The Book Nerd

Several on the thread are irate that voluntarily holding a giveaway for their book doesn't win them anything.   (Author in comment 13 is also apparently, if I am reading it correctly, not sending  out giveaway books because won by unsuitable to him goodreads members.) 

Some author quotes that caught my eye (yes, I realize that many authors hope for reviews and sales as a result of goodreads giveaways in addition to the book discoverability and the relatively low-cost promotion/marketing/ad-space they do get [plus goodreads wording is usually unclear]).  And I'm not marking them or their books as anything because not attacking reviewers or stalking anyone:

None [winners] are likely to understand the book's content or even read it. And the likelihood of any reviews resulting is next to zero

 

None are in a suitable demographic.

 

At the end of the day, to be a good site for readers, it also needs to be a good site for authors. The way it works today, it is set up to scam authors, defrauding them of their books with no reciprocal exchange of value (reviews or ratings). An author should be able to directly specify what types of reader demographics are suitable

 Never again. I will not be doing it for my next books that's for sure. I ended up with nothing. I just got ripped off.

they [goodreads] are either lying, incompetent, or deliberately misleading and misrepresenting their policy to authors).

The initial giveaway audience that I complained about has indeed provided no reviews. There can be no viral marketing if readers don't write reviews. 

 And likely very telling:

Or we could exchange our books with other authors and ask for a review.

I have friends that are also Authors.

Yes, why bother with those pesky readers?  Drive all of them off goodreads and your fellow authors (and their promoters) can write all the reviews.  Who cares if the only ones left to read the things might eventually be just your fellow authors, their socks, and their minions if you get good ratings, good reviews, and plenty of growing statistics?  If readers won't write reviews as directed and be good little promoters ... yup, way to grow sales, get fans and get your book discovered by more than your author exchange circles ... I suspect few commenting about what they are owed have a lot of reviews (or realize that often if a book was won free in a giveaway that winners can feel awkward writing a negative review so just stay silent.)