Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

It seems that either people love to read self-published authors, or they refuse to. Why do you or don't you read self-published authors? Likewise, if you find a book that looks good but you find out it is a self-published author, are you less likely to read it?

I read anything from anyone, self-published or not, as long as it's something I'm into. I know what you mean, though. I've told people about really good books before and they'd be totally hooked until they find out the author is self-published and "not very popular."

It's annoying to say the least.

I'm on wattpad lots reading as well. There, you find the unpublished and unseasoned...but it's not hard to find a good read.
I don't discriminate. *shrug*

Lyla wrote: "I read anything from anyone, self-published or not, as long as it's something I'm into. I know what you mean, though. I've told people about really good books before and they'd be totally hooked un..."

That is great to hear Lyla, we as self-published authors, really appreciate your support. I to read self-pubs and love discovering new talent. I love giving other self-pubs reviews. I know it means so much to them.

The more reviews, the better. Eventually, people will catch on. Word of mouth seems to help loads as well...if you're lucky enough to know enough open-minded readers. Sadly, I'm surrounded by book snobs and faux-readers lol.
It doesn't stop me from recommending, though. ;)
Keep the faith and stay hopeful. :)

I read what interests me which is anything from fiction to true crime to romantic suspense to fantasy to...
well, you get the picture. I'm on a self-published author kick right now and not really reading any of the books from a bestselling list of authors I read prior to launching my own.

I also don't need a review to tell me what I like. Will the review sometimes intrigue me? The answer is, sometimes. But if I want to read a book that has a storyline that grabs me, I will buy it, read it, and enjoy it even if 75 other people didn't enjoy it.

I'm not reading anything at the moment but that's because I'm trying to finish writing my own. And after that, will go directly into finishing the third and final book of The Evil Trilogy. I have quite a long TBR list which I will eventually get around to reading. :)

As long as the book catches my interest. I'll read it whether it's self published or not.

I'm published both ways. And I'm proud to be a self published author of 4 books.

As long as there are readers that enjoy my work, I'll continue to publish more books.

I read all types: traditionally published, small published and self-published. I do have a special love for self-published. I am hosting a self-published reading challenge this year on my blog. With 28 other people signed up to participate, I know there are definitely others who enjoy reading self-pub too.

Wow, I am so happy to hear how many people enjoy reading self-published work. I moderate a group called "Connecting Readers with Writers" on here, and I have a lot of self-published writers who feel like most readers don't want to give them a try because they are Self-Published. I am going to direct them back to this thread, so they can see that some brave souls really do appreciate them. If you're looking for some new self-published authors to try, or just like connecting with authors, feel free to join the group. We would love to hear from you!

I think the people that don't read these books aren't hardcore readers. I'll read everything and I actually have read more indy authors in the past 2 or 3 yrs than I have the best seller list authors. If independents don't make money they could be really awesome authors but could give up and then we lose a talent for future books and movies and that would really suck. I do recommend that self published authors work really hard at editing and proof reading things cause bad spelling, sentence structure, and bland characters with no dimension is like a horrible scratch on a DVD movie.

I'm traditionally published, but almost never look at the publisher when I pick out a book. I go almost entirely off the description. It does annoy me, though, when any author presents a book to readers without a good edit. I can't tell you how many times I've put down a book because I'm so distracted by punctuation mistakes, passive writing, or other bad writing.

David Rory wrote: "Hi all, Nice thread. It is such a dilemma both as a reader and a writer. I have a few years under my belt and my book list on GR is about one tenth of what I've actually read. In this past fifteen ..."

Good post. There are plenty of good books and stories out there we'll never see because the BIG publishers only touch blockbusters. as I often hear at conferences, "writing is an art, publishing is a business." But since we writers want an audience, we have to work as hard at marketing as the writing.
Laura Moe

A lot depends on presentation. If the blurb is well written and the cover is reasonably well done, I don't usually check to see if a book is self-published before reading a sample. It's the sample + 1 star reviews that will sell a book for me but that sample has to have crisp writing that grabs me by the nose and won't let go. I go for the 1 star reviews and those reviewers who give more insight than "THIS SUKED DON WAIST UR TIEM". I've bought quite a few books based on 1 star reviews because the negatives listed were the very things I liked in a book. Being identified as self-pubbed in negative reviews has no bearing on my decision to pass.

