What would be more useful for writers is if Goodreads/Amazon partnered with giveaway sites like Rafflecopter and PromoSimple to add an "Want to Read" entry option that linked to people's GR shelves so we can bypass all that BS while getting some newsletter subscribers out of it. (I can't actually ever see that happening, but hey, a girl can dream.)
I understand how you feel. ^_^ I ran a giveaway early last year when it was still half price to see if it would be worth it at full price. If it just charged for the ebooks, I would understand that. Or if they wanted to have a standard free or inexpensive physical book giveaway and then a separate "premium" giveaway, that would also be fine. But they're screwing over the readers with this too. I get so many less giveaway notifications now that I forget they even still have them. The user experience for entering a giveaway now is stressful, too. If I have a book on my shelf, but say it's the kindle edition, then they'll add a duplicate hardcover edition to my shelf, that I then have to make the extra effort to get rid of. And those post giveaway emails they send out are annoying. I don't want an email telling me I didn't win! It's rude all around.
That's such a good point!! Now that I think about it the only notifications I see now are for giveaways of trad pubbed books because the big publishers can afford it. It's crazy. And the multiple edditions thing is super annoying, especially for those who use their to-read list to find what to read next.
Thank you very much for this video!! Been researching this for two day, thinking of doing the $600, and this is the first video I’ve found to be of any real substance. Much Love and thanks again!
That's... insane. For me, anything at $100 or over better have a darn good reward to offset the risk on my budget. I've not been a fan of Goodreads in the past, and haven't used it much at all, but that is just... those prices are insulting to indie authors.
The drop in numbers is probably also because they've made all giveaways only US/Canada. When I go to the giveaway section from my account here in Sweden it says: "The giveaways program is currently only for U.S. and Canadian members." Even for ebooks.
HOW DID I JUST FIND YOUR CHANNEL NOW, when I've been following you on twitter for forever?? lol. anyway, just subscribed!! :) I love this video... your problems with goodreads are super legit, and i agree with a lot of these even though i am also a goodreads user. also i'm sure you get this a lot, but i am IN AWE OF YOUR BOOKSHELF!!
That is the one flaw with Twitter, if people don't like or RT things they don't get much exposure, and people tend not to like and RT video shares. I'm happy you found me though!! I'm so happy you like my bookshelf
That's crazy that they would change it so much. Like I could see them doing this and charging a small fee as that's how things go, but $600 for something that used to be free is ridiculous. Really like this video btw ❤
Sounds like a system redesigned to help the elites. If you're rich/well-off, the rich will help you. Thanks for this video! Will keep this info in mind for the future. **hugs**
Yeah I think it definitely favors the big publishers which stings. Especially when Amazon gets so much product and Kindle sales from the work of indie authors.
Ikr!! Do they not realize how expensive product and shipping alone is? They want to stack another fee on top of those? It's crazy. It only suits big publishers.
How much can they want us to pay the 600 bucks, when I can't even get them to answer their miserable contact box? I've tried for a week, my husband tried, and they won't contact us. I guess I'm supposed to pony up the money without getting my questions answered. Unreal.
OMG YES! Their new system makes me so mad! If they had increased the price to $20 for standard and then had a package designed for big companies that was a bit more expensive, like $100 I'd have been like, okay. Fair. You want to make some money off of letting us list? Fine. But the prices are out of control and completely biased against indie authors and poets who are unlikely to make much return on investment anyway. It's horrible. It's Goodreads taking advantage of its users and it makes me so mad. I don't use their Giveaway services at all anymore, not even if a book I'm super interested in posts one. It feels to me like the only reasonable way to protest their ridiculous pricing, which I know hurts people who are paying their ridiculous price, but again, it feels like the only avenue of protest against them. :(
Ikr!! Like I could have completely respected a small fee. $20? Sure. It's a service, I get it. But the fact that they jumped so high so fast without adding anything... I can't wrap my head around it. It's so horrible. Indie authors are helping Amazon in so many ways and yet they continue to shove us aside for big publishers. It baffles my mind. Good idea on boycotting it on the user end too! I think I'll start doing that as well. I don't see much other way to combat it since I'm sure they planned for and expected us indies to stop using the service because of the cost, so those number changes likely won't get their attention. Oh, especially with trad published books with giveaways, a drop in entries there would lead to big publishers not paying the insane fees, and that would get Goodread's attention.
Wow. Just. Wow.
For what it's worth I really appreciate your helping the community at your own expense.
Awww thank you
Informative. Thank you.
I'm so with you on this. I knew as soon as Amazon bought them that it was gonna be BAD
They waited so long to make changes I was hopeful we'd escaped them, but nope.
What would be more useful for writers is if Goodreads/Amazon partnered with giveaway sites like Rafflecopter and PromoSimple to add an "Want to Read" entry option that linked to people's GR shelves so we can bypass all that BS while getting some newsletter subscribers out of it. (I can't actually ever see that happening, but hey, a girl can dream.)
Seriously! :O That is insane. Everyone boycott Goodreads giveaways, now! Thank you so much Megan for letting us know about this.
Thanks for the honest review Megan! I was wondering what those giveaways were worth, well, now I know 😂
I understand how you feel. ^_^ I ran a giveaway early last year when it was still half price to see if it would be worth it at full price. If it just charged for the ebooks, I would understand that. Or if they wanted to have a standard free or inexpensive physical book giveaway and then a separate "premium" giveaway, that would also be fine. But they're screwing over the readers with this too. I get so many less giveaway notifications now that I forget they even still have them. The user experience for entering a giveaway now is stressful, too. If I have a book on my shelf, but say it's the kindle edition, then they'll add a duplicate hardcover edition to my shelf, that I then have to make the extra effort to get rid of. And those post giveaway emails they send out are annoying. I don't want an email telling me I didn't win! It's rude all around.
