# Policy for mentioning my new book?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [December 14, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135 "2018-12-14T21:08:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/1 "2018-12-14T21:08:54Z")
I mentioned my book here a few months ago. May I post about it again
as a suggestion for holiday gift-giving?
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/2 "2018-12-14T21:24:23Z")
You need to be a subscriber and then you can post it in Marketplace.
> **[Marketplace Rules](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=588475)**
>
> As posted by Ed Zotti on 12/7/2010 (updated 3/25/2011): Welcome to the Marketplace forum, where SDMB subscribers may promote commercial and other ventures they’re involved in. The following rules apply: Only subscribers can start threads. This...
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/3 "2018-12-14T21:25:39Z")
You can post about your book in Cafe Society, but do not provide a link or other info about where to purchase your book in that forum.
If you want to post a link or tell people where to buy the book, that’s the dividing line for when the post belongs in the Marketplace. Note that guests cannot create threads in the Marketplace as that is a benefit for paying members (and charter members).
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### Author:  [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2018, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/4 "2018-12-16T02:19:41Z")
Thank you!
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/5 "2018-12-17T17:36:18Z")
I’m confused. Newtosite did post a [thread on his book](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=867371), and it got closed.
There’s nothing there about a link being removed, just the title, something he or she was told was OK.
Did this thread not get to Chronos? Was there a link in the title? Couldn’t the link rather than the title be removed in that case?
What’s going on behind the scenes?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/6 "2018-12-17T17:50:27Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> I’m confused. Newtosite did post a [thread on his book](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=867371), and it got closed.
>
> There’s nothing there about a link being removed, just the title, something he or she was told was OK.
>
> Did this thread not get to Chronos? Was there a link in the title? Couldn’t the link rather than the title be removed in that case?
>
> What’s going on behind the scenes?
I have contacted **Chronos** about the issue, but he is not on line. It’s possible he didn’t see this thread. (I would suggest however that if you have received an OK for a thread of this kind that you indicate it in the OP.) Please be patient while the issue is resolved.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/7 "2018-12-17T18:44:13Z")
From post #3:
> [@](#):
>
> If you want to post a link or tell people where to buy the book, that’s the dividing line for when the post belongs in the Marketplace.
I noticed in that closed thread that a link had been removed. Does anyone know if that was a link to where the book could be bought? If so that sound like the OP did exactly what he was told not to do.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/8 "2018-12-17T19:14:27Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> From post #3:
> I noticed in that closed thread that a link had been removed. Does anyone know if that was a link to where the book could be bought? If so that sound like the OP did exactly what he was told not to do.
What was deleted was the title and the name of the publishers, not specific places where it could be bought.
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### Author:  [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/9 "2018-12-17T19:21:10Z")
Though somebody _else_ does seem to have posted a link to an excerpt.
What’s the rule on non-OPs posting “Yeah, I found a free chapter over on [link to site], and I loved/hated it”?
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/10 "2018-12-17T19:28:42Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> What was deleted was the title and the name of the publishers, not specific places where it could be bought.
IOW, following exactly what was allowed in this thread.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/11 "2018-12-17T19:39:58Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#):
>
> Though somebody _else_ does seem to have posted a link to an excerpt.
>
> What’s the rule on non-OPs posting “Yeah, I found a free chapter over on [link to site], and I loved/hated it”?
Provided there is no copyright violation, I wouldn’t see a problem with that.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/12 "2018-12-17T20:31:04Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> IOW, following exactly what was allowed in this thread.
Chronos has re-opened it after seeing this thread.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/13 "2018-12-17T20:48:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Provided there is no copyright violation, I wouldn’t see a problem with that.
I posted the link. It was just to the book on \ with the usual " look inside" previews. As I said in my post, I only did it in the belief that the thread would soon be closed but felt that the book would be of interest to plenty of people here.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/policy-for-mentioning-my-new-book/826135/14 "2018-12-17T21:55:28Z")
The way the rule is supposed to work is any author here can talk about their book so they can share ideas or get feedback or whatever. Cafe Society isn’t supposed to be used for self-promotion, though. That’s what the Marketplace is for.
That said, we have always let authors do a bit of self-promotion in CS as long as they are established members here (we wouldn’t do the same for someone who has just joined the site to promote their own book). We like to help out long-term members here any way we can.
Admittedly, this makes the dividing line between what can be posted in CS and what should be posted in Marketplace a bit fuzzy. Authors should maybe avoid an all out shameless self-promotion type of post like the OP did. That’s kinda pushing the limits of what we have historically allowed in CS.
I’ll leave it to the CS mods as to exactly where they want to draw the lines. All I can say is historically we have allowed authors to give out the titles of their books, along with the author’s name on the book (since that could be dramatically different than their user name), but not links or information about where to buy the books. I don’t know which side of the line the publisher’s name is on.