Self-published novels

[Nerds_feather]

Any of you ever read any novels by self-published authors? I never have, and to be honest, have never expected much from them. But the are a bunch of SPAs on my blog's twitter feed, and I have to admire their tenacity and enthusiasm. Seem even seem to be pretty successful, like this guy Michael Hicks, who has a multi-volume space opera epic. I know a lot of SPAs hire professional editors to get their books up to snuff, and I see no reason why, theoretically, a self-published novel couldn't be as good as a published novel (and god knows, some are terrible).

But I guess my old prejudices die hard. So my question is, for those who have read self-published SF/F, what was it like? Do you feel self-publishing is a legitimate new way to get quality books out while compensating authors better, or is it just flooding the marketplace with cheap goods? How do you make an educated guess as to whether a self-published book is going to be good or not?

 

[iansales]

You could always find out for yourself I self-published a novella, the first of a quartet, chiefly because I wanted it out for the Eastercon last April and because I wanted full control over its presentation. But I set up a small press to do it. You can see it here: http://shop.whippleshieldbooks.com/...Shops/es145775/Categories/Whippleshield_Books

 

[io_anonimus]

For me doesn"t count too much if it is a renowned publishing house or a self-published book. There are many bad books with good marketing and also interesting books not very well known. In these days the quality of books it is not the main aspect in the publishers view but their marketability. I have a friend working there and it is killing me with this "marketability" term. And even with this they are going in the wrong direction a lot of times. If I remember well, Harry Potter was rejected by more than twenty editors.
What I look for is the synopsis of the book on Amazon or Barnes or whatever and some more info on the internet. Friends are also helping in passing names.


I just started to read a book about time traveling. It has a complicated name: Io Deceneus journal of a time traveler and a blog with the same title. I read about half of it and I find it really interesting . It is about time traveling and changing the past of another planet, apart of a short trip in the ancient Egypt, and has also political aspects with some teeth against our lovely banks. I guess that that alien planet is only a mirror of our own, something like in Swift Gulliver's travels.

Usually I don't mind to spend a few dollars to encourage some new authors if I feel that they have potential.

 

[Dozmonic]

How to separate the wheat from the chaff is a difficult one, nobody has it fully licked yet. We all look for different things and can appreciate different qualities in a book. The Da Vinci Code was a fun read, but not well written. Other books are written fantastically, but aren't always as great a read. The main problem with self published authors is that they're often publishing when they're not good enough, hence not being taken on by a publishing house. This isn't always the case, but is often the case. Self publishing means that all those who believe they can write can put their work out there in very public places - much like those who audition on music shows believe that they're ready when in reality they need another year or two of hard practice to be good enough (or in many cases another ten years of proper training with actual feedback to make radical vocal changes).

 

[HareBrain]

I've read three (plus one that had been previously published, which I'm not counting here). Two I bought as paperbacks from Amazon, and one as a PDF. Of the Amazon ones, the first had one five-star review (no doubt from a friend), but I bought it anyway because it sounded cute and I liked that the author had done her own illustrations. The second had a slew of high-star reviews, most of which I assume were genuine. The first turned out to be in need of a darned good edit and I lost interest quickly; the second was more professional but I also lost interest quickly, because it didn't engage me.

The pdf also needed an edit, but had been written by a natural storyteller who clearly had tons of life experience and knew his subject (it was set in Mexico in the sixties, and qualified as SFF because of its emphasis on magic). It was very long and probably of niche interest, so I could see why he hadn't attracted a publisher, but I'm glad I happened upon it.

 

[iansales]

The barriers to entry for self-publishing are so low, it's no surprise the market is flooded with badly-written derivative rubbish. And given a lot of self-published authors' penchant for gaming the system by spamming people and forums or using sock/meat puppets to give their books unwarranted 5-star reviews... At least with books published by commercial publishers you know the book would only have been published if it had met some standard of quality and/or commercial viability.

If self-published authors were content to let their books find their own level by using the same tools to promote their book as commercial books - ie, not getting their friends and relatives to give the book reviews it plainly doesn't deserve - then readers would get some idea of who was worth reading, irrespective of publisher.

 

[Nerds_feather]

Seem are probably good, but I don't really know how I would go about determining which ones are. I'd say amazon reviews, but not long ago I bought a fantasy book (published by a major imprint) on the basis of glowing amazon reviews and...it was horrible. So yeah, from now on I rely on sources I already know. But they don't tend to review SPAs...

I'd like to give one of these guys a shot, and may do so...just having a bit of trouble figuring out which. Ian, maybe you are the guy! Novella length seems good for me too.

 

[HareBrain]

If self-published authors were content to let their books find their own level by using the same tools to promote their book as commercial books - ie, not getting their friends and relatives to give the book reviews it plainly doesn't deserve - then readers would get some idea of who was worth reading, irrespective of publisher.

