I've been seeing a disturbing trend in recent months. Traditional reviewers and agents (and even other authors) are sensing there's money to made off self-pubbed dreams of making it big.
Charging for book reviews:
Kirkus will provide a 300 word review of your self-published book for $425. Not only that, but Kirkus promises you will also: “get your book discovered and proudly wear the title, Published Author.” In capital letters, even.
Publishers Weekly will consider reviewing your self-published book for a $149 "processing" fee.
Literary agents acting as self-publishing "consultants":
The Mediashift blog describes several of these intermediary agents who will "package" your self-pubbed book for a percentage. The Bookends Agency just announced it's also jumping on the bandwagon.
And finally, an example of a self-published author exploiting other self-published authors:
An Amazon forum spam queen provides a website listing random "indy" titles. She also provides these bonuses: referrer amazon links, and listing her own books first.
