Goodreads

As well as being a writer, I’m a readaholic. Are you a readaholic too? If so, are you a member of Goodreads? It’s a fascinating and easy-to-join website, originally set up by an American couple to help readers find and share information about the books they love. Now owned by Amazon, it caters to around 90 million readers worldwide, give or take the odd million.

I use Goodreads as a central reference point to keep track of the books and authors I read each year, all tabulated neatly by the website. Since I joined Goodreads I’ve added 544 books to my ‘Read’ list. I also use Goodreads to help me remember to read books recommended by friends or receiving high ratings from a global audience. Each December Goodreads publishes its best books of the year by genre, based on reader nominations and ratings, not sales. For time-poor readers like me, this helps me keep abreast of market trends. Currently I have the rather daunting number of 68 books on my ‘Want to Read’ list.

Every reader knows instinctively what he or she thinks of a book as the last page is reached, so it's fun to bestow one's instant judgment via Goodreads. For the books I like to read, mainly non-fiction, histories, biographies and historical romance, a quick and easy click of a mouse assigns my favourites a four or five-star rating. Usually I remain quiet when a book doesn't appeal to me but very occasionally I give a low rating to books I actively dislike, even if they are popular titles.

Frequently I also leave a brief review or a few words of feedback for the author. To date these reviews total 113 in number. Given the countless hours authors spend on producing a book for publication, they generally deserve and crave every bit of feedback possible.

Goodreads does not restrict its listings to books sold by Amazon and unlike other online sites, you don't need to have 'proof of purchase' to add your rating or book review to Goodreads.

As Goodreads attracts a readership base well beyond the network I currently reach, I've also joined the site as an author. I’ve entered all of my non-fiction works (written as Louise Wilson) and my women’s fiction works (written as Louisa Valentine), allowing me to bring them to the attention of international readers. (Those books are listed on my website.)

Unfortunately, most of the readers of my special-focus history books are not members of Goodreads, while most of my current Goodreads friends are contacts from the romance writing world and not my readers. In the small Venn-diagram space where the two groups overlap, I’m happy to say that readers have given my books excellent ratings. Thank you.

Why not join me on Goodreads? Once you belong, I invite you to 'follow' me and to rate and/or review my books. I might regret issuing this invitation, but I hope you'll be kind.