Thanks for chiming in, Fbone! I always enjoy reading your posts in the Deals and Freebies section (and elsewhere), and have snagged several books you posted that looked good to me. (Thank you!) A 5 minute review of some of your posts in that forum show about 15 books described as self-pubs. Would the
exact same mentions have been less worthwhile, or less valid, if they were in a thread with "Self-Pub" somewhere in the thread title? Would they be less worthwhile if they included the comment "I've read another of this author's books & enjoyed it" instead of "many favorable reviews but some look suspicious"?
Of course there's a risk of flooding the forums with self-pub self-promos, but that risk is already there & already dealt with pretty effectively. The risk exists whether or not there is a thread specifically featuring self-pub deals/freebies. I'm sure there are other websites, but I find myself trusting Mobileread readers (and Mobileread site moderation) more than any other forums I've found, unless they're dedicated to a very specific genre.
Frankly, a few months ago, I wouldn't have seen any real need to suggest the possibility of such a thread in the "Deals" forum. But over the last few months, there have been a number of genre-specific threads originated, and it seems like most major-genre books are posted in those genre-specific threads. (Mystery, SciFi, Romance, etc.) For the most part, I appreciate this, since it's easy to find listings of the genres I enjoy reading, and skip others. A couple of the originators of those threads have specifically asked in the originating post that self-pubs not be posted within that thread. I personally feel an obligation to try and respect the OP's desire, although I think of it more as a request than a rule. But this leaves self-pubs either with nowhere to be listed, or listed only as a single-book thread, or part of a conglomeration thread (as most posts were during the last period when you were regularly posting on the Deals & Freebies forum). And to me, the best reason to try ANY book (self-pub or not) is because someone I feel I trust says they've read & enjoyed it.
KentE
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fbone
There were 670 free Kindle titles added today along with the 17,000 titles on Smashwords. There is a risk of flooding the Deals forum with these books which is something the moderators may want to avoid.
Also, there are many other self/indie published "deals and recommendation" websites and blogs around for people to use to find their next read.
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