Will Self-Pub Sales Affect Your Future?

I am a self pub author for my first book. I don’t think it will effect my chances for a few reasons. First, my sales are ho-hum because I don’t have a whole lot of collateral to invest in advertising like I would with a traditional route. Second, my second book is a much stronger book and my reason for going through self publishing was so that friends and family could see what I’ve been working on. I picked up a few extra sales and I’m always happy to continue promoting myself for more sales. Third, getting into self publishing has given me the opportunity to network in a way that I couldn’t otherwise. The networking has given me an in, in the industry. When best selling authors start liking my facebook author page and my facebook book pages, I have succeeded in networking. When my next book is ready for an agent, I will have people to go to. This will not come free of charge of course. I will have to help them when I can as well, such as letting people know there books are out.

In short, finding an agent is difficult whether you have self published or not. It’s a subjective business. Some agents will care and some will not. Some might be guarded but then come around. It’s a game of chances.

In the end, I have gone from a beginner who knew nothing about the literary world to at the least being a self educated novice who other beginners are coming to, for help as they commence on their endeavor to become published authors; self or traditional.

I have bought one self-published book, from an author whose blog I read. The book was even a revised version of actual blog posts (about writing advice). So I have never randomly bought a self-published book.

I haven’t bought any self-pubbed books, but I’ve received some for free. Those have contained so many errors that, after having spent five years as a textbook editor, I simply couldn’t enjoy them. The glaring errors were too distracting.

Friends, if you do self-pub, please don’t fly solo. Hire someone with the expertise you need to make your work look and sound professional so it can be taken sreiously.

I have downloaded and read several self-pub’d books. Some I liked and some were only so-so…about the same average as traditionally published books.

Interestingly, when I think about it, I don’t recall ever reading any self-pubbed fiction, though. For fiction I tend to follow authors I know and like. Maybe I’ll find a self-pub’d novelist I like in the near future…

I have just completed my first book, and chose the self-pub route. It is Christian non-fiction. Lacking both offical credentials and platform, self-pub appeared the only route worth pursuing.

I broke all the rules by doing everything myself. So far, I feel reasonably satisfied with all but the website, which I am still working on.

I have learned a lot along the way, and am now working on building platform (yes I got it a little backwards).

We’ll see how it does…

If anyone’s interested, visit my website at http://www.josephjpote.com and click on the book title link, “So you are a Believer…Who has been through Divorce…”

I have read and purchased many self published books. I can highly recommend Gary Ponzo’s “A Touch of Deceit” and “A Touch of Revenge.” That being said I also like the work of Jamie DeBree and India Drummond a great deal. Both authors take pains to get assistance in editing their books and having books with few if any errors, they also tell good stories.

I have read self published books that were good but could have used some editing assistance or help with eBook formatting. Some other books simply fail to tell a good story.

I am considering going the indie author route but will make certain that my book is professionally edited. I am the queen of the comma splice.

All in all I have been pleased with the quality of self published books I have purchased. The number exceeds fifty so I have read many self published books.

Cheers,

Ardee-ann

Angel in the Shadows and Angel in the Storm are excellent Kindle ebooks by Lisa Grace.

These are YA. Professionally edited and earn a wow rating from me.

I am eager for her third book in the series to come out.

I’ve read four self-published books so far. One was a collection of poetry, and it was God-awful atrocious. Not just lousy poetry, but lousy spelling, lousy everything. Just awful. Even so, I bought a fellow amateur radio operator’s self-published novel after that. From start to finish, her book was filled with errors. With serious editing, it could have been a good book, but as it was, it made my eyes bleed. She later came out with a second book, but I didn’t even consider buying it. The other two novels were written by the same man, and the quality of his work was considerably better. (which is why I sprung for his second book) There are several self-pubbed works available now that I also intend to purchase. Each of the writers runs a darned good blog, so I’m betting on their books being enjoyable, as well.

I’ve read several and will keep on. I download a sample so I know if I’m purchasing a good book. I can tell within the first few pages if the writing is up to par. And so far, they’ve been excellent. Most of these are YA.

Addison Moore Ethereal series.
Michelle Muto Book of Lost Souls
Anne Riley The Clearing
Laura Josephsen Notes from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School)
Anya Winter – Stampede Fever
Eisley Jacobs – Born to be a Dragon (middle grade)
P.J. Hoover – Solstice

The level of self publishing has risen and will continue to as publishers buy less books. They are worth checking out. I put just as much thought into purchasing a trad. pubbed book. Reading samples… etc. That said, I read trad. pubbed books too. It’s not an either/or.

