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A question for readers and authors and moderators regarding spam vs marketing.

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rdc8492
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A question for readers and authors and moderators regarding spam vs marketing.

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I need some feedback please from both sides. I am filling the role of publicisit/literary agent for a close friend. **EDIT** I have ZERO financial interest. Simply a friend helping a friend ** It's my task to promote books while he's busy writing new books. I have tried and prefer being very transparent, stating up front that I am not the author but am connected to him. I have tried simply offering my honest opinion of the book both good and bad points. I have tried to gather the opinions of the selected market, in this case sci fi readers, (did that here in fact and one nice mod actually gave me EXCELLENT feedback for which I am so grateful!) so that the author can know what readers liked, didn't like, want more/less of, etc. I seem to be getting my hand smacked far too often no matter which way I represent things. See questions below.

Readers-
When you post on forums or social media specifically asking for book recommendations, do you feel spammed if an author or publicist replies with their book as the suggestion?
Would you prefer to be told that the suggestion is being made by the author or representative? Does that affect your opinion negatively if it's stated?

Authors-
When you are doing online networking, marketing, or promotion, do you feel scorned or admonished by some forums if you mention your book? I swear, I think I have garlic breath in certain forums. lol I am not aggressive with my marketing, I don't spam continuously. I make one post in the appropriate section of the forum I am on at the time and then I simply actively participate in other topic discussions because I truly enjoy reading and discussing things. (Hey, it's a chick thang, I can talk about anything..for hours. lol)

Moderators- *disclaimer* I like this forum, this is not a rant, it's a question please. You have a section dedicated to sci-fi and ask members to suggest books for the monthly group read. Could you please teach me why when I suggested the book, it was instantly labeled as spam. Was I too new to the forum to be considered credible? I had read several other suggestions prior to posting mine, didn't say anything blatantly against the rules. I posted a thread in the specific genre for sci-fi, I gave my review of the things I enjoyed or didn't enjoy about the book. It was honest. (Hey, I don't even think it's perfect for my particular taste in sci-fi and I say so. lol ) I asked if anyone was interested in reading it and sharing their opinions, got my hand smacked for that one. I am simply confused. BookTalk to mean meant talk about books we either like or dont like. Is it more for the best sellers only crowd? Again, simply confused so please advise.
If you like humorous science fiction, I invite you to read Highway to the Stars: The Beginning by B.E. Wilson
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Re: A question for readers and authors and moderators regarding spam vs marketing.

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Please be more specific so I can help you.
You have a section dedicated to sci-fi and ask members to suggest books for the monthly group read. Could you please teach me why when I suggested the book, it was instantly labeled as spam.
Where do you see a section dedicated to sci-fi? I'm wondering if you have BookTalk.org confused with another book site.

We don't do "monthly group reads." We typically read and discuss our books over either a 2-month or a 3-month period.

I cannot tell you why you were accused of spamming unless you be more specific. What forum did you post in? What exact thread? If you don't know the answers to these questions then the likelihood that your post was spam is pretty high. We have specific forums where authors can promote their books. You say we asked for suggestions so I'm hoping you can give me a specific forum and thread so I can look into this.

Who told you your book suggestion was spam? Please name the member. I cannot help you without specific information.

What did they do after saying you were spamming? Did they delete your post? Edit your post? My moderators can delete and edit posts. Regular members can't do such things.
Was I too new to the forum to be considered credible?
New authors and new members are welcome to suggest books in either the Fiction Book Suggestion Forum or the Non-Fiction Book Suggestion Forum. But not within any old thread within these forums. You will occasionally see threads created within these two forums that are asking for either suggestions or actual votes for books for group discussions. These threads have rules that must be read and followed. But I don't have any specific information about your case because you haven't shown me specifically what happened.
I had read several other suggestions prior to posting mine, didn't say anything blatantly against the rules. I posted a thread in the specific genre for sci-fi, I gave my review of the things I enjoyed or didn't enjoy about the book. It was honest. (Hey, I don't even think it's perfect for my particular taste in sci-fi and I say so. lol ) I asked if anyone was interested in reading it and sharing their opinions, got my hand smacked for that one. I am simply confused. BookTalk to mean meant talk about books we either like or dont like. Is it more for the best sellers only crowd? Again, simply confused so please advise.
I'm confused too. We don't have a sci-fi forum.

