Inkshares Community discussion

There seems to be quite a lot of promotional posts from people who aren't working on Inkshares projects. I think maybe they are just finding the folder titles and not noticing / ignoring the group rules.

So, perhaps change the folder titles so they are prefixed with "Inkshares" e.g. "Inkshares: Opportunities" etc.

yeah, i think for this place to function best as a tool for Inkshares people we need to keep any non-Inkshares promoting off the board.

Books that have gone through the process and are published is fine, but randoms posting links to their book on amazon should be a no go.

Paul wrote: "yeah, i think for this place to function best as a tool for Inkshares people we need to keep any non-Inkshares promoting off the board.

Books that have gone through the process and are published i..."

Yeah, agreed.

The "group rules" popup that appears when you type into this here box is a great start! Kudos to whoever put that together.

Better yet why do you have Inkshares as a group for authors on goodreads if you only want inkshares authors to post?
PS and the link to amazon was a mistake I am trying to figure out how to communicate in this group.

So, I initially created the thread about reviews for The Battle For Oz, an Inkshares produced novel, Jeyna Grace private messaged me about needing some reviews for Amazon. I figured that we should help out one of our own...

Sorry if it caused a problem.

Paul wrote: "So, I initially created the thread about reviews for The Battle For Oz, an Inkshares produced novel, Jeyna Grace private messaged me about needing some reviews for Amazon. I figured that we should ..."
I see the title...suggestion for Inkshares Writers mods threw me off. I thought Inkshares was a nice creative name of a group. Until I noticed Inkshares is a website. Is this closed to Inkshares members only?

Sharon wrote: "Better yet why do you have Inkshares as a group for authors on goodreads if you only want inkshares authors to post?
PS and the link to amazon was a mistake I am trying to figure out how to commun..."

Inkshares doesn't currently have a forum we can use to talk to one another in this way, and we want to talk to one another as a group about our experiences with this specific publishing company. We are not a general discussion group.

Inkshares is supposedly creating a forum which will soon solve this problem. In the meantime, we will be deleting promotional posts for authors not associated with Inkshares.

We're trying to get this all figured out and the process is evolving. I'm sorry for any problems we might encounter along the way.

Here are my thoughts. Read the whole thing especially if you are not an Inkshares writer.

The mods have been discussing all the non-Inkshares posts quite a bit, and we have been adding more to the group to make the intentions clear and also cleaning up any posts that don't meet the group's criteria.

Inkshares is a great platform, and we want this group to be an inclusive place, not only for current or past Inkshares writers but also for those who may join in the future. It is important to note that even if you self-publish on Amazon or elsewhere, as long as you retain the rights to your work you can also list your book on Inkshares and possibly gain a wider distribution. If you haven't done this yet, check out www.inkshares.com and some of the posts here about gaining an audience.

I'm reviewing the posts this morning, so I don't know if this is up yet, but in the spirit of inclusion, I believe a spot is being added for writers who do not use Inkshares to promote their books. I believe there is great value in having many writers give their insights to this group no matter where they are on the publishing spectrum and while the group is primarily focused on spreading and supporting the Inkshares model, bringing people from the outside in and showing them the value, builds the base and benefits us all.

I hope this gives some transparency to what is going on behind the scenes. I check the boards and contribute as I can, but I'm also finishing my book, working full time and taking care of a family, so if you have something urgent, you can also post questions at me on Twitter at @joeterzieva

One thing I'm going to add to help with this problem of excessive and misplaced promotion is create a "Must Read for New Members" folder, which I'll put at the top. We will be including a thread that lays out the group expectations there. We'll also look at stating the expectations succinctly when members join, i.e. that this is for discussion on effective promotion strategies, NOT for promoting your book, and that if you'd like to share about your book you can do so in the promotion folder.

We will also be continuing to patrol for any posting that violates the guidelines and will move/remove posts accordingly, as well as follow up with members who have posted inappropriately to try and reinforce the group rules. Unfortunately, no amount of having rules and guidelines in place will guarantee that no one will break them, so we all need to work together to remind new members of our guidelines, even those of you who are not moderators. Moderators of course will come in to clean up where needed, but for all members who have been here a while and know this community well, there's no reason you can't jump in and remind/reinforce in a friendly manner the group rules.

(If there is any abuse that persists after this, then please PM one of us and we will look into it promptly.)

As its subtitle suggests, my novel, Ama, a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, is an historical novel set in West Africa and Brazil in the era of the 18c Transatlantic Slave Trade. It was first published in 2001 and has been taught in U.S. universities including Harvard; and is currently being taught in two that I know of. Apart from general readers, I know that it is of particular interest to scholars working in the fields of African literature and history and the history of the Atlantic Slave Trade. This is a niche market which my previous publishers neglected and which I would like to develop by requesting pre-orders.
Over the years I have built up a large database, in Excel, of potential readers, including the lists of fellow members of relevant U.S. organizations. Even though some of these people don’t know me in person, I do believe that, in view of their stated interests, they would not regard a single promotional message as spam. Even so, I am prepared to use the relatively time-consuming Inkshares facility for sending single messages rather than one of the free bulk mailing programs.
The reader pipeline on the dashboard offers the facility of importing lists from Gmail and Twitter. I don’t like Twitter and hardly use it. Inkshares imported my Gmail list for me and I have now worked through its 350+ members, yielding just 21 pre-orders to date with another 3 promised. Part of the problem is that many on this list are based outside the U.S. and the $15 freight fee is a distinct disincentive to placing a pre-order, or so I suspect.
Is there some way I might import my Excel lists into Inkshares? And, if so, would it be possible to include a title field, to permit me to address recipients I haven’t met as Prof. or Dr. ?

This seems like a question you would like to direct to Inkshares proper. We are just the moderators for this group of Inkshares writers and not directly affiliated with Inkshares. For questions, comments, or technical support on the Inkshares platform, consider emailing hello@inkshares.com.

That being said, your book looks interesting and I hope your funding is successful. Check around the forum, there are several discussions about what does and doesn't work on a funding campaign that might benefit you.

Manu wrote: "Is there some way I might import my Excel lists into Inkshares? And, if so, would it be possible to include a title field, to permit me to address recipients I haven’t met as Prof. or Dr. ? "

You should be able to edit each email before it is sent out unless something has changed since I last pitched that way. Admittedly, I ran out of email contacts quickly since my list is incredibly meager so I ran out of prospects from it within my first week of funding(nearly 3 months ago now).

As for the importing of Excel lists, Joe is right in that you'll have to contact Inkshares directly about that.