Quote:
Originally Posted by mr ploppy
As it does with "real" publishers. I've bought ebooks from Macmillan that have had mistakes on practically every page, so paying more for your ebooks doesn't mean higher quality. What you are paying the extra for is all the hangers on who all want a slice of the profit. With the self published books there is just the author and possibly an editor to pay for, so selling it at 0.99 will probably generate the same level of income for them.
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Unfortunately this is very true. The quality of commercial ebooks by traditional publishers is very often a disgrace.
What I meant is that very often, no one else has looked at an indie book except for its author and friends until it reaches the public. This could mean that mistakes may go unnoticed, there may be inconsistencies, it would maybe benefit from some restructuring, or , in an extreme case, it could just be pages upon pages of "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" (but that can be checked by the sample of course)
A publisher does not guarantee quality. I've read traditionally published books that were far worse than some freebies out there (some freebies are excellent!). However, you at least know that someone chose to publish the book, which means it must at the very least be legible, and someone other than the author and his family edited it, which means that ideally there should be no plot inconsistencies, false information, bad grammar or typos in there. I'm no fan of the traditional system, but I think every author could benefit from the services of one or more editors, professional or not.
But that is not the point. The point is, an independently published ebook may be a masterpiece, or a piece of garbage. The sample and the reviews are the only things to help you judge before you buy, unless you already know and trust the author.