Authors pushing books

[Worldwalker]

What Elfwreck said. Ideally, any such recommended format should also encourage the authors to tell us if the book is DRM-free.

I'm not sure we can get posters to follow a standard format, but we can hope. Anything is possible; after all, I have successfully herded cats. Up stairs.

One other thing it should have, and authors might even pick up on: genre tags. The ones from the ebook forums would do nicely. They won't work for everyone, particularly those who write cross-genre fiction, but they will make it a little easier, at least, to spot what we're looking for.

[nomesque]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

One other thing it should have, and authors might even pick up on: genre tags. The ones from the ebook forums would do nicely. They won't work for everyone, particularly those who write cross-genre fiction, but they will make it a little easier, at least, to spot what we're looking for.

'GENRE SOUP' tag. I'd use it.

[Worldwalker]

"GENRE SOUP". I like that.

Given that one of the characteristics (and in my opinion, one of the great attractions) of indie writers is their reluctance to be stuffed neatly into the publishing industry's genre pigeonholes, we'll probably be seeing a lot of that one.

I suppose it's because we are afraid the spammers will pollute it, just like the other forums, thereby driving potential users away, turning it into a selling ghetto, and ultimately rendering it ineffective.

Spammers will be spammers no matter what. Adding another board won't really change that. If anything, it might make the mods' lives easier by luring them all to the same place, so they can be more readily spotted and disposed of. From what I've seen, though, MR seems to be remarkably free of spam (except for those persistent video editing software guys) so I really don't see that being an issue.

As far as a "selling ghetto" ... ideally, it will be a board full of nothing but posts promoting books. We have those things in hardspace too, you know. We don't call them "ghettos", though; we call them "bookstores".

Remember what defines the MobileRead members as a group: we read a lot of books. Possibly too many books. We avoid bookstores (online or brick-and-mortar) the same way crack addicts avoid crack dealers. For us, a board full of people offering to sell us even more books is a Good Thing. Well, our families, employers, and bankers may not think it's so good, but we do.

On another note, let's not forget about the proposed split in the Deals forum. I think that will be another major help for the users. For example, I anticipate that I'd start with a quick glance at Deals/Stores (to check for further O'Reilly deals), followed by a more thorough read of Deals/Books (well, once my TBR list is read down to a manageable level) and skipping Deals/Devices entirely (no need for a new one until my faithful 505 goes to the great charger in the sky). Other people might be looking for a new reading device and following that board closely, or less concerned about individual books than a store-wide sale so they can stock up for the summer, or any number of other combinations.

As it is now it's already a pain to find things on that board, and I think we can only anticipate it getting busier in the future. Ebooks are becoming more popular, resulting in more competition and (hopefully) more deals being offered, and MR members, whose population is increasing, will undoubtedly become more adept at finding and posting the deals. I'll admit to being a slacker, and rarely checking beyond the first page of most of our sections, so anything that increases first-page residence time is a good thing for me. I doubt if I'm alone in that particular form of slacking.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by nomesque

'GENRE SOUP' tag. I'd use it.

No... it should be Genre Stew. (So meaty!)

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

As far as a "selling ghetto" ... ideally, it will be a board full of nothing but posts promoting books. We have those things in hardspace too, you know. We don't call them "ghettos", though; we call them "bookstores".

Understand: I'm referring to a ghetto as a place no one wants to go to, because of its unsavory condition... a state that I sincerely hope we don't see in this forum. If the mods decide to do it, I want to see it succeed as much as everyone else.

[Worldwalker]

The "Book Fair" section will be no more unsavory than any other section of the forums which currently has ads for ebooks. It'll be the same people, the same authors, the same posts, the same books, just all gathered together.

If spammers show up, they'll be dealt with the same as if they posted in any other section. And there's no reason to expect any more of them to appear there than anywhere else, or than we have at present.

Which leads me to another, distantly related thought: do we ever get any postings promoting non-fiction books? Right off the top of my head, I can't think of any I've read that weren't for fiction, and mostly what is considered "genre" fiction.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Which leads me to another, distantly related thought: do we ever get any postings promoting non-fiction books? Right off the top of my head, I can't think of any I've read that weren't for fiction, and mostly what is considered "genre" fiction.