And I think there is just as much risk or greater trad. publishing too esp. if you don’t sell through and your book flops within the first few months, you’re in trouble.

I’ve purchased MANY self-published books, Amanda Hocking among them. I’ve been disappointed in some, impressed with others, just the same as with traditional publishing.
What self-pubbed, or traditionally pubbed authors need to know is that the hard work starts AFTER the book is published. Promoting takes 10 times the effort than the novel writing did.

It always makes me a little sad when I see the prejudices against self-published authors, but I do understand. There is a lot of garbage out there. But there are those authors out there who have worked their tails off. And a lot of them make the mistakes they do because they don’t have the funding to hire a professional editor. When I started self-publishing I certainly didn’t. I did the best I could, spent hours and hours formatting, learned how to do cover design, and did the best job I could. The hard work paid off, and eventually after I had sold 20,000 copies of my 2 books I had the funding to hire a professional editor, and after selling 30,000 copies in the last 4 months of the 3 books I now have out, I’m so swamped I’m considering hiring an assistant to help me out with the overwhelming email I get these days.
Yes, there is a lot of garbage, but consider how much work the majority these “Indie’s” have put in, and they have to do every bit of it themselves. Think twice before you judge too harshly.

I’ve purchased some self-published works on Amazon and elsewhere. They have all been junk.

That doesn’t mean that all self-published books are junk, and I am hoping to find some that are well-written.

I agree that some books published by the traditional publishers contain some mistakes, but the mistakes in self-published books are at an order-of-magnitude more common and egregious.

I absolutely am not saying self-published books are guaranteed to be bad. And to be honest, I’d be happy to self-publish if my books do not sell through a traditional publisher.

But I’m going to try to learn from what I see and make the book as great as possible.

So a related question would be: why are ebooks so horribly formatted? Can’t people figure this out? Is it so hard to do it right? (I know that other problems such as spelling and syntax and the rest are mechanical, and the basic writing skills of plot, theme, and character also need to be considered, but ebooks tend to just look like ransom notes.)

I’m a self-pubbed author (and trust me, up until a year ago, I was the BIGGEST self-publishing snob and swore I’d never do it — never say never, I guess). Like some of the others above, I’ve read some great self-pubbed books and some lousy ones, most of which were doomed by poor storytelling, poor editing, or both. I sample a lot on my Nook because of this…I find the first 20 pages are quite telling.

What’s great about this blog post is that it shows a real shift in thinking — five years ago (and Rachelle — definitely correct me if I’m wrong in this assumption), I think we’d be hard pressed to find any agents who would seriously consider a self-pubbed writer…or who would even encourage self-publishing as a viable option for a writer’s career. Just as my own opinion changed, so, too, has the industry’s opinion (and no, not completely…and yes, it’s still evolving…day by day, it seems).

When I published my novel, I promised myself I wouldn’t become obsessed with checking my sales figures (since Amazon updates digital sales every hour). I see so many writers who do this (people talk about it on Kindle Boards). I’m in it for the long haul. I went three months without looking at all, and now I check in once a month.

I realized my decision to self-publish would likely affect my chances at landing an agent…but even this assumption on my part has evolved, as evidenced by the growing number of self-pubbed authors who are working with agents (Victorine Lieske, Michael Wallace, J Carson Black are three who come to mind — there are more…Kindle Boards has threads on this topic).

And, as has been cited here and on numerous other blogs, the agent’s role is changing in this still-evolving digital publishing landscape. (I’m in the camp that agents still matter, and will continue to play an important role in a writer’s career, whether traditionally published or self-published).

Thanks, as always, Rachelle, for your thought-provoking posts.

I have read quite a few self-pubbed books, and only ever purchased 3, all from people I knew. I have owned two bookstores so have had many beg me to carry or read their books. And I have to say… I have plenty of fear and loathing around self-published books. If they don’t have glaring errors, many suffer from being… just “OK” as reads. Others are – awful. Now, it’s not as if every print book I’ve ever read was great, but even those I didn’t love were at least well crafted. I am sure there are good ones out there, but hope I don’t have to waste any more time finding them.