Many times, I'm sad to say, I can tell by the writing in the sample if something's been self-published and if it's that apparent in the sample (I then verify almost always correctly) and move on.

Note that I don't move on because it was self-pubbed; I move on because the sample didn't grab me, didn't hold me and didn't impress me.

Kodai wrote: "Elle wrote: "It seems that either people love to read self-published authors, or they refuse to. Why do you or don't you read self-published authors? Likewise, if you find a book that looks good bu..."

I love your attitude Kodai. That's awesome! I've started reading a lot of self-published novels for that reason too. And I've noticed that there are great novels on both sides of the publishing pool.

I am greatful to join the world of self-pub. as both an avid reader and a writer. As a reader, some of my favorite authors had gotten stale. One of my favorites used up her main character to the extent that she had one beloved character try to rape the othe one. Right now, I am discovering fresh new authors that I'm meeting on twitter and goodreads. Some could be edited a little more but it doesn't bother me in the least. For the price, I can buy 10 new authors' books for the price of one of the old ones. Since I read one or two books a day, it works for me. None of my old favorites are worth 10 times more than the fresh new ones.

Since I've been on Goodreads, I've discovered the world of self-published authors. Before that, I always read the traditionally published books that were available in the library or bookstore. I've read quite a few indie or self-published works in the last year or so and I have to say I haven't been extremely disappointed in any of them. Sure, some could definitely use a good editor or proofreader, but, for the most part, the storylines have been intriguing, enjoyable and interesting.

As has been said by others in this thread, some of the traditionally published books aren't all that great, either. Because the author is well-known, it doesn't seem to matter if the book is good or not as long as it's churned out into the market and can be sold just on the author's name.

No doubt there is a lot of dross out there in the self-published field, but I think there are many gems as well. One never knows unless one gives the book a try. Okay, so what if you waste a few dollars on a book you didn't like? That can happen on either side of the publishing pool.

As an avid reader, I look for books that pique my interest and intrigue me. It doesn't matter if they are self-published or traditionally published.

That list sounds like a great idea -- especially if you consider including my indie SF novel Twin-Bred :-) ....

Seriously, I hope that you'll find it meets the standards for your list. (So far, none of the reviews are from friends or relatives, and only one early review was part of a review swap.)

I really don't care if an author is traditional published or self-published. If the story is good, I will read it.

I think some people are just book snobs. If the author does not have a traditional deal, they're obviously not good enough, but that is not the case. Some stories are continually turned down by agents and publishers because they don't fit the current reading trends or because they don't know how to market it. Some are turned down because the query letter is not good enough. In my opinion, these are not good reasons.

I do understand, however, that traditional publishing is tough, trendy and in trouble due to the ebook revolution.

When the printing press was invented, it made reading available to the masses and changed the world forever. Now, with the introduction of on-demand and e-books, publishing has been opened to the masses. How do we move from a handful of publishers deciding what we read to deciding for ourselves? I think the onslaught of self-published books has begun, but we haven't quite figured out how sift through them all or market them. Ultimately, I think it's going to come down to tools like Goodreads and other social media. It is going to take time to erase the stigma of "self-published", I think it will take time and success stories (pulled from all those that will fail.) Someone once told me, "you can always spot the pioneers by the arrows through their heads." So writers keep publishing, and readers keep reading, we may take a few arrows, but ultimately we'll have vastly more great things to read that we may never have had before.

