Why Authors Need to Add Goodreads Quotes

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

For the last several years I've been active on Goodreads. I've written over 600 reviews and have 5,000 friends on Goodreads (the maximum number of friends). I've claimed my books as a Goodreads author and my blog entries appear on Goodreads where some people read this information. If you are an author, I hope you have also handled these details at Goodreads and become a Goodreads author.

In this article, I want to call to your attention the section called Goodreads quotes. The top information bar on Goodreads has several different options. Select the Community tab which has a little arrow beside it. Click on this arrow and it will reveal a number of other features on Goodreads. One of these features is Quotes. I encourage you to highlight quotes and go to the Quotes section of Goodreads (or use this link).

Besides using other people's quotes, this section also allows you as a Goodreads author to add your own quotes. Here's the process:

1. Select a series of key quotes from your book. I found 10 quotes from 10 Publishing Myths.

2. Go to add a quote. You will include the quote, Author (you). As a Goodreads author, when you add your name in this field, it adds another field with a list of books. Select your book and add it into this field. Finally there are tags to help people find your quote when they are searching for a specific quotation. Each of these fields is important fill out correctly in this addition process. 

3. Promote your new quote.  You've just added this quotation to a sea of other quotations. How will anyone know about it if you don't promote it? Use this link to see the quotations I've added on Goodreads. Some of these quotes are from Book Proposals That Sell and others are from 10 Publishing Myths. To see this promotion portion (an important part of the process), let's look at one of my quotations (follow this link).   You will notice buttons to share the quote on Facebook or Twitter. Below these buttons, there is a link to recommend the quotation to your friends (follow this link to see it).

In the past, I've used the friends button on Goodreads to invite people to become my friend. I have the maximum number of friends or 5,000 friends. You can share your new quotation with friends and encourage them to “like” it. If you select the button “all”, then it will highlight 100 of your Goodreads friends. This process opens up an additional field which is optional—and allows you to send a message. The first time I used this feature, I did not add a message—but I believe you will have greater interest in your new quotation if you do include a message like:

Subject: Four Ways to Use Goodreads Quotes

Hello

Thanks for being one of my Goodreads friends. I just added this quotation to Goodreads. I encourage you to please “like” my quotation. Here's four ideas how to use this quotation:

1. Cut and paste it into a Goodreads email—maybe to one of your Goodreads groups.

2. Post the quotation on Facebook

3. Post the quotation on LinkedIN

4. Post the quotation on Twitter.

Please keep my name and the link to my book when you do this process.

Bonus tip: Check out my special offer to get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10. Shipping is FREE and you get over $200 in FREE bonuses. 

Thank you,

Terry

Note my email uses clickable HTML so people can click the link and go right to the page.  

Will this process work to promote my book? I'm just beginning to try it so don't really know. But I do know if I do nothing, nothing will happen. It is another way to be proactive and try something to promote my new book. There are millions of registered readers on Goodreads—people who love and read books. It is a solid place to be doing this effort. 

Are you using Goodreads quotes? Are you promoting them to your Goodreads friends and using the tools on Goodreads to the maximum? I encourage it. Let me know your results in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Are you adding Goodreads quotes from your book and then promoting it? Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

Get Inspiration from Quotations

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Early on in my journalism training, I was taught to look for key quotations. Often these statements would be in the lead of my story or they would drive home the point of my story.  

As writers interviewing other people for the content of a chapter of a book or a magazine article, I encourage you to be looking for these key quotations. They will help you as you craft your stories.

When I read inspirational quotes, I get insights and encouragement. I look for them from many different sources like my own reading of books or blogs or articles online. When I find them, I will often cut and paste them into my social media plans for the future. It's been my pattern for years with my social media feeds for the day: I begin every day with an inspirational quotation and an image.

In the social media world, you can attract more attention, retweets and responses if you include an image. Through the years of my using social media, I have collected images of different people into a file labeled “Twitter Images.” These images are stored alphabetically so when I need one again, it is easy to locate and use again.

Here's an example I saw today:

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.”
-- H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 

I add the image and then save it into my HootSuite. It will begin my day of social media postings on Sunday, May 3, 2020 at 6:05 am. Yes on inspirational quotations, I am way ahead on my postings. I use Hootsuite (the paid version with unlimited posts to schedule—and I take full advantage of this feature and schedule my posts way ahead of time—at least some of them).

I have another reason I'm way ahead on my inspirational quotes. Several weeks ago, I was behind on gathering these inspirational quotations. I learned to use another feature of HootSuite which I had not before. This program stores all my old tweets which number in the thousands. I went back and took the inspirational quotes for a month (at least one year ago so no one would remember) and worked them into my future schedule. I created a pattern of beginning every day with this inspirational quotation. Do you have a pattern or grid for your tweets? I do and it makes it simple to schedule with this grid for certain types of tweets in mind.

Do you get inspiration from quotes? Do you use them and see them on a regular basis in your writing life? Let me know the details in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Inspirational quotes are often seen in articles and online. What do you do with them? Get some ideas from this prolific editor and author. (ClickToTweet)