Why should you use Goodreads to find your favorite new book?

Why should you use Goodreads to find your favorite new book?

I learned about Goodreads by looking for book recommendations on Twitter about a month ago.  Little did I know, I’d be hooked a month later.  I check my Goodreads account for updates now more often than I do Facebook, and that’s a lot. 
Basically, Goodreads.com is the essential go-to website for bookaholics, bibliophiles, book worms, book lovers, book addicts, whatever you’d like to call us. 
For those of you unfamiliar with Goodreads, here are some features that I love about this site:
It keeps a tally of the books you’ve read and reviewed as well as those of the friends you make on Goodreads.  It’s great for getting recommendations by people you’ve chosen to “friend” on Goodreads.  For instance, I could friend or follow a person who loves The Shining by Stephen King which I absolutely think is one of the best books of all time, and then I can look at that person’s profile and see what else they’ve read and liked.  Also, people recommend books to their friends and that’s helpful. 
One of the greatest features about this site is the groups section.  They have groups that are genre-focused like Paranormal mystery books, Horror books, Mystery aficionados, etc.  I love that I can peruse these forums for likeminded questions I have about the genre or books.  Some of these groups serve as online book clubs, so if you like assigned reading and sharing your thoughts with a group, this is an excellent place for you to check out.
If you’re an author, Goodreads is a wonderful opportunity for you to meet readers who enjoy the genre in which you write.  For instance, my author profile Lisa M. Logan on Goodreads can be found simply by typing in my name in the search field or my novel’s title “House of Mirrors.”  You’ll see a bio and they can even feature your Facebook and blog links on this profile page.  They also keep a tally of your reviews on Goodreads.  It’s not, however, a place where you should spam book lovers about your book.  But if you’re an author like me who also adores books and reading, you’ve found the right place at Goodreads.com.  Another note for authors who want to use Goodreads to help promote their book:  There are numerous groups of writers on goodreads.com which are specifically geared toward promoting and help one another.  I encourage both readers and writers to check out this site!

Written by

Lisa Logan has been writing professionally since she was a student at North Carolina State University where she earned her bachelor and master’s degrees. She started out writing profile articles for the N.C. Literary Review, interviewing various North Carolina authors of fiction. Her own creative works were published in several issues of the Raleigh News and Observer’s short fiction section Sunday Reader. Lisa’s passion for screenwriting led to freelancing for a national screenwriter’s magazine Creative Screenwriting in which she writes features, interviewing Hollywood screenwriters, high-level film producers, directors, and actors. Lisa’s work can also be found in Our State magazine and Our State’s now defunct sister publication NC Signature.