With a few exceptions--and most of those being from writers I know personally and have helped them with other works of theirs--every time I found a self-pub book that interests me, either the reviews are very bad (i.e. 4 and 5 stars in the minority by far) or I read it and realize it is not edited at all. I don't doubt there is good self-pub out there, but even more so I'm going to wait for friends to say, "You need to read this," before I pick up a self-pup unknown.

I don't think it has ever occurred to me to check whether a book was self or trad before I read it (seriously, who looks at publishers?), and I have read a few (very few) really good self-pubbed book. For a while, carried away by hope and novelty, I bought and read what were essentially self-pubbed books put out by e-publishers without trepidation. I learned very fast, however, that I couldn't just buy them casually like I did trad-pubbed books.

I'm EXTREMELY picky about GOOD storytelling, and not all authors are sophisticated enough to be conscious of weakness in their own craftsmanship.

Even reader reviews can be disappointing because many, maybe most, casual readers don't notice the glaring irritations that make a book unreadable to me.

I wouldn't reject any book out-of-hand because of who published it. On the other hand, bad experience has made me much more wary about buying any book that just looks interesting because I can no longer completely trust that somebody with SOME literary training has decided the thing was at least minimally readable.

The bottom line here is not whether a book is self-publised or not but if it is to your taste. We all know best-selling authors who we finally buy one of their books to see why it's a best seller and wonder how in the world this person could become a best selling author. I recently read four books by an author that was on the best-seller list every time to see why. I could only stomach three. She writes the same book over and over. The settings are different and the characters have different names. but she's been a best seller for years.

One of the things we self-published authors have to overcome is the fact that such a large percentage of people need to be told what to like. If a book is already a best seller, they want to read it.

If someone is already a star that's who people want to see. Actors and singers have the same problem. How many people do you know who sing better than anyone you've seen on TV but they never had the breaks.

Do you know what The producer said about Fred Astair when he went for his first audition? "Can't sing, can't act, but can dance a little."

I think this new world of self-pub and e-books is like the reality shows for stars. It's a matter of finding your target audience, the group of people who, once they read one of your books, they want to see more.

Peggy wrote: "The bottom line here is not whether a book is self-publised or not but if it is to your taste. We all know best-selling authors who we finally buy one of their books to see why it's a best seller ..."

That is so true. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's so frigging frustrating! Grrrr.

I third that, Peggy!

Having picked up a book by another author, whose work has been turned into films, I found the writing boring, and the characters terrible. That's not to say it's bad (okay, I am saying that, but that's just my opinion), but it really wasn't for me.

As for finding many self-published books unedited ... I'll make no excuses here, as I'm as guilty of this as many other self-published authors. The first edition of Liberator's Ruin was terrible. I thought I'd caught all the errors, but I was very quickly proven wrong! They have (I hope) all been sorted now.

The reality is, that without the resources of a publishing company, self-published authors have to hire an editor, which is bloody expensive. I was lucky that some very kind people here on Goodreads offered to help. Of course, errors creep into published novels - don't get me started on a book that used 'weary' where it should have read 'wary'!

Since, for over 40 years, I was averaging reading 1-2 book a day, I have read thousands of books. I don't think I ever read a book that didn't have any errors. I read Atlas Shrugged during this past summer and found two errors. That book was written in 1957, so you'd think all the bugs would be out by now.

Books are written, edited, published by humans. If you can afford to pay for an editor without the backing of a big publishing company, then you're lucky. But that doesn't guarantee your books are going to have no mistakes. If a reader has to judge my writing by my humanity, I don't want him/her reading my books. Writing a book takes a lot of time and emotional energy. When I'm writing I'm laughing, crying and all the emotions. There are some mistakes in some of my books. I do the best I can and hopefully as I sell more books I can afford to hire some help. I have a proofreader right now who proofreads my books in exchange for reading my books. She works for the local newspaper and she loves my books.

I'm finding so many really good fresh new authors who are self-published for $0.99. Why would I pay ten times as much for an e-book? Are any of those 10 times better? I don't think so.

I read one new author I found who can't seem to get straight where quotation marks are suppose to go. But he's an excellent writter and his plots are wonderful.

