Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
Publishers (and before them, literary agents) already do all this filtering, plus more, and have a track record. You want to replace one set of arbiters--who are putting their money where their mouth is--with another set of arbiters who have no reputation, no stake, and no credentials. And this is an improvement?
Still totally horrified.
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Publishers charge authors 75-95% of a book's income for doing all that, including features an author may not need. (Some authors can do their own formatting better than the publisher.) Authors who aren't willing to give up that percentage are looking for other options.
I'm not talking about swapping a set of arbiters--I'm looking for a set to fill in for the ones I've already lost. I don't buy from the Big 6, because they don't sell in formats I'll read. So I'm looking for filter methods that work on the books I am interested in. And I'd be willing to pay for someone to read-and-review substantial portions of the thousands of indie ebooks that come out every month.
A new set of reviewers could build a reputation and put a stake in the books. And I'd have grounds for trusting someone who said, "pay us for reviews of other people's books"--because the month I decide the reviews aren't good enough, I stop paying them. And then I'm out that $10, oh darn. That's the price of one bad mmpb purchase.