A while back a guy named Ben Fox started a website called Shepherd. He sent me an email with an intriguing request–would I, as an indie author, be willing to write a list of five novels that I would recommend? The kicker is that I would be able to promote my own work on the recommendation page. After some thought, I came up with a list of The best thrillers that make it weird (and weird makes it better). I wanted to promote Bad Dreams & Broken Hearts, and it seemed like linking it to Weird Thrillers that I enjoy might get me some new readers.
I liked the look of the finished page, but, to be honest, I forgot about it. After all, there are a lot of author promotion websites out there, and most of them don’t last very long.
Well, as it happens, they didn’t forget about me. Recently an author acquaintance of wrote a page to recommend Catskinner’s Book, which I really appreciate.
So I went back to check out the site, and it’s not only still there, but appears to be thriving. There are a lot of lists to browse, and a nice feature where you can input an author or a book and see what lists it shows up on.
I know that a number of my readers aren’t happy with the book recommendations on the big commercial sites, but this one is structured differently. He does get an affiliate fee for books purchased through his site, but he doesn’t accept advertising. If a book is recommended, it’s because somebody genuinely likes it, not because the author or publisher paid for a plug.
So check it out. It’s set up for browsing, one of those sites where a link will lead to a link to something that you’ve heard of and been meaning to read and off to someplace else… it’s kind of easy to get lost there.
mishaburnett 