Reader's Poll: Help Settle the Dispute - You're Not Just a Number

[Chameleon]

Having been an "Indie" author myself for the past 2 years, and knowing thousands of other "Indies", I'm a little tired of hearing what a bad rap Indie authors have. Yes, we all know that there have been plenty of books uploaded to Amazon long before they should have been, but is that really a good reason to color all Indie authors with the same brush? "Experts" in stats continually spout, "The numbers show..." What numbers, and where are they getting them? I haven't seen one poll yet (though they may well exist) that tells me what people actually think. After all, YOU are more than a number. Once and for all I'd like to hear what YOU, the buying public, actually think of Indie authors based on books you've purchased from them. Please take this survey, and answer honestly. I'll post the results when I feel like I've gotten enough of a sampling. Thank you!


http://chameleon-author.blogspot.com/...

[Amy]

Hello - I answered your survey, but I need to also let you know that our publishing company is called Chameleon Publishing Inc. We are a new publishing company, but are a California C-Corp and our name is registered and trademarked. More power to all you are doing and all your ventures. We would please just ask that you make it clear these are your efforts as an individual, as we are currently doing a big market validation survey.

[Amy]

Here is our survey - we are hoping for at least 20-30 responses from independently-published writers ...

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VCL2H85

Hope you will find some time to help! It takes about 5 minutes.

[G.G.]

Question #4: Was it for one book only because it referred to #2, which seemed to be for one. My answer leaned toward the beautiful cover, great description and well written, but I've read so many indies: some had iffy covers, some had typos, and some were boring. But hey, that goes for trad pub too. :P

The last question was also ambiguous. Answering yes probably means you're wary of indie authors and are careful to buy only trad pub. Yet, while I do pay attention, it's for another reason; I tend to favor indies over trad pub. So I answered no. (Does that make any sense?)

[K.P.]

Answered the survey! Hope it helps

[Dwayne]

Chameleon wrote: "Please take this survey, and answer honestly."

Done and done, but... I hope this is okay. I checked "yes" and "no" and answered for both. I've read a lot of Indie work in the last year or two, some was fantastic, some should have had another round or two of editing and proofing before being published.

[Jim]

There are many very talented and knowledgeable independent authors who have published books as technically well-written and skillfully narrated as those of traditionally published authors; some even more so.

The reputation of independent publishing as a whole would rise perceptively in the eyes of readers, if only the novices would all heed the advice of the more experienced and successful indies who have obtained the knowledge and honed the skills that is reflected in the quality of their work. A willingness to learn, work hard, and be patient often means the difference between mediocrity and excellence.

[Darcy]

I responded to the survey, but I found that answering with one book in mind is a bit misleading as I've read a few. Also, I liked the premise of the story, but the book had a lot of issues. So, I intially had answered yes to question 3, but the follow-up questions were based on a particular response to 3. Someone can like a book but have issues, or they might dislike the book but still feel that it had good prose, few errors and a good cover. I thunk full-stop questions don't serve the indie community well.