Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
III. Goodreads Readers
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Why don't more people read Self-published authors?
I think once I get my book out there (Monday!) I'm going to read some more self-pub stuff. I've joined twitter and all that and after a while the books that are constantly pushed on you by their authors start to sink in. I just hope some of them are good!Chris Ward
Since participating in this discussion, I decided to look for some free self-pubbed romance books to download over at Amazon. Part of the perception issues are because of books like this.I only got as far as the blurb, but I think it's a pretty good indicator as to the quality of the rest of the book.
I know that this is just one example, but there were plenty more that were just as bad.
If anybody wants to Kindle the sample and report back on formatting, editing, and general grammar, please feel free.
I must mention though, some of my blog readers already did so, and according to them, the blurb is as good as it gets. Having said that, your mileage may differ.
Karen wrote: "Since participating in this discussion, I decided to look for some free self-pubbed romance books to download over at Amazon. Part of the perception issues are because of books like this.I only ..."
Yes, I agree as well. There are a lot of bad books out there. I think when it comes to free books, you often get what you pay for.
Public tastes will adjust because a lot of good writers are bypassing the traditional publishing houses. The reasons vary, but traditional publishing shot itself in the foot when it decided to buy into the cult of celebrity at the expense of unproven authors.Now that authors who aren't willing to play the game have an alternative path, they can keep control of their work and they can be the primary beneficiaries. McPublishing is losing control.
Publishers got too big for their proverbial britches, but evolving technology is leveling the field. There will be bad writers out there who will produce bad work, but the glut of good writers will smother them.
We're stepping into a highly democratic marketplace. Competition will be stiff, but artistic freedom will flourish and that will ensure a better range of options for the public to choose from. As the trend continues, I think the old stigma associated with being self published will fade.
Michael wrote: "...traditional publishing shot itself in the foot when it decided to buy into the cult of celebrity at the expense of good, but unproven, authors." The consensus seems to be that, if a book is published by one of the so-called Big 6 and is written by a well-known author, it must automatically be very well-written and professional. But, the funny thing is, I see a lot of very negative and low star reviews for some of the celebrity authors that are published by these traditional publishing houses. I myself have been disappointed by some of the offerings from my favourite authors.
Sure, the number of typos and editorial errors might be less than those indie authors who don't have the benefit of several professional and no doubt highly-paid editors perusing their writing, but that doesn't necessarily mean the novel itself is going to be perfect and excellent. It is quite possible for a well-known author to churn out dross and sell it on his or her name alone.
I believe that, as the self-publishing industry develops, indie authors will get better and better as they realize the importance of producing a high-quality product that will get them noticed in the discriminating world of readers.
Cheryl wrote: "I believe that, as the self-publishing industry develops, indie authors will get better and better as they realize the importance of producing a high-quality product that will get them noticed in the discriminating world of readers."I say 'amen' to that. I spent almost as much time editing T93 as I did writing it, and there still might be a tricky typo lurking in the mass of words, but with dedication and work we can polish our own just as surely as any overworked line editor.
L.G. wrote: "I don’t think publishers or agents will feel any effect from the surge taking place in self publishing. If anything their load will be lightened and they will have more time to dedicate to their pr..."Evolution is an unpredictable thing, but I suppose it depends on how much truth there is to the premise that they failed to tap vast swathes of otherwise marketable talent, and, if so, how effective that talent is at actually marketing what they write.
Karen, sorry for the sad ebook experience. Many good scifi authors write novels that combine good science/scifi and romance elements. There is a nice romance between two high-schoolers in my YA scifi novel LITTLE BROTHER'S WORLD and there are two romances between adults in the apocalyptic, Gaean earth magic novel that I selfpubbed recently, THE GAEAN ENCHANTMENT. The SF authors Sarah Hoyt and Elizabeth Moon write some fine SF/fantasy that includes romance with great stories and real characters. Good luck! Tom.
L.G. wrote: "The greatest shortfall in self publishing is the time spent trying to peddle your wares. This takes away from creativity and the anticipated goal of being able to write and leave the marketing to t..."We have kindred motivations for keeping at it.
