Goodreads, A Community For Readers & Writers

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If you’ve never visited the Goodreads website, you’ve missed a real treat. This is a place, ostensibly, for readers to list, comment on and share their opinions about books they have actually read. It’s also a place for authors to promote their own titles. But it is so much more than that.

The insights from real readers are so useful for a writer and give wonderful guidance to other readers about what might be worth trying and what is definitely for the bin. The variety of reviews is so wide that it encompasses all levels of understanding of the written word. The fact that the reviewers on this site are all, by definition, lovers of books, makes their views of real value to authors.

There are opportunities for social networking here; all members can have their own blog, if they so desire, and there’s something very satisfying about adding a title of a loved, or loathed, book to your own growing list of reads and awarding the appropriate number of stars. I especially loved being able to award a single star to a particular novel by a greatly oversold author. And I have had the pleasure of adding books I read years ago to the lists, introducing them to new readers in the process. If you want to add a review, you can, but there’s no pressure to do so.

Books are listed under the website first when searching, but you can also search Amazon and Barnes & Noble to add books that don’t yet appear on the site.

Writers can, if they qualify, have their own ‘author’s profile page’ where they can market their own titles and receive genuine feedback from readers who are actively seeking books to read and review.

This is a really positive site with a great feeling to it. It is serious without being precious and, as more and more readers and writers join, it grows in terms of book titles and opinions expressed.

If you love books, this is definitely the place for you. But, beware, it can be addictive, so proceed with caution!