Self publishing on Kindle

[JustAQuickQuestionPlease]

NC for this.

If you've written a novel that you have put on Kindle, are you allowed to post a link on MN?

What about if you did it on a free day so there were no costs involved? Would that make a difference?

Thanks for any advice.

[InMySpareTime]

Not really.
You can post the odd link as part of a conversation, but the powers that be get a bit sniffy about unsolicited links on the site (it's debatably spammy)

[JustAQuickQuestionPlease]

Shame, really. I've been posting here for several years and it seems such an obvious place to post a link. Oh well!

[PodPerson]

I was wondering about this myself. There must be at least a few of us self-publishers on here.
I definitely get that MN wouldn't want writers plugging their work all over the place, but maybe we can have a dedicated 'Self-publishers support thread' where we can share info and support?

[InMySpareTime]

I reported the thread to get MNHQ's attention, it's actually a good idea. I'd love to post links to my books too (and the other places I self-published my books) without getting a slap on the wrist for it.

[squeezycheeseplease]

People could PM you couldn't they and you could send links? Or you could direct them to your website that way too.

[Nokidsnoproblem]

Maybe we could have a specific thread for this kind of thing? We should MN if that would be okay?

[TunipTheUnconquerable]

I hope they let you. It would get annoying if people posted links all over the place (though arguably the thing where people pretend to be recommending a book they've just read when actually they're the author is far more annoying) but a dedicated thread would let us easily find what people had written without cluttering the topic up with lots of book plugging threads.
As a MNer who hasn't yet published a book I love seeing what my fellow Creative Writing topic posters have produced - the fact that people are actually putting things out there adds greatly to the interest of the whole thing.

[GrendelsMinim]

It would be nice if we could, and I think not spammy at all.

[ImperialBlether]

I published a book on Kindle and have put a link to the book on it; MN said that because I'd been an active member for so long, it was OK. The thread is here.

It's really, really helped me, not just in terms of sales, but the knock on effect - ie if a couple of people bought a copy from here, sales would go up but quite a few more. I'm not sure how it works on Kindle, but it's certainly the case that just one person buying a copy will spark off others buying it (others not from this site, I mean.) I've had a lot of really good feedback (good as in useful) from MNetters, which has been really interesting to read.

[TunipTheUnconquerable]

Oh, fantastic. I've downloaded your book now Imperial - look forward to it!

[ImperialBlether]

Thanks very much! Hope you enjoy it. Let me know either way, will you?

[TunipTheUnconquerable]

Read it all last night and enjoyed it very much, Imperial - will post a review/send you a message when I have a mo.

[ImperialBlether]

Thanks very much, Tunip! You're a quick reader!

[InMySpareTime]

Well done Blether, your book is selling well. I was pleased to sell two books last week! I've been focusing on finishing my next book so not really marketed well for a while. Book selling is relentless.
Are you on Goodreads yet? I have an author page, it's a good place to keep links to all my books together. My page is here if you want to follow.

[ImperialBlether]

Thanks, InMySpareTime. I've had a look at your site and really like the idea of individual stories, but doesn't it work out very expensive as you're writing it just for one person? We bought something similar when our children were little, but it just used their names in the story rather than the story being written for them. The story was clearly duplicated for other children.

Nice to see someone else from the NW here!

[InMySpareTime]

It's fairly expensive to write to order, but there are people willing to pay to have a proper story written about their child (target market aren't short of a bob or two). I enjoy the challenge of building a story around a seed idea (a picture, a favourite toy etc) and knowing it will be treasured by the recipient.
I'm currently focusing on writing more of the Drabble books, I can churn those out fairly quickly as each story is short and self-contained. I'm waiting on my proofreader and cover design so I can launch my cycling book, then the heat is off until my Gory Storybook launch in late Sept (in time for Halloween).
My next project is to record all my books as audiobooks, though I doubt I'll make much headway on that over the summer holidays as too much background noise.
What are you up to next?

[PodPerson]

Hi, I was in this thread a little while ago. I think a dedicated thread for us self-publishers would be handy. I don't know if MNHQ ever got back to InMySpareTime, but I've reported the thread again and asked them to take a look and it and give the go ahead if they're happy for us to create a new one.

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello there

Thanks for flagging this and sorry we didn't get back to you before.

We're fine with you doing this on one specific thread, as part of an authors' support group-type thing. But as ever please be mindful about our rules across the rest of the site. And if it leads to an influx of spam we might have to change our mind - but lets see how it goes!

[APodPerson]

Hi all, I've created a thread here