Support for Indie Authors discussion

I told him he could download for free on certain dates this month. If that's not suitable, I am going to pass. He is talking to me on my Goodreads blog so that is the only info he has. Does Goodreads monitor this sort of thing?

The moderators should answer that, but I think not.

If he tries to get you to pay for a review, then you should definitely report him via Goodreads. I don't know anything about that particular reviewer, but I would be wary. Most of them want your email address as William said, and then you'll receive more and more of those types of requests asking you to pay for their services.

OK. He won't get anything out of me. He also wanted a PDF, epub or mobi file, instead of downloading from Amazon. He said he didn't have a Kindle Unlimited account. I find that a little odd for someone who is supposed to be a pro. And, since I told him to download it on my free days on Amazon, I haven't heard back. So, that probably answers the question about being legit or not. I guess there are scammers in every facet of life anymore. But, I didn't fall off the last turnip truck. Thanks for the info. Hope it helps someone else too.

Those are obvious 'flags' and you did right. Doubt if you will ever hear from them again as they will look for a new sucker.

"Professional reviewer" with a private profile, 4 ratings and 0 reviews on GR. I don't think so. What I would expect from a professional would be a public profile (so anyone can see the reviews, why do it otherwise?) with a link to his/her website where these reviews would appear along with info on how he works (some guidelines to how he rates books).

Also, I'd be wary of paid reviews anywhere. I doubt their honesty.

I'm with you on all of the above. And, I want REAL reviews from people who know what they are doing. Or, most importantly, from my readers. They are who I really want to please. I don't have many, at this point, and none on Amazon. But the ratings and reviews I do have are actual people's actual opinions. Nothing else counts. At least we've managed to out one possible scammer.

This guy didn't try to get money. But, he did want a copy of my book in PDF, epub or mobi, rather than downloading it free. I haven't heard any more since I told him to download it from Amazon on my next free days. Clearly, something was wrong here.

You are better off not even responding to her. In any case best of luck with your book.

It takes all kinds to make this world of ours! All the best!

Majid. Please stop including links to your books in most every post. Thanks.

We don't allow links of any kind included in posts. Please respect the rules, thank you.

This is also not the place to promote yourself or your other groups. This is the Ask A Moderator topic.

Ann, I’m fairly new to the group – haven’t yet found my bearings. I want to start a discussion asking members what their experience has been hiring a publicist to promote their book. How do I open that dialogue?

Hi S.R.,

I would use the Promotional Resources folder, if you can't find it, send me a message and I will provide you with the link, and then be very specific in what you're looking for when you post your message. We don't allow links within our messages, so if you're looking for specific names or websites, I would ask people to send you private messages with additional information.

Thanks!
Ann

Thank you, Ann. I'll try it.

Ann, please send me the link. Thanks.

Buncha comments deleted. People, this is for asking direct questions to the moderators about Support for Indie Authors. You can discuss web sites and so forth elsewhere. Mmmkay?

Please remember that this is a thread dedicated to asking moderators questions. No blurbs. No self promotion. Thank you all!

I just finished my first book trailer yesterday. I posted it on my Amazon Author Page and Facebook, but I don't know where else to post it. Does Goodreads have that video option?

G'day Ann,

Recently I have been receiving messages from Goodreads such as the following : Greg,

Terri posted a new comment on Support for Indie Authors topic: "Attention; Authors with little to no reviews. " on Goodreads.

But when I have clicked on the topic I have been getting the following message from Goodreads: Comment not found.

It's annoying. Have any ideas for what's happening? There have been a few topics I would have liked to check on.

Cheers
Greg

I can’t speak for all of the missing comments, but for the one you mentioned, it violated forum rules and was deleted.

The only other reason I can think of is if someone deletes their own comment.

Thanks J. and Dwayne, makes perfect sense. Strange there have been so many of late, though.