I haven't sought a publisher and I've never worked with one, but the horror stories I've read concerning unknown authors indicate that they tend to provide little or no marketing support. I guess to my own mind that puts me in the same boat no matter which way I go.
I'll just have to keep my day job and try to write consistently good stories.
L.G. it doesn't matter HOW you publish...because unless you're a well known author (and a sure bet for publishers) you'll be marketing on your own. The positive element when going the traditional route, is the cash advance...which will most likely go to marketing. The down-side to traditional, is THEY own all your book rights.
I find myself spending time every single day trying to do some marketing (see me shamelessly insert my book at the end of this post). The writing only seems to happen a few days a week. There's something depressing about this, but it's reality.I have four WIP, ideas for even more, should write a short story with the same protagonist as my mystery series that I could give away, should do a lot of things.
And, there are so many free books available now, that it's hard to get the attention of readers, to ask them to pay much for a book.
L.G. wrote: "MichaelI think the name of the boat might be 'Titanic' but at least that has been remembered for a hundred years. What do you write?"
Post-apocalyptic is all I've completed and polished so far. I also have an occult thriller in the trunk that isn't fit for human consumption, but for now I'm into guessing at what might happen if society suffered a catastrophic event. There's a link in my profile.
Well, I'm a recently self-published author and until recently, I had never read a self-published book. I think it's an awareness issue. If a book is self-published, it is usually very difficult to find. It's certainly not stocked along with Rick Riordan or Stephenie Meyers at Walmart or in your favorite grocery store book aisle.My experience, though, is that a lot of traditionally published books are less than worthwhile to read. They are formulaic because formulaic is what sells. A lot of self-published books, such as my own, transcend genres and defy classification. Unfortunately, publishing is a business, and publishers want a clearly defined genre so they know how to market it and have an idea what kind of return on investment to expect.
In self-published works, there is often little expectation of a return on investment--the return for many self-published authors--myself included--is being read and having my writing appreciated for the beauty of the writing and the ideas I wish to express.
Cheers!
Matthew wrote: "the return for many self-published authors--myself included--is being read and having my writing appreciated for the beauty of the writing and the ideas I wish to express."Matthew- I used to be there, but I've reached the stage where I need to make a buck or two, and I've learned that just doesn't happen without marketing, and the stacks of the competition is are deep.
I think a lot of people are choosing more and more self-published authors, but they may not be very discriminating yet.
L.G. wrote: "That's interesting Michael. The first novel I wrote was along the same lines. The only difference is that my first work, "The Dome" pretty much implies that the beginning of the world was the end. ..."I appreciate your interest L.G., and I'll take a gander at yours as well. Sounds like an intriguing concept.
Hello Joan and L.G., thanks for your replies...@Joan, Yeah, it would be nice to make a buck, but I'm trying to lay groundwork for my next novel and to build a name for myself. I take inspiration from John Grisham. He self-published A Time To Kill. The Firm was his second novel, and we all know what happened following the publishing of The Firm.
@LG, yes, I know the books are available on Amazon, B&N, etc. Mine is as well. However, you have to know the book is out there to search for it. Where do you find a listing of new novels by self-published authors? They're not in Publisher's Weekly or Kirkus or any of the trades unless an author pays those publications a fee for a review. I think finding out about the book is the challenge, and so I'm glad that sites like goodreads exists, and I'm honored to join the community.
Cheers!
L.G. wrote: "Therein lies the problem Mathew. You can put a book out there but it's like dropping a teaspoon of water in the ocean and expecting the tide to rise. I think it would be a good idea for Indie Write..."THAT is an awesome idea! I'm in. How do we get started? Would you care to pursue the idea further?
Matthew wrote: "L.G. wrote: "Therein lies the problem Mathew. You can put a book out there but it's like dropping a teaspoon of water in the ocean and expecting the tide to rise. I think it would be a good idea fo..."I agree, it's a great idea.
L.G. wrote: "The book stores formed a coalition and store owners reviewed new releases and posted their reviews. They had become disgruntled with New York Times best seller list. Their customers turned with gre..."Michael wrote: "Matthew wrote: "L.G. wrote: "Therein lies the problem Mathew. You can put a book out there but it's like dropping a teaspoon of water in the ocean and expecting the tide to rise. I think it would b..."