Who smacked your hand? How?
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rdc8492
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Re: A question for readers and authors and moderators regarding spam vs marketing.

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Sorry, it was the Fiction Forum, not sci-fi forum. But yeah, someone replied that it looked like spam because I posted it as my honest review of the book and why I would like to suggest it as a read. It got deleted because I don't see it and it isn't showing under the link that says View Your Post on the upper right. Unfortunately, I can't name the member who said it because I don't remember it. He wasn't rude just suggested it was spam and would better be in the Author's Lounge area. It's no big deal, I reworded and reposted it and it stayed that time. Maybe the wording on the other was in a way that made me sound like the author. I put a disclaimer on the other post and it has not had any negative replies.

No excuses for not noticing the 2-3 month discussion rather than monthly. I didn't read well enough. I saw the thread "Which Fiction book would you like to read and discuss as a group next" and undoubtedly got overzealous to throw B.E's book into the ring. Assumptions on my part, when I should have read deeper. :-)

My only goal with the original questions was to learn. I want to make sure how not ruffle any feathers but at the same time, hopefully get some discussion here and there to know what readers like. I'm learning alot reading past discussions of other author's so thank you graciously for that! It's awesome.
If you like humorous science fiction, I invite you to read Highway to the Stars: The Beginning by B.E. Wilson
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Re: A question for readers and authors and moderators regarding spam vs marketing.

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If you posted a book suggestion in the thread entitled "Which Fiction book would you like to read and discuss as a group next?" it would have been deleted because we were not asking for book suggestions.

Click on http://www.booktalk.org/which-fiction-b ... 17424.html and read the original post. Or just read...
Please read these brief and simple rules before you vote.

There are 10 choices on this poll. All 10 books are available 100% free online at Project Gutenberg in numerous formats. You don't have to spend any money to participate. We're hoping this will motivate more people to join us in this group discussion.

Please vote for ALL of the books you would consider reading and discussing with us next. If you only like a few of the choices then vote for those books. If you're just excited to participate in the next fiction book discussion and are willing to read whatever we decide to read then vote for all 10 books. And you can vote for a few now and then come back and add votes for more books later. In fact add and remove votes however you like. All the way up to the end of the poll you have the freedom to do as you wish with your votes.

We'll only select one book to read so the book with the most votes will win. So don't vote for only your top choice. You have far more power and influence in this poll. Spend some time reading the descriptions of each book (click on the links) and then vote for as many as you like. We're hoping you'll be flexible and willing to participate in the next fiction discussion no matter what book wins.

Anyone can vote no matter how many posts they have on the forums BUT only votes by members with 10 or more posts on our forums will be counted. This means new members are encouraged to vote but once you're done voting hit the forums and join some discussions. The goal is to keep our polls pure and only allow members to vote who are really serious about sticking around and participating. So please help us and don't vote if you're not going to read and discuss the winning book with us. Whenever the poll closes we'll simply delete the votes of people with less than 10 posts.

How long will this poll stay open? Until we have a good sized group excited about reading and discussing one of our books.

Here are our 10 free fiction book choices...

Book 1: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1661 << - free

Book 2: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74 << - free

Book 3: Dracula by Bram Stoker
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/345 << - free

Book 4: Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84 << - free

Book 5: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42 << - free

Book 6: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/730 << - free

Book 7: The Call of the Wild by Jack London
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/215 << - free

Book 8: The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36 << - free

Book 9: The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/863 << - free

Book 10: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1257 << - free
It takes a bit to get into the swing of things around here but you're off to a good start. Just keep posting and asking questions and you'll be a pro soon. ;-)

But you are definitely welcome to advertise any book you want in the Fiction Book Forum. Just not within a poll thread.
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