Letting New Members Know...

[Michael R. Hicks]

It's been a while since I've started a thread, but Geoff Thomas made an observation in my book promo thread that I didn't want to pursue there, but did want to post for comment:

I would like to figure out how to let all the new members know about the great resident authors that I have "met" and read and whose work I love.  It is frustrating to know that the earlier posts are buried in pages of back stuff.  And it must be more frustrating for the authors.

Geoff, there are only two ways I can think of that new members will find out about the authors here: 1) they happen to wander through the Book Bazaar, or 2) you and other reader-members tell 'em (in a way that conforms to the forum decorum, sock puppet rule, etc.). Some of the new folks will obviously see posts some of us make in threads outside the Bazaar on other topics and perhaps click on the book-related links in our sig blocks. I have no clue how many authors now spend much time "outside" the Bazaar and benefit from that, as I rarely venture out anymore myself. The time I have available for posting is very limited compared to what it once was, and most of that is spent in the "back room" smoking virtual cigars with the other authors <cough, cough!>. 

However, as always, the best "advertising" is by word of mouth, from one reader who likes an author's work to other readers. Authors can't do that anymore ourselves except through the book promo threads, because we collectively lost the privilege of mingling "about our book" threads in the mainstream due to the abuses of a few authors some time back (this was the catalyst for the Book Bazaar in the first place).

But the book threads in the Bazaar are sort of one of those "if a tree fell in the forest" things - the threads don't do anybody much good unless readers not only find them and read them, but keep them active by posting on them. Otherwise the authors are left to devise clever ways to bump their threads weekly with "news." But even that doesn't matter unless new members actually look at the board and find things that interest them.

As for other ideas...While I don't keep close enough track of statistics to be able to tell, I suspect I probably netted a nice bunch of sales last month from the quasi-official book game, where one of my books was chosen as a selection. So, a possibility might be something like a book game where only books by KB authors are chosen or some such - there are, what, a few hundred now as members on the board, covering every conceivable genre, so there should be plenty of potential selections. When the Bazaar was set up, there were also a lot of ideas floating around to generate more author-reader interaction, but I don't think any of those came to pass (as far as I know).

One last thing, for any reader-members who may find this, is to please keep in mind the great importance of leaving reader reviews and tags on the books you read: that is like gold, especially for new books that either have no ratings or very few. It takes a bit of time and effort, but you don't have to write a complete book review, just say that you liked it (or didn't), how much, and why you think others might enjoy it (or not).   

Okay, it's about time to go running!

[telracs]

"sock puppet"? 

and stop smoking cigars and start writing!

[Imogen Rose]

I am relatively new here and don't know if this had been tried... How about a sticky that highlights a resident author for 48 hours and then gets taken down for the next one?


Imogen

[& gone]

I am relatively new here and don't know if this had been tried... How about a sticky that highlights a resident author for 48 hours and then gets taken down for the next one?


Imogen

Hmmm...not a bad idea!

[Michael R. Hicks]

"sock puppet"? 

Yes, the "sock puppet rule"! That was one of my favorites. That's when someone creates a thread, then also creates one or more fake member accounts to post comments on that thread to make it look like there are legit readers posting. A couple people got banned over that one, and rightly so. Ya have to wonder...

and stop smoking cigars and start writing!

I yam, I yam! Plan to write tonight after we run. Getting to a good booty-kicking fight scene in Season of the Harvest! w00t!

[Michael R. Hicks]

I am relatively new here and don't know if this had been tried... How about a sticky that highlights a resident author for 48 hours and then gets taken down for the next one?

Imogen

I don't think that's been tried, but it sounds like something worth contemplating! Keep the ideas coming, Imogen... 

[Learnmegood]

"sock puppet"? 

and stop smoking cigars and start writing!

Scarlet is my FAVORITE sock puppet!!

Oh wait, am I misusing that term?