As my Southern belle mama used to say, "Honey, don't sweat the small stuff. And if you can't find anything positive to say about someone, just shut up."

I would never choose a book by the publisher. I enjoy reading in several genres and have read about a dozen travel memoirs written by self-published authors. Several of them struck me as even better than the ones I had read by one of the "Big Guys."
As for the editing, I think too many authors rely on the spell-check, which will not catch mistakes if the word is actually a word. In books by the traditional publishers with an experienced editor I've found (too, when it should be to, from when it should be form) and a few other mistakes of that type. As for "passive" writing, my spell-check nags me quite often about that. Some I correct and some I leave, because I think my way reads better. If all of us would read our work out loud once in awhile before we submit it, we'd catch a lot more of our mistakes. Better yet, ask someone to read it to us.

I'm lucky enough to have found an English teacher who has been editing my new works, just for her own experience and to read an exciting new book.

Yes, the big guys still have errors in their books, so readers should give us little guys a bit of a break.

As my book is humorous sci-fi, with a ton of names that spell-check won't acknowledge, it had a little mental breakdown several chapters in and told me, "Um, no. I canna do any more, Captain. I've given 'er all she's got. Get an editor."

I'm glad I did-- it made an enormous difference in readability. But even with numerous eyeballs, there were still a handful of small things I caught later and corrected before anyone else spied them.

Errors happen, but it's important to control what you can to make a read clean and not draw the reader unduly from the story.

Karina - LadyHawk wrote: "I'm lucky enough to have found an English teacher who has been editing my new works, just for her own experience and to read an exciting new book.

Yes, the big guys still have errors in their book..."

Too bad Goodreads doesn't have a like button! I like your comment!

Hi everyone. I just stumbled onto this thread, thanks to a comment on another thread (thanks Mona!)

I've been a serious writer for almost ten years and a career (public and academic) librarian for over thirty. When I began writing, I had an absolute, pig-headed prejudice against self-publishing. Earlier in my career, I saw way too many bad self-pubbed books. I wasn't going to be "one of those" authors.

Ha! Joke's on Me!! After putting in time to hone the craft, finding beta readers, paying for professional editing (same person who used to edit in NY and now is a contract editor, both for Big 6 and us "indies"), and jumping through every hoop I saw between me and a book worthy of being in the world, I self-published. It was freeing, and frightening. Which, I think, is a pretty good way to live life.

Do "indie" books have errors? You bet. Despite my best efforts, my beta readers and my not-cheap and excellent professional editor, a librarian colleague of mine read 4 Gigs of Trouble and emailed me with two errors! Thankfully, they were small errors. I signed up for an InDesign (book formatting software) class at my local community college. It starts today. Going forward, I'll have the tools to confidently fix errors, without messing up the book formatting.

Now, do "Big Six" books have errors? I think you all know the answer to that, but in case not...well... OF COURSE!

Great discussion!

:)

I'm sorry, but as much as I read, if I can continue to get really good books for $0.99 id will continue to do so. All of my books are $0.99. And, like I said, my books are hard work physically, intellectually and emotionally. There are no trees involved and the publishing is free. I feel that with e-books, everybody wins and I love win win situations. If someone tell me they enjoyed my books, that's worth more than money.

I used to be one of those who refused to read self-published authors because I just figured they weren't good enough to get into print. I was determined to get a publisher. I did everything right (I think) and found a great agent at Trident Media Group. She sent my book around and we heard the same thing over and over. If they had gotten it 2 years earlier, before Twilight exploded all over the place, they would have taken it. I wrote a book about teen witches using their powers to play games because the publishers said they wanted something different. Several publishers loved the idea. One by one they backed out, each with a different reason. If they had all cited one problem, I would have fixed it, but everyone was different. One person loved the main girl and hated the guy. One loved the guy but hated the sisters. Another loved the game plot but didn't care for the romance. On and on it went until my agent left the agency without a word. I was without an agent for six weeks and didn't even know it.

