44 - A Book That Was Self-Published

[L Y N N]

A book that was self-published

Two immediately spring to mind: Still Alice by Lisa Genova and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
Both are now favorite authors for me!

I did discover one Goodreads Listopia for strictly "Self-Published" Young Adult books HERE. I cannot attest that each book listed is indeed self-published...
There is also a listopia for self-published erotica HERE
All the other Goodreads listopias I found included books published by independent agencies.
A listing of 9 best-selling self-published books that might help: https://gatekeeperpress.com/bestselli...
(I had forgotten about The Martian! Ooohhh, and The Celestine Prophecy! I reread that book every few years!)

Listopia is HERE

[Chelsea]

I'm going to read Dangerous Ways as a fantasy pick for this!

E.A. Copen has great paranormal mysteries that are self-published.

Amy Hopkins has some fantasy mystery books that center around a tea shop.

[Ashley Marie]

Yes yes yes yes!!

Craig Schaefer (pen name of Heather Schaefer) is an indie self-published author and one of my favorites! If you like paranormal/urban fantasy, definitely check out the Daniel Faust series and Harmony Black (the spin-off), and the Revanche Cycle for high fantasy intrigue a la Game of Thrones-without-the-wait.

I believe Jen Williams would also work for this. Yay dragons!

[Lauren]

Shelby Cuaron's high fantasy romance A Kingdom of Mischief & Memories is self-published. As are Ilona Andrews' Innkeeper Chronicles series- start with Clean Sweep.

[Rachel]

The book on my shelves which I thought would fit this category turned out to be independently published, rather than self-published. I haven't a clue about the publishing industry, so was googling to find out more, and discovered that self-publishing is more common than I thought. According to this article, Emma and Sense and Sensibility were both self-published. Virginia Woolf and her husband started their own printing press to publish their own work, and in the comments someone added that Charles Dickens paid to publish A Christmas Carol himself.

There could be a few ideas here for people who aren't big fantasy readers!

http://www.wiseinkblog.com/self-publi...

[Ashleigh]

I'll be reading A Diamond in My Heart for this one.

[Jen W.]

Ursula Vernon (writing as T. Kingfisher) has self-published a number of books, including Clockwork Boys/The Wonder Engine.

Lois McMaster Bujold has also been self-publishing novellas set in her World of the Five Gods.

Legends & Lattes was originally self-published, but was recently picked up by TOR, so I'm not sure if that would still count. I read it when it was still self-pubbed.

[Rachel]

The Bridge Kingdom
This whole series was self-published :D

[Charlotte]

Colleen Hoover started as self-published. There have been a lot of recent articles about it: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/09/bo...

[Nadine in NY]

Courtney Milan has self-published her last ten or so novels. I'll add a few of them to the Listopia. She's a really solid romance author, for anyone who likes romance (mostly Regency romance, but she's written some other stuff, a few contemporary romances)

And Wool was originally (and maybe still is?) self-published. It's sci-fi dystopian. I haven't read it, but it has a lot of good reviews.

[Dedra ~ A Book Wanderer]

Lindsay Buroker's The Emperor's Edge was self-published, and I believe the entire series was, as well. Emperor's Edge is available free on Amazon Kindle. It still remains one of my favorite series ever. I might just need to do a reread!

[Ellie]

I would say the wording of this covers books that were once self published and now have a traditional publisher. I think a lot of Olivie Blake's books were self published first.

[Kaia]

Nadine in NY wrote: "Courtney Milan has self-published her last ten or so novels. I'll add a few of them to the Listopia. She's a really solid romance author, for anyone who likes romance (mostly Regen..."

I have Courtney Milan books on my TBR, so I can make sure to pick up one of her self-published ones. But I also had Wool penciled in for the Nano prompt. It wasn't my only option, so I might read it here.

[Ron]

Like many of my books, I'm going to have to find some nonfiction ones.

[Joshua]

Ellie wrote: "I would say the wording of this covers books that were once self published and now have a traditional publisher. I think a lot of Olivie Blake's books were self published first."

Thank goodness that I can fit the Atlas Six in here.

[Bea]

Wow! I just found that many of the suggestions are not available at my local libraries.

A search of Amazon did find Amy Hopkins first book...A Drop of Dream, which is the same thing as Dream Stalker.

[Denise]

Jen wrote: "Ursula Vernon (writing as T. Kingfisher) has self-published a number of books, including Clockwork Boys/The Wonder Engine.

Lois McMaster Bujold ha..."

I didn't know that about Vernon/Kingfisher! I'll read Clockwork Boys.

[Jen W.]