Certainly a book a month is very doable!
I'm probably not nearly multi-genre enough. I'm not interested in romance, vampires or paranormal stuff. Marginally in fantasy and sci-fi. Of course those are currently all the rage. You might need more people doing segments
L.G. wrote: "It could grow into a self sustaining venture that would benefit many Indie writers. They would be writing to get reviewed and accepted the same as they would do for an editor or agent. I'll go into..."If you would like to start with a wordpress blog, I can provide hosting and we could add contributors after we create the site.
Not 100% sure. It really creates another layer of something that has to be sold. Why should anyone care what we think, any more than any other review blog? Goodreads has a highly accepted platform with many reviews. Maybe we should just put our energies into reviewing more books here and making sure those reviews get shared on FB, twitter, etc. I already have a short story review blog, and a book review site, separate from here. Don't think I really could take on another responsibility. (Not to mention writing and hanging on to a cough, gag, "real" job)
L.G. wrote: "I'm not savvy on wordpress or blogs but if you are and it will correlate with Goodreads authors lets do it."Wordpress is simple once the blog is set up. Both of my websites are wordpress blogs:
http://www.insidegov.org
http://www.thesirenscall.net
Very different look, same platform.
If we're going to do indie reviews and establish an authoritative best sellers list, we need our own site, not a group on goodreads, but with the widgets and other tools available on goodreads it should be very easy to link to and integrate with each other. It won't require as much work as Joan thinks. Book review blogs write a review and simultaneously post on their websites, Amazon, Goodreads...the reading and the review is the same, the difference is the integration, the links to each site, and the widgets.
Matthew wrote: "L.G. wrote: "http://www.thesirenscall.net"nice blog, i like the clean style. regarding this "indie author best selling list" would only work for either really bestselling authors, who propably don't need it or a group with the same interest. categories for highlighted fantasy, sci-fi, romance and so one which aren't all bestseller but approved by the other, where the problems lies. who says which would be good enough to put into the webside. what need someone to do to get in. want i stand my work right besides others, which i think is poorly edited? therefore you would need a group who actually ensure quality. i'm actually unsure about that this is, what i meant to say or if you just want to connect indie blogs together using one big parent blog for everyone of us, which would also need some guidlines and restriction.
Patrick wrote: "Matthew wrote: "L.G. wrote: "http://www.thesirenscall.net"nice blog, i like the clean style. regarding this "indie author best selling list" would only work for either really bestselling authors,..."
all of those are valid pints, Patrick. What would you suggest?
the easiest and fastest way would be a parent site which redirects to contributed author sites. it could feature everyone best/biggest project in categories. the site should be constructed more visualy, lots of big picture, book covers, rather than bombing readers with lot's of writings. something like 3 colums or as many as needed for the categories where the spots within sorted random. that way everyone could have a top spot or be at the bottom of the list. the table need to be vertical, so that every category is visible and not at the bottom of the page behind the other ones. it would be better to generalisize the categories than adding to many with little book cover to fit the space of the website.someone of course there needs to be the administrator, also propably design the site, but that could be split to other. as i said before, focusing on big book cover and "plain" menues. something like a coverflow maybe, propably available already in wordpress.
regarding submissions: they could be approved by the group of people who created the website, allowing new authors, after being approved before, to vote for the next submissions. only one book can be shown for each author and be changed to a newer one, which of course should be approved. there could be a majority system, so that not everyone needs to vote for each piece. like every author can only vote for books in the same category.
the restriction wouldn't be about the story or the plot, more about the technical side. that would be more objectiv and easier to judge, that would make it fairer for others. does the cover looks shabby, reading the sample to see if each sentence is written or edited poorly. of course there needs to be some moderators for each category. the categories should be more general and not detailed like amazon does. something like fantasy, science fiction, non-fiction. the best would be to stay in the storyteller genre, nothing like selfhelp or religion.
the only thing i don't know would be how to establish a voting system. making an extra forum for that, using mail oder a hidden corner with a guestbook. it's not like there will be 100 authors and everyday 100 submissions.
seeing that i switched from wordpress to blogger because of the problems i had with it, i'm propably not the suited one fir being administrator/designer.