It saddens me that so many people have been put off self published ebooks because there is so much junk out there. I started to publish to Kindle and Smashwords because, despite winning a major literary prize and being traditionally published, I found it next to impossible to engage a publisher or agent. One agent I have known for a number of years said he was selling so few books to publishers he was reluctant to expand his lists. He advised epublishing as the way of the future. I took his advice and now have two books which are epublished, they sit on my author’s page along with my traditionally published paperback. To date they are selling reasonably well, but I would hate to think I was being classified as a junk writer because of them.

I’ve only downloaded one self-pubbed book, because it was free. I actually have not read it yet. I would not, at least at this time, pay for a self-pubbed book. The reason is there’s no quality assurance like there is when you go through a publisher. I know that there are some very talented authors out there self-publishing some really good works, but it’s very difficult (a lot more difficult than with traditionally released books) to figure out what’s what. So I’m not willing to put money on the line. In fact, I’m not really willing to but my time on the line, either, at this point. My book list is too long already with books that got fantastic reviews, are from authors I’m already in love with, or otherwise proved themselves worth a chance. Self-pubbing just doesn’t have the profile and network to reach this mass audience yet.

I was terrified when reading this post, but the comments have been both interesting and encouraging. I decided recently to self-publish my novel “The Breeders” this November. At first, it was just going to be an eBook…but I’ve since decided to start a publishing company and do a print book as well (using Lightning Source, a subsidiary of Ingram Book Group). The learning experience has been extreme–but also amazing!
That said, I’m constantly plagued by self doubt. As exciting as it is to be taking control of my writing career and despite some positive feedback from agents on the book, I have no Stamp Of Approval from anybody but myself. Yes, I’ve had test readers, I’ve hired a great editor, and I’m releasing a book that will [hopefully] be indistinguishable from any Big Six book–but nobody “in the know” has told me it’s all okay. It’s an entirely new brand of writer’s insecurity. But it’s also something that makes me know I’m not one of those writers who is self-publishing because of an overblown ego.
People might hate my book, but I’m still going to release my absolute best work. It’s scary as hell, but it also might be a very clean cut way to start a writing career. The market can give me a verdict on my literary worth. If I fail, at least I’ll know how to code eBooks and design layouts in Adobe InDesign! It never hurts to get a little bit smarter.

Woops, sorry for the crappy spacing above. Strike one!

Rachelle, I really appreciate you taking on this question – many people want to know this information, but finding someone to give you an honest perspective is tough. I also appreciate everyone who gave tips on finding indie review sites.

I tend to buy self-pubbed books through blogs I already read and like. Like everyone, I’ve seen some good and some bad, just like traditional publishing.

However, the biggest disappointment so far has been a very well-published traditional author, who appears to think he can just throw up ebook files and unpublished writings willy nilly… no front or back matter, no cover design worth mentioning, no filters, no editing. This material disrespects my Kindle! And it makes me cranky.

Thanks Rachelle. I’ve bought a few. Most fair. Some unreadable. And a couple were as good as anything I’ve read.

I ‘ve asked 6 or so agents and editors this question. The answers varied. One agent told me that unless I sold 8,000 to 10,000, he wouldn’t look at anything else I did. An editor told me to “go for it.” That it would be a great experience, and even if I sold none, I would learn much about publishing, and she would still consider me. So who knows. I’m going to “dip my toes in” by self publishing short stories – chapters from my YA novels. I’m still pursuing traditional publishing. Interesting times, eh?

I’ve downloaded both self-pubbed and traditionally published books. I’ve seen self-pubbed books that were perfect – in storytelling, editing, cover art – and traditionally published books that were a complete mess in formatting, editing, boring and had hideous stories (and the reverse, of course, is true for both).

Recommendations would depend on your preferred genre!

I’ve purchased self published books but typically they’re either poetry books or short stories. And of those, I make the purchase knowing the writer and their ability.

I’m hesitant in buying a full length self pub novel though. I’ve read some excerpts that have made my eyeballs crawl back into my head. The problem comes down to the level of editing most people can do and what is really needed for me to part with my $10-$20.

I have bought several self-pubbed books, some were good, some were bad. Just like the books I’ve bought off the shelves in bookstores.

I like the selection of self-pubbed books because it is wider and more diverse. I can get whatever I want. I don’t have publishers telling me what’s good and what trend I should buy.

The gatekeepers are the readers now, as it should’ve been all along, and they will decide with their pocket books.

Oh, and I’m a multi-published traditional author who has chosen to self-pub.