Quote:
Originally Posted by ProfCrash
But there are. There are lists compiled by all sorts of folks as to what they consider to be the best writing or a given year and a given genre. There are lists based on who has sold what. If I am looking for something to read and nothing is catching my eye, I will look at those recommendations and probably buy something. I also rely on recommendations from friends and family. I share an account with my mother so I read some of what she buys for her book club.
I am not nearly as prolific a reader as many of the people on this board. Before having a child, I was reading between 50-60 books a year. OK, only on a board like this would I consider that not prolific but that is beside the point....
There are plenty of main stream published books to hold me over. Sci FI and Fantasy recommendations from friends and family have led me to some cool finds. But none of them read independent authors and I doubt mainy of them would have a clue where to start.
Let's pretend that I am someone who is just developing an interest in reading. I walk into a bookstore or the library. There are shelves of books that are recommended by employees, librarians, or book lists. That is probably were I start. From there, I probably get a better feel for what I like and don't like and start searching on Amazon or at Barnes and Nobles or I go to my local Indie store and say "I really liked book X, what would you recommend" More likely than not the recommendation is going to be published by a main stream author.
How would you guide that person to the world of independent authors in a manner that would help them find a good book that would make them want to do the work to find more books like that as oppose to browse the aisle at BN?
Because I am that person who is interested but I really don't want to spend a ton of time reading sample after sample and not finding anything interesting. I tried that. It didn't work.
heheheh I have said that I hired proof readers to look over my professional work, right?
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The way I help them is to ask what genre they like and then suggest some good indie titles (assuming they are open to indie titles). That isn't hard for me to do usually because I read a pretty wide spectrum. I'm weak in thrillers, these days because I don't read them much anymore. Probably a bit weak in romance, but I have read some decent ones. I can't always help, but that's the way I go about it.