How Do You Feel About Self-Published Books? (7/24/22)

[Marc]

There are more and more vehicles for writers to self-publish their works. How do you feel about self-published novels? Do you ever read them? Have you discovered any writers through them?

[Tracy]

So far, the only self-published books I’ve read are by friends who published fun stuff. Jessica Falling Up is a sister from another mister- we’ve been friends since childhood, so I’m biased.

[Sarah]

Currently going through the self-publish process with my partner who is planning a Nov 15 book launch and it has been a real eye opener. There is so much hard work involved with steep learning curves for the inexperienced. I find myself offering input to the best of my ability when selecting professional editors, cover designers, book layout for paper and ebook, reviewers.....the list goes on. The reward has been a product that reflects the work of the author not what a traditional publisher demands in order to sell books. Please be kind to self-published authors!

[Susan]

How do I feel? How do I feel? I have a positive feeling. It is so difficult to get a book published. I watched a friend persevere for about 25 years before she was published by a very small company. I admire a person who loves to write so much they hang in there, keep writing and perhaps decide to self-publish. My partner self-published two books because he was told he didn't have name recognition.

I have two young people in my life who regularly read self-published stuff on the interweb. I'm OK with the fact they're reading...something. Would I be happier if they were reading good literature? Yes. All in good time.

I had to think about this because my first response is critical. My gut response is that they are like scholarly articles that are published in journals that are not peer reviewed. I would read anything self-published by a friend. I do not think I would intentionally seek one out.

[Lark]

I self-published a novel in 2018 and I learned so much. I did the layout and figured out distribution and designed my own cover and got blurbs and got some major outlets to review it, including a couple of print magazines. It gave me the confidence to go out and get an agent for my next novel--and to know a great deal more about the business.

In total I've probably sold about 1200 copies of my self-published novel and I only did that after I started marketing it as "fantasy." It's not a good place for general fiction or literary fiction.

The books that do best are either very genre, or nonfiction how-to books in a very niche-y field, like the guy who wrote a book about how to compost human waste.

If I were a romance novelist I would stick with self-publishing all the way--the satisfaction of getting 100% of the profits going straight to your bank account is amazing! and the demand is huge.

[Marc]

May I ask, lark, have you read any self-published books that weren't by people you know?

Like many of you, I've read (and enjoyed!) the self-published works of some friends (even helped out with a book cover design or two), but I don't generally seek out such work, and unless recommended by other readers I respect, I don't usually take the "risk."

I have accidentally read some self-published books:
An early Amazon algorithm error suggested a book to me by John Barth--I thought it was John Barth of Lost in the Funhouse-fame. It ended up being a self-published author with the same name. I shouldn't have read it, but I was almost compulsive about finishing everything I started at that time in my life. I hated it. I put it out with the paper recycling instead of donating it.

The amount of work involved in putting out a book (beyond the extraordinary effort involved in writing the actual book) is amazing.

[Tamara]

I have published a couple of non-fiction books about women in mythology, both of which were published by traditional publishers. My Women and Goddesses in Myth and Sacred Text was published by Pearson, a publishing company specializing in text books. It has been used as a text for women in religion classes.

After retiring from academia, I decided to write novels. I'm passionate about mythology and love giving voice to the voiceless in myths. I have self-published a couple of novels, all of which are re-tellings of ancient myths. Two of my re-tellings are from Ancient Greece and one is from Ancient Mesopotamia.

My first novel re-tells the story of Demeter and Persephone. Initially I went the route of trying to find a publisher for my novels on the assumption I could replicate the relative ease with which I found publishers for my non-fiction books. When that got me nowhere, I sent it agents I thought might be interested. Most never bothered to reply. But one memorable agent wrote back asking me who the heck is Demeter. She claimed no one has ever heard of Demeter much less likely to want to read a novel about her. Ouch!

That's when I decided to self-publish my novels.

[Bill]

Susan wrote: "I have two young people in my life who regularly read self-published stuff on the interweb. I'm OK with the fact they're reading...something. Would I be happier if they were reading good literature? Yes."

So nothing on the interweb is "good literature"? Interesting.

