Can we ask for feedback on the Mumsnet Books please?

[JustineMumsnet]

Just had a meeting with the publisher and they are not, shall we say, flying off the shelves despite the fact that everyone who reads them says how brilliant/funny they are. Sales via MN particularly are pretty poor.

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

Have you heard about them - do we need to shout more? Or do you feel you don't need them, because you've got MN at your fingertips, or, perish the thought perhaps you just don't like the look of them?

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?

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.

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'd buy that book WilfSell!

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?

buy them even..

Its just that they aren't relevant to me any more (dc 6 and 8).

Am very much liking the idea of Wilf's book.

Wilf's book would make me feel inadequate

That is a good point Wilf about not wanting anyone to know that you Mumsnet....

I don't have a pregnancy, a baby or a toddler. So that's one reason.

I would potentially buy one for someone who didn't do MN but then....she'd know I did....and my cover would be blown. Second reason. (Also I wouldn't put a MN book on my shelf in case anyone learned of my dirty habit )

Third reason I would have thought is startlingly obvious: it's free to ask a specific question on here at any time you need advice, as opposed to reading a bit about something not specific to your needs and paying for it.

Who is the market meant to be? TBH I had assumed it wasn't existing Mners! Obviously you have a strong brand here (esp given latest PR) but I think the fly in the ointment is that perhaps many of us don't use word-of-mouth to advertise your brand, and keep our use of MN under wraps. Personally I am not proud of using the site, although I think it's a good one. That could be your sticking point, in part.

Because my children are older and I'm not planning another.

And yes - I don't want people to associate with with MN. To suddenly make that connection between RL me and thefallenmadonna that has in fact been staring them in the face all this time...

I've never seen them in a real life shop, only on amazon. I think it would help to have them in Waterstones/WHSmith/etc (I think supermarkets usually only stock chart paperbacks, don't they?) - maybe even somewhere like Mothercare, our local one has Gina Ford, Baby Whisperer etc in abundance.

I remember when our babies were only a few weeks old a few of my NCT friends decided they needed a babycare book and went to Waterstones and picked the one they liked the look of best. I remember when I was pregnant I went to a bookshop and did similar with the pregnancy books - I ended up with The Rough Guide to Pregnancy and Birth which I liked for its wittiness and friendly tone. So the mumsnet book probably would have appealed to me, though I hadn't heard of mumsnet at the time. I don't tend to browse Amazon in the same way because there is just too much choice, so I use Amazon to order books I've been recommended.

They need to be in shops.

Yes, I think the same as the others. Most particularly - that my dc are too old, but even if that were not the case, it's all here.

I wonder too, if you are newly pregnant for the first time whether you MIGHT think - if you don't know about MN - that you do need 'one voice' to tell you what to do rather than what might appear to be random, disparate voices off an internet talk board? It's only later that you realize the 'one voice' is a bit faulty, then you come on MN proper.

Also agree about buying for other people, makes the word of mouth effect difficult doesn't it?

Perhaps after latest publicity, lots of people will rush to buy them, hoping to raise dc who too can grow up to be school gate opinion formers like their dear mamas?

ps. Also think it's a really crowded and difficult market, so don't beat yourselves up too much!

Can you be 'adopted' by someone like the NCT, who will help to promote the book for you? If my NCT teacher had suggested the book to me I would almost certainly have bought it. That would help make it stand out from the plethora of other mother and baby books.

I haven't bought the toddler book as I feel we're past that stage now.

I don't plan on ever being pregnant again, and by the time the book came out it was of little use to my sister in her 3rd trimester (whom I'd already showered with books on the subject).

I'd like to buy her the MN baby book but amazon doesn't indicate when it will be published.

Also, as above - if I were buying for myself I'd want to be able to have a look through it first in the supermarket/Waterstones/Borders/Heffers type shops.

Not pregnant and ds (5) is beyond the toddler phase - most of the time .

Mumsnet didn't exist when I was pregnant (neither did computers or the internet) so I may be talking crap here. But, I won't let that stop me - I think that for very many people Mumsnet is so successful because it's tailored for the individual and is current - you ask a question and people answer and then you come back and say that it didn't work and someone else comes along. I'm not sure that that sort of thing can be translated into a book. When you see how many of the same questions get asked but on new threads (so people may search but not feel that the previous questions were specific enough for their situation) makes me see that it's the immediacy of Mumsnet and the perceived individuality that is what is successful and so putting it in a book isn't what people want.

Can I just add here that I am so sorry that I am not 30 years younger because I'd have loved to have this resource when pregnant and with young children. ACtually, I'd just like to add that I'm sorry that I'm not 30 years younger!

Message withdrawn

I don't buy parenting books (since What to expect in the first year, which was crap and just lead to self-induced competitive milestone angst ). I did look through the MN toddler one in the library though and it was a good read, easy to dip into and amusing. However, I could get all that info from the archives and do.

I did buy the toddler one (from Amazon, iirc) and, although I enjoyed reading it, and nodded my head in agreement at quite a few bits, I didn't actually find it all that helpful. Sorry.

Maybe because ds1 was beyond the worst of the toddler phase by the time I read it? I should have another look now that ds2 has turned into a tantrumming monster child.

If someone positively asked me for a recommendation for a book about toddlers I would suggest it, but it wasn't so good that I would bring it up in conversation and tell everyone to buy it.

I bought the toddler one because I had heard the SWMNBN saga and thought if MP had edited it, then it must be good. Also I had a toddler...... but I read it more for entertainment than as a "manual". I won't behaving any more children so won't buy the pg one, did not know about the baby one when ds was a baby.

I think it is a shame the books are not in shops but, as others have said, this is a big market with some hefty "parenting guru" names to share selves.

I would and have recommended the toddler one to other mums of these beasts.

Agree with others that MN is here 24-7 live, to, and is an infinitely valuable resource.
Sorry the books have not done well.

I bought the toddler one, made me giggle so much I passed it on to friends and it is still doing the rounds. In my defence these friends are not mnetters so wouldn't have bought it anyway.

I don't think you've got the marketing right to be honest. I don't think people will buy the pregnancy book as their 'bible' - that's reserved for books like 'Your Pregnancy Bible' which is much more factual. Until Biscuitgate at least (!), the majority of pregnant women/those ttc probably didn't know what Mumsnet was and if they were to go online, they would probably be guided to Baby Expert or Ask a Mum via the press titles and perhaps they'd come across something like Gurgle along the way through dealings with Mothercare. So until she becomes a bit more expert in navigating the web with baby or family in mind, she probably thinks her best bet is to go with expert advice from the experts with beautiful glossy photos showing her how her baby is developing in 3D from week to week!!!

Mumsnet guides are quite subjective and I think that they best compete with the Vicki Iovine 'Best friends guide' books. Great bedtime reading - a fantastic gift which is fun but a great reference source. As with Vicki Iovine, once you've bought the first book, you're hooked and you want the whole lot!

I've only read the toddler guide but am looking forward to reading the babies book - which is due around the same time as my next baby!

I guess the pregnancy one hasn't been out for long and would imagine that it will sell slowly but surely?

I agree that supermarkets are the usual place that I see parenting manuals