[J.E.Johnson]

     Hey Michael, good point.  Apparently we authors were getting a little too comfy in the Book Bazaar because we now have the Writers' Cafe (thanks to our wonderful mods  - it really is a great place (especially since I was one of those chatty authors who likes to start crazy threads having nothing to do with book promotion  ; so glad Ann and Betsy are here to keep us in check  ).  The Writers' Cafe is probably the new best place to find authors to chat with. 
-Jenna

[Edward C. Patterson]

Mike:

You always have my "word of mouth."

Edward C. Patterson
Starting buzzes everywhere  That's why they call me the Old Buzzard.

[telracs]

Mike:

You always have my "word of mouth."

Edward C. Patterson
Starting buzzes everywhere  That's why they call me the Old Buzzard.

"Start spreading the news
I'm reading today...."

[yes, I know, misquote]

[J.E.Johnson]

Anyone ever thought of making a link from their website to the Writers' Cafe?  Just to let potential readers know that we authors like to hang out and chat here?
-Jenna

[Edward C. Patterson]

I tweat Kindleboard threads all the time. It's effective.

Edward C. Patterson

[Michael R. Hicks]

You always have my "word of mouth."

Starting buzzes everywhere  That's why they call me the Old Buzzard.

And here I just thought it was the bees out working in the garden...

[David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish]

I've so many people here recommend your books, Michael. Even if I never stepped foot in the Book Bazaar, I'd know who you are.

David Dalglish

[Michael R. Hicks]

I've so many people here recommend your books, Michael. Even if I never stepped foot in the Book Bazaar, I'd know who you are.

David Dalglish

LOL! Thanks, David! :-)

This is something that affects all the authors, though. I have nothing to complain about personally - I've done very well by KB! But I've also been on here a long time (I think my member number is 155) and have the advantage of a lot of "press," if you will, from some of the other folks who have been on the boards for quite a while and happened to have enjoyed some of my work.

But the newer authors (including yourself, I believe) don't enjoy those advantages, and many of them have some great stuff to offer the reader-members here. The trick is to just get the two groups in touch with each other in a pleasant way. Unfortunately, I suspect that the vast majority of new members don't frequent the Bazaar very much, or if they do, their post rate on book/author threads is pretty low. While I don't have stats handy to back it up, I suspect that there was a great deal more interaction on the threads from readers in the period before the authors who abused the hospitality of the boards forced the mods to do something to try and control it (thus, the creation of the Bazaar). This cut the threads out of the mainstream (I believe we used to post our book threads in the Not Quite Kindle board, if memory serves). Interaction with readers who'd already read one's books continued to a fair degree, but the number of new folks posting on many of the threads dropped off considerably (again, my anecdotal assessment).

So, again, while there certainly might be things KB might be able to do, such as Imogen's suggestion, the bulk of getting other readers in touch with authors and their books here is up to other reader-members, I think (getting back to Geoff's original question). :-)

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

When the Bazaar was set up, we were supposed to get blogs, but that never happened.

I hate to suggest new child boards, but I'm going to do it anyway. How about breaking the Bazaar up into genres.

Mystery
Romance
Historical Fiction
Sci-Fi
Fantasy
Unclassifiable

(suggested genres)

Mike, e.g., could crosspost in both scifi and fantasy. I could crosspost in romance and historical fiction.

[David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish]

I think breaking up the boards even more is a bad thing. The more you separate, the more you specialize, the thinner and thinner the audience gets. I understand the reasoning for the Author Cafe, but what I fear now is that without all the goofy side-conversations and distractions, we might get a brutal glimpse at how truly little people other than us authors actually frequent the Bazaar. I definitely hope I'm wrong, however.

I think so far, of all the ideas I've heard, that the quasi-official reading game based on solely KB authors sounds like a hit. There's a loooot of authors here, and I've read such a tiny fraction of them (an embarrassingly low amount, honestly). Getting us reading each others books, and then posting responses and whatnot in the Bazaar, might inject some honest-to-goodness discussion about the books beyond simple "I read this, it was good," or "Book looks interest, good luck!" responses that most have (again, not calling myself innocent on this either).