I read many books from tiny publishers that even my local bookstores may have trouble ordering, and don't keep track of which ones are "self-published". Michael Belfer's recent autobiography When Can I Fly? : The Sleepers, Tuxedomoon & Beyond probably is? When I see an interesting review or recommendation from a friend whose taste I trust, I don't worry about whether it's self-published.

I'm active in the local experimental/new/improvised music scene. There's almost no corporate support, so just about all releases I'm interested in are self-published. I'm kept super-busy with recordings from friends, musicians I follow, and Bandcamp in general. I buy almost no music on larger commercial labels.

[Lark]

Marc wrote: "May I ask, lark, have you read any self-published books that weren't by people you know?..."

I've read the one about human-waste composting that I mentioned above and found it very helpful in a time when a huge fire left my house without water for 6 months (the fire burned down our water company).

I read The Martian in its first self-published form, on Andy Weir's blog, before it got a real publisher and became a hit movie.

I think the difference between self-publishing and small publishing is razor-thin, especially if one does just a bit of extra work. I set up an imprint and developed a logo, and I'm distributed through Ingram world-wide, and I also produced an audiobook version that is available on every big audio website, read by one of my favorite narrators, Bernadette Dunne. If I wanted to publish 2-3 more authors then I'd be a "publisher." Really if anyone here wants to start a small press the means are there with very little investment.

[Marc]

Bill wrote: "When I see an interesting review or recommendation from a friend whose taste I trust, I don't worry about whether it's self-published."

I'm the same, but I think it's the direct sales approach that usually rubs me wrong (and that goes for everything, not just books). If I feel like an author is directly approaching me in an aggressive or pushy way when we have no other history of communication, it drives me away. I don't mind if someone sends me a tweet or DM that says, "Hey, you might be interested in my book(s)." or "Because you like X you might also like my writing... " (This is not exclusive to self-published authors, I just think they need to do more of their own marketing, so I experience that kind of approach/marketing more from them.)

I suppose I read a fair amount of short stories online that are self-published as well as essays/articles on Medium or Substack (which are essentially self-publishing platforms).

[Marc]

lark wrote: "I've read the one about human-waste composting that I mentioned above and found it very he..."
Thanks, lark. I knew there had been some big name books/authors that had started as self-published before taking off, I just couldn't bring any to mind off the top of my head.

In general, if musicians/writers/artists can get their work to the audience more directly in the ways they choose, I think that's great, but it would be better if it was also sustainable for them financially.

[Lark]

Marc, I'm sure that many, many romance writers are making a good living by self-publishing their works. It's like 80% of the book business and it intersects just about 0% with the books you and I read. My brain is fuzzy now about the promo sites that are available to self-published authors but basically if you're a romance author you list your ebook on Amazon for $7.50 and then you promote it at half price on these promo sites that link to your Amazon page and you sell many copies that way...Romance by far gets huge returns from very economical promotions like this.

[Marc]

Romance writing sounds like the way to go! :D
I recall a dustup in the last couple years (maybe a writers' group or something... ) that opened my eyes a bit to just how strident a community the romance genre has (both writers and readers).

[Whitney]

The world of romance publishing seems to be its own beast. I've heard about some of the plagiarism scandals that inevitably result from so many people self-publishing. It doesn't seem to take long for Romance Twitter, a collection of individuals seemingly as dedicated to their chosen milieu as the Gotti Family, to unmask and eviserate the offenders.

[Catherine]

My daughter is an attorney and a compulsive writer and reader of fan fiction. Apparently the whole "Fifty shades of gray" thing started out as fan fiction. Just now she has a substantial manuscript imagining a romantic encounter between Hamilton and Jefferson. It's really fun, and surprisingly well written.

[Susan]

Bill--Yes, perhaps I misspoke. Mea culpa. One of my favorite musical artists is Elvis Costello, known for his anti-industry stance. :(

[Joy D]

My experience with self-publishing comes from authors asking me to read their works. When I first joined GR, I thought I was helping them, but those I read were so poorly written that I decided not to accept any more requests. When I am contacted, I politely decline.

[Marc]

Joy, I think many of us have had your experience and on GR. I have actually read some good self-published works thanks to GR, as well.

I just came across this article about how to find the gems amidst self-published works:
https://bookriot.com/how-to-find-good...