The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

I have been reading for months of Goodreads readers complaining about authors self promoting their books in wrong places. This happens all over Goodreads.
I will confess, I have never gone to Author's Corner, ever. I can fully understand their "need" to self promote in other places
The only way I can think of to help these authors is to somehow find a permanent Goodreads thread where they can do a QUICK who, what, when, where, how of their book. Somehow "touchstoning"our possible intetests. That way if I am into reading about a muslim cop in a state like Arkansas, 2014 dealing w prejudices & weird murders. I would look for topics: Arkansas, Muslim, etc.

I have done that mistake once as an author, and when I realized what I had done, it was too late to correct it, of course. I think your suggestion is good. I also think categories should be made more visible/accessible, so that there is less confusion.

I like that idea, too. Maybe a separate thread for books by topic?

One of the problems I see with Goodreads is that the discussion is too much of a free for all, lacking any real structure. I am not sure what the fix is but stricter moderator action would help.

Gary wrote: "One of the problems I see with Goodreads is that the discussion is too much of a free for all, lacking any real structure. I am not sure what the fix is but stricter moderator action would help."

Suggestions? From one of the moderators.

Delete with a warning any author posts that promote their books in an inappropriate location (which is almost all of them).

Consider restrictions on starting new threads. That is one of Goodreads' biggest problems. Most posts should fit in topics that are already out there. Probably what is there should be pruned and combined as well.

Another problem I have is with the way the digest works. About half of my digest everyday are posts in the The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group topic: "All About the Title" and The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group topic: "Free Association, Part II" discussions. I have less than zero interest in seeing these. Perhaps the could be moved to a "Games" Group and removed from the The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller group so they don't show up in my digest.

How about an 'About My Book' thread?

All authors wising to promote their books post there only.

Promotional posts on any other thread get deleted. You can do that, can't you, moderator?

There are literally tens of thousands of us independent authors out here trying to get noticed. If a few of us slip up from time to time, it is simply an effort to say, 'Hey! I'm here.' One of Goodreads' income streams is by author advertising. It exists because some of us are paying for it to exist. So, just ignore what you don't want to read.

Quillracer wrote: "How about an 'About My Book' thread?

All authors wising to promote their books post there only.

Promotional posts on any other thread get deleted. You can do that, can't you, moderator?"

@quillracer: First, I don't work alone, meaning, I'm not the only moderator. Second, there's both an author corner thread and now an Advertisements thread for authors posting their book news. I'd also like to see a thread for publicists posting giveaways, review opportunities, etc., kept separate from the author threads.

And -- William is also right -- a few people do "slip up from time to time," which is why you'll see me and the other moderators trying to get posters to move their posts into the correct threads.

Gary wrote: "Delete with a warning any author posts that promote their books in an inappropriate location (which is almost all of them).

Consider restrictions on starting new threads. That is one of Goodreads..."

I totally agree with everything that you have written and I hope that something is done to make your suggestions come about it would be very helpful to the rest of us

Those "Authors: Post All Your Book Notices Here" threads are pretty universally useless. Notices in those get buried in a few minutes. This group already has the "Author's Corner" section, where at least each book can get its own thread.

Can sections have subsections? The Author's Corner is a real jumble right now. Splitting it into subgenres, such as "Cozy," "Hard-Boiled," "Thriller," "Police Procedural" and so on, and allowing one thread per book in the appropriate genre subsection(s), would turn the whole thing into more of a service for readers, and reduce the incentive for writers to post elsewhere in order to break out of the mire.

I second Gary's idea to let us block particular threads from going into our digests. There are 6-8 threads in the groups I belong to that take up well over 50% of my digest, and I haven't any interest in any of them.

I've just sent a message to the other moderators to see if the thread blocking is doable. I'll keep you posted.

Okay -- I wrote to goodreads help re not getting emails from threads we don't want to follow and here is the response:

Your group members are probably opted in to receive email notifications by default when they leave a comment on an item. To fix this, tell them to go to your email settings, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and un-check "When I leave comments on other items, follow discussions by default".

To stop following the discussion, navigate to the discussion in question, scroll down to the bottom, and click "edit" next to "You are following this discussion". You can then change your notification preference to "Notification only" or "None".

So -- I went to the individual games thread discussions (a group I do not follow), opted for the "none", and hopefully I won't be getting any more emails from that group. It will require some effort on your parts -- it's not automatic.

One problem: I don't have a "You are following this discussion" line on any of these threads I want to escape, so I also don't have an "edit" option.

Lance wrote: "One problem: I don't have a "You are following this discussion" line on any of these threads I want to escape, so I also don't have an "edit" option."

Just double checking: you can find the "you are following this discussion" line at the bottom of the first page of each thread.

I don't know how you'd be getting updates if you're not set to "following the discussion", but if you're sure, I'll ask the experts again.

