Gail Carriger, best-selling author of the steampunk romance series Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School, recently stopped by the Goodreads offices (with the photo to prove it!) and shared some fascinating marketing advice. She’s taken both the traditional and indie route in publishing, and realizes how important it is for authors to take charge of their marketing plans, regardless of how they’re published. She also understands the value of engaging with readers (just check out her fantastic Ask the Author responses, like this one about naked ghosts). We caught up with her briefly to ask her what tips she’d like to share with the Goodreads Author community at large. Here’s what she said:
You’ve answered nearly 300 questions via Ask the Author. What’s your approach to responding to reader questions via Ask the Author?
I really like to have fun as long as I can stay within the realm of honesty. I particularly love getting questions about my characters or thought experiments within my world. There always seem to be more creative questions on Goodreads.
What’s your favorite thing about Goodreads?
I tend to use Goodreads mostly as a reader: posting reviews, consulting lists for what to read next, and chatting on a few book groups. (Less of the latter now than I used to, because I don't want to be thought intrusive.) So I guess my favorite thing is pretty simple: Goodreads is full of readers. I'm a reader first and foremost, so I feel like I'm in a place full of like-minded people. It's comforting.
How do you encourage reviews if your own books on Goodreads?
I mostly don't. I mean, I'm always happy to see them pop up, but it is totally up to my readership if they want to write a review. I'm more active encouraging book reviews in general. I try to spread the word about how important reviews are to authors, both for our career and just knowing that there are people out there reading us. It can be quite lonely on this end of the writing chain.
That's one of the reasons I write reviews, the best way to encourage people is through example: if I want people to review my books because they love them, then I should review books that I love! That said, when I fall in love with a book I basically want to tell everyone about it anyway. Everyone. All the time. Endlessly.
What’s one exciting, possibly hidden feature on Goodreads you’ve discovered on Goodreads (can be anything, reader or author marketing related)?
Well the Q&A is wonderful! Like I said, I get some of my favorite questions there which have sparked everything from new story ideas to blog posts. I enjoy the quotes feature, too. I like to put quotes into my blog posts, so I'm often hunting around for useful ones on Goodreads.
I'm running my very first Goodreads Giveaway. I'm hoping that it goes well, because I have more books that I'd love to send out into the world in a fun new way. I like the idea of giving back to the Goodreads community, because I feel like they've always been there for me.
What are you working on right now?
Romancing the Inventor just released. That's my second self-published novella, set in my steampunk Parasolverse. It is a stand-alone that features popular side character Genevieve Lefoux, my slightly crazy, always endearing, utterly brilliant engineer. She's had her heart broken several times through the course of my series, and I decided it was time for her to find someone worthy of her love. In this case, it kinda worked out in reverse. Imogene popped into my head and took over. She's a country-girl who takes a job as a parlourmaid to a local vampire hive and promptly falls in love with Genevieve. But Genevieve is bitter, broken-hearted, and pretty much owned by vampires, so Imogene has a her work cut out for her.
Next: Updating the Power of Blurbs for Today's Book Discovery Landscape
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posted by Cynthia on November, 02