If You Use Amazon Community Forums to Promote- Read This Now...

A few months back I mentioned the problems some writers were having with promoting their books on the Amazon.com forums- where even a mention of your book within a discussion could get you banned.

So this announcement from Amazon is very important. Read the statement here. It applies from the 15th December- yesterday. Thanks to Carol Arnall for bringing it to my attention.

"Shameless self-promotion activity will be limited to the `Meet Our Authors' community. Promotional threads outside of these forums will be removed. " (Extract from the statement from the Amazon Community Team.)

Now forgive me for being naive, but how will you make readers aware of your books without shameless self-promotion?

You can add your views here.

Will potential buyers arriving at Amazon be given the option to go to the Meet Our Authors section? Probably not, until Amazon see a large section of their market not performing to their calculations, or they get complaints...

Will readers realise that it is for them too? Not every reader is aware of how much information there is available beyond the main information pages.


As Amazon haven't distinguished between the different genres some wise writers have started posts for specific genres, which should help any readers who venture in looking for book information.

But I have to say this really is the wrong time of year to make a major change like this.

Writers do have lives beyond writing and promoting their books, so having to begin updating one of their promotional outlets in the week before Christmas is not good.

If you know of fellow writers who use Amazon forums to promote their books then spread the word, as I'm sure there will still be a few writers unaware.

Christmas Approaches...

Less than two weeks to go to Christmas Eve- twelve days in fact.

So the blog will be winding down a little as I'm trying to catch up on all the normal Christmas stuff still to do, that has been delayed by being ill.

I've got the cards ready to write, stamps for the cards, and I've started wrapping presents...

So today I'm sharing with you one of my favourite websites for Christmas, the NORAD tracks Santa site.

Early December each year I put the website onto my favourites list and check the Countdown Village each day to play the easy games they have-okay I'm not very good at anything where I have to throw basketballs into a moving hoop, as I discovered today...

For the very young out there, this is how they track Santa, and the data is "then pushed into Google Maps and Google Earth" so Santa's journey can be followed.

And even better you can view the site in half a dozen other languages beside English.

If you have friends on the other side of the world it is great fun on Christmas Eve to watch Santa reach their part of the world, heralding the approach of their Christmas Day.

Do you have any favourite Christmas traditions you'd admit to?