Indie Books - Separate the wheat from the chaff?

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Done.

Sweet!! Very nicely (and quickly) done!

[mish]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

perhaps we need a list of them ....

http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing....ewer-list.html (scroll down)
http://www.simon-royle.com/indie-reviewers/

and Simon's latest review links page too:
http://www.simon-royle.com/latest-in...round-the-web/

Though the list of indie reviewers is intended for authors to find review blogs that accept indie books, it can also be used by indie readers looking for indie book reviews. You still have to sift through it though to find the ones that review more indie than trad and review the genre you read.

[mish]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Something related to the difficulty indies face in the vast sea of material - has anyone else noticed that some reviewers (reader reviewers, not review sites) seem to be harder on indies? For example, I've seen reviews that basically blame the author for things that are subjective - voice, genre, style, etc. I wonder if it's because, with indies, you don't have the "someone saw something good in this" that you have with traditionally published books.

Actually, I think it is just the opposite. Reviewers tend to go easier on indies. It's like they give them a handicap because they don't think of them as being *really* published. Also, everything about a review is subjective, it is just one person's opinion in the end. Give any one book enough reviews and you will see opinions across the spectrum. I hope to gawd nobody ever buys or does not buy a book based solely on one of my reviews.

I often mention voice, style, etc. in my reviews. It all relates to the enjoyment of the book. If the author wrote it then who else is to blame? But again, it is just one person's opinion.

[FizzyWater]

I used to help moderate on a Yahoo group that was designed to discuss and promote romance ebooks - especially indie ebooks.

I'm afraid I got disillusioned as time went on. There's always someone out there who will say a book was "excellent", even when a basic read showed grammatical errors and the lack of even basic editing (character eating chicken soup one minute, stew the next, for example).

There were people who would come on the list and say they posted to various indie review sites and were proud that their site "never posts a negative review". "We follow the Golden Rule - if we can't say something nice, we don't say anything at all". More than once I'd hear that they'd pass a book from reviewer to reviewer until they found someone who liked it so they could post that positive review.

To complicate matters, authors were welcome on the Yahoo group. And it's just human nature to want to "be nice" to the people you've become friendly with. If you posted honest reviews, the authors would get defensive: "You don't understand - it's my baby", "you don't know how much hard work I put into this", "I don't care if you like it, [reviewer A] at [we-never-post-negative-reviews] gave it five [hearts, cups, cupids' arrows, whatever silly measure they use at their site] and you're just a [hater, a mean-grrl, a writer-wannabee (with was never true, by the way)]".

So I found a couple of blogs where they post honest reviews about the kinds of books I like to read. And I pay attention until I figure out which of the reviewers seems to like the same things I do.

Then, if they post about an indie book that is reasonably priced (based on word count), I might give it a try.

Sadly, on the whole, I've given up on indie epubs. There are plenty of ebooks in my TBR list already. I just got tired of spending money on crappy books (it is sometimes possible to post a well-written sample and still have written an overall crappy book).

[Steven Lake]

This is actually a topic that's been tossed around for a while. IE, What is the best way to sort out the good from the bad books. As one poster pointed out, Smashwords does a good job of this. Other places like Author Den, Good Reads, and other end user sites helps a ton in this respect since the reviews there are done by readers, and then to be quite brutally honest. Not always, but certainly a fair portion of the time. The only real issues you have to watch out for is when some authors get marked down, or up, by others who either have a bone to pick with said author (it happened to me over at goodreads) or are complete fanboys trying to make their "god" like author out to be better than they really are.

Again, that's somewhat rare, and if you look closely enough you can pick them out (it just requires doing a tiny bit of research to be sure the numbers are fair) fairly easily. But those are the best ways presently available that I know about.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Done.

Quick, impressive work .....

[SlowRain]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Done.

Bookmarked.

[Steven Lake]

Hmm, I'll have to get myself on that hall of fame list. Now all I need is the multiple formats on the rest of my books (oort already has it, but the others don't yet, and amazon is being a bunch of retards and taking forever to kindle my book! Argh!), and the three independent bloggers, the latter of which I already have mostly covered. ^_^;;

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I have been thinking of actually starting a 'Hall of Fame' webpage where books can only be on it if they meet certain conditions. For example, they would have to be available in more than one format (i.e. at Smashwords OR at Amazon plus an ePub store)

I wouldn't personally see any value in this criteria.
If the book is available in a format I can read (which with an iPad is any format), I don't care what other formats it is or isn't available in.
I don't see how that is a reasonable criteria for whether it is a good book or not, which is surely what membership of a hall of fame is meant to imply?

[ficbot]

Because not everyone has an iPad like you?

To me, indie books are all about accessibility---no DRM, no geo-restrictions etc. Locking it down to one device or format violates the spirit behind that, to me.

Of course, it's fairly easy for a good author to get their book converted these days. And it's fairly easy for people like you to make another website if you'd prefer...

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Because not everyone has an iPad like you?

To me, indie books are all about accessibility---no DRM, no geo-restrictions etc. Locking it down to one device or format violates the spirit behind that, to me.

Of course, it's fairly easy for a good author to get their book converted these days. And it's fairly easy for people like you to make another website if you'd prefer...

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Because not everyone has an iPad like you?

To me, indie books are all about accessibility---no DRM, no geo-restrictions etc. Locking it down to one device or format violates the spirit behind that, to me.

Of course, it's fairly easy for a good author to get their book converted these days. And it's fairly easy for people like you to make another website if you'd prefer...

I agree - when an indie author aligns with a single format, it sends a conflicting message to me, especially when there is an abundance of non-exclusive retail options available to indies, and lots of free software to handle format conversions.

In one case, an author had the ebook on her blog in .prc only, with a note that she didn't know how to provide other formats. LEARN!! Or spend a few dollars and get someone to do it!!

Our own Steve Jordan does it beautifully - from his web site you can purchase his books in multiple formats either directly from him or from your choice of the top retailers.

[ficbot]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

In one case, an author had the ebook on her blog in .prc only, with a note that she didn't know how to provide other formats. LEARN!! Or spend a few dollars and get someone to do it!!

LOL I know! There is a big fitness trade show I go to here every year, and one year I started talking with this guy who wanted to make an exercise video (just like all readers secretly want to write a novel, all fitness instructors secretly want to make an exercise video!) So my first question is 'great, have you ever been to videofitness.com?' (that's the exercise video equivalent of Mobile Read). No, he hadn't. Then my second question was 'Have you ever read the blog of Cathe Friedrich?' (that's the exercise video equivalent of J.A. Konrath). No, he hadn't. Dude, do five minutes of Google research before you launch your grand plans, you know?

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Because not everyone has an iPad like you?

To me, indie books are all about accessibility---no DRM, no geo-restrictions etc. Locking it down to one device or format violates the spirit behind that, to me.

Well, you should of course promote what you think is important. But you can lose focus on "separating the wheat from the chaff" if you impose political format restrictions on e-books.

Indie books are very good at accessibility. What they are not good at, overall, is quality - and the 90% bad drives out the good because most people don't want to waste the time.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Well, you should of course promote what you think is important. But you can lose focus on "separating the wheat from the chaff" if you impose political format restrictions on e-books.

Indie books are very good at accessibility. What they are not good at, overall, is quality - and the 90% bad drives out the good because most people don't want to waste the time.

I think, for the purposes of the site in question, it's important that any book on that list is one that anyone can read, no matter what device they are using. I don't know that I'd be so inclined to use such a site often if it was going to be hit-or-miss with format availability. It adds value to the site, IMO.