Oh, Goodreads is Out With Its Choice Awards Nominees

Fake friends are the worst kind of friends. Amazon is my fake friend. It pretends to care when I upload a book to KDP. It'll flag me if I accidentally skip filling out a field and even if I don't take a look at my paperback preview before hitting publish. Because it cares.

It doesn't care enough to slip my novel into its algorithm, though. "Hey, buddy, you're on your own there", it says condescendingly. "I've got lots of friends. More interesting ones." 

Goodreads (a subsidiary of Amazon) also assumes a nurturing role...at first. Granted, it's more of a strict parent than KDP. It won't put up with any dumb mistakes, and if you ask for help, it's quick to reprimand you for asking. Case in point: Asking its librarians to update a book to its newest cover version. Ouch! How dare I ask! Simpleton!

As you know, I'm not a fan of Goodreads. In fact, I think it stinks. Its interface is stuck in 1991, its text is tiny, its homepage is so cluttered, it gives one vertigo. Its reviewers are subtly encouraged to be as nasty as possible. Plus, its author groups are populated by the dumbest people in the world.

Other than that, it's great! 🙄

And now Goodreads is out with its 2026 Readers Choice Award nominees.

If traditional publishing houses wore boots, Goodreads would drop to its knees and lick them. I get it; it gets paid a tidy sum to promote trad books, and how many $$ are self-published authors contributing to its bottom line? If it didn't try to milk us to pay $119 to host a giveaway ($599 for a "premium" giveaway) it would make no money off us at all.

I took a look at all the nominees ~ didn't recognize any except for Christina Applegate's memoir, solely because it was recently in the news ~ but I definitely recognize many of the author names, such as John Green, Jodi Picoult, Barbara Kingsolver, et al.  I wonder, if one of them wins, are they as ecstatic about it as Valerie Cherish was in winning her People's Choice Award? 

Surely, I thought, there must be some self-published books among the nominees. So, I asked Google:

"...traditionally the vast majority of Goodreads Choice Awards nominees are published by traditional publishing houses, with very few self-published or hybrid-indie crossover titles..."

What?? You're kidding! 

I went on to ask, "Are self-published books just not popular?"

"Self-published books are actually wildly popular with readers..."

Oh.  

Someone should tell Goodreads.

Goodreads is perfectly content to hang out with you...until one of the popular kids starts paying it attention. 

Look, this is hardly about me. I'm a failed author, and I wear that mantle with "pride". But it's a slap in the face to successful indie authors, of which there are hundreds, if not thousands. It would be awesome if at least a separate awards category existed for them. But there'd be no money in that, except for the authors, who would not only consider it a high honor, but would leverage it to advance their careers. 

I was unaware that Amazon at least publishes a list called "Popular Titles by Indie Authors". Does anyone know about this? No one would ever find it by accident. I only found out by asking Google. 

Goodreads does allow readers to create a listopia of the best self-published books on Amazon, although who decides what's "best"? That comes across to me as niche. Amazon's list is actually relevant compared to some random romance fan's recounting of what she likes.

My only consolation is that the tide is turning. Sure, it's turning at a glacier's pace, but it's turning. Some smart billionaire needs to invest in a highly marketed site that provides indie authors with the cachet trad authors are now reaping, usually undeservedly. 

Because indie will one day take over.

You heard it here first.