There have been a few reference books here and there, related to ebooks, of course, but no, not many. I posted the non-fiction book I wrote... but it wasn't received very well... virtually ignored in and out of MR.

[Shayne Parkinson]

Another author chiming in: I think it would be great to have a clearly defined place for book announcement/promotions/deals. I'm guiltily aware that I posted a thread about a coupon deal in the "Deals" forum, as well as one about my books in the Writers' Corner, and would hate to think that I drove more appropriate posts off the front pages of those forums.

As an author, I've found MobileReads a lovely, friendly site, one I'm hanging out on for pleasure. I think the mods do a great job (and I'm a moderator on a busy set of Tolkien-related message boards, so I do know how challenging the job can be!)

[omk3]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

...
Which leads me to another, distantly related thought: do we ever get any postings promoting non-fiction books? Right off the top of my head, I can't think of any I've read that weren't for fiction, and mostly what is considered "genre" fiction.

I think people tend to still trust more the traditional publishing systems for their non-fiction. Non-fiction usually needs a lot of research, and it is important that it gets its facts right, so good editing is even more important.

[Iphinome]

Originally Posted by omk3

I think people tend to still trust more the traditional publishing systems for their non-fiction. Non-fiction usually needs a lot of research, and it is important that it gets its facts right, so good editing is even more important.

And yet they use wikipedia, but then so do I since I usually find citations to back it up.

[omk3]

Originally Posted by Iphinome

And yet they use wikipedia, but then so do I since I usually find citations to back it up.

You're right, of course. But wikipedia is constantly checked and edited by millions of people, while an indie non-fiction book is only read by a handful of readers in comparison, and their feedback will only be in the form of a review, if at all.

[Moejoe]

It's getting worse in Writers' Corner by the day so that now it's not even a place for writers to discuss the craft or build a community any longer. May I suggest that if a writer truly wants to showcase their work in that portion of this website then they do not initially post a link to a product for sale. If they get a response asking for a link then they may post a link, but if they want to showcase then they have to do just that; showcase what they've written, become an active participant in this community, not try to flog a product.

[Worldwalker]

Admins? Can we get a yes/no on this? If you're going to go with the Book Fair (and, hopefully, the Deals forum split), the sooner it's implemented, the easier it will be to redirect the book floggers to the correct sections.

And MoeJoe is right: Writers' Corner has become Booksellers' Corner. Let's get our Book Fair so we can have all the books neatly collected in one place.

[zelda_pinwheel]

don't worry ; we are following this thread closely and we are discussing the situation currently, and evaluating what is likely to be the most effective solution. we will take action soon.

[Dr. Drib]

To all Members (not Moderators) who have posted here about their concern:

I feel your frustration. I feel like MobileRead has become some kind of dumping ground for authors to promote their books - the authors who endlessly promote their SAME books, I mean.

Additionally, the waters have become muddied and three Forums have become a waste-dump site for an accumulation of promotional smegma.

I have made it my personal mission to clean up this mess. I am not acting alone. We Moderators are having a discussion on this right now (as another Moderator recently said).

I've been moving Threads out of areas where they don't belong, and I've been PMing authors (mainly authors, but not exclusively) when I feel they have overstepped the bounds of good taste. (So far, only ONE author has held a grudge - and I've dismissed her from my consciousness as nothing more than a trouble-maker, due to her rudeness.)

I have moved a LOT of threads and I have PMed a LOT of authors. Now, having expressed that, I want to reassure the group of authors and other posters here that I am, indeed, on your side but the rules have to be either rewritten or clarified - and I am expressing solely MY opinion here and cannot speak for other Moderators; - or else, MobileRead runs the risk of continuing to be one big, unruly three-ring circus without any boundaries for containment. And the elephants are beginning to cross the circle.

My attempt at creating the "Endless Plug Your Novel" Thread was an attempt to bring sanity to these promotional hi-jinks and also to locate a firmly grounded base for frustrated authors to plug their books. I also wanted it to be a place where they could have fun doing so. It was my intention to contain what I felt was a sense of frustration from the important body of writers who contribute to MobileRead AND who also happen to be Authors.

I'm writing here as a Moderator, so I will sign it as such:



Don
(Moderator)