How-to guide to adding people on Goodreads (a small crash-course).

Okay!  So, this was inspired by a few people in a comm I belong to on Facebook who aren't sure how to add people (or find people TO add) on Goodreads.

Bear with me, this is a pic-heavy post.




Alrighty then!  Let's get right to it, shall we?

So, this is a screenshot of my Goodreads page.  As you can see where the green arrow is pointing, this is where you will find your page's URL so you can show it off at Facebook, Twitter, and wherever else you hang out to get other fellow book lovers to find you quick!

To find friends, this is pretty much the main way I go about it but there are other ways to accomplish this.  On your profile page on the right under your information, there will be a list labeled '[your name]'s Friends.'  Click on that.  It will take you to a screen that looks like this one.

On the right, you'll see a little box that says 'Find by name or e-mail' and you can type the person's name you're looking for and then click on 'search members'.  It'll take you to a screen that looks like this one:
Once you find the friend you're looking for, you click on 'Add friend.'


There are other options to connect with people.  There's Twitter, your e-mail account's address book, Facebook, and you can also send your own connection request through e-mail.





When you click on that, it'll send you to a page that looks like this one:  And it's pretty self-explanatory, really.  You basically just highlight and copy the URL (or the whole message if you're having a difficulty trying to come up with something snazzy and clever to say to accompany that link!  I confess, sometimes my muse doesn't like to play nice when it comes to situations like this, so I'm left with no choice but to use the generic message.)

Another way to be able to connect with people is by sharing this link in other venues you use online.  I, personally, have not done this, but I think if you were to just post this into a Facebook post, for example, it'll just post the link to the main Goodreads website.  I think this is just for if you're wanting people to connect with you that you know personally but aren't sure if they've got an account or not, and you don't want to spam Facebook and Twitter feeds so you can send this privately through e-mail or IRC (maybe?)......?  I know this sounds incredibly vague, and I apologize, I don't have anyone to send this to that isn't already on my account.  :)


Now, you may be asking yourself, 'But, Rea!  What if my friend's listed as a Goodreads Author?  What then?  How do I add her/him?'  Not to worry, I've got ya covered!  :D  We will 'borrow' my friend's page for this as a visual example.

Okay, so I'm already friends with the person whose 'follow' button is shown here, so bear with me.  This is trickier to explain than it looks.  Okay, so you go to your contact's page and you see the logo up on the right-hand corner that, 'HEY!  Jane Brown is a Goodreads Author!  I know this lady and I'd love to not just be a connection through following her work, but as a friend, since we're friends already in other capacities.'  What you're going to see below her photo on the left, is this little button, but it'll say 'Follow' and that down-pointing arrow will be on the right (like you see here).  When you click on just the button itself, 'Follow' will change to 'Following,' but if you want to ADD that person to your friend list, you're going to want to click on that down-pointing arrow.  When that happens, a drop-down menu will come up.

Now with this being a person I'm already friends with, mine's going to look a little different since we're already connected.  But if you're trying to add someone and you encounter the above button, etc, you'll see at the top of the drop-down menu a little link that's going to say, 'Add as a Friend' or some variation.  You're going to click on that, and then you'll get taken to a screen that'll tell you that hey, your request is pending, and you're going to get an e-mail letting you know when they confirm you (sorta like Facebook, but much cooler).

I should warn, this doesn't work for all Goodreads authors.  We'll use Tim Burton as an example because I love his work.  :P  And I think Mr Burton won't mind me 'borrowing' him to show you what I mean.  Now, then.  Take a look at the screenshot.  Do you see where just below his photo I've got those peppers?  And between the peppers, the button says 'Following'?  That's because he's amazing but that's beside the point.  When I click on the little down-pointing arrow, the menu looks different.  I can't add him as a friend (which trust when I tell you this saddens me lol), BUT I can still add him to a 'favourite authors' list like I can with my friend who's also a GR author, but we're connected on each other's friends list.  I know, it's confusing.  I'm not sure what it is about this?  I'm guessing there may be a way to turn the 'add' feature off like Facebook has, but I'm not sure.  I've yet to look into that, but I rather like having people add me so we can compare books we've got in common and send each other recommendations and whatnot.  I suspect Mr Burton is probably too busy to keep up with the hordes of people who'd likely want to bug him (like yours truly, just sayin').  ;)  I'm not sure.

If you're stuck (or if I've forgotten anything or maybe you know shortcuts I've either overlooked or just didn't know about), I'd love to hear from you!  Feel free to comment and share any questions, concerns, or even clever shortcuts, authors to check out, or just to stop by and say, 'Hi!'  Don't be a stranger!  I really hope this helped.