Claiming your author profiles on Amazon and Goodreads allows readers to view all of your collected works, your bio, and other relevant information in one central place.
Whatever your feelings about Amazon, there’s no denying they’ve built a powerful platform for writers: Author Central. Your Author Page will be a feature on your book’s Amazon.com detail page, giving readers access to more information about you and books you’ve written. As soon as your book is listed in Amazon’s catalog, you are eligible to join Author Central (this will usually be 7-8 months before publication). You can use your Amazon.com customer account to log in and get started (or create a new one if need be).
There's also the Goodreads Author Program, designed to help authors reach their target audience.
Along with the ability to participate in discussion forums and groups, Goodreads also offers authors the ability to promote their books by listing Book giveaways to generate pre-launch buzz and/or the option to set up and lead Q&A discussion groups for readers.
