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Monday, September 8, 2014

Monday Musings: Do you read Self-published books?


Back in the day I would often have an interesting conversation with my cousin. It went a little something like this:

"Oh hey, I read this series and it got really weird in the end."
"Oh yea? What is it called?"
"It was Random-Series-Most-Often-Involving-hot-dudes."
"Oh yea, that's a self-pub."

So, I took two things away from this. A) Self-published books are surprisingly easy to find out there, they were often the recommended books from Amazon that I would click on and like B) Self-published books are not always edited.

However, neither of those things made me more or less likely to read self-published books. I am the type of reader that will read anything as long as I am entertained during my morning subway ride. Therefore, I find myself thinking the strange stigma on self-publishing is fading. That's my thoughts as a reader.

As a writer self-publishing TERRIFIES ME. You are responsible for everything! For editing, publishing, marketing, and setting up any kind of meet-and-greet let's get together fun-times an author should do to gain/cater to their fans. That sounds like fun if I didn't have a day job. However, most authors have a day job (I need my health insurance!). 

Also, on the industry side self-publishing is a thriving market in YA, Christian Lit, and Chick Lit. So really, it's not like it's just your weird uncle who is publishing his manifesto on why the internet is a government conspiracy.

So, what are your thoughts on Self-published books? Good? Bad? Who cares as long as the love story is steamy?

3 comments:

  1. Hm... Your cousin sounds wise.

    For me, I read self-pub books based on how well they rate on the indie booklist, as well as if reviewers I respect/agree with have read the book and recommend it. It's hard to trust a random self-pub book that has very few reviews, mostly b/c, well, anyone could self-pub, regardless of editing.

    I'm interested to see how the future holds for self-publishing. I think it's really cool that authors are becoming hybrid authors, like Jennifer Armentrout, who publish traditionally, but also self-pub (with hired editors, of course). It gives a lot of different formats to receive a book, whether with pretty embossing (like a traditional publisher) or just in a quick e-book format (self-pub).

    Great musing! :)

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    Replies
    1. I agree, I think that if there are more ways that I can find and read a good story, then I'm happy.

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  2. I have found many awesome stories and authors through self-published books. And I love the rise of e-books that make it easier to find them.

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