If the KB-quasi-reading game does well, we might pull in far more than just the Bazaar peeps. Heck, we might even get it posted into the Book Corner *cues heavenly music*.

David Dalglish

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

If you look at views vs. replies to your thread, I think you'll see quite a few more views than posts. Unfortunately, I think a lot of these views do not lead to new readers. I'm just saying that people are looking at our threads, just don't know what % are our fellow authors and what % are readers.  Maybe we need a poll in The Book Corner to see how many people look at the promo threads. 

I hear what you're saying David, and I agree with you to a point. That's why I suggested crossposting. I might not go into a scifi board, but I will go into a fantasy board.

We've already seen how creating the Cafe doesn't keep the promo threads from sinking out of sight pretty quickly. Maybe they're slowed down some, but the descent is inevitable.

[David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish]

What I've noticed is that in hardly -any- thread, even in Mike's, is that people aren't discussing the actual book. They'll say they liked it, or didn't like it, want another, etc.

Let me put it this way: after I saw The Dark Knight, I talked to a friend of mine for a good half hour about all the things I saw and absolutely loved in terms of storytelling.  I wish the Bazaar was the same way. I wish I could finish a book, post in the thread, and go:

 "Dudes, who else has read 33 A.D? I was almost giddy when Theron slapped Jesus and it caused a horrific burn on his hand that wouldn't heal. Part of me hoped he'd fry him there, but obviously McAfee can't since that'd be a premature end to the story. Mary seemed weak at times, though. Hey, McAfee, since you're here, what's up with that? Couldn't she have had a bigger role since she was present so often?"

I may have to start reading some indies every now and then and see what I can do. Too often I think we're all stuck with promotion in mind, so when we hop into other people's threads, we end up writing little blurbs for them as if we're trying to sell the books to other readers at the Bazaar, instead of just talking about what we liked.

David Dalglish

p.s.

I'm also guilty of like 99 percent of what I'm talking about. Easier to change others than yourself, eh? 

[telracs]

What I've noticed is that in hardly -any- thread, even in Mike's, is that people aren't discussing the actual book. They'll say they liked it, or didn't like it, want another, etc.

Let me put it this way: after I saw The Dark Knight, I talked to a friend of mine for a good half hour about all the things I saw and absolutely loved in terms of storytelling.  I wish the Bazaar was the same way. I wish I could finish a book, post in the thread, and go:

 "Dudes, who else has read 33 A.D? I was almost giddy when Theron slapped Jesus and it caused a horrific burn on his hand that wouldn't heal. Part of me hoped he'd fry him there, but obviously McAfee can't since that'd be a premature end to the story. Mary seemed weak at times, though. Hey, McAfee, since you're here, what's up with that? Couldn't she have had a bigger role since she was present so often?"

I may have to start reading some indies every now and then and see what I can do. Too often I think we're all stuck with promotion in mind, so when we hop into other people's threads, we end up writing little blurbs for them as if we're trying to sell the books to other readers at the Bazaar, instead of just talking about what we liked.

David Dalglish

p.s.

I'm also guilty of like 99 percent of what I'm talking about. Easier to change others than yourself, eh?  

I think the book klub threads are more like what you're saying David.  In the book bazaar threads, I'm looking more for info about a book by the author, and maybe some people's recommendation, but if READERS want to talk about a book, that's more the book corner in my eyes.  

Make sense?

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

David, just because you read a KB author doesn't mean you can't start a discussion thread in The Book Corner on that book.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this Ann or Betsy, but I think we're allowed to do it. We just have to keep self-promo confined to The Book Bazaar.

Can I have a ruling from the judges?

[Jeff]

I read a lot of books by KB authors. Sometimes I post in the "books recommended by our members" or "what are you reading" threads and none of the moderators have ever jumped me for it.

[Betsy the Quilter]

(Gertie, I was working on my response when you posted.)

