Goodreads--reviews and giveaways

Goodreads is one of two web-sites I mentioned in a previous post that is a useful "hang-out"

for writers. Others have written about it and mentioned that it is visited by twenty million (per year?); whether or not these are regular visitors or members of one of the hundreds of groups or even a casual passerby, this number impresses me. The Internet has also made independent publishing a big deal; I understand that digital publishing has now overtaken print publication although I do not know how this is measured. I personally prefer the feel of a book in my hands and so decided to publish both in paperback and electronically. This is fortunate as one of Goodreads' many useful services is the Giveaway; that is limited to books in print (at least for now). Winners are drawn from those who put their name in and are selected by some algorithm Goodreads uses.

Those who advise independent publishers recommend the Giveaway for the independent writer to draw attention to his or her book. The Giveaway does not entail a review or even a comment, but a writer always hopes for the best. Some readers will simply indicate how they rate their reading experience (one to five stars). Others might leave a more or less long comment. Goodreads allows a member (it is free to join) to "recommend" the book to "friends" on the site; these would fall half-way between "followers" on Twitter and "friends" on Facebook. In my idiosyncratic taxonomy, that would be the case.

I don't know how to classify those who "follow" this blog and those who visit, but I do want to invite everyone who sees this to participate in the drawing for the book at this link, Goodreads Giveaway.

As stated above, the Giveaway is limited to the print version only. Anyone who is willing to write a review, however, can get a free electronic copy from yours truly at tjoa.books@gmail.com