Goodreads is where readers talk about books, which makes it useful and occasionally brutal for authors. These articles cover using it well: handling reviews, finding readers, and working the platform without letting it get into your head.
Digital TransformationSeptember 9, 2026
The Tomatometer is not a rating. It is the percentage of critics who gave a film a passing grade, so a film everybody finds mediocre can score 94% while one people love scores 60%. Almost every complaint about the site…
Book MarketingAugust 16, 2026
An author watched the KDP page tracker show a reviewer quit at page 100 of 280, then rate the whole book. Goodreads has no gate. A star from someone who read a sample counts the same as one from someone…
Book MarketingAugust 16, 2026
A commenter put the trap in one line: they take your book, let the trolls trash it, and will not let you remove it. Why Goodreads is easy to enter and impossible to leave.
Book MarketingAugust 16, 2026
A commenter went looking for somewhere else to go and found nowhere. Amazon swallowed Shelfari, owns Goodreads, and left authors with no alternative that has any reach.
Book MarketingAugust 16, 2026
One author found Goodreads listing eight editions of a book that had four, another found every new title assigned to a stranger. Why the platform gets your book data wrong and locks you out of fixing it.
Book MarketingAugust 16, 2026
Hover a Goodreads star and it tells you what it means. Almost nobody rates that way or reads them that way. Why the same star means three different things to Goodreads, to authors, and to readers.
GhostwritingFebruary 14, 2026
Typing The End is the easy part; selling the book is where brilliant authors freeze. After 54+ books I have watched it happen across every publishing path, the marketing gets neglected and the sales die before launch day even arrives.…
Amazon & KDPFebruary 9, 2026
Most books that fail do not fail because the writing is terrible. They fail because the author made avoidable mistakes in structure, characters, pacing, or marketing. Here are the most common problems, each paired with a book that got it…
Amazon & KDPFebruary 9, 2026
Books without reviews struggle to sell. It is that simple. As an author of more than 113 self-published books, I have watched books with a handful of honest reviews outsell books with none, regardless of quality. Here is how to…
Amazon & KDPFebruary 9, 2026
Writing the book is the part authors prepare for. Selling it is the part that ambushes them. The problem is almost never quality, it is visibility. Here is how book marketing really works and where to spend your effort so…
Book ReviewsFebruary 8, 2026
Discover over 36 ways to show author appreciation, from engaging on social media to creative testimonials. Support the storytellers who enrich our lives.
Book MarketingFebruary 8, 2026
Promoting your book on social media does not mean spamming your followers with purchase links. It means sharing content that makes people curious and motivated to spread the word. Here are 18 strategies that work, from quick wins to bigger…
Professional ghostwriting for executives, founders, coaches, and authors who want to get the book done right. 113+ books authored. 54+ ghostwritten for clients.
Ready to discuss your book?
BOOK YOUR PRIVATE CONSULTATIONNo pitch. No pressure.
© 2026 Richard Lowe. The Writing King. All rights reserved.