There is some interesting stuff here...and let me point out a couple things...

The Cafe has existed what, 3 days?  It may be too early to panic.  

From what I'm reading here, there's concern that splitting the nonbook threads from the books will lead to no one visiting either place.  However, as I see it, one of two scenarios existed before as far as members who did visit the Book Bazaar.  Either (1) non-author members were visiting The Book Bazaar to check out the book threads.   They can still do that, and more easily than before.  Or (2) they were visiting the Book Bazaar to enjoy the scintillating conversation that the authors have with each other, and to join in occasionally (thus checking out your extremely eye catching signatures and perhaps learning about your books that way).  They can still do that, too, in the Writers' Cafe.  I guess I'm not really sure why this conversation started...

I would say, give it a chance.  As for genre subboards, believe me, we've kicked that one around too.  And I think splitting up the board into too many categories would be a mistake at this point.

Finally, despite what I've read here, we consider authors members too.  There is nothing to stop any KindleBoard author from starting posts anywhere in KindleBoards about any topic that does not involve actively promoting his or her own book.  (Let your siggy do that.)  The Book Bazaar/Writer's Cafe is not a cage.  You can even start book discussions in the Book Corner (which is where the author threads used to be, Mike).  I can tell y'all have read books from some of the discussions I've read here.  

You want the non-author members to come here and talk to you about your books.  And buy them. And we want that for you. But have you tried going out into the rest of the forum and getting to know the members? (And yes, I know some of you do this, and we readers appreciate it.)  I know, I know, there's limited time for posting on online forums...but there seems to be enough time to post in the Book Bazaar and now the Writers' Cafe.    People buy books from people they don't know all the time.  But they also seek out books by people they know....and one gets to know members here by posting throughout the forum.  We have lots of threads about books in the Book Corner.  In Not Quite Kindle, we have threads about sports (we had these even before John started posting.  ), plays, television, movies, travel, chickens, places to eat...Surely there's a conversation you would be interested in adding to.  And then, members might be interested in checking you out, too.

Just sayin....

Betsy

[David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish]

Guess I always felt that the Bazaar was all encompassing place for indie books. If you read and enjoyed an indie book, you posted about it in their thread. I guess for some reason I felt that posting about some other indie's work in another board, and then hoping someone would discuss it with me, would come across as odd. I guess I'm also the type that doesn't often create threads for fear of no one responding 

Ugh. Promotion, marketing, indies, writing, self-publishing...all these labels and rules are going to ruin everything for me. Next time I read an indie book and like it, you all are going to hear about it in the friggin Book Corner.

David Dalglish

[Sharlow]

What I've noticed is that in hardly -any- thread, even in Mike's, is that people aren't discussing the actual book. They'll say they liked it, or didn't like it, want another, etc.

Let me put it this way: after I saw The Dark Knight, I talked to a friend of mine for a good half hour about all the things I saw and absolutely loved in terms of storytelling.  I wish the Bazaar was the same way. I wish I could finish a book, post in the thread, and go:

 "Dudes, who else has read 33 A.D? I was almost giddy when Theron slapped Jesus and it caused a horrific burn on his hand that wouldn't heal. Part of me hoped he'd fry him there, but obviously McAfee can't since that'd be a premature end to the story. Mary seemed weak at times, though. Hey, McAfee, since you're here, what's up with that? Couldn't she have had a bigger role since she was present so often?"

I may have to start reading some indies every now and then and see what I can do. Too often I think we're all stuck with promotion in mind, so when we hop into other people's threads, we end up writing little blurbs for them as if we're trying to sell the books to other readers at the Bazaar, instead of just talking about what we liked.

David Dalglish

p.s.

I'm also guilty of like 99 percent of what I'm talking about. Easier to change others than yourself, eh? 

I'm always worried if we start sharing what we like about some ones book we give way to many spoilers. I get called on that so much that I don't even talk bout books I read very much anymore.