I’m one of the indie authors repped by a small press that have been fortunate to have bloggers open their hearts to me. Things have changed even since this post first went live a few months ago. I won’t repeat a lot of what’s been said here because my purpose is to tell you that my experience with reviewers has been exceptional.

It all boils down to two things that caused bloggers to open up to me. Even those who don’t normally review self-pubbeds: a) a great, well-written story and b) a fun-loving approach in the initial email. And then a funny thing happened. A lot of these bloggers, even the ones who didn’t want to review my book at first, became my good friends. We tweet, facebook, talk on goodreads, support one another’s live appearances, etc. It’s an amazing feeling when the world starts to pay attention to your hard work be it self pubbed or traditional.

As authors, we owe it to our readers to present a well-polished product. This holds true for all publishing venues. As bloggers, you’re the new gateway keepers for readers. I decided to go indie because of the controversial genre mix of my novel (dystopian fantasy) not because it was rejected a thousand times. A few agents have even said they’re ready to see my new works.

My point today? Don’t be afraid to alter your policies a bit. There’s great authors out there who didn’t go traditional for various reasons. Comb through the reviews when approached by indies and ask for a five+ page sample. Who knows what diamond in the rough you might be first to discover. :-D

However, basically ALL of the pitches I get from self-pub authors are terrible and if the pitches are terrible I don’t have that much confidence in the product they’re pitching. Still, I think there are some good self-pubbed books out there, and I’ve actually got a few on my Kindle to read later on. I just don’t want to be beholden to an author to review their (potentially terrible) book, so I’m not accepting any self-pubbed for review right now.

I do think that backlist books which have been rereleased by the author need to have their own category, though. Normally those have been edited/spell-checked/etc., and they’re relatively less terrible than other self-pubbed books. It almost doesn’t seem fair that they’re stuck under the same umbrella.

If a writer doesn’t read your policy, strike three. If a writer can’t write a decent sentence in a query without a grammatical error, strike three. If the writer can’t clearly communicate and inspire in a brief email, there’s probably little hope for an entire book, so strike three. These simple steps should clear out 95 percent of the pile!

One other suggestion for bloggers, one the industry gave up long ago:responding with a polite “No, thanks.” Once agents and publishers started their “Only responds if interested” policy, it immediately moved them down the scale of considerate people who respect the time and work of others and removed them even further from the people who could help them thrive. “No, thanks” takes about as long as hitting the delete button, and makes everyone sleep better.

Good luck with everything and thanks for bringing up the topic.

I have been a “published author”–six books, in fact. Some did okay but they all went out of print. I’ve been self-publishing for the last two years. The quality is just as good, and in fact three of the books were previously published and I got my rights back. I feel the books I’ve written since then are even better than the ones that got published. And they are finding more readers. It’s truly a better option for most authors, and means lower ebook prices and more choices for readers..

I don’t undervalue professional input–all writers should use a qualified editor and proofreader, whether they pay for it or trade with peers. Having an agent does not make one a better writer. Having a corporate publisher does not make one a better writer (though a good editor can help any writer). The only difference between a major-press book and your average competent self-published book is luck.

I have worked with many great book bloggers. I did a 90-day blog tour that launched my first Kindle bestseller, and blogs helped immensely. I always read the review policy of bloggers before I query. If you don’t want self-published books or ebooks, I respect your choice. We all have too many books as it is.

But I do believe locking out self-published books, especially in 2011 when publishing is undergoing seismic change, means you miss the opportunity to discover the next wave of great writers, those chosen by readers instead of predetermined by the amount of the advance paid to the author (and let’s not kid ourselves, corporate bestsellers are made and not born, and get all the marketing, and get stacked up high in front of the bookstore, no matter what level of quality they are. That’s not criticism, it’s operating procedure).

I admire book bloggers because you put so much time and passion into what you do, with little return besides free books (and getting a box of new books from a publisher really feels like “getting something,” as opposed to having an ebook mailed to you). But as bookstores close, major publishers weaken in influence, and everyone has a device at their fingertips to consume books, they desperately need guides to help them navigate the ever-growing flood of books.

I don’t think there’s an easy choice, and it remains a personal choice. But there’s an entire, unexplored world out there, and you might be surprised what is waiting for your discovery. Thanks for all you do helping readers and writers.

Scott Nicholson

But just because some powerful higher up does something or can take the time to do something does not make their free time more valuable than mine. My free time is valuable to me, therefore I choose to spend it reading things I want to read, and what I want to read are the books on my TBR. I don’t begrudge anyone the time they spend on reading self-pub books, hey if you enjoy it read it.