My problem with samples is that if I start reading a book then I pretty much have to finish it or it bugs me, I tend to keep way clear of the slush pile
And, yes, I have read some pretty awful books.
It's also an issue of time. If, as pretty much everyone seems to agree, somewhere between 95-99% of self published books are rubbish then I don't want to have to read somewhere between 20 and 100 samples to find one of the good ones. Even if you just read 10 pages of sample per book (you could spot bad editing and grammar in less but would need this to see if the writing style/story is OK) then you are reading between 1 and 5 full books worth of samples just to find a book to read.
If I am looking for a new author then I pick a book based on the blurb by one of the pulishing imprints that I
know produce the kind of book I like (Doesn't always work, obviously, couldn't stand Bitter Angels by C L Anderson published by Spectra, started of badly, tailed off in the middle and the less said about the end the better).
