Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Unless the self-pub authors here actually want more competitors, the last thing you should desire is for Howey to be believed. Don't you have enough competition already?
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Past a certain threshold, which is far behind us, it all just adds to the background noise.
Regarding the "volcano of crap" metaphor, some people should be careful what they wish for. The day when self-publishers get a website that acts as a trustworthy gatekeeper, a good deal of people in the trad publishing industry will be laughing no more.
It could be a crowd-sourced site, like Metal Archives for the metal scene. (The site publishes reviews of albums picked by fans, from the praises of an unsung gem released exclusively on tape in 250 copies in the late 80's by a long-dead label, through the righteous nuking of Metallica's Lulu, to their heart-felt opinion of the latest album by their favorite bands)
There's a bit of that in Goodreads. The big differences being it's not 100% reviews and devoted to indies, which seriously blunts its impact in this context.
It could also be run by folks with legitimate clout in the industry. Kirkus ruined the opportunity by asking authors to pay $400+ for a review, with all the conflict of interest it entails. From what I've heard, Publisher weekly seems to be doing a better job. They only review submission on a discretionary basis, and are said to be pretty harsh, which is exactly what is needed.