PodHouse

Quality self-published books in the UK and beyond.

From their website:

Hello and welcome to PoDhouse.

You're probably here because you love good books but want something a little bit different to what traditional publishers can offer you (not all of us are fans of Katie Price and Dan Brown after all). If so, you've come to the right place. If not, welcome all the same.

What is PoDhouse's purpose in life?

The burgeoning world of self-publishing may be an area you are unfamiliar with (you may even have heard horror stories about some self-published titles), but PoDhouse aims to make this world one heck of a lot easier for you to navigate and assist you in discovering new, as yet unsigned authors. There are gems out there - and we'll help you find them. Being a portal for self-published books rather than a merchant, PoDhouse doesn't actually sell the books we promote - but we do provide direct links to all platforms the author has chosen to sell through, including Amazon, Waterstones and Barnes and Noble, making purchasing easy peasy.
How does PoDhouse do this?

The most important thing to know about PoDhouse is that we don’t promote any old nonsense, oh no. Instead we use a network of writers, editors and book reviewers across the UK and beyond to read, review and recommend titles for consideration on PoDhouse, making sure each one meets our exacting standards. We don’t choose work based upon whether we like it or not (that’s a matter of personal opinion), but we do make sure that all the work we promote is up to the standard you would expect when spending your hard earned money on a book. As well as sourcing for quality works we also accept submissions from aspiring authors (click here for more information). Unlike other sites, we don't charge authors a single penny for appearing on PoDhouse - we just want to find and promote the best self-published work.
Who are PoDhouse to tell me what's good or bad in a book?

We won't - we can't. One person's good is another person's awful - that's why we love books! We're not here to tell you our opinions of a book, but we are here to ensure that books littered with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or any other defects that instantly ruin a piece of work don't get on our shelves. From there it's up to you. And if you're worried about our ability to judge, compare a sample of one of our titles with a selection of those not on PoDhouse. We're sure you'll see the difference.

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So there you have it. How actively they promote a title and what the word promote means is subject to debate. As a listing site, it is similar to IndieReader and the new Indieprose in that submissions are vetted to an extent before inclusion in their catalogue, except that PodHouse does not charge the authors to list nor does it, at this time, take a percentage of sales. I spoke with Mark Hunter, the founder of Podhouse, and when I questioned him about the revenue needed to keep the site going, he said he might use ad-sense, affiliate links, and possibly take donations, but that he would not be charging fees directly to the authors.

The book pages look nice and provide all necessary sales links: links to author websites, previews, and links to reviews. I like the look and feel of the site and might even consider submitting some of my own novellas. I am not much for the gate-keeping model, specifically if the gatekeepers are being paid, but in this case, it's just a list site and one that won't cost the author an arm and a leg.

Edited to add comments on promotion by Mark Hunter: In regards to promotion of titles, each title will have its own page with all the links you mention, with each new addition featuring on our Facebook, MySpace and Twitter pages as well as our homepage. We aim to offer equal exposure for all titles, and firmly believe that PoDhouse should act as an add-on to an existing marketing plan rather than being a one-stop marketing shop.

The word 'promote', as far as we are concerned, means simply that we are raising awareness of certain books above others; we act as the claw in the stuffed-toy grabber at the fairground, hooking certain titles out of the pile and giving them a platform. And we have recently added a fancy new flash gallery to our genre pages. I suggest having a look! -- Mark Hunter

Cheryl Anne Gardner