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.

Comments

[ein_myria]

Will there be an index of sorts in the future? (I'd recommend a delicious type of multi-tagging functionality) It would be easier for people to sort through to find genres they might be interested in.

[elf]

I'm planning on indexing when there's enough content to index, probably through Delicious. (I've never actually done anything with Delicious.) I might wind up using one of the other bookmarking sites because of the worries of Delicious vanishing; I could maybe use one of the paid sites that has better downloading options.

Definitely planning on tagging in ways that hopefully will be useful, and will make it easy to find things for Delicious listings. And if it gets active enough, I'd do regular round-up posts ("all the mystery books this month") or other indexy things.

[ein_myria]

Sounds great, I'll signal-boost it in my next post. :)

[yourlibrarian]

Might be a good idea to wait a bit on the Delicious idea given its upcoming sale. But it sounds like a great idea. I don't know if I'll be able to muster up enough resolution to post anything, but I was mulling over making comments about something I'm reading now. I'm just not sure I'll finish it which I suppose may be enough of a review.

[elf]

I'm waiting on Delicious until I'm less intimidated by it. The upcoming sale adds to that; I may opt for something like diigo instead. (Diigo, for its paid accounts, does page captures instead of just links.)

I'm willing to encourage posts about unfinished books & reviews of samples, as long as it's made clear that it's a review of a partial reading. Since part of the problem with finding ebooks is "what should I avoid," having reviews that say, "I got halfway through this and gave up" is useful info. Saying, "I read the free sample download, and it seemed pretty good, but it's obviously more a romance than a murder mystery, so I'm not going to buy the rest" is also useful.