What’s Wrong with GoodReads

GoodReads has made me a book influencer.  I frequently rate in the top 5 in the world on GoodReads so it is a bit hard to bite the hand that feeds me (alright well I don’t even make any money but still….) So what exactly is wrong with GoodReads?

Thanks for asking! Below are some complaints with GoodReads:

1. Fake accounts.  There are an overwhelming number of people who are scammers who join GoodReads.  They typically pose as people in the U.S. military or as doctors.  There was once someone who claimed to be the Prince of Saudi Arabia who sent me a friend request.  Another claimed to be the famous Greek musician, Yanni.  These fake accounts usually are brand-new (less than a month old), and the scammers have read very few books with no actual written reviews.  In the profile, the scammers will put a describe along the lines of, “very kind, very humble, very generous, honest, simple man.” If you are interested, I did an entire YouTube video on this subject along with exposing two actual scammers.
2. Support is not helpful.  If you run into a problem, GoodReads will send you a response that they are aware of the issue and working on it.  They will never give an estimated time of when the issue is expected to be resolved.  Once I even asked, “How soon is soon?”
3. There is very limited integration with Amazon.  When I post a review to GoodReads, it does not post to Amazon.  If these companies are technically one company, why does a reviewer have to post to both websites?
4. No half star rankings.  For example, if you want to give a book 3.5 stars, no can do.  You have to pick either 3 stars or 4 stars. This seems pretty basic which leaves users wondering not what’s wrong with GoodReads, but what is right?
5. Searching for books is difficult.  If the spelling isn’t exactly correct, you don’t stand a chance.  Do you know how many times I have misspelled Fredrik Backman?  Oh wait. Is it Fredrick Backman or Fredrik Backmann? Amazon has far superior search functionality.
6. It should be easier to add books that you want to read.  There is a list of 1,000 books that I want to read.  And I had to add each one by hand to GoodReads.  There are also lists of books on GoodReads, and I would really appreciate an “Add All” button to add all of them to my To-Read list.  Instead, I have to click on each one that I want to add.
7. GoodReads has glitches at times. My favorite glitch involved GoodReads forcing me to be friends with someone that I rejected. How can GoodReads force you to be friends with someone? During that same glitch, I would accept friend requests, and the person would keep showing up to accept their request. I would accept again, and they would be put right back in my friend tab for acceptance.
8. Missing or delayed notifications. There have been days where I did not receive email notifications from people who liked or commented on my reviews. GoodReads can’t even get email right at times. You can see some influencers who even note in their names, “Not receiving notifications.”
9. GoodReads angered my favorite author, Philip Pullman (he is on my list of my 10 favorite authors). Pullman does not have a GoodReads account. However, someone claimed to be him and started to answer questions and post as Pullman. GoodReads then treated Pullman to their exquisite customer service.
10. No, I don’t want to read your book.  There have been authors who have never liked a single one of my reviews nor supported my content in any way asking me if I could read their badly spelled 500+ page book.  Of course, I have nothing better to do with my time than read a book about monster magical fantasy pigs or hippos for 30 hours.
11. Limitations on inviting people to join a book group.  When I try to invite people for a Readalong, GoodReads limits me to 100 people.  I have to then go back in and invite 100 people at a time which means I have to invite all of my friends in batches 51 times!  Additionally, GoodReads also limits invitations to 1,000 people per day so I have to invite all of my friends over a period of five days.  Then, my friends that I didn’t invite on Day 1 believe that I have intentionally excluded them.  Why can’t I just invite all of my friends at one time? 
12. Lack of Mixed Media. Where are the videos on GoodReads? For example, I found an incredible video about Lolita from Yale University on YouTube, but videos are completely missing from GoodReads. Although I understand why GoodReads may not want to allow just anybody to post a video to the platform, GoodReads could start by allowing publishers and then perhaps verified accounts.
13. No badges. Audible and Kindle have badges for certain reading achievements. Why not GoodReads? Some badges that I would like to see: badges for books more than 1,000 pages (such as for finishing A Suitable Boy or Atlas Shrugged), lifetime pages read (1K, 10K, 50K, 100K, 250K, 500K, 750K, 1M, 2M, etc.), joining GoodReads discussions, and reading books in different genres.

What do you think is wrong with GoodReads? Share your comments below!