Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
A very little effort on your part should allow you to avoid the real drivel.
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Concretely, what does this "very little effort" look like?
You can't relay on reviews, because you can't evaluate the source usually. Ratings based on user votes are easily manipulated (there are entire businesses that sell related services).
Why, precisely, should I jump through hoops when I can buy a book from an established publisher (there are many more than five) in the secure knowledge that it was properly edited and meets certain standards (literary and otherwise) to even get published? To "discover new authors"? There is a nearly infinite number of properly published authors that I have not yet read and that are new to me. There's no shortage of quality authors or books.
Buying books from proper publishers while largely avoiding self-published books strikes me as an efficient way of selection.