kyrin said:
I think this is a very bad idea.
I can understand adding other authors as friends. I can understand adding an author's book to your "to read" shelf that you plan on reading.
I'm against adding books to your "to read" shelf that you don't planning on reading for two reasons. The first being, it's not honest. If you're okay with a little dishonesty for the sake of a few sales then ignore this point. The second reason is that you're using the shelf system in a manner that wasn't intended. The "to read" shelf isn't meant to be used as our marketing tool even if it does help sales when someone adds one of your books to their shelves. I'm not sure how some of the Goodreads librarians and mods would react to the shelf system being used like this. My guess is poorly. Course, if you're not worried about that either then add to your heart's content.
I agree. Goodreads seems to still have good reputation with readers and we don't need to tarnish it or promote the idea that Indie authors are gaming the system. If you really plan to read it, then buy it and add it. If not, then please don't.
Write a good book, promote it ethically, and write another good book. I may be a bit naive but this seems to be the only correct way to do things.
We've seen tag exchanges (guilty), review exchanges, and even people buying each other's books to create a boost in sales rankings.
Enough is enough.