Book Country Community Guidelines
General
Welcome to Book Country, LLC, an online writing and publishing community where writers can connect with each other, share and discuss their work, and also publish their eBooks. By becoming a member of this site, you agree to behave according to the following Community Guidelines, as well as the Book Country General Terms of Use and the Book Country Privacy Policy.
Additionally, by posting your manuscript or chapters of your manuscript on Book Country, you allowing us to display your work to others on the Book Country site. You retain copyright and full ownership of your work.
Book Country is intended for users 16 years of age and older. By posting work or engaging in community activities on Book Country, you're affirming that you are of the appropriate age. If it comes to our attention that you don't meet the minimum age requirements, we'll have no choice but to revoke your membership and ban you from further participation in Book Country activities.
Respect
Book Country is intended to be a supportive online space where writers can engage in a positive atmosphere of encouragement, collaboration, and creativity. Above all, we expect Book Country members to respect one another and the community as a whole. This respect should carry over into every area of interaction within the Book Country community. We heartily support and encourage civil debate and conversation, and we recognize your right to disagree with another Book Country member in the comments or forum threads. We also expect you to frame your opinions in a respectful and professional way. Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Likewise, comments designed to provoke hatred or incitements to commit violence are not acceptable. Users who violate this policy risk having their membership revoked, being banned from Book Country and having their books deleted from the site.
If you see anything that you believe violates this spirit of community respect, please flag it with the relevant Report Abuse button. We have placed them in appropriate spots all over the site.
Copyright & Copyright Infringement
All work that you post on Book Country is yours, and you own all copyright to that work. Period.
By posting your work on Book Country, you're affirming that the work is in fact your own and doesn't infringe on another writer's copyright. That includes not posting work featuring a published author's copyrighted characters or world, something that is commonly referred to as "fanfic." While we respect fanfic communities - a lot of great writers started out writing fanfic - Book Country is designed for writers who want to post and workshop strictly original material.
If you feel that a Book Country user has infringed your copyright, please refer to our General Terms of Use for information on copyright infringement and takedown procedures.
Writing Peer Reviews
Always keep in mind that you are critiquing the writing and not the writer when giving feedback. The purpose of the peer review system is to help Book Country members become better at their chosen craft and make the strongest decisions for their books. To that end, the more constructive your critique is, the more useful it will be to the writer. A review that is superficially positive but contains no specific feedback is less helpful than a negative reviews that offers constructive criticism. Try to avoid generalized comments like, "Hey, great book!" in favor of specific comments on the strengths and/or weaknesses of the work.
Members put a lot of effort into the manuscripts that they workshop on Book Country. Please honor that work by reading a reasonable amount of a manuscript before posting feedback on it. Book Country maintains the right to remove reviews that suggest the reviewer has not read the book. When in doubt, check to make sure that you have provided specific examples of things that are working or that could use revision. It’s best to read at least one chapter of a book before posting a review of it.
Pay attention to the feedback criteria that the writer has selected. For example, if a writer has asked for feedback on plot and dialogue, but you choose to offer feedback on pacing and character development, the writer may not find your review helpful. If you think there are other areas of improvement for the writer, please include that in the general feedback portion of your review. A word of advice: before you post your review, reread it and ask yourself, "How would I feel if someone left this peer review on my work?" For further guidance on how to write peer reviews, see our tips on writing feedback or the FAQ.
Using the Discussion Forums
We've designed the Book Country Discussion Forums around the topics we believe writers chat about most often. We hope you'll use these topics to jumpstart conversation or ask specific writing and publishing questions. We have a few guidelines for the best way to use the Discussion Forums:
- When you start a thread, try to ask a specific question in the thread title. We've found this is the best way to solicit responses and engage others in your discussion.
- Please stay on topic.
- Self-promotion is allowed only in the "Introduce Yourself" and the "Member News and Announcements" discussion areas in the "Book Country" category.
- Although we prohibit the posting of spam in the Discussion Forums, we do encourage you to share outside links to useful resources in the "Tools & Resources" section.
- Don't try to hijack a thread for your own personal agenda.
- Don't create threads to provoke a flamewar.
If you think that a comment you're about to post is going to offend someone, you're probably right. Take another look at it before you post.
If you'd like us to consider adding a Topic or Category for Discussion, please send us your suggestions: support@bookcountry.com.
Some Common Sense Guidelines on Content
We respect your creative choices when it comes to your posed manuscripts and books. The rest of the content you contribute to the Book Country site (reviews, comments, author profile, book details, discussion threads, etc.) should follow these basic common sense guidelines:
- Don't post any content or photos that don't belong to you. Copyright infringement is serious. It violates the General Terms of Use of this site.
- Try to keep it clean outside of your own posted manuscript. Unless quoting from the text, please don't use vulgar language in your comments or reviews. We'll cut you a little more slack in the Discussion forums because real conversations will take place, but we expect you to choose your words with care. And remember, using foul language as a personal attack is a surefire way to be banned from the community.
- Don't post content that is obscene, pornographic, abusive, or harassing/threatening in nature.
- Don't post content that incites someone to violence or to commit a criminal act.
- Don't post content that solicits funds or services.
- Don't post content that solicits personal information from another member.
- Don't post content that contains viruses or malware.
- Don't impersonate anyone.
- Don't post content that libels or defames another person.
Even with these guidelines in place, you may find some of the content on Book Country offensive. If you think what you're reading genuinely violates our General Terms of Use or these Community Guidelines, please flag it a Report Abuse button so one of the Book Country administrators can review it.
Privacy
We ask that our members protect their privacy and the privacy of their fellow Book Country members. This means that you shouldn't post anyone's personal information on Book Country. No phone numbers, addresses, emails or anything else that isn't yours to share. Additionally, don't distribute member comments or post them in other online venues without that member's permission. Users who violate our Privacy Policy risk having their membership revoked and being banned from the Book Country community. For more details about our Privacy Policy, click here.
Harassment & Member Safety
We take member safety very seriously at Book Country. If you feel that a Book Country member is exhibiting predatory behavior toward you or another member, including but not limited to stalking, threats, harassment or intimidation, please notify a Book Country administrator immediately. Please do not try to confront the member on your own.
Spam
Posting spam will not be tolerated. This means no posting of links to advertisements or commercial ventures of any kind, whether within the body of a review, in a comment or on a discussion thread.
One Last Word
Remember that Book Country is a writing and publishingcommunity, and communities work best when lots of people participate, enjoy themselves and gain from the experience. Jump in, post some writing, review some chapters, connect with fellow writers, start a discussion and - most of all - have fun!
Updated March 2014