Quote:
Originally Posted by lente
I don't disagree with the importance of review, only that I rarely write one and that is probably more than most other people. The difficulty is getting people the write reviews or even rate books.
The good ones may rise to the top, but only if there are at least a few people who read it first and write reviews about it. And even than, I'm generally suspicious of books with only two very good reviews. 25 reviews with a good average is more like what I want to see.
Reviews on amazon is good, but takes an effort from the customer. It needs to be all on one page. If not, who is to know if the customer even makes the effort to search for the reviews on amazon?
I agree, even if a book is published traditionally you don't know if it's really good, BUT the chance of it being so is higher than with the non-traditional way of publishing. Don't you agree?
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Well, I can tell you of my personal experience with traditional publishing, and you can see it from the perspective of an independent author. I wrote my novel in 2006, and shopped it for two years straight to agents and publishers. I sent something like 80-100 query letters. I followed all the rules and played their game exactly how they wanted.
Time after time, I got letters back telling me that they loved the premise and the characters and the artwork, but no publisher was willing to take on new fantasy authors at the time. I even talked to Terry Goodkind's agent and he felt that way too. Basically, unless you already wrote a fantasy novel, you're not getting published. Other genres are easier, but it's still hard.
So I did my research and did the independent thing. No, I am not rich from it, but I get to have my book out there and a lot of people enjoy it (some don't). I've sold way more books than I ever thought I would, and I am happy with the outcome so far.
So, no, I do not agree that great books (or even good ones) have to go through the filter of a stuffy old publisher. There are great books and horrible books on both sides here. And what is great anyway? That's really up to you to decide, not me, not other readers, and certainly not a publishing company stuck in their ways and unwilling to even look at new writers. There is a story (I forget who the author was) but he sent out manuscripts of his previously published international bestseller (only under a different title and a Pen Name) and he got rejected like 75 times. It just goes to show that publishers either have no time, or no interest in hearing from somoene who hasn't made tons of money in the market before. That's sad to me. I don't do it for money at all, so the independent thing works fine for me.
Back on topic,
It's really up to the reader to determine if a book is worth taking a risk on. I even give my book out for free on Smashwords so there is nothing to lose (many authors do this). I can't help that reviews are not all on one site. Amazon is probably the best place because more books are sold there than anywhere else, and there is a very active community there reviewing books. We independents have no real way to avertise, so reviews and word of mouth is all we really have.
There are probably millions of independent writers world wide....TRUST me, if you have heard of them, they are worth reading.