I was particularly dismayed to find out that Goodreads, which had been a bastion for indie authors and publishers for marketing, has now implemented a tiered pay system that blows us out of the water.
What indie author or publisher is going to pay $119 (or $599!?!) to give away 100 books? That’s just the cost of running the ‘giveaway’ and doesn’t include the cost of printing said 100 books, nor the shipping of said 100 books.
Granted, there is a Kindle option, which I imagine is the big reason for the cost, but let’s get specific here.
My book, Wheeler, because of its word/page count, the Kindle version is set at the lowest possible price of $2.99. I can’t make it any lower. They won’t let me and I can’t make the book any shorter.
It’s the same for the printed copy. I have it set at the very lowest price I can of $14.99. Buying a copy directly from me will cost you only a few dollars less ($12.99, which includes shipping directly from Createspace and in either case, it is not signed).
It doesn’t matter how good I think my book is, or how good others think my book is – I cannot justify to my husband spending $1,418 to give away 100 printed books. (Kindle would be $418 with the lowest tier).
What book publisher could justify that expense? Even with taking it as a tax deduction for marketing, it’s still not anywhere in the realm of possibility for 90% of authors out there, indie or mainstream.
Sure, they can do what they want, it’s their site and they make their money one way or another. But as Lesley Conner, the managing editor for Apex Publications says, it’s a bad move on Goodreads’ part, and that running Goodreads promotions lately hasn’t been as useful.“This new change is like the proverbial nail in the coffin lid,” Conner told The Verge in an email. “We aren’t going to spend the small marketing budget we have on a service that we’ve already noticed isn’t that effective.”
What say you, WordPress friends?
Wheeler 
It’s definitely difficult for the indie authors who have very little budget for book marketing. It seems Goodreads thinks it’s been around long enough, that people may think it indispensable to their book reading habits, that they can justify introducing pricing. As you say Goodreads will make their money anyway.
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Thank you for commenting, and the follow!
It’s disappointing to say the least but not really unexpected.
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Change your last name to King…? It sucks, no doubt about it.
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Even he would have to pay $599 and I doubt he would.
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Yeah, that’s nuts.
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