Is anyone still reading Fictionwise multiformat books: I used to acquire these by the bucketful in the days of micropay rebates (I'd buy a book with a full rebate and then use the money to get several of these). But on going through my records recently, I have regretted it. A tiny handful have been good, most have been mediocre at best, and many of them were downright dreadful. The samples at Fictionwise ranged from inadequate to non-existent, they did not allow reviews and many did not have reviews available elsewhere, so it was always a bit of a gamble. Apparently, in my case anyway, it very seldom paid off. People on the forums here always used to claim to read them, but whenever they were pressed on which ones to recommend, they seldom had any specific titles to suggest to people
I know Fictionwise is still kicking around out there, but ever since the agency model pretty much ruined them, I have not visited the site more than a handful of times. I approve of the concept of multiformat, DRM-free stuff by a variety of authors, but Smashwords seems to satisfy my needs for that these days. Reviews and sampling are especially needed for indie books with not a lot of other information available on them. I guess I don't see any need to gamble at Fictionwise when I can try before I buy at Smashwords.
So...is anyone still going to Fictionwise for that sort of thing these days? Are you going there for stuff by specific authors you know, or to try and discover new authors? And if the latter, why is Fictionwise still your preferred destination for that?
Just curious! I have bought a ton from Fictionwise over the years, but nothing recently...