What light through yonder window breaks? It’s an iFrame, and it contains survey results! Clearly, I need to get over my crush on the Wufoo surveys very very soon. But not today!
I don’t need to read a pie chart or line graph for you, but I thought it was very interesting that there were nearly equal amounts of print and digital self-published books purchased by those who did purchase them, and that the top three reasons for trying a book were based on sampled text, the description of the book, or a recommendation from a known source.
Self publishing. There’s a TON of options, there’s so many different books, and sometimes you stumble onto amazing reading and other times, possibly more often, it’s crap fiesta, and dear LORD it’s a lot to weed through.
Plus, there’s the encounters one might have had with the self-published author selling her book. It’s not a surprise that authors in any publishing venture have to spend an increasing amount of time marketing and promoting their own books, whether they’re self-published or published by PenCollinMillanChetteSimonHouse. But readers in the comments to my survey entry told of some rather awkward encounters with the self-published authors that have turned them off to the entire venture, whether it was incessant schnorring or bat crap crazypants behavior.
Sound familiar? To me, oh yes. It is some digital deja-vu. In terms of the technology, the varying options, the general understanding, the multiple approaches and myriad marketing techniques, and the reader reaction, I think self-publishing is now where digital publishing was a few years ago. Remember back in the day (you know, like, two or three years ago) when there were fourteen-eleventy digital presses publishing erotic romance or just plain buttsexxorama with “I love you” thrown in, and you couldn’t easily tell the quality from the quagmire of crap? Self publishing is a lot like that now, minus all the extraneous buttsexx.
Now, it’s a little easier to tell – most of the time (*cough cough* there’s a Rose stuck in my throat) – which publishers consistently offer excellence in digital reading, and which are not so much into quality as they are into quantity. Many things rise to the top – and in a few years, perhaps self-publishing will be where digital presses are now: with greater understanding among the reading public, better options for reading, and an ability to distinguish between shiny and shinola. As Laurel said in the comments, “I want self pub to be a viable option for writers…. But I am just a normal person. I don’t want to dig for the good stuff- not at the bookstore, and not on Amazon. I don’t shop at T J Maxx for the same reason.”
But for now, there seems to be, based on my highly unscientific survey and the anecdotal discussion in the comments, more negative reaction than positive to self-publishing.
Many people made the point that the reader reaction to self-pub is also somewhat similar to the general reader reaction to romance. To wit: “OMG. There’s a ton of it, I tried one, it was crap, and I’m never going back.” They argued that romance readers’ understanding of the general disdain for romance should perhaps engender some sympathy for self-publication. I can see their point. The same could be said for digital presses a few years ago – there’s so many, and some of it’s crap, and how the hell do I choose?
I don’t disagree, but it is very difficult to tell a reader, “Your opinion founded on your experience is wrong.” If you bought something and experienced crap, it could turn you off a genre, a bookstore, a type of book, a restaurant, a store, whatever. In order for self-publishing to be an option for authors that doesn’t include potentially addressing negative public opinion nonstop, time and development can contribute to the increase in positive experiences with self-pubbed books. Eventually, enough readers chose good books from small digital presses that the reputation of some became worth a great deal. Perhaps the same will occur with an increasing number of self-pubbed books.
To that end, I think the most powerful weapon is positive recommendations – so it’s a good thing we have plenty in the comments.
If you’ve tried a self-published book and thought it was an exercise in self-promotion, hubris and delusion, try these as recommended by your fellow Bitchery readers. Perhaps you will change your mind.
If you would like to make your own recommendation of a self-pubbed book you’ve enjoyed, please do! But one caveat: authors, please do not pimp your own books. And don’t pretend to be someone else pimping your book. We have ways of knowing these things, so please, thou shalt not be thy own sock puppet. I would love more recommendations for self-published books you’ve loved and read, but not ones you’ve written!
(NB: In order to provide some linkage for these books, I Googled them. When possible, I went with an Amazon link as it would have the most information about a book in one place. Not all author websites contain the most reader-desired information, and I didn’t have the time to go through each author site aside from ones I *knew* had great info).