Denise wrote: "I didn't know that about Vernon/Kingfisher! I'll read Clockwork Boys."

Yep! If you see something of hers published under "Red Wombat Studio," those are her self-pubbed works.

[Shelley]

An easy way around this might be to find novellas from your favorite series that authors put online. I've found some for Terry Pratchett and Jim Butcher. Ilona Andrews put them right on their website https://ilona-andrews.com/category/fr.... I originally went searching for Andrews because I thought that they post online first before publishing the whole thing which would count in my book.

[LittleBookLoves]

Also Elemental: Shadows of Otherside

[Ron]

Might stretch this one. I'm having a hard time finding debut authors so I figure I might go to include an author's first book.

[Mony]

Likely one of these two...

[Elsa]

Everyone suggesting Courtney Milan, I love her SO MUCH. I've only read Unveiledand Unclaimed, and I thought Unveiled was just okay, but Unclaimed was incredible. Unraveledis the last book in the trilogy, so I get to read it for this!

I also read The Atlas Six this year, and even though it got a reprint through TOR, I think it would count--the copy I had was the earlier self-pubbed version.

[Nadine in NY]

Elsa wrote: "Everyone suggesting Courtney Milan, I love her SO MUCH. I've only read Unveiledand Unclaimed, and I thought Unveiled was just okay, but Unclaimed was incredible. [boo..."


Yes I'm 99% sure that Courtney Milan will be my choice for this category, too!

[Diana]

I'm pretty sure most of the books by Amanda Hocking are self-published.

I remember reading somewhere that https://booklife.com/reviews is a subsection of Publisher's Weekly that's devoted to book reviews of independently published books. So this might be a good resource.

There's also the indie section of Kirkus reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of...

The blue star on them means they're supposedly "good" books.

[Marie-Eve]

Chloe Liese started out as self-published if I'm not mistaken. Her series The Bergman Brothers is my favorite read of 2022. I devoured every single one of those. The series promotes her belief that everyone deserves a love story. Most of the books resent characters who are neurodivergent and/or have a disability. I cannot recommend her enough.

I have also read Julie Christianson's Apple Valley Series starting with The Mostly Real McCoy, and im fairly certain she is self published.

For my part, I'll probably go with Lovelight Farms or the fourth book in that series that is supposed to come out this year.

[Jamie]

I remember reading somewhere that https://booklife.com/reviews is a subsection of Publisher's Weekly that's..."

This was super useful, thanks! I think I'll read A Grimoire Dark by D.S. Quinton for this one.

[Noa Cohen]

Does anyone know if Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was originally self-published? A friend of mine said it was but after some googling I can't find anything saying that it was. Have just finished it so would be nice to tick off an advanced prompt early :)

[Sherri]

I read White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color

[Ron]

Sherri wrote: "I read White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color"

Awesome. I've read this one before. I might just give it a second go.

*****

I still want to find other books, preferably nonfiction, that were self-published, but I would not even know where to begin or how to discover if a book was self published.

[Jennifer W]

I just attended a talk at the library about banned graphic novels and learned that the first book in the Bone series, Out from Boneville (I can't find it outside of a collection on GR) Bone Complete Set, Volumes 1 9: Out From Boneville, The Great Cow Race, Eyes Of The Storm, The Dragonslayer, Rock Jaw, Old Man's Cave, Ghost Circles, Treasure Hunters, And Crown Of Horns was self published. It's also been banned, and I've never read it, so I might go for that.

[Nadine in NY]

Jennifer W wrote: "I just attended a talk at the library about banned graphic novels and learned that the first book in the Bone series, Out from Boneville (I can't find it outside of a collection on GR) [book:Bone C..."



BONE was banned??? the most gentle of comics????

[Jennifer W]

According to the presenter it was banned for alcohol and nudity. I will keep my easily offended hat on while I read it and see if I can be whipped into a frenzy. (eye roll)

[Nadine in NY]

Jennifer W wrote: "According to the presenter it was banned for alcohol and nudity. I will keep my easily offended hat on while I read it and see if I can be whipped into a frenzy. (eye roll)"



LOL nudity! they are creatures, so yeah sometimes they don't have clothes. That's like saying Winnie the Pooh is nude because he has no pants on.

[LeahS]

I read House Of Stories: Entrances and Exits by Sutton Writers. A friend belongs to this local writing group, and they have just self-published two anthologies of short stories and poems. Some are already published authors, others amateurs.

[Ron]

Don't know if self-published and independently published are the same thing, but I'm going to roll with that idea that they are.

So here is my choice for it. This book had been on my wish list, but then I saw it was independently published so I figured it would be okay.

