Are Self Published Books Inherently Inferior?

[Sharon]

Jeffrey wrote: "the guy who busted his butt to write a legitimate novel, and then edited it for a thousand hours, has to find some sort of untapped source of marketing that a hundred thousand other people couldn't just to get ahead of all the sewage. I don't want to come across as whiny because I'm doing the work and working on solutions but it needs to be stated that it is a legitimate problem.
"

It is a very legitimate problem and although I don't write, I'm an artist and I face exactly the same problems as self-published writers do.

I can put my work up on print-on-demand gallery websites but so can every would-be artist in the world. It's free ... or nearly free ... so the venue is available to anyone who wants it and you don't have the initial expense that used to be involved. But to sell you have to market and you have to market harder and smarter than the competition because you have a lot more competition.

The options have definitely opened up with the Internet but there are new problems that come with it for both authors and artists.

[Ty]

Jeffrey wrote: "But the problem is deeper than that. I don't think people understand how much garbage is released, daily. I don't have the exact number off-hand, but from what i hear, there are about 20,000 self..."

don't take me wrong. i totally agree with the problem. heck you probably have sold more books than me and at the current rate my fossils will become crude oil before the real money comes through from my books.

however i think we just have to accept the new world and get down to it.

[Christopher Ruz]

Absolutely not. I've been writing, reading and selling books for years now (in a bookshop, that is), and I've sold a lot of traditionally published crud. I'd agree that the standards of editing and proofing will generally be higher in traditionally published titles, but the standards of storytelling can vary wildly. There are a lot of very bold, exciting self published works being released that never would have seen the light of day under a traditional publishing model.

[Jeffrey]

I completely agree with you on that. Almost nothing is off limits when it comes to self-pub'd books, and that's exactly why that is the route I'm going for my current material.

[Leland]

The most important difference between traditionally published and indie books is not the quality, it's the distribution. Having been an author/publisher for the last 8 years, I can tell you without a doubt that distribution sells books. The more people who your book is in front of, the more you will sell. The same is true in online sales avenues like Amazon - the more people who see your book, the more will buy it, regardless of the quality.

For example, Lee Child is one of the most popular thriller authors today, and one of his books was recently made into a movie starring Tom Cruise. Did you read his early books? He wrote in such choppy fragments that it took me several tries to get through them. Literally three out of every four sentences did not have both a subject and a verb. However, he had a great protagonist and entertaining stories - so combined with the huge distribution he got, he became a bestseller. To his credit (or that of his editors), his writing flows much better in more recent books, and they are a pleasure to read.

I released my first action-adventure thriller, PRECIPICE, under my own small press 6 weeks ago. I went through it many times for editing, and I feel like it's as well presented as most of the mainstream stuff out there (I edit other people's books as part of my job - doing your own takes way more times through it). However, I know that no matter how good the story is, how well it's edited, or how much I promote it, I will not sell as many as I would with a big publishing house because there is no way I can get the book in front of nearly as many people. I simply can't get it on the shelves of every bookstore in the nation, and I also can't magically make it rise above all of the indie crap that's out there on the radars of indie e-book readers.

That's what big publishing houses have that indie publishers still can rarely touch - the ability to get their books in front of massive numbers of customers.

[Lisa P, My weekend is all booked up!]

You only have to take a look at Hugh Howey and Wool Omnibus to see how successful self-publishing can be. If you read up on his beliefs and experiences with self-publishing, you can see why he has achieved so much in such a short amount of time. Readers like to feel a sense of closeness or connection with the authors they enjoy...self-publishing can do that, where traditional publishing cannot. I believe it is the way of the future.

[Leland]

Of course it will be the way of the future, because in another 10-20 years there will be very few printed books. In fact, I think there's going to be a point in the not too distant future where the print book industry simply implodes due to the economies of scale as demand for print wanes. I do worry that the disappearance of traditional publishing will mean a lot of very gifted writers will not be heard simply because they are not also great marketers, or great at interacting with readers.

And sure, a very small percentage can have huge success with self publishing right now - but it's not the slam dunk that traditional publishing with massive distribution still is, at least until the collapse occurs. I would bet the success rate of authors with traditional publishing deals is astronomically higher than that of self-published authors.

The real question is, what do we want success (sales) in the book industry to be a measure of? Do we want it to measure distribution (traditional major publishers), or do we want it to measure self promotion skill (indie e-book movement). Which one do you think encourages a higher level of quality in the books available on the market?

Will a lot of the mass market (most of whom are not here on Goodreads) still read as much when the big publishers and big-box bookstores are no longer there to spoon feed them, or will they become so frustrated by trying to sift through the rabble of e-book chaff to find the good stuff that they give up and watch youtube videos instead?

As an avid reader, I still like to be spoon fed a lot of the time. I would rather spend time reading a good book than trying to choose a good book. I'm still not sure that self-publishing is going to be the huge boon for readers that folks think it is. And this is coming from someone who has been self publishing for a living for 8 years. I would still take a major publishing deal in a second - I would much rather write than do marketing. However, marketing is what I spend the majority of my time on.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

Lisa wrote: "You only have to take a look at Hugh Howey and Wool Omnibus to see how successful self-publishing can be. If you read up on his beliefs and experiences with self-publishing, you can see why he has..."

