[Dr. Drib]

I'm a voracious, eclectic reader; and I used to be a very careful reader but with the advent and popularization of the ebook - along with the proliferation of free ebooks from Amazon - has made me a very careless reader of late.

I'm going to rectify that and get back to the books that really matter.

The fact is, these books are free today and, if not, they'll more than likely be free tomorrow. So, my sense of urgency has greatly decreased with this realization. As little as about 2 years ago, freebie ebooks were just not that common. Now, with programs that Amazon (and other publishers) have enacted, getting free ebooks is a quite normal process.

All of my 300+ Fictionwise titles [now nook] are conveniently on calibre, but the quality of those ebooks - for me - is much higher than most of the Indie titles I've acquired from Amazon. (My perception of this is verified - for me - by reading a few pages or even a chapter or two.)

Which brings to the discussion a sense of 'perceived quality,' with a mass of dreck from Amazon that is (or will be) free, while the ratio of Amazon dreck to other publishers is quite small, simply because they are smaller players and because now Aunt Petunia can publish her book and have all her relatives and loved ones review it favorably. Even Uncle Bucky probably has 10-to-20 titles available. Everyone who has a computer and an Amazon account is writing a book.



Don