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How many of you use Shelfari?

Now that I have a book on sale in the Kindle Store, Amazon want me to join shelfari.com, claiming that it could help me to promote myself and my book. I've barely heard of this site, and am wondering whether it would be a worthwhile investment of my time.

So I have a few questions for you folks:

1. Do you have an account on Shelfari?

2. If you don't have an account, had you heard of the site before I mentioned it just now?

3. If you do have an account, do you use it more for discovering new books and authors, or for discussing books you already know about, or for something else that my dualistic thinking can't comprehend?

4. Do you have a Kindle (either a real one or the app that lets you read books on your PC or smartphone or iPad)?

Thanks.

(Suggested category: Education & Reference -> Trivia. Is Yahoo! trying to tell me something?)

Update:

Chaz1885 - no offence taken. But if I was a well-known author, I wouldn't need to ask people on the Internet for advice on marketing myself...

The book is a fantasy called Death & Magic, and is a murder mystery set in a school for wizards. You can go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0059HBSRI to learn more and buy a copy. If you don't have a Kindle, you can read the first eight chapters on my website - http://www.pembers.net/ - and nag me to make it available in other formats.

I appreciate that it can't hurt to be on Shelfari - better than languishing in obscurity - but the key word in the question is "worthwhile". I'm trying to figure out how it stacks up against other methods of promoting the book. Time that I spend trying to persuade people to buy this book is time I can't spend writing the next one, so I don't want to spend a lot of time on any particular website if it's not likely to bring in many sales.

Update 2:

I signed up for Shelfari earlier today, and am frightened at how many books I've already added. The integration with Amazon isn't quite what I expected... to start your bookshelf, it imports a list of books you've bought from Amazon, but it looks only at amazon.com. Since I live in the UK, I buy from amazon.co.uk, where it doesn't bother looking. D'oh...

10 Answers

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  • Paul L
    Lv 7
    10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    I have an account with Shelfari.

    I use it as a place to post my book reviews (I have about 400 reviews there); I also have an account with Librarything and Goodreads. I am a freelance book reviewer (my blog is at http://www.deadtreesreview.blogspot.com)./

    I have an early model Sony e-book reader, not a Kindle.

    Like others have said, go for it.

  • 10 years ago

    1. Yes, I had a Shelfari account before Amazon bought it.

    3. I use it to keep track of the books I've read, the ones I'm planning to read and the books I own.

    4. I have the Kindle device.

    Since you have a book pubilshed on Amazon, if you join Shelfari you'll get the " Author " badge. ( Something similar to the " top contributor " badge )

    It will be on Shelfari and people can get to know it exists since it's new and review it.

    I've seen some " Amazon authors " on Shelfari though.

    Sign up for it, it's a nice site for bookworms.

  • 10 years ago

    1. No.

    2. I haven't heard of it until you mentioned it now, but I checked it out and it looks interesting. I might sign up.

    3. N/A

    4. I have the Kindle app on my Droid, but so far I only use it to download the free books.

    I don't want to sound rude nor do I wish any disrespect to emanate from this question, but are you a fairly well-known author? I only ask because surely promotion of any kind can never hurt a writer. I would say go for it and get your book out there in any way possible. It looks like a decent and entertaining site.

    Any chance we could know the name of your book so as to check it out? Through a personal message or otherwise?

  • Seal
    Lv 5
    10 years ago

    I've never heard of Shelfari before, nor do I have a Kindle (too poor, XD - library will have to do), but I tried looking for useful sites. Being challenged at anything computer-related, I wouldn't know if they're particularly helpful, but it seems like there's more happy what-an-awesome-new-thing articles on it than others (not necessarily all by customers/users o_o)

    This one seems good -

    http://www.shelterrific.com/2011/04/25/site-were-p...

    The first comment by Ashley seems to have some links to negative reviews on it.

    Amm Y!A results for something along the lines of Shelfari -

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&biw=10...

    Please excuse the lame searching techniques, but I figure it works with Y!A. :P Maybe I should take a how-to-use-Google class sometime. :p

    Good luck. :)

  • 10 years ago

    1. I don't have an account but my husband does.

    2. Yeah :)

    3. He doesn't really use it to discover new stuff that much, but it is kinda good to see what books other people with similar tastes like. He mostly uses it to record and 'tick off' stuff he wants to read. And a bit of general browsing.

    4. Nope, no kindles here.

    (Personally, I'd go for it - it can't hurt.)

  • Well, no. I have never actually heard of Shelfari. Nor do I have a Kindle.

    So I'm not all that helpful...

    But I would like to just answer this so I can say congrats to you, Steven.

    So...CONGRATS :D

    Source(s): my 1st personality
  • 10 years ago

    I've checked out the site, but actually started using www.goodreads.com

    But I do agree, that either site can be helpful for book promotion.

  • Joss
    Lv 7
    10 years ago

    I've heard of it a couple of days ago. Not something I'm interested in checking out. I use goodreads and lot of published authors are there, too.

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    As RunningBear says, it can't hurt to try it out.

    I don't have an account and I've never heard of it before now.

    I don't own anything like that.

    Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

    Just try it out see what you think of it, if you don't like it then no harm is done.

  • ?
    Lv 4
    10 years ago

    1. NO

    2. no

    3. n/a

    4. no

    i buy my books from amazon.com or my local bookstore. or i just check them out from the library.

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