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This question asks for recommendations for free website builders. This strikes me as off-topic. However, after thinking about it, it could also pertain to marketing. According to this Meta question, answering questions about marketing a book is on-topic.

My question: If one is asking for advice on where to find resources to build a website to market one's book, is this on or off topic? If it is on-topic, where is the line?

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    Thanks for bringing this up. I've closed; IMHO this question is firmly off-topic, barring a substantial edit.
    – Standback
    Sep 16, 2013 at 18:44
  • My SO senses said off-topic but I didn't want to declare it was and give the OP advice on changing it until I was sure. The fact that it insights discussion and opinions should have told me it was off-topic but many perfectly acceptable questions here have had many varying opinions.
    – Charles Caldwell
    Sep 16, 2013 at 19:14
  • I flagged it for the same thing. It seemed like such a potentially useful question, but it just didn't feel right.
    – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
    Sep 18, 2013 at 16:12

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I would go with the same rule that Stack Exchange, et al, have for their scope. Substitute "writers" for "programmers":

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If a writer could use a particular question, but it's equally useful to a dozen other professions, it's not appropriate to Writers.SE.

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  • So, asking for a good website builder is off topic (and insights discussion and opinions). It falls to "All Careers." What if the OP asked for a website builder that tailors to book publishing? For instance, "... site builder for marketing a self-published book" or "... self-published (sci-fi|fantasy|non-fiction|thriller) book." It narrows the target to "All Writers" but it still feels off-topic since it feels like the question could pertain to any career if altered just slightly.
    – Charles Caldwell
    Sep 16, 2013 at 19:10
  • @CharlesCaldwell: First of all, we'd have to consider whether there are such services catering to writers specifically, and what those services are, and what's writer-specific about them. Not every profession has web-building services tailored to it. A question "What service offers [Writing-Specific Feature X]?" might be closer on target.
    – Standback
    Sep 16, 2013 at 20:55
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    All that aside, though, SE strongly discourages recommendation questions and questions whose answers will likely be a list of links. They're not much better than a Google search; voting isn't clear; and info becomes outdated very quickly.
    – Standback
    Sep 16, 2013 at 20:56

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