I know that I would be up for getting involved. I have opened my site up for book reviews for indie writers. I am looking to help others like me who are obscure nobodies find the audience they need. I only released my book about a month ago so there is a long way to go but I felt a place to begin was to help review others works. Getting involved in a bigger endeavor like this would be something I would love to do.E. Milan
http://www.emilanfiction.com
Lately self-published authors is all I've been reading. I have a whole list of books by self-published authors to read and I mark them and update the list on here. I usually read them on kindle and then read a traditional book in paperback unless I'm fortunate enough to get the paperback version. I enjoy self-published authors book, being one myself I read them as appreciation to my fellow authors and also cause I see no difference between them and traditional.
We'll....there are a zillion of us out there....how do you focus readers attention on your specific work is the ticket. Think about it: when you went into the library or a book store how often did you pick up a completely unknown author, randomly? ( not based on a recommendation)I bet not too often.
So it is with us in the brave, deep Sargasso Sea of indie publishing.
Marketing has to be right up there with producing the product...otherwise you sink beneath the waves lost among a million titles
Arabella Thorne author " The Elf Lord's Revenge" and "I Swear My Roommate Is a Vampire"
(See shameless plug...)
Yeah, I saw it and thought I would comment cause it seemed like a good thread.Your right, there's differences absolutely but I just meant I enjoy them both equally and aside from obvious differences they do have similar qualities if done correctly.
@Arabella I never bought a book on any recommendations (except for 50 Shades). Usually, be it ebooks or printed book in the store, I read the synopsis and buy if that's what I'm looking for. That's how I discovered great authors.
Linda wrote: "Justin wrote: "Your right, there's differences absolutely but I just meant I enjoy them both equally and aside from obvious differences they do have similar qualities if done correctly. ..."Now, ..."
You make some valid points there. There is most certainly a deficiency so far as editing goes in many indie books. Many can't afford to pay a pro, or have the delusion they don't need to edit at all. I've read a couple myself that were pretty atrocious. I can even admit that my own book had a few stupid mistakes in it when I first put it out there.
One thing you overlook however, is the subject of content. Traditional publishers are generally looking for a certain type of book, that being whatever is currently popular. Anything that deviates from the prescribed norm is disregarded without a second glance. Self publishing offers a platform for people to make their stories available to those who might appreciate them. Speaking only for myself; a couple dangling participles and a few typos can be ignored if the story is entertaining.
I've found some excellent indie books on Goodreads. I've also read books from traditional publishers that were so awful I couldn't get past the tenth page.
I think a big reason people avoid self published books is that so many assume because it's indie, it's going to be an unintelligible mess, replete with copious plot holes and spelling errors. In reading, as in most areas of life, keeping an open mind can be the difference.
Arabella wrote: "We'll....there are a zillion of us out there....how do you focus readers attention on your specific work is the ticket. Think about it: when you went into the library or a book store how often did ..."I often select books explicitly because I've never heard of the author before. Browsing book stores for hidden gems is a little hobby of mine. Sometimes I strike gold, other times I waste 5 bucks.
Reed wrote:"I think a big reason people avoid self published books is that so many assume because it's indie, it's going to be an unintelligible mess, replete with copious plot holes and spelling errors. In reading, as in most areas of life, keeping an open mind can be the difference. "Unfortunately, most of us readers make those assumptions based on experience.
I have read some amazing self-pubs. A year ago I never hesitated or even bothered to check who pubbed it. Sadly, more often than not now it's getting more and more difficult to find those gems buried amidst all the shit.
And frankly, who the hell really has time to dig through a massive pile of shit?
As a reader, I have no problem taking a chance on unknown authors and I still haven't given up on SPA's. I have become a lot less forgiving, though.
If people aren't buying/reading, or are hesitant to buy/read SPA's it has to do with the quality of books, in all aspects, as well as the authors themselves that readers are being exposed to.
Self-pubbing doesn't mean a book shouldn't be held up to the same standards one would expect from a trad pubbed book. A lot of SPA's think that they should be excused, even though they're selling a product, from those standards. Some don't even try and you can't really blame readers for being wary after being burned repeatedly.