Ransome Seaborn by Bill Deasy, recommended by Carolyn Jewel
The Promises to Keep Series by Shayne Parkinson, recommended by Brian
Thin Blood by Vicki Tyley, also rec’d by Brian
Harper’s Bride by Alexis Harrington, rec’d by me! (And reviewed, too)
Author Matthew Haldeman Time, rec’d by Ell and prior to that Sarah Frantz
Deed to Death by DB Henson
33 AD by David McAfee
Portal by Imogen Rose
My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking, all rec’d by Victorine Lieske
Karen Ranney‘s out-of-print backlist at Smashwords rec’d by Sandra
The Proviso and Stay by Moriah Jovan
Darshian Talesby Ann Somerville rec’d by Estara
In Her Name by Michael Hicks, rec’d by Estara
Downtime by Tamara Allen, rec’d by Ann Somerville
Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen, rec’d by Ann Somerville
Shadow of the Templar Series by M. Chandler, rec’d by Somerville
The Administration series by Manna Francis, rec’d by Ann Somerville
Karen McQuestion, rec’d by Anna Murray
Naked Through the Snow (and Other Bits of Silliness) by Sailor Jim Johnston, rec’d by Gary
Need to Know, by Christine Merrill (who writes for Harlequin Historicals)- available at Lulu.com as a download. There are some slight issues with the formatting of the digital book, but the story is well worth it. If you like the TV show Chuck, this is right up your alley (it was written well before Chuck premiered, but you will notice a lot of parallels)
Anything by Wil Wheaton- he writes non-fiction memoirs, which are extremely enjoyable, as well as essays about his time on Star Trek and other shows. These are available as digital, audio, and print.
The one POD book I have bought to date was F. Paul Wilson’s The Peabody- Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium…a horror book. I got one of the copies that had Emporium misspelled, so now my copy is a collector’s item. yea!!! I bought it because F. Paul is an autobuy for me.
Nosy me, I have to ask. Is that rose in your throat a Red Rose or a Wild Rose?
Thank you, Michele!
And although I can’t vouch for the Lulu copy (which has been a pain to re-upload), I’ve done a re-edit on NTK, fixed the kindle formatting to get rid of the problems, and widened the release. You can get it in most ebook stores now. It’s cheaper, too.
And I will admit to a weakness for Wil Wheaton, also. He was doing a reading at a con I went to, and is very funny.
Theresa Weir has two books at Smashwords, Amazon Lily and Cool Shade. Really enjoyed them, they have been out of print for a long time. Cool Shade won a RITA in 1999.
This, to me, is a flawed argument. Dislike for a genre in which the vast majority of books have gone through some form of editorial gatekeeper but are not to my taste is not equivalent to a publishing model in which the vast majority of books cannot even be guaranteed to have been spellchecked.
Tweren’t me that rec’d the MatthewHaldemanTime thing, which I’ve never heard of. Is there another Ell, now that I’ve stopped being an El? (I have some highly unrelated potential names… perhaps I should pull one out.)
Perfect timing! A friend of mine has just launched her self-pubbed book(s) today. The Maker’s Mask and The Hawkwood War by Ankaret Wells are available from Lulu. For samples and a trailer, see her website.
I’ve purchased several self-published books through Amazon for my iPad Kindle and without fail they have sucked harshly. I don’t recall any of the titles or authors because I deleted them (didn’t want them stinking up my other books).
However, that said, I’ll keep trying. You guys have some recommendations that I’ll look at and I’m forever lurking around Amazon looking for something that sounds good, but doesn’t cost a fortune for 300 pages. I read a book a night, so I can’t afford $8-9 a pop every book (unless it’s Crusie, Dahl, Kleypas or Milan – they are simply worth whatever the price is).
Any effort on the part of SBTB to regularly recommend self-pubs or allow people that have enjoyed them to list favorites would be appreciated.
Not strictly romance:
Waiting for Spring by RJ Keller
Do the Math by Phil Persinger
I “met” these two after I had read their books. For me it was like hitting the mother lode on the first strike of the pick.
Aww thanks for linking my recs – but I’d like to have non-Amazon & Lulu buyers to find them, too, so here are the Smashwords links again
Ann Somerville – Kei’s Gift (Darshian Tales 1) epic fantasy with m/m main couple – and lots of other books of hers (A Fluffy Tale is a contemporary m/m urban fantasy romance)
Michael Hicks – In her Name: Empire (1st book of In her Name) – Sarah linked to the full omnibus of all three books, sf
Tamara Allen – Downtime, time travel m/m romance
Additionally (if back-list titles are allowed, too) at Smashwords
– Diane Duane’s Tale of the Five fantasy series (lots of poly romance involved as well)
– Backlist of Sherwood Smith (fantasy and romance),Backlist of Judith Tarr(fantasy), of Sarah Zettel (fantasy romance), Maya Kathryn Bonhoff (fantasy), Steven Harper (sf&f) => basically all the Book View Café releases not just availabe there but also at Smashwords
– Backlist of Patricia Ryan/ P.B. Ryan (historical romance/mystery)
Thank you for saving this from the spam folder in advance
Also (in case my previous comment doesn’t make it through Akismet) I forgot to add Michele (Jerrot) Albert’s backlist! She has a full novel available for free on her site (Absolute trouble) – whose hero is a stripper ^^.
