Goodreads and LibraryThing are two popular websites users can track and discuss what they read. They're both social networking sites for readers. Authors and publishers have the opportunity to give away books to publicize their work and get people talking about them. Readers have a chance to win free books. It's a win-win scenario.

These are ongoing promotions. In order to participate, you need to register for each site. Facebook users can use their account to sign in to Goodreads or create a separate profile. Be sure to look over the profile you complete if you have any privacy concerns. For example, on Goodreads you have the option to have your location viewed by everyone, your Goodreads friends or by no one publicly. You will, of course, need to provide an address to administration if you win a book.

Goodreads allows authors to give away physical books. You can browse the most current giveaways or do a search for the specific genre you're looking for. Each time you enter a drawing, the terms of service comes up with each entry. Some of these points are:

• You don't have to review the book, but it's appreciated and may give you more of a chance to win more books in the future.


• The drawing selection may or may not include things such as your site activity and reviews. It could be completely random or at the discretion of the administrators.


• If you do post a review, you grant Goodreads rights to use it however they want.

LibraryThing allows authors to give away physical books and ebooks. Their program has two levels— LibraryThing Early Reviewers (LTER) and LibraryThing Member Giveaways (LTMG). LTER requires reviews from winners. LTMG has terms more like the Goodreads program and winners are chosen at random for both levels. I don't see a way to search the LibraryThing giveaways by genre at this time.

Both sites state the number of copies that are available for each giveaway, who can enter and how many entrants there are so far as well as the giveaway end-date. Each program works on a drawing system as there are usually only a certain amount of copies to give away and many more users requesting each book. Basic accounts are free at each site. Go here to learn more and sign up for the Goodreads site and here for the LibraryThing site. Happy reading and good luck!