IMHO, the best way to get your book noticed is word of mouth. Especially here. A little honest hype goes a long way in this community.
Best of luck to all of you.
Linda wrote: "Justin wrote: "Your right, there's differences absolutely but I just meant I enjoy them both equally and aside from obvious differences they do have similar qualities if done correctly. ..."Now, ..."
Expertly done Linda. I am a self-published author. I took the time to search out a publishing program that included a Copy-editor. Primarily because I wanted to be certain that the little errors did not stick out like a sore thumb.
I can give another reason people are less likely to take a chance on an SPA, cost. Most POD publishers cost per book is extravagant. My paperbacks are almost $20 each. How many people are going to take a chance on an unknown author that used a "DIY" publisher for twice as much as from a traditional publishing house.
Another is, like several people have mentioned, the quality of the writing. In the world of POD, any moron can publish a book, no matter the quality. Though the worst book can make it out of the traditional house, you have a better chance risking one of those.
Now Linda, as for the grammar etc, I have seen many books coming out of traditional publishing houses that have typos on most every page and the most atrocious grammar I have ever read. I say that in all fairness, but I agree with you. People think they can get a free pass as a SPA for poor grammar, spelling, plot structure, etc. This makes it harder on the rest of us that truly try.
D.L. wrote: "I am both a reader and a SPA. I have purchased/read both traditionally published and SPA novels and I have to say that, for the most part, SPA fall into the same trap of creating what is currently ..."One problem with a "bestseller on Kindle" is they tend to up sell and over promote their self-published kindle authors. I find it disconcerting that a bookseller has their own publishing house and ebook programs. I published print books with the e-books as an add on. I guess I compare the ebook only publishing with a made for TV movie. You can get good ones and you can get dogs, but they are just cheaper.
Author of By Right of Arms and Blood and Steel: A Love Story
Like others I have been burned with SPAs and are more selective these days. I still read a large number of SPAs (particularly in romance) but use the sample feature before spending any money. I also rely heavily on recommendations from friends.I *do* judge a book by its cover. If I am scrolling through Amazon and see a poorly designed book cover I keep on going and won't even click through to the book description.
I am tired of SPAs whining that they can't afford quality cover design or can't afford to pay an editor. Then you know what? DON'T PUBLISH. Self publishing is a business, you need to invest start up capital for cover art and editing. Don't put out a half arsed product and then complain no one is buying it. I compare it to manufacturing a car with no brakes, and telling consumers you'll install brake when you earn money from sales to pay for them.... lol
A.W. wrote: "Like others I have been burned with SPAs and are more selective these days. I still read a large number of SPAs (particularly in romance) but use the sample feature before spending any money. I als..."The sample feature is a great way to filter out the crap.
As someone who's been trad published, pubbed by a small press and have put out my own self-published science fiction novels, I sympathize with the issues raised by Linda and AW and others. Yes, there are a lot of stupid novels published by folks who have no clue. Every SPA owes it to their reader to edit well, present great cover art, make their book interior look as "pro" as a trad novel, and then offer stories that are not locked into the "whatever is selling now" mode. One reason I went to publishing novels myself is that I know my novels that New York passed on in prior years are good novels that readers are likely to enjoy. And I have found that working hard, one can come up with good book blurbs, fine cover art from Fotolia or Dreamstime, varied fonts, and similar essentials of competent book publishing. I like being in control of what the New York publishers usually do, but don't do now as in poor editing of trad novels. And in two threads I am active on over on Amazon's MOA Forum, I have found highly talented SPA authors who pay for pro editing, hire someone to do cover design, use beta readers as a final cross-check to editing, then put out their book. If some typos are found, they fix them and replace the kindle text. Anyway, while royalties are nice, what matters most to me is finding New Readers whom I can add to those who read my trad SF novels in the 80s and 90s. And I agree with Reed that the Look Inside option is a great way to weed out amateur writing and poor production. Anyway, thanks for everyone's comments. I'm still learning useful stuff. Tom/T. Jackson King.
