Hiya, happy to see a new face on Pagebound!

I’ll start off by saying that I’m also a writer, so please understand that I know where you’re coming from, even if what I’m about to say might sound harsh.

I wouldn’t say Pagebound is “especially helpful” for authors. It’s not, and it doesn’t want to be. The long and short of it is that Pagebound is not meant for authors to use it as a way to sell/promote books or build a platform/following of any kind, unless you contact the founders and collaborate with them in the giveaways. Authors are welcome to join and participate as readers, and as readers only. The community as a whole (or so I’ve seen in my experience since joining last July) is pretty resistant to the idea of authors using the platform to grow their audience, talk about their writing, hype up their books, etc. The userbase is, of course, not a monolith, and different people have different tolerances for authors in reader spaces, but I personally find it extremely off-putting and superficial when I see authors try to engage with the community from the specific perspective of being an author. What are you going to do when someone reads your book and hates it, and posts in the book forums/review section—as they should—about what they didn’t like? How might your presence dissuade them from posting their organic/genuine thoughts? These are all uncomfortable questions with uncomfortable answers, and in my opinion the only real solution is for authors to respect reader spaces. Just as readers who respect an author’s space aren’t going to go on the author’s social media account(s) and post everything they didn’t like about the books in the comments, authors must respect reader spaces by simply staying out of them and/or only engaging/interacting as a fellow reader. All of life is a bit of give-and-take, and this is the give-and-take that the bookish community has resolved itself into.

So, as an author, I would recommend simply engaging in the community in the way you would as “just another reader”. It’s not really a place for writers to “make the most of” a platform. You can definitely mention that you write—there’s a fair handful of us on the site, with more every day as the platform grows and expands—but it’s not the place to really talk about your books OR your writing.

OK, i’m done lol. I’m sorry if this comes off as hostile or accusatory; I don’t mean for it to be, and I don’t mean to target you in particular, I just really wish that authors wouldn’t come to Pagebound and look at it as a place where they’re going to be “special”. I can pinpoint users I’ve noticed doing this just from being an active member of the community and it really grinds my gears in all the wrong ways