In my opinion, it was unprofessional. I wish she would have at least let me know. This is not the only time I got the shaft while working with agents and or publishers. Now I have gone out on a limb and published my books myself as ebooks. Now I have to put up with that same attitude that I had, so I guess it's true. What goes around comes around.

Good for you for doing it yourself. Looking back over my frustration in trying to get my first book published the traditional way, I'm sorry I wasted the time and emotional energy. I think publishers etc. will one day be out of jobs.

Have you read the book, HOW I SOLD ONE MILLION E-BOOKS IN FIVE MONTHS by John Locke? He makes some good points about why publishers have to be so choosy and why self-publishing is such a good idea.

I didn't start out reading any specific type of book. I just picked up what looked interesting to me. Now that we can find even more selections online and not just what is carried in our local book store, I can expand to read even more genres, self-published, traditional published, or anything in between.

For me I want to read something that excites me and interests me. It doesn't matter if it is from a new author or a famous one. The story is what is important. I don't even focus that much on reviews because no matter what someone else thinks, I have to give the story a try for myself.

Peggy wrote: "Good for you for doing it yourself. Looking back over my frustration in trying to get my first book published the traditional way, I'm sorry I wasted the time and emotional energy. I think publis..."

Yes, I read Locke's book. He did have some good advice.

Peggy wrote: "Good for you for doing it yourself. Looking back over my frustration in trying to get my first book published the traditional way, I'm sorry I wasted the time and emotional energy. I think publis..."

Locke's "How I Sold..." was a decent read. I definitely picked up some tips from him. :)

To answer the initial question, I read *everything*! Trad, self-pub, small press, large press, anything! It really bums me out how some people immediately dismiss a book because they hear it was indie-pubbed. I've read some absolutely fantastic indie books and some absolutely dreadful trad books!

To me, a good book is a good book, regardless of where it comes from. If the blurb and the sample grab my attention, I'll download it no matter what. :)

Whether a book is good or bad is not a black and white issue. It's a matter of taste. Is everyone going to like my books? No. Does everyone like Stephen King? If you asked my best friend, she would say his books are good. I gave them a chance, I really did, but they're just not my kind of books. They are neither good or bad.

Some people have never grown up and need someone else to tell them what to like, so they rely on reviews and ratings My first novel got two bad reviews, no not just bad reviews, they were totally trashing my book. It didn't seem to make a dent in the sales though. So there are still a lot of people out there who can still think for themselves, lucky for me!!

It's not "mistakes" that I object to in poorly-edited writing. I don't really care about an occasional typo or a misplaced comma. I can even live with consistently misplaced commas. What I object to is BAD WRITING. And yes, you see it in trad pub, but I see more of it in indie pubs.

Of course people like different *kinds* of stories and styles of writing. Some people like Hemingway; others like Faulkner. That's taste.

The question of *good writing* isn't whether I like the story or not, it's whether there is a strong,consistent theme with a sufficiently wide appeal (even if it doesn't especially appeal to *me*), whether characters are consistent, dialogue advances the plot or illuminates character, language is sensory and uses active verbs; whether threads are left untied, sentence structure is monotonous, scenes fail to advance the story etc.

None of that is a matter of opinion or even of taste. It can be measured and quantified, and it is a reliable measure of how many people will enjoy the story and how many will never read anything by that author again even if they can't exactly say why.

Some people are more conscious of those factors than others, but the reason they apply is because humans all tend to process language and read other people in the same way.