And the C.J. Cherryh, Jane S. Fancher and Lynn Abbey fantasy and sf collective – of backlist but also of new books at closed-circle.net.
And Barbara Hambly has been selling short stories set in various of her fantasy novel worlds – mostly sequels to what happened in the books on this page of her site.
I recently read Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O’Connell and can highly recommend it. It’s a historical western/shotgun wedding book.
I also read The Sergeant’s Lady by Susanna Fraser and really enjoyed it. It’s a Regency era novel set in Spain. I’m not sure it qualifies as an indie book though.
To level the playing field a bit, I have to say I have encountered crazy wannabe writers who wanted to be print published before the digital era. And I mean downright, why-are-they-loose-on-society frightening. I have a good friend who’s made the NYT more times than I’ve kept track of and I told her recently that she’s probably the only sane writer I know.
I can also think of two established, published authors who hawked their books to me with such unrelenting shamelessness I made it a point to avoid them and their work. Both nearly fit in with the above-mentioned group. It was like having the Kirby vacuum cleaner guy on your porch with one foot in the door. (Actually I had this happen to me a couple of weeks ago). I have no doubt that there’s a ton of crap out there, but if a reader can download a sample before buying that will help. We’re in digital infancy and have a lot of kinks to work out—and avoid—but I think we’ll find our way.
@Jean
I bought that (Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O’Connell). I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet, though, because of my workload.
The Eyes of Silver promo that’s going on over at the Amazon boards illustrates the problem perfectly I think since that book was mentioned here. I buy “bad” books all the time and I’m ok with that but what I’m not ok with is being tricked into buying books. How many times do you have to get burned on the fake recommendations before you won’t touch the books? Even if the books are decent it still leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Sleazy, deceptive or aggressive self promo (along with poorly written books, of course) is ruining it for other authors. Indie or self published authors need to form an organization that recognizes books that meet a minimum standard—like a GH Seal of Approval or something imo. I have no idea how it would/could/should work but if you’re taking the publisher out of the equation there has to be something other than word of mouth for readers who don’t want to dumpster dive to go on. Recommendations aren’t enough because they’re too easy to fake and that ends up turning off readers in droves.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/communities/search/ref=cm_cd_search_pg_1?ie=UTF8&cdPage=1&x=1&cdQuery=Eyes of Silver Eyes of Gold&ref_=cm_cd_search_pg_next&ref_=cm_cd_search_pg_next&ref_=cm_cd_search_basic_sr_hdr&y=4
The link for ‘Downtime’ by Tamara Allen is:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/9331
I also recced Jordan Castillo Price, but if you want a named series, then try Psycop
http://jcpbooks.com/
Paul Bens’ Talk Story anthology includes the previously published (by Torquere) Mahape a ale Wala’au but also two new stories that have not appeared elsewhere
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13032
Thanks for doing this, Sarah.
Yes, and not just for self-published authors, because I’ve seen exactly the same deceptive shilling going on with pro-pubbed m/m authors, and in other genres. It’s rife at Goodreads too. It’s unfortunately a consequence of authors having to do so much marketing, and that’s true regardless of how we’re published. It’s not fair to make out the problem is worse with self-pubbed books, but it is, nonetheless, a problem.
Unfortunately, you can’t even trust actual review sites (at least in m/m) because there’s a shitload of politicking and arsekissing and mutual handjobs going on there too. I’m at the point where the only reviews I trust in the genre are my own, which isn’t exactly helping me find new material to read.
Sarah, thanks for this measured summing up of the plethora of survey responses. And thank you for including my books on the list. Since Amazon only has my print books (so far), I hope you don’t mind if I add a link for one of my e-books.
Jean, you beat me to the “Eyes” recommendation. Yes, there is a huge debate brewing over at the Amazon forums right now on whether or not some of us have been shilling for Ellen O’Connell. The answer is no. Not on my part, and I doubt anyone else who has been supporting Ellen is shilling. The book is really, really that good.
