Can we ask for feedback on the Mumsnet Books please?

buy them even..

What was your demographic when you started out?

MNers wouldn't but them - it's all here.

Why would other people to whom MN means nothing?

I'd buy that book WilfSell!

I too don't feel the need for the books as I can just go straight to MN. Also, I find anecdotal books are ok for one read, but then I'm bored with them. A selection of MN posts might be interesting in a magazine, but tbh I'd then recycle it. I also find it a bit static compared to the interaction of being on a thread - and I've lurked for ages, so it's not just about joining in, it's also about following a developing argument story.

I think you should do a How to Manage your paltry existence book, with shopping planners, organisation help, idiots guide to how often to change your sheets etc. I'd buy that.

Kind of Anthea Turner, but on weed and too much caffeine and just hitting the menopause.

Wot everyone else said.

A combination of: my only toddler is my third, and I know it all ; I don't need the books because I live look it up on here; I don't want to buy them for friends and family because I don't want them to know I live spend time here.

I'm less convinced by the book vs web argument - I absolutely do both and AM likely to buy books I think are useful as well as MN/Google... But I suspected insufficient additional content and MN itself is the archive of wonderful advice and hilarious posts, isn't it?

I guess if you produce one on how to deal with unbearably stroppy 10, soon to be 11 yos I might consider it. But I'm still not sure. I think the key question is the 'added value' bit, if it's being sold to us?

can you give us some pointers as to why you aren't buying/recommending these utterly marvellous books, packed full of MN wisdom

because I'm not pregnant nor likely to be again and neither do I have any toddlers.
Basically i am old and past it, sorry

maybe you should do a 'best bits of webchats' book or a guide to 'things to do at a penguin enclosure'

Because my kids are older. I would buy one on Special Needs, or teenagers though. I suppose that would be to support MN as much as anything though.

I think that Book-Learners are sniffy about websites, and Surfers think books are clunky and expensive. Hige generalisation, but some truth in it to explain why people aren't buying it.

Well, at the age of 50 and with teenagers, neither of these books was of particular relevance to me!

That said, I'm surprised they're not selling. I'm definitely a 'can I get a book about it' kind of person (as well as a 'let me ask the nutters Mumsnet about it' kind of person).

My only comment is that they are not especially well branded books. There is no Mumsnet logo on the front, and I think just the word 'Mumsnet' lacks something of the punch of your brand.

I haven't bought them because I bought several books after the birth of DS1 and found them really soul destroying at times. I found the really helpful advice was here on mumsnet in the plethora of different experiences that people have had which can be searched in the archives.

I ended up chucking out most of my books and vowing not to rely on 'experts', but to look to mumsnet for help when I needed it. So even though its a mumsnet book, its still a book.

Oh ffs I'm going to change my name back to normal or it looks like I am some random person calling Flameboy a git.

I agree with Where the Wild Things Were.

MNers won't buy it because they get their answers from MN.

(Though I might buy the Toddler one as I won't have time to waste research on MN with twin toddlers....)

I was given the toddler one, and although I enjoyed reading it, it hasn't actually been any help (possibly because Flameboy is a git)

The pregnancy one I bought due to wanting matching books , but I felt it didn't read as well, plus I'm still sulking at 2 pages dedicated to cravings (unimportant issue) and a piddly 19 words about antenatal depression (very important issue).

As to why they aren't selling... you can't get em in waterstones for a start. I don't tend to buy random books online unless they have been recommended to me - I need to flick through, which rl shops are they in?

Plus (although this doesn't really help you now), the title of "mumsnet guide to..." makes it sound like some sort of companion book rather than an actual advice book. I would expect a dr who or top gear guide book, whereas

I bought the toddler one, but tbh, just to support MN really.

I won't be buying the others as neither pg or owner of a baby, and won't be either.

Our teeny tiny library does have them tho

Don't know why there is an extra 'you asked' in that last sentence, sorry.

Have you got them in lbrarys? I tend to find If I like a book I take out I'll buy it to keep.

Also there's the fact your main market is mumsnetters who already know much more advice and support can be got on here than from any book.

Agree that general mn consensus seems to be 'Don't read the bloody books'.

Was really suprised you did them at all tbh.

The thing is I don't think mnetters will buy them because we mumsnet.

And I don't think non-mnetters would buy them because they wouldn't know what the hell they were and would rather buy a book from a 'name' ie GF

Sorry, that's quite a bleak picture isn't it?

Tbf you asked afaikr you asked us all about captions and pictures but I don't remember you ever asking if it was a good idea.

I am glad that you are asking because I am finding the answers fascinating.

Dh recently asked me if I would be interested in owning one and I was surprised to find that the only reason I might consider buying one would be to support MN...

In my defense, I parent by feel rather than according to a manual and I love being able to ask a question on MN and have a variety of answers in 'real time'.

HTH

I bought the first MN pregnancy book when I was first pregnant, and like others the new one is probably a bit late for most of us. I have bought the toddler one.

Perhaps one thing we could do is all put the mn books in our library's suggestion book - my local library's parenting shelves are mostly filled with really out of date books though I do have Baby Led Weaning out from there.

Maybe as well, MN could look into marketing the books to libraries, though you might have to think about timing as this possibly isn't the best time of year for it (getting late in the financial year and money running out) - or bookshops.

Mumsnet itself has all the answers for free, so I would see no need, especially as you can post a question directly related to your own baby/child and have a range of answers in a very short space of time.

The problem is MNers, who would appreciate the style and content, don't need it and those that would probably use them, don't know about them.

By virtue of the fact that we all post here - for help and advice, I would say it's easier to get real "live" answers to your question, rather than trawl through a book.

I probably would have looked at them when I was pregnant as I was convinced that all I had to do was buy the "right" book and all would be well , My children are too old now for parenting manuals and I am too cynical