I have mentioned in several posts that I am an enthusiastic reader and dedicated to my Kindle. Recently I found out about and tried reading a few of the Kindle self published books. These are books that any person can write and publish in Kindle format through the Kindle Direct Publishing (FDP) program. Apparently it’s a free publishing service where writers upload a completed manuscript, and it appears for sale in Amazon’s Kindle store within one day with authors getting a percentage of the sales as customers download their book.
As a reader, this provides a broader selection of books, and they are generally priced in the economical 99cent – $5.99 range. And because Amazon provides book descriptions and allows peer reviews, a prospective reader can determine if one of these books is worth their time.
I spent a good hour looking at different FDP books, reading descriptions and reviews, and selected three titles for download with seven additional titles saved in my wish list for the future.
The first one I attempted to read was, The Old Man and the Wasteland by Nick Cole. It is currently listed as a 99cent book, with an outstanding 4 ½ of 5 star rating taken from an abundant 523 reviewers. I flipped it on, prepared for a light, fun, action packed apocalyptic read. But at only 7% into the book, I unjustly shelved it for future reading. It was well written, at least to that point, but a lot deeper than I was interested in at the time. In the short bit I read, it had the pacing and descriptive feel of something like McCarthy’s, The Road and I was more interested in a faster paced, action packed read, more in tune with EE Knight’s, Vampire Earth books.
Next I tried Daniel Cotton’s, Life Among the Dead. It is currently listed with a $3.00 ticket price and has a 4 ½ out of 5 star rating. But in contrast to Nick Cole’s FDP book, it only has 19 reviewers. One of the things that attracted me specifically to this book, was the 598 listed page length, and the zombie angle. To me, that said, a time consuming read, with lots of action. So I tore into it, and when I say tore, I ripped that book up. It was fast paced, there was a lot of action and it followed fun characters. It was exactly what I was looking for, fast, action packed and exciting.
After I finished that book I decided to try one of the many books listed as part of a series. So I started Tom Calen’s The Tilian Virus, which is the first book in The Pandemic Sequence. Purchasing this book was a bit more of a risk with its $4.99 charge, but despite only having 23 reviews, they were all top rated giving it 5 stars. Identified and falling perfectly into the zombie apocalypse genre, this book proved to also be fast paced and action packed. I read this 280 page book in 2 days, and have already looked for the second book in the sequence, listed with an expected release date for this winter, but I guess I need to wait a little longer. The book did have quite a few typos, but was developed enough for those to be over looked.
So far, I have found the FDP books to be well worth the price, and I hope it gives these aspiring authors the opportunity to jump start their dream careers. I am mildly interested to hear about the experience of FDP books from the end of the writer. I hope it is a pleasant and prosperous experience so the quality I have seen thus far can continue.
Deciding to stick with the zombie reads for a while, I have downloaded two more FDP books that were listed in the ‘if you like this, you might like this’ section under The Tilian Virus on Amazon. I am not sure if I will jump into the $2.99 Dead Living by Glenn Bullion or the equally priced but shorter read, Contagion: A Novel of The Living Dead by LI Albermont first.
*I would like to note that I love EE Knight’s Vampire Earth books, and do find them to have many levels and depth. The original apocalyptic future Knight has created is detailed, intricate and impeccably developed. I have read each one and await the release of the next book, which I have not been unable to ascertain a title or prospective release date for.
All Things Krista 