Okay, okay .... I'll weigh in here since I'm responsible.
As Steve said - this blossomed at the last minute and I was really scrambling.
Here's some feedback from your comments.
Number 1: I'm responsible for the cost of the site and it gives me nothing...nada...zip. I was too shy to ask participants to help pay for the costs since this was an effort I had undertaken myself, so I tried ways to earn enough to cover the cost of the site without putting up ads. One way was with a Kindle e-book store. I have no control over the set-up of the store - and it doesn't just sell e-book readers. I've noticed it's confusing so I even put a line above the store saying: "For the Kindle store below, use the "Browse by Category" menu on the right to view more genres." So the lesson there is to read instructions. So far the store has earned $10.20. Not enough by far to help with the costs of the site.
Number 2: Some participants were kind enough to actually OFFER to help with the site. Those participants contributed in many different ways. (encouragement, contacts, press releases that I didn't have to pay for, actual funds for web traffic upgrade) I didn't want to just up and say so-and-so paid such-and-such, or so-and-so contributed in "this way". That can make others feel lessened, or belittled. (you'll always offend someone unless you're doing nothing). Not everyone is in a position to help - they do what they can voluntarily. So... I listed those who helped in some way with a small banner ad and placed them at the top.
Number 3: How do you choose to put someone at the top of a list or at the bottom. First come first served seemed the best idea and I went with that. As the items came in I listed them in that order. It seemed fair to me without making anyone feel less important. Some would say they should be alphabetical, others would argue "no! by genre!"
Number 4: 'the link labeled "E-Books" leads to ebook readers, but no ebooks" Hmmm.... the link from the front page says "readers" and it goes to e-book readers.
Number 5: 'the link labeled "E-Book Reading Material" leads to a short link farm with no details.' Hmmmm.... it links to two paragraphs of text explaining where you can get reading material, then shows links to various places to find reading material, then recommendations from e-book readers.....
Some changes I would like to see when I can come up for air were mentioned:
1. I would like to have links in one colour (not a spelling error - I'm Canadian)
and titles in another colour.
2. Change the link now labeled "Readers" to read "E-Readers"
3. Figure out another way to say "partners". Again this posses a problem because all are partners in the event but some contributed books and others services. Where do you put Kovid Goyal? Stanza? They aren't contributing books but they are doing other things that are important to the event.
There's so many ways of looking at organization, guys. The brain just boggles.
Thanks for your comments, though. I'll certainly work on the site. It's received so much traffic that I don't think it's going to bear up under the load - over 1,000 hits today.
As I write this I've received three more requests by publisers to come on board --- do I put them at the top of the list or the bottom of the list
(oops, that wasn't nice)
Rita Toews
founder - Read an E-Book Week