Dr. Drib, I certainly appreciate your viewpoint (and recognize that it carries extra weight as a moderator), but either I didn't explain well, or perhaps you didn't understand my thoughts about a thread. (Or I don't understand your objection....)
The thought was created because there are certain threads in the "Freebies and Deals" forum where the original poster has objected to the inclusion of self-pub titles-- requesting that self-pubs not be mentioned at all in those threads. I understand this request, but really only because it's been requested by the OP of the thread. I also understand the the resistance of a lot of members have to self-pubs in general, and their desire to not wade through any posts that mention a self-pub book.
Surely there is no prohibition of a mention of a 'deal' or 'freebie' regarding a self-pub book in that forum in it's
own thread. (At least I've seen them there, by a number of well-respected forum members, with good examples being the Wool series, Scott Nicholson's books, etc.)
My thought was that it might be nice to have a thread dedicated to self-pub books that apparently already properly qualify for a thread in the "Deals" forum, with a suggestion that posters limit their postings to books that they had specific direct knowledge of regarding quality.
For example, I might post that one of 'Author X's' self-pub books was currently offered for free, or that there was a special reduced price on the ZYZ omnibus, and that I'd read the book, liked it, and found it of value, edited well, and include brief comments about the writing style, genre, etc. Surely this information is of no less value than the cut-and-paste blurbs frequently included in that forum.
Since it seems that those types of books can legitimately be posted in the 'Deals' forum already, it doesn't make sense to me that a THREAD dedicated to self-pub "freebies & deals" can't exist legitimately in that forum. I've suggested that posts should be limited to books that the poster had actually read, to limit spamming (which is already banned, and thank you!), and "46 5-star reviews on Amazon-but-I've-never-looked-at-a-single-page" posts .
The concept is that members inclined to give a chance to self-pubbed authors with a proper recommendation would have a way to do so at a low-risk or no-risk price, and those who prefer to avoid all self-pubs like the plague could easily avoid the thread.
I certainly recognize that there are general reading recommendations that belong in the "Recommendations" forum, because they're not related to a specific short-term reduced price.
My original post was a query to how such a thread might be organized to be useful to those interested (for example, one thread accepting all genres, or a "self-pub, SciFi, freebies & deals" thread and a "self-pub, Romance, freebies & deals" thread, etc.)
If this thread can't exist in that forum, would a "self-pub, SciFi, freebies & deals" thread be permitted (while a brief discussion of how to organize such a thread isn't permitted)? Or does a "self-pub, SciFi, freebies & deals" thread have to be relegated to the "Reading Recommendations" forum? Or is the thread inappropriate only because it asks for member's thoughts on how such an "allowed" thread should be organized?
Re-reading your post, I certainly wasn't suggesting that a book be mentioned in the "Freebies & Deals" forum, or any other forum, "merely because the author is self-published", but rather because it was a "freebie & deal", and the poster had personally found it of merit, and noting that it
happened to be self-pubbed, while insulating those who object to any mention of self-pubbed books at all.
KentE
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Drib
This thread has been moved to the Feedback forum, where it belongs.
The Deals and Freebies forum is NOT the place for recommended ebooks, making reference to some of the posts above.
The qualifying area - if a thread such as this is created - would be the Recommended Forum, and only if the ebooks are being recommended. Mentioning a book merely because the author is self-published is not a valid justification for inclusion in the Recommendation forum.
If authors create a sock-puppet in order to promote their books, then they will be banned. We call this spam. And their action is called spamming MobileRead, which we will not tolerate.
Referencing the idea that Authors/publishers might resort to spamming us by self-promoting at this proposed thread under discussion, there are these points to keep in mind: Authors/Publisher have ONE place to promote their work - and they have an ENTIRE forum in which to do so. Authors/Publishers who stray outside that forum in order to engage in self-promotion [or 'discussion'] we define as spam. Spam is dealt with harshly at MobileRead.
Don
(Moderator)
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