I tend to read the books whose blurbs are of interest to me. Period. It never occurs to me to check for a particular publisher. In fact, I think it's safe to say that most of the books on the "bestseller" lists are of no interest to me whatsoever. And if Oprah recommends it, I run the other way. Puh-lease. What gives her any credibility for recommending books, other than her celebrity status?I love reading self-pubs if they're written well. I've run across quite a few clunkers and am now more careful about downloading a sample unless the book is free.
I firmly believe there is no excuse for poor writing and/or lack of editing. If a writer honestly believes he has a wonderful story to tell, then he is responsible for getting someone (or a handful of someones) to read his finished product prior to publishing. In a group of at least four or five readers, errors and typos will be caught at the very least, even if substance and pacing aren't noticed. The self-pubs who submit the equivalent of a rough draft for publishing are giving a bad reputation to those who write, rewrite, edit and rewrite again before having others look at the manuscript. Lack of money for editing is no excuse, since there are online helps that can improve the overall work, even if it's not done as thoroughly as a real live editor would.
Eventually the wheat will be separated from the chaff, but in the meantime, it's creating an uphill battle for those self-pub writers who are genuinely talented.
There seems to be a common belief among self-published authors that hiring an editor makes a book good. Yeah, it might make it readable, but my biggest complaint is about the stories. The vast majority of self-published works that I come across are unoriginal, boring knock-offs of whatever is popular at the time. I'm only going to live for so many years and I don't have have the time or patience to read watered down versions of bestsellers, for the same reason that I don't like drinking cheap beer. I value and crave originality and good writing, and if I find it in the sample I download to my Kindle I couldn't care less whether the book is trad or self-published. It's irrelevant to me. For the record, I won't read trad published watered down copy rubbish either.It seems to me that far too many self-published authors are chasing dollars and aren't really that interested in searching for an original, captivating story, only something that will ride the current wave of what's popular and sell a few copies in its wake. Good for them, but I like books that make their own waves.
Chris wrote: "There seems to be a common belief among self-published authors that hiring an editor makes a book good. Yeah, it might make it readable, but my biggest complaint is about the stories."I will agree with you on that point, Chris. I still think editing helps (but I would think that, since I edit). However, I also tire of the same ol' story again and again. I can't stand reading a book and thinking it's the same one I just finished, only with different names. I like to be surprised at the twists a book takes.
Some of my favorite books recently have been the ones where I finished and said, "Huh. I did NOT see that coming." Whether it's a happy ending or not, if I can't predict it, I enjoy it more. I read one recently whose ending was terribly unsatisfying for my personal taste (I wanted it to be happier and resolved tidily, I guess), but I closed the book and thought, "That stunk, but it sure was clever."
As a reader I've always enjoyed SPA's, but unfortunately the quality of work out there seems to be on the decline. There no longer seems to be many unique and interesting story lines, and the cover art is just awful in some cases. SPA's used to bring something fresh to the reading arena, and sorry if this upsets any of you, but now it's just the same kind of dross publishing houses are churning out.However, I won't give up on my Indie books and will keep sorting through the pigs ears until I come across the silk purse.
Cate wrote: "As a reader I've always enjoyed SPA's, but unfortunately the quality of work out there seems to be on the decline. There no longer seems to be many unique and interesting story lines, and the cove..."I don't think that's true, its just that the sheer volume of books is smothering all the decent ones. I looked on Amazon the other day and there had been something like 60,000 ebooks published in the last thirty days. Probably about 100 of them are awesome, the rest ... meh. Finding those 100 has got to take some effort though.
Lynda wrote: "Chris wrote: "There seems to be a common belief among self-published authors that hiring an editor makes a book good. Yeah, it might make it readable, but my biggest complaint is about the stories...."Lynda, I think my comment was probably oversimplified. There ARE some people who like to read the same thing over and over again just with different character names, hence the massive glut of romance books. I mean, how many times can you possibly tell a happily-ever-after love story? My issue is that there aren't enough writers willing to push boundaries, because they're scared that all that effort will result in no sales. They're writing towards a market, rather than writing something they hope will impress the agent with its originality. I absolutely love it when an author goes out of the box and does the unexpected. I heard that Virginia Roth got hammered for (doing what she did) at the end of her series, but I have massive respect for her for doing it. A couple of years ago I read the Dark Tower series from start to finish and I absolutely LOVED the ending, which King has been lambasted for. I mean, a seven book series over thirty odd years and he dares to end it like that? THAT is guts. Yeah, I know he's too big to suffer from the negative press much, but that's the kind of risk-taking I like to see in a writer. It's not to everyone's tastes, though.