Hi there, I might be missing something but I posted a thread on here today offering authors a chance to advertise their book for free but the thread was deleted, saying it violated your code of conduct. However, on reading this, I couldn't see how my thread did so. There were no links, it wasn't about my own book and it was to fully support indie authors. I appreciate if it did break a rule somewhere but I just couldn't understand how it violated the code of conduct. If there is another way I can advertise this for authors on here then that would be great as it is proving rather popular and is just another resource for authors to get their book in front of readers.
Thank you
Jacqui

I wish that the group monitors would review there policies in order to help authors more.

Well said, Jacqui. Why is it so difficult to support authors? Facebook and now Goodreads.

Bill and JB, we are NOT Goodreads, we are only a group that formed on Goodreads like many others. If you have question for Goodreads visit this group: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

To J.M.: I wasn't around when you posted (and wasn't the one who deleted it either) - and I have no tools to see deleted posts, so I'll speculate.
I've looked up your profile and see that you've posted exactly the same post into several groups. With all respect, that alone is spammy. If it was that exact same post you've posted here, it can be seen as advertising, even though it contains no link. And even if it does not promote your books, it's still promoting something that seems to be connected to you.

This group was made for people to share advice and experience in a friendly manner, to discuss the process behind creating a book, not to serve as a place where you promote stuff - there are other groups for that.

Someone who's mod longer will probably be able to tell you more but that's what I know.

Thank you for the update. I apologize.

I deleted it J.B. It was self promotion.

#3 - No self promotion of any kind.

I believe it was in the Promotional Resources folder, which states:

"This folder includes helpful topics on the subject of book promotions. Posts may only be started by an SIA Moderator. Member-initiated posts will be deleted. Make sure to read the rules for each thread prior to posting."

So, I'm not sure why you're confused as to why your post was deleted.

If you want to promote your service, please join our other group. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Even though we do allow self-promotion there, please be sure to follow the rules.

bill wrote: "I wish that the group monitors would review there policies in order to help authors more."

I helped write the policies, bill, and know them very well. Could you elaborate on what is bothering you?

J.B. wrote: "Well said, Jacqui. Why is it so difficult to support authors? Facebook and now Goodreads."

Well, this is not Facebook, nor are we Goodreads. We're a group within Goodreads. We offer support by giving Indies a place to vent frustrations, ask questions about marketing and so on, give a forum to have their book covers and blurbs critiqued, and several other things. Our companion group SIA Showcase allows members to self-promote. We do have a Facebook group, a website, a newsletter, and so on, all containing useful and helpful info. Is there some other way, beside allowing people to bookwhack all over the place, that we could offer support?

Dwayne wrote: "bill wrote: "I wish that the group monitors would review there policies in order to help authors more."

I helped write the policies, bill, and know them very well. Could you elaborate on what is b..."
Thank you for responding Dwayne. I do belong to a number of groups and frankly I sometimes confuse their purposes as they seem similar. I try to be helpful and positive wherever and whenever possible. It seems however that few if any of the groups do not want Indie authors to promote their books. If there are any Goodread groups that do I would like to know about them. Indie authors as you are aware receive small royalties generally and costly promotions rarely pay off and so my feeling is that they need all of the help that they can get.

We have our other group for promotions, bill. This one is for discussion, that one is for promotion.

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Thank you. I believe that I am on that group and I would encourage other Indie authors to join it. You fast response is appreciated.

Hi Thomas and Dwayne, thank you for the clarification. I didn't mean my comment to sound a little off, I just wasn't sure what the post violated. I apologise for the confusion. I will check out your other group for promotions. I didn't intend the post to come across as spammy, it was just a way for authors to promote their work.
Thanks for your time
Jacqui

I'm an author who has always secretly dreamed of writing for film. I'm proof that if you work in one direction long enough, eventually you'll get there. Currently, I'm working on two adaptations for film, my first and upcoming second novels. It's a fascinating, arduous, exhilarating experience. Since many other writers are interested in this subject, I interviewed my mentor-producer, John Crye. I'd be happy to share the post, but am not sure if you allow it!

