Greetings...
Like many of you, I'm a (recently) self published author, reader, and human being. As part of my journey as such, I found that self publishing as an industry presented three major problems:
1. It's hard to get your books out there if you're a writer.
2. It's hard to sort out what's good if you're a reader.
3. I think 1-5 star review systems suck. They fail to provide meaningful information to me, as a reader, looking to find something that I want to read.
So, after going through the self publishing experience myself, I thought I would try my hand at addressing both of these problems, so I came up with an idea for a book review and promotion site. Now, unlike most review sites, I have no intention of charging for reviews in any way, that's just silly, as it corrupts the entire process. The idea is to build a crowd-driven community of writers and readers who are interested in plumbing the depths of the sea of self and indi-pub'd books for mutual gain. I call my creation the Indie-Review Network.
Now, book promotion sites of different flavors are a dime-a-dozen. I give you that. But what makes this approach different is that we are not using the same-old 5-star review system. Instead, I've devised a criteria-based review, where the reviewer rates the book by:
I'm posting here because, well, I just started the site, and I'm looking for writers, reviewers, and potentially some guest bloggers. My mission is to help promote other self-published writers who get reviewed well on the site. But, for now, I need help with the content.
If you have any interest, swing over to the site, see what we've built. If you've read a book or 10 recently, go through the review system and let me know what you think. So far I've had great feedback and buy-in, but my sample size is small...
Enough rambling: www.indie-review.net
Like many of you, I'm a (recently) self published author, reader, and human being. As part of my journey as such, I found that self publishing as an industry presented three major problems:
1. It's hard to get your books out there if you're a writer.
2. It's hard to sort out what's good if you're a reader.
3. I think 1-5 star review systems suck. They fail to provide meaningful information to me, as a reader, looking to find something that I want to read.
So, after going through the self publishing experience myself, I thought I would try my hand at addressing both of these problems, so I came up with an idea for a book review and promotion site. Now, unlike most review sites, I have no intention of charging for reviews in any way, that's just silly, as it corrupts the entire process. The idea is to build a crowd-driven community of writers and readers who are interested in plumbing the depths of the sea of self and indi-pub'd books for mutual gain. I call my creation the Indie-Review Network.
Now, book promotion sites of different flavors are a dime-a-dozen. I give you that. But what makes this approach different is that we are not using the same-old 5-star review system. Instead, I've devised a criteria-based review, where the reviewer rates the book by:
- Originality - Is it cutting edge like Gibson's Neuromancer? Or is it tropish like Twilight?
- Thrilling - Is it slow and even-keeled like Downton Abby? Or is it "holy crap whirlwind" like Game of Thrones?
- Readability - A big issue with self pub'd books--is it written well? is it easy to read? Or is it a dense and unforgiving tome rife with typos?
- Immersion - How well does it suck you in? Is it on par with an iPhone, or an iMax?
I'm posting here because, well, I just started the site, and I'm looking for writers, reviewers, and potentially some guest bloggers. My mission is to help promote other self-published writers who get reviewed well on the site. But, for now, I need help with the content.
If you have any interest, swing over to the site, see what we've built. If you've read a book or 10 recently, go through the review system and let me know what you think. So far I've had great feedback and buy-in, but my sample size is small...
Enough rambling: www.indie-review.net