An author I discovered by accident is Marge Fulton. She writes horror, and is pubbed by a very small press, but is worth looking at. I know this is a romance forum, and while mostly horror, her stories do have a touch of romance in most of them. She lives in and writes about eastern Kentucky, and her first horror book, “The Holler”, is pretty darned cool. It’s a collection of short stories, and last time I checked the publisher’s site, it was $0.99. Can’t beat that. Here is a link to their site, and while I can’t comment on how well-formatted the e-book is, the print version is good. http://www.blackwyrm.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=66 (I don’t know how to do short urls, sorry)
It seems to me that the easiest way for self-publishers to help readers with the issue of finding good books among the dross is for them to provide free sample chapters online. That way you can try for yourself, and within a chapter it’s usually easy to tell whether it’s a book you want to keep reading or not. Much better than relying on recommendations from people you don’t know whether to trust or not.
I was going to mention Need to Know but Michele and Chris beat me to it.
Ann Somerville:
FWIW, I trust your reviews implicitly as well. Not that I always *agree* with them; but you always give such fine analysis of the reading experience, with plenty of details, that I am always certain that if I think I’ll like a book from your review, I actually will.
(Not arsekissing—I just sometimes think that reviewers don’t get enough love. It’s an art and a craft and a blessed public service.)
Alexis, do not let the Kirby man in. Ever. Avoid. In fact, just lock the door and move to another house until he goes away. Seriously. OMG. DANGER.
And thank you for the updated links for books mentioned above. Obviously, if I missed a better link for a book or books, please let me know!
Uh, thank you, Hapax.
@Sarah
The secret to getting rid of the Kirby man is to say, “I have a Dyson.”
LOL! Not even if it’s a sock monkey??? 😉
Okay, I was so curious about the extraordinary level of enthusiasm for Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold, that, despite the fact it’s het – which I don’t read – I started on the Smashwords sample. I got hooked, so I bought it.
Verdict? It’s not an extraordinary book, or very original, and it needs editing – POV switches, blurgy punctuation in place – though I’ve seen much worse pro published. It’s a charming, rather simple story, highly predictable and fairy tale like, with too much telling not showing, and too many neat resolutions to thorny situations. The characters were likeable, if somewhat incredible, and Anne Wells verged towards the Mary Sueish at times. (Actually, what it put me in mind of was the dynamic between Francis Crawford and Philippa Somerville in the Lymond Chronicles, which isn’t a bad thing.)
It was a decent time waster for several hours, and certainly didn’t cause offence in its handling of the biracial storyline (at least not to this white reader.) I’d have to say it didn’t rock my world, but it was pretty reasonable by self-published standards. I don’t see any reason, personally, for the over the top recommendations on Amazon, since it was so firmly in the slightly above average category. I can’t say every one of the people recommending the books were shilling for the author – some undoubtedly were, but others clearly just enjoyed the book. For $2.99, you could do a lot worse, but it’s not going to change anyone’s life. I’d rate it 6 out of 10, maybe 7.
Vicki Tyley has a second book out in Kindle. I liked the first one (Thin Blood) pretty well so I bought the second (Sleight Malice) and have been reading it when I have a few spare moments. One thing I like is that the book hasn’t been edited for the US. At least if it has someone left in the casual use of the term “de facto” meaning a domestic partner—although it seems to have some connotations of the old common law spouse in the US.
This almost as good as the Simon Beckett mystery I was listening to the other day where the British author has a direct quote from a Tennessee law enforcement person—in a pretty good Tennessee accent—that a person worked as an “insurance clerk” (pronounced clark). I thought only Childe ballad folk singers and pretentious law firms in the US used that pronunciation.
I am really rooting for the breaking down of artificial publishing barriers by ebooks.
Don’t have any romance recommendations, but I do recommend ‘Xander and the Wind’, a children’s book by MCM. Pig and the Box by MCM is really cool too, but I prefer the artwork in Xander.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981307167
You can read all his children’s book for free at his website, to judge for yourself.
http://1889.ca/books (under the Kids Tab)
In the non-kids departement I highly recommend The Vector, but that isn’t very romancy.
http://1889.ca/books/vector
MCM’s formatting is always correct, both in print and ebook version.
When I was a senior in high school I did some temp work for a fairly small print shop. They did quite a bit of self-publishing, mostly non-fiction. Every one I flipped through was terrible! Terrible grammar, boring, typos, misspelling, you name it. The only other self-pub I’ve come across since was from a patient in the doctor’s office I worked in. He brought in copies of his novel that he had self-published. (Oddly enough, he ran a print shop, too. Coincidence?) That book was truly horrific. The part that sticks most in my mind was a scene about how much he loved his high school sweetheart’s stomach. Direct quote – “I could almost orgasm just from touching it.” Ewww… Especially gross when a 60-something patient of yours gives it to you to read and wants your opinion!