But back to your other point, of course all SPAs should use an editor. It goes without saying. I'm an English teacher with a BA in English and half an MA in Linguistics and my manuscripts still come back from the editor with corrections on almost every page. That second set of eyes is absolutely vital. And it really doesn't cost that much if a writer shops around and actually puts some effort into their writing skills in the first place. But I digress ...
Quality is a major issue, and it's been on the decline since news stations have been doing stories on SPA's that managed to strike it big. It's become the new "Gold Rush" with everyone who has a thought and a word processor scrambling to try and dig up a few easy nuggets. The other issue with SPA's is that they quickly get frustrated with the process of marketing and as such, are starting to put forth a certain attitude which goes along with the low quality of their work. A few comments I've personally witnessed here on Goodreads
- "I can't afford an editor. I'll just publish it and hire an editor with the money I make off the book later."
- "I can't afford an editor. People will point out the problems in their reviews though, so I'll just go behind and fix them as readers point them out."
- "I'm a SPA. I deserve some slack because I don't have a big publisher behind me."
- "Bad reviews hurt sales, even if they're true, so people should just keep their mouths shut if they can't say anything nice."
So it's not just the quality of the work of SPA's which is generally considered fairly low, but the behavior of SPA's themselves which damage their credibility. Sadly, most either can't see or don't care the damage their own actions do to their brands.
As a SPA I am a firm believer in copy editing. Many times the grammar is good but the style leaves something to be desired. That is where a professional copy editor comes in. I also say pish posh to anyone that says they can't afford one. If you are going to take the time to write a story you should invest the money to make sure others can make their way through it. I had my adult daughter read through both of mine and she blasted several plot inconsistencies and structural errors. My wife also blasted both books in parts that made no sense because when I read them, my writer brain filled in what was missing automatically. Then when they were sent to the copy editor, they blasted them with corrections and changes in style that I was not privy to. So the more eyes you can get on a work the better and paid professional eyes are very nice indeed.Now for story, you can rewrite a popular concept. That is acceptable. Please don't just rewrite the same story. Please add some of your original stuff. Play with common conventions. In my Vampire novel, Blood and Steel:A Love Story, I threw out many common conventions and recreated the vampire concept. I took concepts that I liked from several popular vampire stories and lashed them together with some of my own concepts and revamped (pun intended) vamps. In my space opera novel, By Right of Arms, I took a few common concepts from Star Wars and the Lensman series and built my own wholly new concept on an epic stage. Of course there are plot twists and plots within plots and unresolved questions, but those are lead ins for possibly other books or story tie ins.
So in short, have lots of readers, get an editor, feel free to follow with the popular story-lines, but please make them your own not a poor hack duplicate.
There is a big difference between those who see it as a potential long term career and those who think its a way to get rich quick. The latter don't last long. The former start out with a game plan and work to it. When I started out I set myself a realistic plan to be professional (as in making the same as my day job, which is about $3000/month, give or take) within seven years. I expected to make nothing for the first three years, and almost two years in I'm barely breaking even. In that respect, all is going to plan! I've lost count of the stroppy "I can't sell so I quit!" posts I've read on places like here and Facebook. No business makes money straight off the bat. You have to bust ass for a few years first. Ignoring the outliers and those who've got lucky is a really good thing. Focus on your own work and your own brand and rewards will come.
Goodreads Authors/Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
The Devil's Workshop (other topics)A Prophecy of Dawn (other topics)
Evah & the Unscrupulous Thwargg (other topics)
Vampire Asylum (other topics)
Women and Goddesses in Myth and Sacred Text (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Vicky Adin (other topics)K.D. McQuain (other topics)
Jeff Goins (other topics)
Jenny Blake (other topics)
Chris Guillebeau (other topics)
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Thanks to all you wonderful people out there who give self-pubs a chance.