At present authors can upload e-books to the Kindle store for free. Many of these “books” are being priced at 99 cents to compete with the most popular titles. Confusion reigns and by the time you download a 99-cent book, you may not even know you have bought into what is essentially a scam.If you knock the cap off the fire hydrant, you can't be surprised when you get soaked.
The end result is that thousands — and potentially tens of thousands — of bogus books are being uploaded, making all the more difficult for readers to discover legitimate and worthy content.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Apres moi le deluge...
Publishing Perspectives on the unintended consequences of Amazon's self-publishing platform:
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Well, heck, at least they're only 99 cents. Beats spending $8 or $25 on a hardcover book at the brick & mortar store only to find out it's a waste of money. Sturgeon's Law will not be thwarted.
ReplyDeleteStopping by from the Hop.
The Steel Bookshelf
What about bogus books written by MFA graduates and anointed by a long line of editors, teachers, agents, etc., who can't all possibly be wrong?
ReplyDeleteI understand the sentiment. In fact, I enjoy that it provides an outlet for lesser known and self-published authors to make their works available. However, Amazon.com needs an effective method for curation. With a "report abuse" flag, I expect that the community can provide some of the curation. Unfortunately, the ability to curate will cost a buck a pop unless Amazon.com offers refunds in instances where scams are found.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy at its best. Fortunately, a lot of good writers are making good use out of it. It's a new platform, so it's the far west right now, but soon enough things will fall into place. I have good hope that Amazon will find a way to deal with this problem. It doesn't seem that hard to filter, from a programming perspective.
ReplyDeleteWhat about bogus books written by MFA graduates and anointed by a long line of editors, teachers, agents, etc., who can't all possibly be wrong?
ReplyDelete