I tried looking around the forums both for the proper place to make this thread and/or if it violated any TOS and I couldn't find anything, so hopefully this is okay. I just published my book on Amazon (it shows a date of a couple years ago... long story) but in order to get people interested I've put the first 50 pages out for free at: link deleted by jannert: explanation below. Is it okay for me to ask for opinions/review/criticism here? Thank you, -Jason Hebert
Welcome to the forum, Jason. Here's a link to the new member guide, if you haven't checked it out already. https://www.writingforums.org/threads/new-member-quick-start-guide.132102/
Hi Jason. Welcome to the forum! I'm one of the moderators here. Don't worry ...mistakes get made, especially by new people. I'll delete that link for you, and explain the situation in your opening thread. Just take your time settling in, and getting to know the forum community. Lots of people join up because they want others to look at their work ...in fact, the Workshop is an incredibly popular part of the forum. Our reasoning for not allowing people to instantly link to outside sites or post their work immediately is twofold: 1) It's what spammers try to do. You obviously aren't a spammer (!), but lots of what we get in introductory threads can be spam. When the spam is electronically-generated, we usually pick it up before it actually reaches the open forum, but lots of spam comes from individuals who pretend to be 'joining the forum' but who are, in reality, attempting to sell or promote something. The primary purpose of this forum is to learn about writing and exchange ideas about writing and writing-related issues (including publishing)—but not to sell a book. (You can buy advertising space if you want, however, once you have become a full Member.) 2) We make our new members wait a while before posting links or posting their own work. This ensures they don't just join up, post their work, gather feedback, and then depart for pastures new. This set of rules ensures that people actually participate in our community, and contribute to communal goals. Take time to get to know us, while we get to know you. It's a give-and-take sort of situation we're promoting here. This quoted section in our Forum Rules (see link below) might be what you're looking for. You are allowed to link (via your 'signature') to your personal blog, etc, but only AFTER you have graduated from New Member to Member. As explained in the New Member Guide, that involves being a member here for two full weeks and making at least 20 posts in any areas of the forum that you choose. (That doesn't mean you have to make 20 threads! Just add a reply to somebody else's. Every reply counts as a 'post.') I see Friederich Kugelschreiber has already linked you to our New Member guide. Here are a couple other links you might find useful. Forum Rules https://www.writingforums.org/faq/staff.68/ https://www.writingforums.org/threads/constructive-critiques.20627/ Anyway, again, welcome to the forum. You might want to take a wander over to the https://www.writingforums.org/new-member-introductions/. There you can introduce yourself to the community, and tell us about what you write, what you're interested in achieving here, that sort of thing. I believe it's okay to mention the title of your book if you want—but not to link to it. (I'll need to check with other members of the Mod team on this one, but I'm pretty sure just a mention of your book in the text of the intro post is okay.) Anyway, the New Member Introduction section is a good place to start. Have fun, and see you on the threads. Cheers, Jan
