Indie Books - Separate the wheat from the chaff?

[outlander78]

From what I have read, there is a growing market of independent books being sold DRM free, which sounds great to me - I can support authors directly, and get DRM-free books to boot.

I have also read that the hard part is finding the good stuff in a see of fan fiction - this is the downside of the indie market.

Unfortunately, I do not have the money or time to buy hundreds of books, read through them, and evaluate them myself. I suspect others are already doing so, one book at a time, and I'll join in.

Are there good sites that review indie titles that you look to for leads on good authors and series?

[GeoffC]

Smashwords springs immediately to mind ....

[pidgeon92]

Here's one of my favorites:

http://redadeptreviews.com/

[ficbot]

Um...I write such a blog Does that count? Other than my own, my favourite so far is GraceKrispy's blog.

[Rhynedahll]

Well, you don't have to buy anything.

Amazon, B&N, Lulu, and Smashwords all allow you to read samples of ebooks.

The samples are large enough, I think, that you will know right away whether the ebook is well written and suits your interests

If you are talking about downloading an ebook directly from the author, then just ask for the first few chapters as a free sample. If they will not give you a sample, that, to me, would be a good indication that their work is less than stellar.

[JoelArnold]

Ebook review sites are becoming quite important to readers for just that purpose - sorting the wheat from the chaff. I'm guessing more and more will appear in the days to come. I second the Red Adept review site, and I'm always looking for more, too!

[caleb72]

I go by reviews mainly. These are not perfect as I've read books that have reviewed well and still not been sufficiently proof-read. However, it's a good start.

I think as self-publishing moves along we're seeing sites/blogs dedicated to the independent author and I think this will be the go-to for many in-the-know readers.

Regards
Caleb

[GraceKrispy]

Thanks for mentioning mine, ficbot! ficbot's was one of the first I remember seeing that focused on indie book reviews from Smashwords.

There are a few other blogs out there that review indie books, but it's sometimes difficult to find them.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by GraceKrispy

Thanks for mentioning mine, ficbot! ficbot's was one of the first I remember seeing that focused on indie book reviews from Smashwords.

There are a few other blogs out there that review indie books, but it's sometimes difficult to find them.

perhaps we need a list of them ....

[SensualPoet]

... and then we'll need a list of the good blogs vs the less good blogs ...

With so much material being self-published, without the benefits of editors and sometimes advance peer review, you need to expect a lot more chaff than wheat among the indies. (That is not to say all "published" material is terrific and all indie material is second rate -- by having the stamp of "Knopf" on the spine significantly raises the odds the product is worth consuming.)

The samples are a great tool: any author who can't make a case for the next 20 chapters in the first one or two probably hasn't much of a case. The problem is: which samples? You are back to trying to figure out which to spend your time on. I have to admit that Amazon's reader comments are often helpful, provided there are enough that are thoughtful.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

...The problem is: which samples? You are back to trying to figure out which to spend your time on. .

I don't think much has changed from the old way of choosing books. Browse by genre/sub-genre, pick up books based on title or cover design, read the back cover blurb, read the first page.

Each step of that drastically cuts down on the number of books that you need to look at. Other people's opinions are just that -- other people's opinions. Everyone has different tastes in fiction just as they have different tastes in music. Both can be swayed by things like political or religious views, social background, past life experiences, all sorts of things.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I don't think much has changed from the old way of choosing books. Browse by genre/sub-genre, pick up books based on title or cover design, read the back cover blurb, read the first page.

The difference in a bookshop is I can scan dozens and dozens of titles quickly and flit, bee-like, to one title, then another, scanning the cover, blurbs, and a few words inside. Although browsing online at Amazon is very slick, it's not the same experience because titles are closely linked (a good thing on its own); there is less serendipity. I probably look at a cookbook passing a bargain table on any given bookshop visit; I'd never come across those at Amazon unless I was looking for them. The great bonus is the sample chapters ... but those do take time to read and digest.

They are different experiences and each has its merit (and make no mistake I love Amazon's paradigm and execution). But separating wheat from chaff in the indie space is harder today simply because there is SO MUCH more material available -- think Smashwords as a starting point.

[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 sture) and they would have to have a positive review from a minimum of three indie blogs. That way, we could get around the 'I don't follow so and so blog so I missed x book' or 'I don't have time to vet both blogs and books' or whatever the excuses are. Would there be interest in such a page?

[CWatkinsNash]

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 sture) and they would have to have a positive review from a minimum of three indie blogs. That way, we could get around the 'I don't follow so and so blog so I missed x book' or 'I don't have time to vet both blogs and books' or whatever the excuses are. Would there be interest in such a page?

I would be interested in such a page. Perhaps when it gets large enough, your "Hall of Fame" could end up as a separate site (or at least set apart) covering the best by genre in a easily browsable format.

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.

I guess I'm something of a review-stalker on Amazon. If I see a bizarre review, I find the reviewer's other reviews and try to see what's up. I did that with a few of those like I mentioned, and found that the books from publishers they were familiar with got higher ratings, even if they didn't like the book, but indies (which one reviewer referred to as "no-name hacks") got incredibly low ratings for the same "offenses".

Obviously, reviews are always opinion, but I'm bothered by this, especially since the indies often have far fewer reviews so each carries more weight. One can read the text of the review and see why the rating was given, but I imagine many people don't look past the number of "stars".

For this and many other reasons, we really need to get more indie review sites into the spotlight.

[ficbot]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I would be interested in such a page. Perhaps when it gets large enough, your "Hall of Fame" could end up as a separate site (or at least set apart) covering the best by genre in a easily browsable format.

Done.