A lot of the small publishers are nothing but glorified self-publishers so the fact they charge doesn't mean there's any great quality control or vetting over their work (so sneering at those of us who put stuff out POD ourselves is a bit rich.)
I get the impression that a lot of sneering at the entire web-based portion of publishing industry in general goes on in the publishing world, depsite the growing popularity of ebooks.
Mostly, I just feel uneasy going after something that's written as a hobby with the same degree of rigor I'd use going after something that at least aspires to professionalism, and if there's money exchanged, I know the author intends their fiction to be a professional endeavor in a way that people posting on orig_slavefics might not (some people there are very clearly serious authors producing professional quality work -- Dusk Peterson comes to mind, while others are just in it for the fun).
no subject
I get the impression that a lot of sneering at the entire web-based portion of publishing industry in general goes on in the publishing world, depsite the growing popularity of ebooks.
Mostly, I just feel uneasy going after something that's written as a hobby with the same degree of rigor I'd use going after something that at least aspires to professionalism, and if there's money exchanged, I know the author intends their fiction to be a professional endeavor in a way that people posting on orig_slavefics might not (some people there are very clearly serious authors producing professional quality work -- Dusk Peterson comes to mind, while others are just in it for the fun).