Ebook review comm: sps

[elf]

sps, or Slushpile Sleuths, was created for ebook reviews after discussion at the Mobileread forums. (They also wanted a short URL so it was easy to remember & share around away from DW, hence the abbreviation.) It's intended to focus on indie and self-published ebooks, rather than the mainstream ones that get plenty of reviews for the print versions that (mostly) work for the ebook versions.

I expect a lot of reviews about Smashwords books, but Lulu and Feedbooks are also welcome, along with reviews for author releases at their own sites.

Indie ebook quality is hit and miss, and they're scattered on so many different sites that there's no nice simple software to show which ones are read and liked most. This needs people. I had grand thoughts of a template and tagging system and teams of readers coordinating their efforts... apparently, it's not gonna happen like that. At least not right away. I'm perfectly happy with "just throw your commentary about specific ebooks here," and we'll sort out reviewing options later.

So come join sps, and either review the ebooks you've read, even if it's just a link and "I liked this! Hot!" or "Don't waste your time; the typo-monster ate this one," or read what other people have to say and maybe find some gems you would've overlooked.

Amazon shuts down Lendle

[elf]

Lendle.me, a site for connecting with people to lend those Kindle books that allow lending (1x per book, for two weeks only) has been effectively shut down by Amazon. (They shut off the API that allows for easy listing of what's available. Lendle could still help people find each other, but it'd have to build its own database of ebooks.) CNET seems to have the most details, including the mention that "According to Amazon, Lendle does not 'serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.'"

(Insert rant: because of course, people who got to read a book for free would never buy one later--not to get a permanent copy of that book, nor other books by the same author.)

Several other ebook lending sites for Kindle & Nook, have sprung up recently, and they've got to be wondering what's in store for them. Since loaning books seems like a fairly obvious connection to selling books, readwriteweb speculates that Lendle ran afoul of some other aspect of Amazon's Terms of Service.