To be fair (or at least even-handedly cynical) I'm not sure this is much worse than commercial publishers throwing advertising at something in an effort to persuade me that derivative pap is actually fresh and new, or any of the other tricks they use. I've now stopped trusting cover quotes from other authors (especially if that other author is Steven Erikson).

 

[iansales]

I'd like to give one of these guys a shot, and may do so...just having a bit of trouble figuring out which. Ian, maybe you are the guy! Novella length seems good for me too.

I can point you in the direction of lots of positive reviews - none by sock puppets or meat puppets

Having said that, my novella is somewhat niche - literary hard sf about an alternate Apollo programme; and it was that as much as anything that prompted me to publish it myself. Of course, now everyone is writing near-future hard sf set in the Solar System...

 

[iansales]

To be fair (or at least even-handedly cynical) I'm not sure this is much worse than commercial publishers throwing advertising at something in an effort to persuade me that derivative pap is actually fresh and new, or any of the other tricks they use. I've now stopped trusting cover quotes from other authors (especially if that other author is Steven Erikson).

True. Commercial publishers pay for adverts, to have books in 3-for-2 offers, on the front tables of Waterstone's, etc... But they've yet to succeed in buying positive reviews*. Admittedly, there are a lot of book bloggers who seem to think every book deserves a positive review, no matter how bad, because otherwise it's an insulting the effort put into the book by its writers. But that's just extremely stupid.

* websites such as Chick Lit Girls notwithstanding...

 

[Mouse]

I've also read three*. And all three of them were pretty much chocker with the old grammatical errors.

*should probably point out that I got two of them for free as review copies.

 

[iansales]

I checked out a couple of the Michael Hicks ones mentioned by the OP. They look to be competently written, but they don't appear to be doing anything interesting - they're just bog-standard space operas of a type that have been around since the 1960s, and I can't see what makes them different from a thousand other of that type.

 

[Toby Frost]

I could mention two on Kindle - admittedly they are by people from my writing group, but they're good writers nonetheless.

 

[Gordian Knot]

The single biggest flaw with self publishing, IMHO, is that there is no team of editors to correct the grammar, excise the pablum, and do all the other good things an editor does.

Fact is that many of our most successfully published writers, people who are household names, have damn good editors who take a decent story and turn it into a great one.

When one self publishes what they write is what you get. There are very, very few writers with the combined strength in both areas; writing and editing.

It is why most self published material is so gawd awful.

 

[Brian G Turner]

If a self-published novel tells me they have been professionally edited by a name in the business, that's going to be a confidence builder.

If they provide free sample chapters, that's a great way to get a taste of something (Toby Frost sold his book to myself doing exactly that).

 

[Gary Compton]

I can't really understand any self-publisher who wouldn't want to put their book through the vigorous protocols that publishers subject their authors to.

If they don't, in my opinion, they are not serious and deserve a good dose of failure.

Once I think Mark Robson said, that he was shocked when one of his stories came back from his editor (Simon and Schuster)and the amount of, shall we say, adjustments they wanted.

I suppose some will say, "I can't afford an editor."

My answer would be, "Don't publish then till you can."

That's me though.

It really isnt worth doing unless you can give 150%

 

[thaddeus6th]

Yes.

Leaving aside the excellent Bane of Souls (written by me and available from all good retailers for 99c or thereabouts) I recently read and really liked Spellmonger and Warmage by Terry Mancour.

It must be said that there are quite a few typos but I still enjoyed both books a lot.

I'm not sure if I'll actively seek out self-published books, but I might. The significantly lower cost and ability to read samples are quite tempting.

 

[Abernovo]

Fact is that many of our most successfully published writers, people who are household names, have damn good editors who take a decent story and turn it into a great one.

If a self-published novel tells me they have been professionally edited by a name in the business, that's going to be a confidence builder.

So far, I've not gone out looking for self-published novels, but I totally agree with both of you here. Having read a good bit of Heinlein over the years, I decided to get a couple of the reissued novels, that had parts excised by his editor returned to body of the story. Good enough writing on the whole, but the extra words didn't always add that much, I thought. Heinlein, much as I love his work, could pontificate. The reissues proved to me that his editor reined him in.

If a self-published writer could get a good editor (professional or gifted amateur) to do the same for them, that would certainly encourage me to read more of their work.

 

[Vertigo]

If a self-published writer could get a good editor (professional or gifted amateur) to do the same for them, that would certainly encourage me to read more of their work.

Problem is that's not really something they tend to put in the blurb so how do you know? Maybe there's an opportunity there for good independent editors to get their names known and for self-published authors to use that by mentioning them in their blurbs.

 

[Abernovo]

That's exactly the sort of thing that would encourage me to buy, Vertigo.
Book by X, Edited by Y.

Word might soon get around about writers and editors to look out for. Only thing is that it would put editors in a similar niche as agents in agreeing or refusing to edit. But I'm sure that could be worked out.