Litwit Lounge discussion

Smashwords recently held a sale and I picked up about eight free picture books. None of them were at what I would deem ready for publication, although I did enjoy a couple of them and rated them three stars.
But this leads me to wonder if the availability of self publishing is leading to lazy writing and lower standards.
I'm questioning this as both a reader and an author. My anthology of children's poems is free on Smashwords, and I only included in it poems that I felt were of a publishable standard. However I'm keeping it permafree because I don't have the health to market my book, and my aim was for it to be read, rather than earn me some money. And as it's a collection of my favourite poems, rather than a cohesively themed anthology, and lacks illustrations, I felt it was fairer to readers to keep it free.
But reading all these picture books has caused me to question the value of self publishing. If the author is the chief judge of the quality of a book, is there value in the book? And if readers become accustomed to a flood of poorly written material, will we lose the ability to distinguish good literature from trash?

Ah, the dilemma of self published books. Quality. I agree, there are so many self published books out there that are horrible, due to poor writing or poor editing and there's no one to reign in the author and tell them to rewrite or fix their plethora of mistakes. I know a lot of people personally who have self published their own books. I have read their stuff and I stand by what I say regarding it. Luckily, I feel like these books can only go so far, because giving your book away can only do so much for publicity and so many self published books, even the good ones, never make it very far. Still, in our own circles/community's it's something to look out for. I treat it the same way I do fanfiction. I read some ff that's great, but I had to sift through all the bad stuff to find it. I'm more concerned by all the **** coming out of the actual publishing companies that people buy, self included.

Yes I must admit I've seen plenty of trash that's somehow been given the tick of approval by a publisher.

Janelle, I think it's a valid concern. I've only read a few self-published books, and each time perceived (rightly or wrongly) the need of an editor.

That said, there are probably some good contributions out there that current publishers won't bother with because it's not trendy enough or some other reason. Perhaps there is a need for more drafts to be read and edited without a publisher??

I agree, Reggia. I think the onus is on self publishing writers to ensure that their book is of a publishable standard. And I believe there are many high quality self published books available. But I also believe that there's a good percentage of self publishing authors who are either deluded about the quality of their writing, or are content with a mediocre product.
The funny thing is, until I picked up all those free picture books, I had no bias at all against self publishing. I saw it as a really viable option. But to see every single one of those books fail very basic standards shocked me.
I feel that when authors self publish shoddy work, they make it so much harder for the good quality self published books to receive recognition. The bad apples are spoiling it for the good.

It's true, a few rotten books spoil the bunch. My mom has a friend who is currently self publishing a series because her books are too religious for the mainstream Publishers and too secular for the Christian Publishers. She actually lets I and my mom proof read her stuff along with many other people. I think she finally found a professional editor and publisher though. I think much of the problem is that many self published authors think their eyes are good enough.

True. My son is currently writing a fantasy series that falls between genres, so I don't think he'll be able to publish it traditionally. I proofread for him, but I've told him if he self publishes to be prepared to pay for an editor, cover artist, etc.

where does it fall? I might be interested.

It's a YA fantasy. It has some religious elements, but there's no way a Christian publisher would accept it. He'll have better chances with a traditional publisher, but his writing is rather unique, and I'm not sure if a publisher would take the risk with it. He started writing when he was about thirteen, but has only taken it more seriously in the last few years. He's written six of the seven books in the series, but it's been a very long learning curve for him. He has high functioning Asperger's, and he really thinks outside the box. He's still only 22, so he likely has a long career ahead of him.
He's currently editing the first book and is hoping it will be ready for submission at the end of the year. It's a slow process because he's writing book six atm as well, and is in full time study. Plus book one was very rough, so he's basically had to rewrite it.

Wow! Good for him! Sounds like it's right up my ally. I'd love to give it a try when he finishes. or if he'd like an extra set of eyes... lol. Let me know when it's out.

Ok cool! Thanks!

Yes! Good for him... I think it's so wonderful that those of you who write just seem to have these stories within you.

He's just bursting at the seams to get his story down, but he has to prioritise his study.
Storytelling is such an amazing gift. It brings such pleasure to the world.

that's always the hardest part. having to prioratize. I wish him the best of luck!

Thanks Yvonne!