If not Howely, I've really enjoyed Randolph Lalonde's Spinward Fringe series (First book free in the US: First Light Chronicles)


They get better as they go along but these had a different feel than most Sci-fi (in a good way) yet stuck to hard science for the most part. I enjoyed them.

[Lisa P, My weekend is all booked up!]

Leland wrote: "Of course it will be the way of the future, because in another 10-20 years there will be very few printed books. In fact, I think there's going to be a point in the not too distant future where th..."

I understand exactly what you are saying Leland and it makes sense. I think there are authors who will miss out either way. With traditional publishing, there are many great stories that are never picked up by publishers, hence never make it big. And as you said with self-publishing, if you aren't a good marketer, you probably won't make it big either. I'm not an author, so not sure which way I would prefer if I were.

[Lisa P, My weekend is all booked up!]

I, Curmudgeon wrote: "If not Howely, I've really enjoyed Randolph Lalonde's Spinward Fringe series..."

I've still got to read that series soon Hugh!

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

Lisa wrote: "I, Curmudgeon wrote: "If not Howely, I've really enjoyed Randolph Lalonde's Spinward Fringe series..."

I've still got to read that series soon Hugh!"

I really enjoyed reading it.


@Leland and Lisa

Your right it's the distribution. Go to a grocery store, a convience store, a Walmart, K-mart, target, not to mention a book store and there will be copies of books just wating to be looked and red. Maybe 7 people in an hour pick up a book and read the back cover, maybe thumb through it, and, one out of those 7 (or 14) might buy.

That's how most people buy anything. They go to a store, look at all of the things in the group they are interested in, then pick the best one. Indie pubs don't have anything resembling a distribution center.

Enter Amazon.com. If everybody loosened up and got used to Amazon paying for advertisment on your webrouser or goodreads or anywhere on line, that might be the equivalent of having your book by the checkout lane for someone to pick it up and look at it while they are waiting to get checked out.

That's the point behind the merger between goodreads and Amazon (well the GR getting bought out thing). All of this free, or nearly free advertising with a link right back to Amazon.com where the book can be purchased in the blink of an eye and two clicks on the mouse.

Everybody is very comfortable with "e-books" these days, well a majority, but less are comfortable accepting advertising as a part of being on the internet. That advertising is key to success but, it comes in more forms than the ads on the screen. Goodreads itself is, if not good advertising, a source of free publicity.

I do believe there is a quality issue, but that's less a "skill of the author" issue and more about the number of eyes and specialty skills than it is anything esle.

[Leland]

I, Curmudgeon wrote: "Enter Amazon.com. If everybody loosened up and got used to Amazon paying for advertisment on your webrouser or goodreads or anywhere on line, that might be the equivalent of having your book by the checkout lane for someone to pick it up and look at it while they are waiting to get checked out."

The problem with this is that Amazon is going to decide which books to advertise like that in the same way that they decide what books to promote on their site - they will promote only the ones that already sell the best. So authors will be up against the same problem - how do we get our books to sell well enough to be promoted by Amazon, without first being promoted by Amazon? This is the difference between online "distribution" and real books being in front of customers on the shelves in brick and mortar stores. It's the self publishing catch-22, and the only answer yet is that authors also have to be experts at marketing and self promotion in order to succeed.

[Lisa P, My weekend is all booked up!]

I am assuming the book ads we see all the time on the right hand side of all our pages on Goodreads are self purchased ads. Not sure of the expense, but seems like a good marketing tool. I wonder if we will continue to see those ads once Amazon takes over?

[Leland]

I'd be curious to know how many people have bought a book based on seeing an ad here on Goodreads.

I don't know how much is costs (you have to email Goodreads to find out) because I don't think enough readers have listed my book on here yet for Goodreads to accurately target my market. I just emailed them to see how they do this and what it costs. Honestly, I hadn't really noticed those ads - which doesn't really inspire me to buy one.

I would love to hear that people use them to help them find new books, though.

[Jim]

Leland wrote: "I'd be curious to know how many people have bought a book based on seeing an ad here on Goodreads. ..."

That would be an excellent poll. Personally, I don't buy books from ads. GR friends help me decide. That's one of the primary reasons they are my friends here.

[Lisa P, My weekend is all booked up!]

Leland wrote: "I'd be curious to know how many people have bought a book based on seeing an ad here on Goodreads..."

I look at the ads all the time. I don't click on the ad, but if I see one that looks interesting I will usually check out the book here on Goodreads (read reviews, etc). If it sounds good, I may buy it at some point.

[James]

The publishing industry is fast evolving. The old 19th century model is dying a deserved death. Self-publishing offers many more reading opportunities for book lovers. The problem is trying to separate the good stuff from the tsunami of crap that comes with no gatekeepers screening out good from bad. Therefore it is incumbent upon the reader to screen the offerings. Look at the Search Inside functions Amazon and Barnes feature and read reviews -- though sock puppet reviews often dilute the value of this effort. Bottom line: there are books being published by indie authors that are as good, or better, than those being released by traditional publishers. It just takes some effort to find them. And you'll then want to read more of their works.