has passed and I’m now down to #14 and #18. Time for me to start rallying up some more votes and advertising the life out of this list.
I guess there is a little strategy involved in all this. You need to decide which lists will get the most exposure on Goodreads and then decide if your book belongs there. Having a massive group of supporters willing to vote for you is mega helpful too.
All in all, it is a ton of fun. As a reader, it is so cool to discover books you’ve never heard of. As a writer, it’s super cool to see your books rising up that ladder and hopefully catching the eye of many a reader.
Whether you’re a published author or not, you can gain so much from this Goodreads feature. Happy browsing and voting everyone.
Thanks for explaining Listopia so well, Melissa.
Time management…need a tutorial on that, too!
I never really "got" listopia until now. Thanks so much. I really appreciate how clearly you explained it. A big help.
I've never really looked at Listopia. Silly me. Thanks for the tutorial!
My pleasure people. I hope you can get some good use out of it 🙂
Thanks for this post, Melissa. I'm a Goodreads newby who's been stumbling around the site like a blind person. I'm aware of the listopia feature, but you've provided the clarification I needed.
I'm glad it was helpful. It took me a good few months to get my head around Goodreads, but I love the site now!
Thank you for this, Melissa! I've been wondering how to use those darned lists…
Awesome info thanks
I see another 'fest' coming on. 😉
But of course it would only be ethical to vote for books you've read and liked. Goodreads also shows what you've voted for, which should make too much buddy-voting obvious. I'm rather chuffed to see my Steampunk book doing well on several lists. 😀
Congrats!! I love seeing my books climbing up lists as well. It's a real thrill.
Yes – I'd love to do a Listopia-fest, but like you said, it's a little unethical to vote on a book you know nothing about 🙂
I wish there was some way of getting more votes on my books though – feels a little forward to contact everyone who's read it and ask them to vote 🙂
I've been with Goodreads for a while, Melissa, and I definitely haven't made the most of it, stumbling around mostly; at least now I can make a start.
Thank you Melissa
I've been on Goodreads for a bit and had heard of Listopia but you have made it suse clear. Thanks. I do find Goodreads not very user friendly but I see that I need to have another serious go at it.
Melissa,
I need your help, please.
That was a stimulating exercise, but my curiosity got out of hand, I got lost in the maze and accidentally voted twice on the same list for my own book. I haven't succeeded in my attempts to go back and delete that error.
I could spend hours perusing these lists and voting. Maybe that's why I didn't go into Listopia earlier.
I'm sorry you got lost.
If you go to the list you voted on. On the right hand side it should show the books you voted for. In the top right hand corner of each book there is a tiny little x. Click on that and it should delete your vote.
Let me know how you get on 🙂
If you have any further trouble you can e-mail me on [email protected]
That way I can attach photos, etc to my answers, which may help 🙂
Melissa, thank you.
I went back to "My Lists" and found a link to "edit votes"
which allowed me to delete them.
I love getting lost in the Listopia maze, bumping into Antrobus here and there, in the nonfiction lists. Pondering the question, "Does nonfiction exist?" JD says no, there is only fiction. I concur, to a point. I look forward to sharing my thoughts on that topic here, sometime in July.
Oh good. I'm glad you got it sorted 🙂
Can't wait to read your post in July.
I'm a bit lost. Where do you add your book? I found the lists, I see create a list etc. but nothing about adding on.
Hi Aron 🙂
Once you have selected the list you want your book to be added to, you can then click on the ADD BOOK TO THIS LIST tab and search for your title.
If you look at the last image on this post, it will show you the tab I'm talking about.
I hope that helps 🙂
OK, I finally got to it. But when I get into a list I can't seem to find where I can add my books to it. Can you direct me? Thanks.
Hi Yvonne
Once you have selected the list you want your book to be added to, you can click ADD BOOK TO THIS LIST tab and search for your title.
Take a look at the last image on this post and see if that helps.
Let me know if there's anything else I can do 🙂
Thanks Melissa. I got it now. Slow learner. 🙂