I got this email from Tony Stanton of Obooko and thought it was worth reproducing in part:
obooko is a new (we started November 2009) website devoted to giving new writers the opportunity to test-the-water before committing to print. And for established authors to promote their work.
The idea is that new writers self-publish and gain experience and feedback by agreeing to make their work available in digital format (PDF only at present) for free download to a worldwide audience. This guarantees their book will be distributed and, most importantly, read. What’s more, because an author’s work is in digital form, their book can be treated as a work-in-progress: technical and creative issues can quickly be addressed in response to reader feedback.
By requiring registration and limiting the amount of downloads per day, we do our best to ensure that the majority of our registered users are genuine readers.
obooko is a place for all types of writer and all kinds of reader; where first-timers can rub shoulders with famous authors like Paulo Coelho, who has agreed to include six of his free Ebooks for download by our members. …
Publishing on obooko is free of charge. All rights/licences are retained by the author and respected by us. There is no contract to sign so authors may come and go as they please and continue to post or distribute their work wherever they wish. We create a detailed book-page for each work, where authors can monitor download figures and star-ratings. They have the option of receiving direct feedback and a link to their website and/or a retail site (Amazon, Lulu, etc.,) too.
