A while ago on my blog for writers, Your Shelf Life, I wrote about my plans to feature the terrific independently produced books that I’ve been reading.  Here it is:  INDIE GEMS. INDIE GEMS will be a regular/irregular part of Your Shelf Life. I have to give the Amazon KDP free books program some of the credit for this. I’ve been downloading free books like crazy. I’ve now got close to 500 on my Kindle.The vast majority of these are self-published, independently published, or just whacked on Kindle by the author. You can make distinctions between these categories, but I’m not going to. The quality of the books presented here is their distinguishing characteristic. Details of how they were published don’t concern me. I may sneak a few books by small presses in, but I won’t have any books published by the “big six”, major publishers.

Why not? They get so much attention that I want to shine the light in a different direction. Also, I’m sick of hearing about the abysmal quality of author-financed books all over the friggin’ place. When I started reading the gigantic mound of electronic verbiage on my Kindle, I found that some of it is certifiable garbage that should be sent to the dark side of the moon.

And some of it is as good as or better than much of the major publishers’ output. More creative, too. That’s what shows up here. You are likely to find a few typos and things like that in these books. The major publishers have much bigger budgets for proofreading and copy editing. Whenever you’re reading a book by a indie author and find a little glitch, realize that producing a good self-published book costs THOUSANDS of dollars. That doesn’t include the author’s time in writing the book, and it doesn’t include marketing expenses. Cut ‘em some slack.

THE RULES/STUFF TO KNOW: Indie Gems has a few rules. They’re set up for my sanity and well-being.

1. I’m presenting Indie Gems and will continue to do so as long as it’s fun. I am an author 90% of the time, not a reviewer. I’m doing this bit for my own pleasure, and to share books I really like with you. So many people are hungry for reviews that they could gobble a person up. Not this person. I don’t charge for the evaluations I write, though I may accept a complimentary copy to review. At the beginning of this post, I say that Indie Gems is going to be a regular/irregular feature of Your Shelf Life. I don’t want to tie myself to producing reviews on schedule. When I get a bunch of books I want to write about–or even just one–I’ll do it and announce it on the social media. Easy. That’s the idea.

2. Do not send me your book to review. Don’t include a note saying that our writing styles are so similar that you’re sure I’ll love your book. I’ve already set out my position on reviewing books for Your Shelf Life. I find the books I review myself, or my good friends refer them to me. No exceptions.

3. I give all the books here 5 stars. I won’t put a rating on Indie Gems, but I will post the reviews everywhere with a 5 star rating. I’ll post on Amazon, Amazon UK, Goodreads, Smashwords, and anywhere else that’s useful. I will tell the author about the review, if I can get a hold of him or her. What I write here is my estimation of the book’s worth. My evaluation may differ from yours. Why all 5 stars? I don’t bother reviewing books that I don’t really like. Why should I spend my life dissing someone else’s work?

4. The format of Indie Gems will vary. Some times, I’ll post three or four short reviews and that’s it. No photos, covers, etc. Other times, I’ll have a full review, interview with the author, the works. This will depend on my schedule and if I can contact the author and how much he/she wants to participate.

This is a place to have fun, so let’s have fun! I’ve got a few books lined up that I’ll be sharing with you soon.

Until then, all the best and keep reading!

Sandy Nathan

Sandy Nathan’s writing has won twenty-four national awards. She’s won in categories from memoir, to visionary fiction, to children’s nonfiction. And more.

Sandy’s  books are: (Click link to the left for  information about each book.
All the links below go to Kindle/Amazon sale pages.)

The Tales from Earth’s End Saga ––A Legend for a New World (I recommend that you read the books in order to fully understand the action.)

1. The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy (Kindle version, paperback version here)  Tales from Earth’s End Saga Book 1
2. Lady Grace: A Thrilling Adventure Wrapped in the Embrace of Epic Love (Kindle version, paperback version here) Tales from Earth’s End Saga Book 2
3. Sam & Emily: A Love Story from the Underground (Kindle version, paperback version here) Tales from Earth’s End Saga Book 3

Numenon: A Tale of Mysticism & Money (Kindle version, hardback version here) Bloodsong Series 1
Tecolote: The Little Horse That Could (Kindle version, paperback version here)

 

Posted in Book Review, Self publishing, Visionary Fiction, YOUR SHELF LIFE BOOK REVIEW by admin, October 27, 2012 6:49 pm

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