Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc
Assuming they can find what they like (or even find out what they like) amidst all the sh*t.
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In the past 10 years, I've found far more authors through word-of-mouth and random browsing of titles/cover images and author's back catalogues than I have via publishers advertisements in magazines and newspapers.
Abe books and ebay may allow easier access to out-of-print books than ever before, but it still is unreasonably expensive (due to shipping alone if you're outside the US) for many of those books, and authors sure aren't making a dime from those sales. Additionally, they really only help if I know the name of the book or the author...they don't really help me search out new reading material.
Sites like fantastic fiction, librarything, etc. are the start of the filter that will allow us to find the books we want (be they mainstream or not) in a way we never could before. People will find what they like, and do it more easily than ever before. They'll also find more of it, and find new genres, authors, etc, that they never would have found before. That's what social websites do...they connect like minded people with information. Just because you're not aware of them, or just because they aren't mainstream yet doesn't mean they aren't out there doing a great job. They're part of a developing online culture that is changing and improving on a near-daily basis.
We don't need ivory-tower gatekeepers here. We need let everything the ocean of books be a fulsome ecosystem containing everything produced and use nets (filters) of our own design to pull out the fish (books) we want to eat (read). Those nets will get better.... If our gatekeepers only let in the tuna and salmon, then we never even have the option of trying the sardines...and some people like sardines (though I find them gross).