This group is particularly plagued by author self promotions to such an extent that I rarely follow discussions any more. Most other groups are much stricter about author self promotion and enforcement by moderators.

Carolien wrote: "This group is particularly plagued by author self promotions to such an extent that I rarely follow discussions any more. Most other groups are much stricter about author self promotion and enforce..."

I hear you. It's frustrating for moderators as well. I would really like to make fixing this a project for the very near future -- so if more people would like to write in and share their opinions, I would be all for it. What would you like to see? Personally, I like the idea mentioned earlier of an "All About My Book" thread, combined with another idea above about subsections.

So let me ask you all this question: would you object to a thread under author's corner for publicists and free book giveaways?

One thing to remember when you are looking at Goodreads is what type of device are you using. Goodreads appears very differently, and you can do, and not do, certain things in the app on your tablet or phone. To have access to all the features and settings you really need to be on the full site, not an app version.

Nancy wrote: "I don't know how you'd be getting updates if you're not set to "following the discussion", but if you're sure, I'll ask the experts again."

There's only one thread I follow specifically (in the Librarians group). All the rest I get through the global group email preferences in my profile. Neither that nor the individual threads give me the option to opt out of threads.

So, Lance. While you're sitting here posting to this thread, is there a "You are following this discussion" in grey at the bottom of the comments?

Nancy wrote: "Carolien wrote: "This group is particularly plagued by author self promotions to such an extent that I rarely follow discussions any more. Most other groups are much stricter about author self prom..."

I've just been through this discussion in another group and here are some useful guidelines that we found from other groups. This group has a series of folders for specific timelines. You could use that idea to provide structure to the authors section in this group.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

This group actually has a specific area for authors to discuss their books and writing with each other.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
They also support participating authors by selecting one of their books every quarter as a BOM, but have very strict rules about it. Here is their rules and they are very strict in enforcing them.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I've had some really good interactions with authors in both these groups, but it was on topic and relevant.

Most authors don't want to alienate readers and appreciate the opportunity to be part of a literary community. The main thing is for the ground rules to be clearly presented - For example, on Kindleboards, in addition to the general rules posted for authors, many threads and sections are clearly labeled No Self Promotion. It's like parking regulations - people may know the rules but they need signs to remind them.

Nancy wrote: "So, Lance. While you're sitting here posting to this thread, is there a "You are following this discussion" in grey at the bottom of the comments?"

Nope. It says, "Email me when people comment." So do all the rest of them.

Lance wrote: "Nancy wrote: "So, Lance. While you're sitting here posting to this thread, is there a "You are following this discussion" in grey at the bottom of the comments?"

Nope. It says, "Email me when peop..."

Well, technically you shouldn't be getting email alerts. If you click on that, then click on edit, the menu for digest, none, etc should come up.

Lance, in my version, the 'notify me' buttons are at the very bottom - the 'You are following...' button is further up, above the comment box. Maybe yours is there?

Nancy wrote: "Well, technically you shouldn't be getting email alerts..."

Perhaps not, but obviously I am.

K.A. wrote: "in my version, the 'notify me' buttons are at the very bottom - the 'You are following...' button is further up, above the comment box. Maybe yours is there?"

No, there's no "You are following..." button or text slug.

I think this is another example of GR acting in a way the developers didn't intend, just like when my digest disappears for days at a time for no reason, or when I had a month of digests in which the links went to totally unrelated threads.

Lance wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Well, technically you shouldn't be getting email alerts..."

Perhaps not, but obviously I am.

K.A. wrote: "in my version, the 'notify me' buttons are at the very bottom - the 'You ar..."

Well then, I can only say that perhaps you might wish to contact the goodreads help experts. They 'be always been very helpful to me.

Nancy wrote: "Lance wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Well, technically you shouldn't be getting email alerts..."

Perhaps not, but obviously I am.

K.A. wrote: "in my version, the 'notify me' buttons are at the very bottom..."

I meant they've always been very helpful to me.

I'm an author but also a reader. And like others have said, I've stopped posting or even reading in most groups because I just don't have the time to sift through everything. That's a shame. I do like the way Kboards handles things so there's only one place, once weekly for blatant self promos...but I can see that would get very tedious for volunteer moderators. I don't know the answer.

Amy wrote: "I'm an author but also a reader. And like others have said, I've stopped posting or even reading in most groups because I just don't have the time to sift through everything. That's a shame. I do l..."

It's not that it's tedious. It's more like trying to come up with something workable for everyone before presenting my thoughts to the other moderators on how to make this a better experience. And inevitably, someone will still complain, so that's what makes things challenging. That is why I'm asking the people who would like to see this group work well to contribute their thoughts.

You asked, we listened and changes have been made. You can see them here. I'm sure this won't please everyone, but such is the life of a moderator, especially in terms of introducing changes.

Thank you for all of your helpful comments.