The Attack On Critical Race Theory: The Reverse-Racism Attempts By Parts Of White America To Subdue Black Anti-Racism And Block Recounts Of America’s Racist History From Slavery To Date

[Mony]

Air Awakens by Elise Kova

A great story...with all the fixings I like. A Solaris Empire world, an Imperial Library of magic books; a Tower of Sorcerers, a mysterious magic society; politics in the hallways; a Crown Prince; and Vhalla, a quiet smart library apprentice who comes into her own as she discovers who she really is. 4-stars

[Laura Ruth]

I went with Calico Thunder Rides Again by fellow social worker T. A. Hernandez, about a magical circus in the 1920's. It's tightly plotted, well written and well edited. And it has dragons!

[Britany]

Finished The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Rachel]

I just finished
Unemployable: How I Hired Myself
by Alysia Silberg
It fulfills: 4 First Time author, 12, published in Spring 2023 (just released last week), and Advanced: A Book that was Self-Published

She's a pretty amazing woman, and I'd recommend her book.
I attached my review. :)


This is an incredible story of transformation through self-empowerment.
Alysia Silberg grew up in a dangerous suburb of Johannesburg where homes are surrounded by high walls topped with barbed and electrified wire because the threat of violence is real and constant.

Along her path she has invested in real estate, become a licensed truck driver in order to expedite production needs on construction sites, and run PR for multinational companies.
Among many other achievements, Silberg was made an Honorary Ambassador by the South African Government, voted one of the Top 100 Women in Executives by Yahoo! Finance and awarded UK's "Inspiring Tech Leader of the Year"
Today she is a venture capitalist, growing companies and helping them achieve their goals of going public.

She is an inspiration "to have the courage, confidence, and patience to believe in yourself."

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[Rachel]

Jennifer W wrote: "I just attended a talk at the library about banned graphic novels and learned that the first book in the Bone series, Out from Boneville (I can't find it outside of a collection on GR) [book:Bone C..."

I love Bone!

[Rachel]

Bea wrote: "Wow! I just found that many of the suggestions are not available at my local libraries.

A search of Amazon did find Amy Hopkins first book...A Drop of Dream, which is the same thin..."

It's because of the process that many libraries order books.
It may be more likely that your library has some self-published books by local authors.

And some well established authors have moved from traditional publishing houses to self-publishing so they can write outside of what their typical genre might be.
For example, Lorna Landvik's "Mayor of the Universe" was self-published.

[Chrissie]

I am reading book 2 in a series and right on the back it says book one was self-published. Just One Damned Thing After Another. by Jodi Taylor. Quite good time travel book and there's like a million in the series.

[Nadine in NY]

Chrissie wrote: "... Just One Damned Thing After Another. by Jodi Taylor. Quite good time travel book and there's like a million in the series ..."



Wow I just looked it up and no kidding, there are so many!!! I had no idea! for some reason, I thought this was just a duology. (I have not read any, but I plan to read the first book ... someday.)

[Ron]

I've been having a difficult time with this one.

[Diana]

Ron wrote: "I've been having a difficult time with this one."

Finding non-fiction that was originally self-published is hard. I do know the original Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombaue was self published though that would mean reading a big cookbook.

Technically Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant could be considered self published because it was done under an imprint Twain created. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was self published under that imprint too.

A little big of digging shows that Dakota Warrior: The Story of James R. Weddell looks to be self-published.

Ernest Whiteman III is Northern Arapaho film maker and author who self published two books: A Rez Tale: A Novel and "The Autobiography of Blue Woman”

I know you tend to primarily non-fiction, but what about a children's book? The Tale of Peter Rabbit was self published and it could be a quick read just to mark off the prompt.

[Ron]

I appreciate the help, Diana.

I have a question: How do I know how to determine a self-published book?

[Diana]

Ron wrote: "I appreciate the help, Diana.

I have a question: How do I know how to determine a self-published book?"

Sadly, there is no easy way that I know of. You either have to look at the copyright page for the book or find it on a list somewhere else or lucking out with a google search. They definitely didn't make this an easy prompt.

https://booklife.com/ reviews only self published books, but their site isn't easy to search or navigate.

This article has a list and links to different book awards for self-published books, so you might be able to find something through there or the links. https://indiereader.com/2018/01/self-...

[Ron]

Okay thanks, Diana. That's kind of what I thought. I might end up skipping this prompt then since it's a bit complicated, especially with a nonfiction setting.

[Ron]

Wahoo, I was able to find someone who is getting their book self published. Their book isn't available yet, but is being released in a couple of months.