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Originally Posted by Elfwreck
Big Reason #1: Bad Editing
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This is the *primary* reason. Many indie books are badly written.
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Big Reason #2: Quantity Over Quality
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This acts as a multiplier to the primary reason: *a lot* of indie books are badly edited. If 5% of indie books were badly edited, it would just mean that you need to be a little careful. But I think the actual numbers are more like 95% are badly edited, so finding the well written books becomes a chore. Often too much of a chore.
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Big Reason #3 – The Lack of Gatekeepers
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This is a tertiary reason. Gatekeepers wouldn't be important if so many indies weren't poorly edited. If there were a basic assurance that the fundamentals of the vast majority of indie books were on a par with publisher books, the presence of a gatekeeper would have little more effect than a positive NY Times review...persuasive, perhaps, but not more. But as things stand now, the presence of the gatekeeper is insurance that the book is at least properly edited.
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Big Reason #4 – Crappy Covers
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The three above reasons all dealt in various ways with the quality of the underlying book. This is more of a marketing issue, but since the cover is how many people judge a book, it's also fairly important, especially as a signal. After all, if it looks like your cover was slapped together, why should I assume you took any care with the writing itself?