By Patricia Moosbrugger, BlueInk Review
No doubt you’re well aware that self-publishing is exploding. Bowker’s latest statistics show that while traditional publishing grew only 5% over the last year, the untraditional market, which includes ebook and POD titles, grew 169%. There were over 2 million self-published books produced last year. In that number, there are plenty of duds, but also plenty of gems worth reader attention.
But how can publishing professionals those gems them amidst all the glut?
To that end, my company, BlueInk Review, is excited to be collaborating with Publishing Perspectives to bring you some of the best work emerging from this new mountain of material.
BlueInk Review is a fee-based book review service offering self-publishing authors honest and credible reviews written by professional book reviewers, including critics who have written for such high profile publications as The New York Times and Washington Post. Authors pay a fee, but that in no way influences the nature of the review. (For more discussion of this, check out Managing Partner Patti Thorn’s article for Publishing Perspectives, “Making the Case for Fee-based Reviews of Self-published Books”).
Beginning today, Publishing Perspectives will offer a monthly selection of our Starred titles, books of special note.
As a founding partner of BlueInk and a publishing professional with over 20 years experience selling both domestic and foreign rights to books — including Dava Sobel’s Longitude and Sebastian Junger’s Fire, among other bestsellers — I am well aware that your time is too short to waste vetting one mediocre book after another. We require our critics to handle our reviews in the same way they would reviews for a major newspaper or periodical; our Starred Reviews are granted seriously and sparingly.
We have already found many titles of note. This month, for example, you will find a suspense story about a blogger who unravels the mystery of a hijacked ship carrying stolen Russian missiles to Iran; a gorgeously written novella about a bullfighter matched with a seemingly indestructible bull, a financial guide to retirement in the new economic reality, and more — all well worth your time and attention.
We invite you to check out this month’s recommendations. And we look forward to your feedback as our new collaboration gets underway!