Kodai wrote: "Heather wrote: "Kodai wrote: "Elle wrote: "It seems that either people love to read self-published authors, or they refuse to. Why do you or don't you read self-published authors? Likewise, if you ..."
Hi Kodai. Like you, I have long enjoyed reading military SF, mostly from Baen. For your info, my military SF novel STAR VIGILANTE will be self-published on Amazon in a few months. Until then, feel free to read the first chapter at my author page of http://www.sff.net/people/t-jackson-king and to send me an email at my hotmail address with your thoughts. I think it's a decent start to what I enjoyed writing about--the relationship between a mostly human cyborg vigilante guy and an albino human/alien crossbreed woman. Tom.
Little Brother's WorldT. Jackson King

Indie books are changing what we read. I think it is wonderful that any writer who wants to publish a book can do so. I've read many great indie books that would never stand a chance with the big publishing houses.

I've found that I enjoy the work of self published writers better. They seem to have a more authentic and unique perspective than the more "polished" stuff that's been reworked into dullness by agents and big publishers.

It's exciting, it's a whole new era. Book writing and publishing will never be the same again. It will take some longer than others to adjust. Take a chance. Read a $0.99 e-book. What do you have to lose. Live a little. Think outside the tiny box. lol!!

That's why we have goodreads and twitter etc. so we can meet all these wonderful fresh new authors. I'm having a blast.!!

I think for the most part, people don't purposely discriminate against self-published authors. I think they just don't know about them.

I know for myself, I didn't realize just how many more authors there were out there until I joined Goodreads. Now I'm regularly feeding my addiction to the point that I'm almost drowning in new I-want-to-read-that reads.

No, it's not about discrimination at all. It's about the mind set of a lot of people. An analogy here: Would you wear something that's not in style? Would you go pay to see a movie with all unknown actors staring in it? If so, you're in the minority. Too many people are followers and need to be told what to like. They have to see reviews, ratings etc.

They way I'm finding my most favorite fresh new authors is by getting to know the person on twitter and goodreads and getting a feel for how they think, what they feel about things, etc. If they write books with vampires and werewolves etc. I move on. I know it's what people are into right now, but I like a good mystery/suspense/psychological thriller and it's what I write. I said it before and I'll say it again, it's a matter of taste.

Most people just need to be educated about us self-pub. authors. Billy Jack was one of my favoite movies. I saw it before it became a hit. It wasn't supposed to be a hit. It was a low budget movie, with unknown actors, poor lighting, but it's now an icon. Quotes are taken from that movie just like they are from Casa Blanca.

Most best selling authors didn't start off as best sellers. They were all unknown when they staarted out. So it's not about discrimination but about education.

Indie books by my fellow Goodreads authors have quite often, impressed me. Now, I prioritize supporting these writers by reading their works and offering feedback. I will also post reviews, but only if I can sincerely provide positive comments.

That's so nice! I too only do reviews if it is positive. It's good karma, man. I had such an awful review awhile back for my first novel and it affected my sales for a brief period. I didn't object so much taht it was bad but it wasn't honest. It said the novel started on chapter 13. I bouthg my own book and downloaded it and it started on chapter one. Can you imagine paying $0.99 for a book and then taking time to give a review like this? As my southern belle mama used to say, "Honey, it's just plain mean."

Peggy that's awful. I agree that harshly negative reviews are just not needed.

For myself, I always tell authors I'll post an honest review, but refrain from being overly harsh or negative. And if I don't care for the book the review won't be posted anywhere but my personal Goodreads page and my blog. I won't post a negative to Amazon or elsewhere because my taste doesn't need to have a bad impact on someone else's hard work.

Peggy wrote: "No, it's not about discrimination at all. It's about the mind set of a lot of people. An analogy here: Would you wear something that's not in style? Would you go pay to see a movie with all unkno..."

I also usually give possitive reviews. I think people are too analytical when they review books...they tear the book to shreads when really they should look at the story as a whole and not critique so much as the author having flat characters, choppy narrative, weak plot...blah, blah, blah. These type of critics should be left for English teachers in the classroon. If the author uses good language, grammar, good plot, round set of characters, then people shouldn't tear the work to shreads but render good, honest and possitive reviews. If the reader does not like the story, then it is fair and they should say the book was just not for them, but they should not critize the author for a sloppy book and trash their Novel. Authors work hard on their Novels.