Robin,

No, we don't allow linking to anything here. If you want to start a thread in the Writers Workshop folder with some tips you've learned about screenwriting and open a discussion about it, that would be fine.

Dwayne wrote: "Robin,

No, we don't allow linking to anything here. If you want to start a thread in the Writers Workshop folder with some tips you've learned about screenwriting and open a discussion about it, ..."

There we go! Thank you, Dwayne!

I hope that some day that you will review that policy.In my humble opinion it would make for a much more productive group. Do you really think an author promoting their works is so terrible?

bill wrote: "I hope that some day that you will review that policy.In my humble opinion it would make for a much more productive group. Do you really think an author promoting their works is so terrible?"

No one said it's terrible for an author to promote themselves, bill. Many, many do it all the time. This is meant to be a support group, a place to discuss our work, marketing strategies, etc. It is not a place to be shoving our books at each other in every conversation. We even have another group for that. So, no, the policy remains.

Anyone who feels that there needs to be one more place for authors to promote themselves can go set up their own group, just as Ann set this one up. In other words, instead of expecting others to change to suit your wants, be your own change.

I pointed you toward the other group less than a month ago, bill. You said you were already in it. There's no real reason to change this group when we already have the other group for self-promoting.

As far as productivity, this is a very active group already and is productive in the way we want it to be.

Is there any way to mark all messages read? I'm trying to winnow this down to a manageable size and the only way I've found is to go through and open every topic. I've looked at the topics that interest me and would now like a fresh start without having to go through and open hundreds of topics.

Jim wrote: "Is there any way to mark all messages read? I'm trying to winnow this down to a manageable size and the only way I've found is to go through and open every topic. I've looked at the topics that int..."

If you're using a browser, go to the group's home page.
- At the top right of the topic list, you'll see a filter for "Topics: All | New | Unread".
- Click on "Unread"
- Look at the bottom right of the list & you'll see a link for "Mark all as read".
- Click it & then yes.

Jim wrote: "Jim wrote: "Is there any way to mark all messages read? I'm trying to winnow this down to a manageable size and the only way I've found is to go through and open every topic. I've looked at the top..."

That's great, Jim. Now it's not so overwhelming. Thank you.

You're welcome. GR has a lot of things to make life easier, but they often tuck them away unobtrusively nor are they particularly intuitive. It's tough to balance the numerous commands with a clean interface, but I think they've done a decent job on the whole.

Jim wrote: "You're welcome. GR has a lot of things to make life easier, but they often tuck them away unobtrusively nor are they particularly intuitive. It's tough to balance the numerous commands with a clean..."

Me too, and I'm sure it will get better as I get more used to it.

Hi, I'm new here so my apologies if this question has already been asked and answered. I am still sifting through all the great Q&A and advice! My question is... how do I attract buyers? What specifically should I be doing? Thank you!

That's a great question Denise. The answer is different for everyone. Browse through conversations here in our group, do some trial and error things, etc. Every author is different, every book is different. What sells one book might not sell another.

Denise Shaw wrote: "Hi, I'm new here so my apologies if this question has already been asked and answered. I am still sifting through all the great Q&A and advice! My question is... how do I attract buyers? What speci..."

Hey Denise, welcome to GR!

I'm not a moderator, I'm very new here myself, but I will offer this piece of advice. (If it's allowed, I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to answer lol.)

Google. Well I use Bing but whatever. I've read some really great articles on marketing and I'm learning something new everyday! One of my favorites is kindlepreneur. I don't subscribe but his free articles are full of helpful info.

There are also some REALLY knowledgeable and helpful folks here on GR. I've picked up some a lot since I've joined. There are discussions specifically for marketing etc. Find those as soon as you can.

And Dwayne is right, it's different for everyone. I'm sure you'll find your groove.

Good luck!