Ready to share your 3 favorite reads of 2025?

Share your 3 favorite reads here!

Why now? We start this program on October 1st to help authors ride the big book holiday book-buying wave that starts now (complete FAQ on dates here).

Which books? Share your 3 favorite reads you made between September 30th, 2024, and October 1st, 2025. It doesn’t matter when they were published; the only criterion is that they were your 3 favorite reads in the last 12 months.

How many readers see it? This event reaches 250,000+ readers every book-buying season, and I’m working hard every year to make it bigger and better!

Need support? Just reply or email [email protected] if you have any technical problems.

How does this help you as an author?

#1 - Gently nudge readers toward your book.

After your three picks, we feature one of your books right below! It’s a natural way to remind fans about your book during the book-buying season.

For example, here are author Lori D. Ginzberg and author Lori Alden Holuta's picks for 2025.

#2 - Engage your fans 😀 

You can share your list in your newsletter or on social media, and it is a great way to connect with your fans. Readers love sharing their favorite reads!

It’s also a gentle reminder of your fantastic books, and maybe it nudges them to pick up your newest release, gift one to a friend, or even discover a new author through your recommendations.

#3 - Your book is featured on any list by readers you refer FOREVER!

When your list is published, you’ll get a personal referral link to share with your readers.

Anyone who uses your link to share their three favorite reads will feature your book at the bottom of their list in a special spot. And every year they participate, your book will be featured (forever).

For example, here’s a reader that author Michael J. Sullivan referred using his referral link. Notice how his newest book appears at the bottom of their list.

(Note: We have a bug that has broken this for 2025. That will be fixed in the next 72 hours.)

Why did I create this referral system?

One of my three goals for authors is to help you grow and tap into your fan base.

This is something Goodreads should be doing, and they haven’t lifted a finger for over a decade (which really pisses me off, among many other things they haven’t done despite having 300+ employees and a trillion-dollar company behind them).

My goal is to help you increase sales of your book through your fans. This was a small first step we could take to count any reader you refer to as a “fan” and help your book get extra promotion through them.

The goal is for the fans you refer to share their three favorite book picks with their friends and family, helping more readers discover your book through word of mouth.

Over the coming decade, I hope to create more tools for authors to grow and tap into their fan bases, especially as I launch our full app, which will be like Goodreads but smarter and more personalized. If you want to support our mission, please check out our author membership program, as we are independent and entirely funded by authors and readers like you.

#4 - Coming in December, Personalized book recommendations.

We’re adding a new feature to the Favorite Reads of 2025 page that makes discovery even more personal.

Readers will be able to pick a book they loved and instantly see recommendations from other authors and readers who also loved it. This will get more readers in front of your recommendation and your book.

😀 Fun Alert 😀

It is fun to share your favorites and help other readers discover new books and authors you love.

I’ve been doing this every year since 2010, and it is fun 😀. My family and friends enjoy the results, and it is a great way to help the authors you love.

I read 124 books this year, and it was tough to pick my top three. Ultimately, here are my picks and why I loved each one.

These are the ones I didn’t get to mention, but were also some of my favorite reads in 2025.

• A Soldier’s Life - I can’t figure out why, but I LOVE this series. I am not a huge LitRPG fan, but something about this world and characters is deeply engaging. I am about to start the newest book in the series and can’t wait to find out where it goes next.

• The Pillars of the Earth - My best friend Joel recommended these to me back in 2008, and I finally read them (I read them all this year). They are exceptional, and I’ve ended up reading a lot of Ken this year. It was a close thing to pick Fall of Giants over them.

• The Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio. This goes down as one of my all-time favorite science fiction book series, and I am eagerly awaiting book #7 in November (which will end the series). If you love Dune or Wheel of Time, I recommend this series.

I hope you’ll share your favorites and spread our love of books!

Thanks, Ben