Writing

I have some luck when a book is only available for free on Smashwords. I've had more luck with my nonfiction book "Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship?"

Once a book becomes free on Kindle, though, most people download it from Amazon.

I've been surprised at how difficult it is to give a book away. I realize the problem for readers is discovery, but once a review site becomes a viable route to discovery, they crank up their price and effectively become a roadblock between readers and authors unless the author has very deep pockets.

We need several respected vetting/review mechanisms - several so no one person or organization becomes THE gatekeeper for distributing ebooks. Perhaps there's a role in this for librarians. Currently there's no efficient way to bring an ebook to the general attention of acquisitions librarians, and approaching them library-by-library is untenable.