Why not become a Goodreads member?

Morning folks,

Happy New Year!

So as I sit here sipping an Irish coffee someone bought me as a gift and wondering how on earth Phil The Power Taylor won the darts, I can't help but be pretty satisfied with how things are going at the moment.

My short story promo went very well. To the extent that it was the most downloaded Christmas short story on the planet over the festive period (via Amazon). I was delighted with that.

But the point of this post is to talk a bit about a site called Goodreads. It's essentially a forum for readers to chat about books and pretty much anything else they fancy. But it's also a great site for writers too.

I joined the group about a year ago and I now have lots of friends via this site. I'm a member of several forums based around books I like (The Shining, Catcher in the Rye etc) and I generally pop in and say Good Morning to everyone at least a couple of times a week just to make sure they know I'm alive.

I've had lots of books recommended to me via the site, and I've recommended a few myself. Everyone is friendly and, unlike so many other book related sites, nobody seems to have an agenda. Nobody gets away with spamming promo for their books or with being abusive either largely because the moderators are on top of everything, but in a chummy way!

But the real benefit to me personally is as an author. Just by taking part and being involved I get to talk about my books as much as I like. From there loads of people have checked me out, and bought my books, and left reviews. This is all gold for a strugging writer. The feedback is often superb too.

Which brings me to my latest review. One of the Goodreads top brass asked for writers to offer a book for free. I was lucky enough to have The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe selected. A website was built and any member of the goodreads site who emailed in would recieve a free book. Genius. Yesterday a member sent me a message to say she'd got a copy via this giveaway. She offered plenty of constructive comments and also posted a superb review of the book on the site and on her blog.

So, in short, if you're interested in books, there's no downside to being a member of Goodreads. I've got no affiliation to them of any kind, it just works for me and the more folk join in, the better it will be.

I've linked to the review above and also pasted it in below, I'd be daft not to.

This great story starts with a death by natural causes. It’s the sad death of Emily, a young, musically talented woman and we meet Mitch and Rupert, the two men who loved her. We also discover the sleaze and corruption of small town life, with the council, the police and local businessmen all partaking in, or turning a blind eye to, bribery, indecency and all manner of nastiness. Mitch and Rupert decide to try to get justice. Mitch, an outcast all his life due to his ability to glimpse future happenings, foresees a murder and Rupert, his only friend from schooldays, joins him in trying to avert it.

The characters in this story are very well drawn. We have oily toads of council members who think they are untouchable, a keen, thorough and likable female police inspector chasing justice and the two friends, both grieving for their lost love. The plot is well constructed and story lines interwoven together. I felt the initial part, although it came in with a bang with Emily’s death, built slowly but not tediously, until we realised the depth of corruption and the way justice seemed to be in favour of those with deep pockets – or nasty secrets they could spill if they didn’t get their own way. This is a story of love, friendship, people battling against the disadvantages of childhood influences; it flags up so many questions. It’s a thoroughly gripping read and I enjoyed it very much.