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***Hmm. Both neilmarr and elvira admit to completely ignoring free ebooks. Both of them are publishers. So.......only books which have a publisher are worth reading? No wonder new authors find it so tough!***
Thing is, Dickon, that I'm presented with hundreds of manuscripts a year for assessment of their publication potential. I guess you could call these 'free books'. Reading these submissions (we never allow a slush pile to build) is the most soul-destroying job my associate editors and I face.
Well over ninety percent fail miserably for the most basic of reasons: They're nonsense. Of the remainder, we will go with a dozen. And these inevitably involve heavy editorial work that sometimes spans months.
You can imagine how I feel about free books and $0.99 offerings when I recognise so many of them as the push-button 'published' raw copy of my 'hopeless' rejections ... with warts-n-all still stubbornly in place.
And we're just a tiny fish in the pond. It's depressing and worrying how much slush pile nonsense is instantly self 'published' these days by authors who haven't the nous to understand why they've met with rejection from all the publishing houses and agencies out there and learn the job.
There are, I am the first to admit, shining and refreshing exceptions by competent independent authors who bypass the traditional publishing system simply because they treasure their independence and want to make readers rather than profits (a few of these rare folks are MR members). With these excellent authors, I have no grouse. It's just a pity that they are swamped by countless thousands of unreadable cheapies and freebies.
Cheers. Neil
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