Self-Published Books

[markhunter99]

Hi everyone.

 

I'm in the process of setting up a website that promotes good quality self-published writing and was interested in the community's feelings about self-published books. What would it take for you to shop at a self-published book store rather than Amazon? Would you be more open to self-published books if you knew that they were above a certain standard, or would you still be too wary to buy it? Would independent reviews help?

 

Or, on the flip side, are you an advocate of self-published books? Do you actively seek out and purchase good quality self-published work? What/where would you recommend to buy?

 

Mark

[Michelle]

Can I just step in, with my admin hat on, and remind everyone that a previous topic about self publishing caused many problems. It's an interesting topic, but please think about what you're writing, and keeps comments constructive. Thank you.

[Talisman]

As the author of self published work, this is something I may be interested in, but only if the discount demanded is not ridiculously high, leaving me with practically nothing. In answer to your question though, would I shop at a store that dealt exclusively with self published books - I already do, its called my publisher. They have their own online store which I have bought from in the past. The reason I bought from there and not Amazon was simple - because I knew the author earned more money that way. Unfortunately not many feel the same and the majority (which is understandable) would choose to shop the cheapest place available, which at the moment at least, is usually Amazon. Personally I am not in the least hostile towards self published works, and if anything actively seak them out, but then again, many of my friends are like me self published authors, so I am bound to say that. I suspect that to most it really doesn't matter how the book was published, only that it is well written and available for a price they can afford. That to most people is the bottom line.

[markhunter99]

From my research, I have identified a couple of websites that cater for the promotion of self-published work but they either charge authors a membership fee or they take a slice of profits, which is fair enough but doesn't really allow a level playing field. What the industry needs is a free resource that simply finds and promotes (not sells itself, just promotes) quality self-published work. I believe that a website in this format would lead to more people considering self-published work, but I'd like to know what other people think.

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

 

p.s. - Michelle, out of interest, what were the issues this topic raised previously? If you don't want to say then of course I'll understand, but I'd like to know what raised people's hackles.

[Michelle]

Mark, we just had some members who didn't hold back saying that they felt anything self published was rubbish. And when you have self-published authors on the forum, that's not helpful.

 

Anyway, from my own point of view, I've read quite a few self-published books as a reviewer, and they are mixed. There have been a quite a few which I felt would have greatly benefited from some more input.. certain bits worked, others didn't, and I'm sure a good editor could have made quite an improvement. Others have been really good, and it's hard to see why agents have passed them by!

 

I believe that some people have a viewpoint that if you can't find a publisher, then your work is no good, but from talking to various authors, I know this to not be true. It' can be extremely hard to get accepted by an agent/publisher, and they have their own 'set of rules'. For example, I know one author who's having trouble getting her latest book accepted by a publisher because she doesn't fit neatly into a set genre, and her two books are different - apparently they like authors to stay within their genres.

[Vladd]

I know my wife has downloaded a lot of self published ebooks onto her iPad and says they are of mixed quality. This seems like it could be the way of the future for self publishing, just make your work stand out and people will download it.

[Kell]

I've read a handful of self=published books and have had mixed esperiences, same as with those produced by publishers really. Some have been absolutely dire, some have been fairly decent and one in particular was absolutely brilliant (The Messenger by Andrew E Shipley, in case anyone is interested - seriously, it's fab and I'd love to see it made into a movie!). In some cases the authors have very obviously self=published out of pure vanity, but in other cases, the author has produced some very good work but had difficulty finding a conventional publisher for whatever reason and has decided to go down the self-publishing route in order to get their work read. It can be hit and miss, but that's the same for ANY book and any author.

[markhunter99]

This all tallies with my own personal experience, but if, as I'm trying to do, there was a place where would-be readers could 'shop with confidence' then this would, to a point, eliminate the unknown element. In the same way the music industry has done, there could, in time, be a revolution in the publishing world as potential authors could realise that you don't have to get a book deal to get recognised and sell - if enough people saw the quality of some self-published work that is out there they might be more receptive to further purchases (which is better for the author as they can set their own royalties of course). I’d love to see more authors like Shiobhan Curham who rejected her publisher because they wanted her to write a completely different style of book and turned to self-publishing instead – we need more like her!

 

I’m really positive about the future of self-publishing and really think it could alter the way people sell, promote and buy books. PoDhouse (which is my baby) will hopefully just be the start of things. Does anybody else share this optimistic outlook? And what other books have people read that deserve some praise?

 

Mark

[Zumii]

I will admit I've yet to try any self published work but I am open to giving it a go. I'm always willing to give newly published authors a try & if some standard/rating could be indicated then I would have no problems trying some self published authors also. As someone has already said, with books like many things it can often be hit or miss with a novel anyway.

 

In general when I do look to trying out new authors I do tend to read reviews to have a look see what other have thought about it, however just because 10 out of 20 people found it awful doen't mean I will take it as I'll hate it too, but I may be more weary or try to find out if anyone I know has had chance to read it yet.

[Talisman]

I definately share your views Mark - people self publish for all sorts of reasons and some self published books are in view superb quality. The reason a lot of them were not picked up by commercial publishers is more often than not nothing to do with their literary merit, but because they quite simply were not commercial enough (in the publishers view anyway) or in some cases (like my own work) were niche titles. In America print on demand titles exceeded levsls of lithographically printed works for the first time a few years ago, a trend which is likely to be reproduced here within a few years. While some of these were from commercial houses utilising such technology to maintain slower selling titles, the majority were attributed to small publishers and in particular the self publishers. There are too many middle men in publishing all wanting a piece of the pie, which is a problem for the smaller presses, since it leaves them with so little with which to publish, market and sell their wares - from a cover price of £14.99 when I sell through shops, I am left with just £1.39 and this is typical for most authors, yet when I sell direct to the public half the cover price is mine. What is the solution - when 90 percent of books are still sold through shops (both on and offline) it is difficult to say, maybe the future is with e-books, but the technology and the readers are still too young and too expensive to say. In a few years maybe when the prices start to come down maybe things will change, I remain optimistic that this will be the case. In the meantime we have to find ways of reaching our own target audience with the minimum of outlay. This is why self publishing works so much for non fiction than it does for fiction - for such books often have a ready made audience if you know how to reach it - for such titles it is increasingly becoming the norm and is longer the stigma that it once was - and thank goodness for it !

[markhunter99]

Agreed. The biggest stumbling block for self-publishers is marketing - if there was any way we could all break through the contacts/money barrier then it would be a huge boost, but that ain't gonna happen any time soon. I suppose that's what I'm trying to achieve with PoDhouse - I want it to make it easier for self-published authors to have a place to go to to easily get their work out there (as long as it's of a good enough standard!)

 

With the right books and the right avenues for the customers I think word would eventually spread that there is good quality stuff out there that isn't just in Waterstones/Amazon.