The Sword and Laser discussion

spaaaaaaaaaam

Steve wrote: "Kate wrote: "spaaaaaaaaaam"

No. Veronica is amongst my Goodreads friends. She is aware of my books, and knows that I post in this group."

Every post you made in this group has been spamming your books. You've not made one decent contributing post.

Maybe we should have a sub-forum in this group for authors (large- or small-scale) to promote their work? I know we've got a fair few members that have published books (either with the help of an agent and a large publisher or self-published), and I definitely would at least take a look at ones from members of the group.

But maybe putting it into a dedicated section of the forum would help members at least know what to expect? Maybe even have a sub-bookshelf for "Books by Members of the S&L Forum"?

I see no problem with Terp's recommendation. I know other bookclubs on goodreads that have "author promotion" sections.

I'm much more likely to give a book a try by someone in our club who contributes to discussions though. Or if a contributing member in our club recommends a friend's book I might be willing to give that a try too.

Nick wrote: "I'm much more likely to give a book a try by someone in our club who contributes to discussions though. Or if a contribution member in our club recommends a friend's book I might be willing to give that a try too. "

Agreed.

Promoting a book in the manner of the OP here feels a bit like someone running by my front door with a bullhorn blaring asking me to buy what they are promoting. It feels rude and interruptive.

terpkristin wrote: "But maybe putting it into a dedicated section of the forum would help members at least know what to expect? Maybe even have a sub-bookshelf for "Books by Members of the S&L Forum"? "

And THIRDED!!! yes I verbed that. And yes I just said verbed. Regardless I had the same thought as Kate did but my thoughts were in the form of a Monty Python skit.

The idea of a sub section for S&L authors is very intriguing! We could probably find some interesting things this way. Terpkristin seems to have an in with Veronica and Tom maybe she could suggest such a feature.

Steve wrote: "No. Veronica is amongst my Goodreads friends. She is aware of my books, and knows that I post in this group."

Do the lurkers support you in email as well?

Steve wrote: "I suppose it's unclear where to post in this group, and that's why I chatted to and friended Veronica before posting here. I think it's a good idea to ask Tom and Veronica for a group policy on my ..."

Hey everyone. Watch where you step. I smell something.

Ok, well lets take this situation as a critique of the author. If a author doesn't understand why spamming like this is rude and might put off some people then really how good could their characterizations be. It obviously shows a lack of being able to understand how people think or to be able to put themselves into other people's shoes.

Steve wrote: "The only person who has been rude today is Nick."

This would actually mean something if the remark came from someone who contributes to discussions regularly and who people don't feel is a total stranger. But it came from you so I doubt it will.

Steve wrote: "Judge the book for what it is, by downloading a free sample from Amazon. Don't judge it on anything else.."

Hey. Just FYI O.J. really did it dude.

Steve wrote: "I was only here to promote my book series."

Yes, we know you're a spammer, you don't have to reiterate it.

Also, don't rate your own book 5-stars. It makes you look like a schmuck.

Over on MobileRead.com we have "Author Self-Promotions" subforum. Any self-promotion outside of the subforum is considered spam.

Whether Steve is a friend of Veronica or not, *this* is spam, in my humble opinion.

Steve wrote: "Judge the book for what it is... Don't judge it on anything else."

If you had been paying attention to the forums lately you would know that people in this book club do decide whether or not they will read a book based on an author's behavior. I think you just found out that spam is one of the behaviors we don't like.

So it makes me wonder does this put spammers on the same level as racists and homophobes?

Boots wrote: "So it makes me wonder does this put spammers on the same level as racists and homophobes? "

No, lower. You know how in Dante the Ninth Circle of Hell was reserved for traitors, and in the lowest pit Satan himself was sitting there chewing on Judas, Cassius and Brutus? Well, what Dante didn't see was that there was a Tenth Circle Satan was sitting on: the devil's crapper, which is reserved for spammers.

Sean wrote: No, lower. You know how in Dante the Ninth Circle of Hell was reserved for traitors, and in the lowest pit Satan himself was sitting there chewing on Judas, Cassius and Brutus? Well, what Dante didn't see was that there was a Tenth Circle Satan was sitting on: the devil's crapper, which is reserved for spammers."

Nice!

Sean wrote: "No, lower. You know how in Dante the Ninth Circle of Hell was reserved for traitors, and in the lowest pit Satan himself was sitting there chewing on Judas, Cassius and Brutus? Well, what Dante didn't see was that there was a Tenth Circle Satan was sitting on: the devil's crapper, which is reserved for spammers. "

made me LOL.

no dude. O.J. did it. 100% guilty. Not %99, not %95. But %100. See I just ruined your entire story/spam with one comment thread...

red hair. a lot of it. My wife actually says its to much but I kind of like it. and I never thought I would get in a thread war with a spammer on S&L forums. BUCKET LIST FULFILLED!!!!!!!!

oh and it's spam because of the above comments....

and no I wont give you my e-mail address because I KNOW that O.J. did it. Dude.

edit: Steve wrote:I was only here to promote my book series...so I won't be posting in this group for a long while.
and from March 17th to April 1st is not "a long while"

This makes arguing with Lepton look like the proverbial walk in the park.

You know what, Steve, you convinced me. I went ahead and read the FIRST SEVEN FREE CHAPTERS of your book. Well, okay, I read the first chapter, but that was more than sufficient. Congratulations, your hard work at self-promotion has paid off. You just got your book a new review. I'll be posting it to Amazon shortly.

Sean wrote: "You know what, Steve, you convinced me. I went ahead and read the FIRST SEVEN FREE CHAPTERS of your book. Well, okay, I read the first chapter, but that was more than sufficient. Congratulations, y..."

I've not tried my hand at writing but am I right to say that the examples you gave in your review Sean suffered from violating the writer's maxim of "Show, don't tell"?

EDIT: Sorry Sean, just saw in your review where you said that it was violating that maxim. I was busy reading the examples and skimmed very fast over what you wrote.

Sean wrote: "You know what, Steve, you convinced me. I went ahead and read the FIRST SEVEN FREE CHAPTERS of your book. Well, okay, I read the first chapter, but that was more than sufficient. Congratulations, y..."

Thank You Sean. Thank You So Very Much.

This is F U N. Fun.

@Boots: exactly.

Anne wrote: This makes arguing with Lepton look like the proverbial walk in the park.

Anne- So true. But at least Lepton comments on various posts and is part of the community. An argumentative part for sure but a part none the less. This dude just spams our forums with no regard for other conversations.

@steve: thanks for the new word. Numpty. I like this. Always trying to beef up the ol' vocabulary.