That's such a good point!! Now that I think about it the only notifications I see now are for giveaways of trad pubbed books because the big publishers can afford it. It's crazy. And the multiple edditions thing is super annoying, especially for those who use their to-read list to find what to read next.
Thank you very much for this video!! Been researching this for two day, thinking of doing the $600, and this is the first video I’ve found to be of any real substance. Much Love and thanks again!
Glad I could help!
I like your videos. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing that you like my videos
Thanks for doing this giveaway so we could learn more about this option. it sounds suuuuuper scammy! UGH! i hate it!!
This is why Jeff Bezos has like 100 billion dollars.
@@ryanmedina5090 😂 sneaky jerk!
That's... insane. For me, anything at $100 or over better have a darn good reward to offset the risk on my budget. I've not been a fan of Goodreads in the past, and haven't used it much at all, but that is just... those prices are insulting to indie authors.
ikr! It's crazy. It baffles my mind that they thought that was okay. What were they thinking???
The drop in numbers is probably also because they've made all giveaways only US/Canada. When I go to the giveaway section from my account here in Sweden it says: "The giveaways program is currently only for U.S. and Canadian members." Even for ebooks.
Oh being in the US I didn't even really think about that. Thank you for bringing this up! that would definitely cause a pretty big drop.
HOW DID I JUST FIND YOUR CHANNEL NOW, when I've been following you on twitter for forever?? lol. anyway, just subscribed!! :) I love this video... your problems with goodreads are super legit, and i agree with a lot of these even though i am also a goodreads user. also i'm sure you get this a lot, but i am IN AWE OF YOUR BOOKSHELF!!
That is the one flaw with Twitter, if people don't like or RT things they don't get much exposure, and people tend not to like and RT video shares. I'm happy you found me though!! I'm so happy you like my bookshelf
Those prices... Goodreads wyd???
That's crazy that they would change it so much. Like I could see them doing this and charging a small fee as that's how things go, but $600 for something that used to be free is ridiculous. Really like this video btw ❤
Sounds like a system redesigned to help the elites. If you're rich/well-off, the rich will help you.
Thanks for this video! Will keep this info in mind for the future. **hugs**
Yeah I think it definitely favors the big publishers which stings. Especially when Amazon gets so much product and Kindle sales from the work of indie authors.
Very Informative... Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for researching this. I’m sorry it had to be you. Thanks for sharing your findings.
Wow! What a RIP off. Thanks for letting us know about this. I will stick to my Amazon giveaways I think! :-)
Great review, very helpful, unbiased and just what I needed to hear. Now, an unbiased review of Publisher Rocket would be also be helpful. :-)
Ooh I did just get that and testing it out is on my to do list!!!
@@CloudKitten Excellent. Look forward to it.
Still bitter that Goodreads thought it was okay to charge authors to give away a copy of their book....
Ikr!! Do they not realize how expensive product and shipping alone is? They want to stack another fee on top of those? It's crazy. It only suits big publishers.
That's INSANE! Why would they charge?!
Ikr! It doesn't cost them any more than it used to so it baffles my mind that they think it's suddenly worth so much more.
How much can they want us to pay the 600 bucks, when I can't even get them to answer their miserable contact box? I've tried for a week, my husband tried, and they won't contact us. I guess I'm supposed to pony up the money without getting my questions answered. Unreal.
Yeah they are not great at responding to questions. Whenever I tried reaching out I'd given up on getting a response by the time they responded
What, that's nuts!! Paying money to give away?!
OMG YES! Their new system makes me so mad! If they had increased the price to $20 for standard and then had a package designed for big companies that was a bit more expensive, like $100 I'd have been like, okay. Fair. You want to make some money off of letting us list? Fine. But the prices are out of control and completely biased against indie authors and poets who are unlikely to make much return on investment anyway. It's horrible. It's Goodreads taking advantage of its users and it makes me so mad. I don't use their Giveaway services at all anymore, not even if a book I'm super interested in posts one. It feels to me like the only reasonable way to protest their ridiculous pricing, which I know hurts people who are paying their ridiculous price, but again, it feels like the only avenue of protest against them. :(
Ikr!! Like I could have completely respected a small fee. $20? Sure. It's a service, I get it. But the fact that they jumped so high so fast without adding anything... I can't wrap my head around it. It's so horrible. Indie authors are helping Amazon in so many ways and yet they continue to shove us aside for big publishers. It baffles my mind. Good idea on boycotting it on the user end too! I think I'll start doing that as well. I don't see much other way to combat it since I'm sure they planned for and expected us indies to stop using the service because of the cost, so those number changes likely won't get their attention. Oh, especially with trad published books with giveaways, a drop in entries there would lead to big publishers not paying the insane fees, and that would get Goodread's attention.
They were thinking it was like 2000 when they designed it and they haven't updated the damn site since
I know! It's crazy!
Geez. Do you have a video that shares information on other sites one can use to bypass GoodReads?
For book giveaways specifically? Or the other features like book tracking?
Wow that’s a scam if I’ve ever heard one
What the hell? That’s insane. How is this at all beneficial to authors? Crazy expensive!
Got damn. So anti consumer.
From comments I've found that it's anticonsummer on both the reader and author levels. It's insane.
Never ever pay to give away your own book. It's a scam, plain and simple.