I would like to know why you cannot list a book on this site unless you have an editor. I understand that there are many self published authors out there who release work which is full of mistakes.

But there are also writers who have learnt how to edit their work to a quality which is acceptable to the average reader.

If the moderators are that fussy, then why not invite authors to submit a few hundred words of their work so that it can be evaluated.

Thank you for your question.

It's really tough deciding what goes into the newsletter and what doesn't and we understand your frustration.

Our goal is to get people who download books to sign up to the newsletter and stay active for as long as possible. The higher standard of books featured, the more likely people are to stay. If we lose a subscriber because one book is unpolished, that's a subscriber that authors who do get their books edited, can no longer reach. You may call that fussy; we call it getting the most for our authors.

You're right, there are brilliant books published without editors, and some poor ones published with. We have to make quick decisions every day and using a professional editor is just one way that authors can demonstrate a professional approach to publishing. It's one that is very easy for us to check.

Editors don't just fix typos. They improve manuscripts in a wide range of ways. Even if we had the time to read extracts from dozens of books each day, a few hundred words could not possibly get across that vast number of ways in which a book might benefit from an editor, especially as authors could easily focus on perfecting those extracts.

We understand that editors can be expensive, especially when profits for books are so low. Also, the editing process is time consuming and people have busy lives. With that in mind, it only fair for us to prioritise authors who have gone to the trouble to make their book the best book it can be.

Thanks for the reply