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Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
I'm sure most self-publishers, like myself, are hoping that the higher agency prices will drive more buyers to check out new authors at significantly lower prices. It's one of the few positive ways we can get noticed through all the noise made by the big publishers.
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Having recently retired and devoted far more time to reading, I am spending more time investigating independent authors and small publishers. One way that I am reducing my dependence on the big publishers is to subscribe to avid reader sites. Some of these sites have lists of pre-release books with a few free copies given to readers in exchange for reviews. While your chances of "winning" a free copy are not great with hundreds of applicants for a handful of copies, nevertheless, you can snag a free one on occasion.
The upside for monitoring these sites is that the reviews are usually made by avid and experienced (and sometimes professional) readers and the reviews can tip you off to some great books at extremely low or reasonable prices. It's a great way to find good (and avoid poor) indie writers with little out of pocket cost. Most books are available as eBooks to reviewers.
Another similar method is to bookmark several of your favorite web sites such as Smashwords, Baen and others that handle books in your preferred genres. Get on their e-mail lists and you'll find more than you can read at very reasonable pricing, many even free.
Big-name, pop fiction writers may make the headlines and sell huge numbers of "me-too" titles to the public by using profits to subsidize large advertising budgets, but there are nuggets of gold in the indies and it doesn't take much to find them, nor does it cost a fraction of buying the very latest Stephen King or Brown or Cussler books at inflated prices. Find a few good friends who share your tastes and share reviews as you used to share pBooks. Serious readers know there is gold in them thar hills.
