Here's a new Kindle book, for 99c, that has already received nine 5-star reviews from customers, A Long Way from Disney: stories of the 1980s. Its author, Seth Harwood, already has a reputation for good crime fiction via his apparently popular podcast, but this book of short stories is said to be a nostalgic look at growing up in a world quite different from what was seen on TV in the 80s. A typical review: ' This was a very different Seth than I read in "Jakes Wakes Up". These stories were quieter, sometimes darker, and always poignant.'Give the customer reviews a look to see if the book might be of interest to you, for 99 cents. It's rare for any book to get all 5-star reviews, but, a caveat: they may be from regular fans, who heard about it from his podcast.
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seth harwood has actually written some thought provoking posts on the kindle over at the open culture blog. here's a post where most of his previous posts are linked and he explains what lead him to putting this book up in the first place:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.openculture.com/2009/12/experiments_in_publishing_take_1.html
(fair warning: i'm the kurt he refers to in the piece and yes, i've bought a co-py of his book. i'm very much about encouraging people to get into the ebook market and the kindle ecosphere.)
gren99,
ReplyDelete"Actually" ? I'm not sure his prior links are super helpful. I was recommending the book based on its apparent merit (from what customers who read it wrote) and its low-cost for what may be a quality offering. The content and tone were of interest to me.
All I see from his previous thoughts are his amazingly retro thoughts about e-readers (just echoing what other disinterested people who'd never even tried an e-reader said) until he saw that other authors were making money from publishing on the Kindle.
I don't see that as thought-provoking as much as just plain smart, on a marketing basis.
At kindleboards, another smart regular there, had a following on that forum who gave his books high marks. That he was savvy enough to join the forum as a regular and make sure people knew about the book from another forum member (himself, and I do recommend this as a method but as a regular member, not someone popping in only to drop ads and then leave) was probably huge.
Word of mouth got that book VERY high and it caught the eye of, I think, Simon & Schuster.
And now he's signed with them.
I sent that info to another author who along with her readers was lamenting the influence of the Kindle, as I thought she should do something similar as she had a devoted following on her writer's blog and is a sensitive writer.
And she is a very open person, who has a Kindle even, but found it less interesting than others do. She at least had tried it. But the audience seemed bent on what the cover of a book adds, as well as the fonts and the 'look' of the pages.
For me, it's about the words the author writes. I really don't care about the rest except in history, art, and travel books with photos and illustrations.
But she already had a publisher possibly interested in one of her books so her disinterest was understandable. An earlier book was a prospect for the Kindle, but she didn't seem enthused by the idea.
Recently, another author who's been a regular at the Amazon forums (without only dropping ads, which grates) had her book optioned for a film. The crowd shared her elation over that.
Like you, I encourage good writers to start self-publishing before everyone does and then few would stand out.
However, word of mouth is important. If one has a badly-written book, it won't go very far.
I plan to read Seth's book someday myself but currently have too many books on my Kindle that I haven't finished reading yet. But I'll likely download it.