I'd have to agree with the consensus here and say that readers will be the filter. However, now that book pricing and distribution is undergoing a disruption I'm more inclined to take a chance on someone I've never heard of before. If i don't like the material, I don't buy anymore titles from that author. I'll consider a review if the person writing it up provides a cogent opinion that resonates with me. Also, my genre preferences will shade my filter as well.
What I think you cannot rely on is sales volume. Many people new to the ebook phenomenon will buy a low priced title (sight unseen) just out of curiosity (could it really be as good as a traditionally published book?). This will artificially drive up the sales volume of authors already at the top who offer the .99/2.99/4.99 price point and that's just the up and pull of marketing.

My .02

--- edited... no self-promotion outside the Book Bazaar forum. please read our Forum Decorum thread.

Hello Everyone!

My name is Glenn and I'm addicted to words. I particularly enjoy it when words are organized into coherent and meaningful sentences that spark my imagination and set my mind reeling with vivid thoughts and contemplations. I find myself reading everyday and I even read multiple books at a time: one for the morning, one for lunch, one for early evening, and one for bed. This is in addition to the various monthly/weekly/daily periodicals that are a part of my life. I can't stop. I don't want to stop. I love it.

It started when I was young. I would beg my mother to take me to the library on Saturdays. Sometimes I would get there early before the doors were even opened to the public. For me, the library was the internet before the internet was ever available. My search engine was a "card" catalog with long drawers and Dewey decimal numbers for reference. I would think of a subject that I wanted to learn about and study. Then I would find it in the card catalog. Then I would track it down on the shelf. Once I got there I would read a little of the book and then maybe pick up another one beside that under the same subject, but a little different perhaps. Then I would turn around and see a book on another shelf that sounded interesting to me. Titles would grab me! I would have 3-4 books and then start walking back to my seat from the long, deep rows. I'd see another book that would grab my attention and then add it to the pile under my arms. By the time I reached my table, I would have 10-12 books on all manner of subjects. Biology-check; Psychology-check; Jane's Guide to Naval Ships and Armament-check (what kid could resist that!); Early Greek Philosophers (Zeno? anyone-anyone), and on, and on, and on. This would happen multiple times throughout the day, until my table was a pile of text and literature, heaped with adventure and the knowledge of the ages.

There were multiple times in my life where I had accumulated a library of at least a hundred books on a wide variety of subjects, and I had to let them go because circumstances would not allow me to take them with me wherever I was going to end up. And I've ended up in some pretty interesting places (another story). When I had to give up my first library, it was painful. Those books had meaning to me. There were real people attached to them in my memories, like the girlfriend who introduced me to Anais Nin (fond memories you can imagine). Later, giving away the books became a joy because i was spreading the knowledge and maybe, just maybe, a book would end up in someone's hands and it would change the way they thought about the world, or make them

Now? I have a Kindle, and the kindle app and I am a lab rat, and the button just keeps on giving it out. Oh blessed mother of technology, what hast thou done to me?

In my day-to-day life, I am a web marketing specialist. I make good money at it and I enjoy what I do because the learning never stops. And I can create things that I am passionate about. I love ebooks and what they have done for independent authors, writers, and readers. I've always been a fan of the underdogs. Now, I am creating something for all of you. Stay Tuned!