Publicity Tip #92 ~
In the past I have sung the praises of getting your book noticed by using book discovery platforms – most notably Goodreads, Library Thing & Shelfari. Having a presence on Goodreads, the largest book discover platform available is almost a no-brainer for the modern author.
In your search for the best alternate platforms it’s important to know that a new contender is gaining ground on the big 3 called iAuthor.
I’ve been monitoring their progress over the past 6 months and I’m now of the opinion that they’re here to stay. Their Alexa.com ratings are exceptional both globally and in the USA and that translates into readers looking for new books at a steady and predictable rate.
“Library” by Stewart Butterfield, via Flickr. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
Membership is FREE to iAuthor for both readers and authors. They allow personal customizing for your author profile and the ability to personally add your books (self or traditionally published) to their catalogue in two ways: category & crowdsourced theme (and you’re not limited here – add your book wherever it fits for more exposure including specialist categories for cross-genre stories). You can upload excerpts to their unique viewing app and even add your book to the category “Indie Books Looking for Reviewers”.
This site is fantastic for readers looking for books, authors looking to build their platform and publishers looking to spread the word about their offerings. Their mantra is: We’re a startup with a bold vision: to give the publishing world a hub for serendipitous discovery. They focus on getting your book SEO optimized with Google searches and work on helping authors, help themselves in this crazy digital age.
The best part about listing your books in a well-known book directory is that the amount of time you spend interacting with its community is entirely up to you (once a week, once a month, or once every new book release). Granted, the more engaged you are, the better your result could possibly be for reaching new readers – but this is true regardless of how much time you dedicate to these sites. As dedicated authors, discoverability is key.
If you haven’t discovered iAuthor yet, what are you waiting for?
Categories: Publicity
infinite-pathways.org 
I like reading your posts. a question though, do you believe that there are those who collect and publish
others poetry and writing.
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What do mean?
There are many different literary journals and established presses who publish poetry although it’s done more often in anthology format. I follow Authors Publish Magazine (a free publication) that posts once a week options for poets and writers of short fiction to submit their work to world wide.
Or – are you wondering if there are unscrupulous publishers who prey on poets and writers by printing another’s work as their own? That’s a loaded question that also ends in the short answer of ‘yes’ 😉
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Thanks so much for the info, M.J. I have signed up with all of them. 🙂
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You’re most welcome, Wendy! They are a great way to get the word out and only spend a minimal amount of time “socializing” 😉 Be sure to add at least 10 books to each of the “library” sites as that will show your readership what you enjoy reading and possibly become a way to connect on another level down the road when you have more time to engage in chit-chat 😀
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Good advice, M,J., will do!
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