Abbie,
That would definitely creep me out. The first thing that pops into my mind is “how is he touching her stomach???” Abdomen, belly, middle, midriff even, but not stomach.
Like everything in publishing I don’t think you can generalize. Now that digital has become so “normal” and places like Amazon offer such a great royalty rate, lots of authors are going the self-pub route. A number of traditionally pubbed authors are using it for their backlist, others are using it for the book(s) of their heart they wrote but couldn’t sell to NY, others are using it for novellas or short stories they couldn’t sell to NY.
I’m with Alexis on the read sample before you buy rule. I do this with every digital publication, just like I do if I shop at a physical bookstore. If there is no sample, I don’t buy, unless I already know and like the author. Period.
Even at $2.99 it’s not worth my time and subsequent disappointment. There are a number of NYT bestsellers I’ve declined to buy because I read the first chapter and didn’t like the writing, the story idea, the characters, or something. So, even with the recommendation of thousands of happy readers it still didn’t speak to me. The best thing authors can do, IMO, is offer the first chapter as a sample.
I second the recommendation of Harper’s Bride by Alexis Harrington. I bought it at smashwords.com, where I also bought Underground by Nicole Laurent which was also an enjoyable read.
@Ann, regarding your review above.
I’ve had similar reactions to highly praised (reader review) books from print publishers as well. This is not an attack of your review or an argument about self publishing vs. traditional publishing – I just find different people’s perception of the same item interesting. In this case, the perspective of a reader who is also a writer. It’s the rare story that I can totally lose myself in, without also noticing the plot structure and the mechanics of writing. Sometimes I wish I could just turn that part of my brain off and just read for pleasure (unless of course I’m studying a great book for WHAT made it work so well, LOL)
@Jenyfer, the weaker the book, the more likely I am to engage the ‘writer’ part of my brain. As you can see from my reviews, I’m perfectly capable of being swept away by a good story, even if I later reread and find there are flaws I have overlooked in the first read – which is the read I review on because that’s the most honest reaction.
O’Connell’s book was odd in that it swept me away some of the time (particularly in the early part of the book), and other times the ‘tell not show’ became so intrusive that I couldn’t help notice the other flaws getting in the way of my enjoyment. It read very much like a first novel. She’s got talent, but she needs an editor to take her in hand, and she needs to keep at her craft. It would be sad if she took the praise she’s getting for this book as a sign that she’s reached the pinnacle of knowledge.
For all my criticisms, I have to say my mind has been returning to Cord and Anne all day, so she’s definitely got the knack of creating memorable characters. I hope she keeps writing, but I hope she tightens up on the things she’s not strong at.
Um, sure. Why not. I’d shill for Sailor Jim.
Disclaimer: I’ve been acquainted with Sailor Jim Johnston for something like ten years, first via the Usenet Newsgroup alt.callahans and now friended on LiveJournal. He’s an unsold aspiring writer. During that entire time he has posted hundreds of what he calls “my little bits o’ silliness.”
Naked through the Snow and Other Bits of Silliness is a compilation of years of those little stories. I used the Quarternion Press link, where the book is $10 plus shipping, rather than the Amazon link, where it’s… expensive.
Someone mentioned that they’d like to see sample chapters?
http://www.sailorjim.net/index_files/posts69a.html
For every aspiring romance writer, SJ included an essay they should read: On Writing Penises. (Google for it and laugh.)
Okay, I’m done shilling for SJ. It was worth it. 😉
I’m coming late to this follow-up post, but just wanted to say:
Thanks, SBs.
I was curious about the survey and I must say I’m relieved.
Of course, the survey didn’t ask whether someone who’d purchased a self-published book would purchase a second one, so maybe I’m just wearing my Pollyanna dress today. (That’s not unusual.) But still.
And yes, downloadable samples rule. Try before you buy. I do that for all the books I’m interested in, whether NY, small press or self-pubbed. Digital rocks that way.
Hi there. None of my books are self published, including Captain Sinister’s Lady. It was published by Amber Quill Press, a royalty paying publishing company that’s been in business for quite a few years now, publishing digital and print editions. It’s still available in print, digital edition, in German (Samt und Sabel) from Heyne (Random House) and in Estonian (Kapten Sinisteri armuke) from Odamees. The German and Estonian sales came through my foreign rights agent, Danny Baror.
I have had books rejected, and rather than publish them myself I go back and fix them so that they can be professionally published. At this point in my career, self-publishing is not an attractive option for me.
Thanks for doing the survey, it was eye-opening and educational.