Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
The problem for me is that I really don't want to read through the slush pile looking for the few good books buried in it. With current state of self-publishing, even looking for books with good reviews does little to help. One horrid example of this is one site which had 6 5-star reviews of Wen Spencer's Harbinger which hasn't been released other than the snippet at the end of her Elfhome story collection. Hopefully, her home is far enough away from Kilauea not be be endangered or the release will be even more delayed... "A volcano ate my manuscript!"
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This is, of course, the great dividing line. Those who enjoy finding the few good books are unable to understand those of us who don't want to dig through the slush piles just to find them. Those of us who use the publishing houses as a filter don't understand why someone would want to page through all that junk just to find a few good books.
For the most part, I agree with the earlier poster from Germany who to paraphrase said that he liked the concept of self publishing, but doesn't like the current implementation. I also strongly agree that Amazon needs competition.
Fanboy types who give their favorite authors a 5 star rating for books they have never read distort the rating system. The iron law of bureaucracy applies in areas other than bureaucracies, meaning that it's probably inevitable that people who want to support their favorite authors with such reviews will crowd out people who give an honest review of a specific work.