Karen H had some interesting things to say on my post about pet peeves in the books we read. Her comments got me thinking and this post is the result of my thinking.
Karen says, “Laurie, this book you talk about sounds like an unedited, self-published ebook. Is that the case? I’ve really only been reading ebooks for a short time since I finally got a Kindle in March. Some of the stuff I’ve picked up for free at Amazon wasn’t worth any price…even free. I think some of these so-called authors think anybody can write a book, so because self-publishing makes it relatively easy to get a book before the masses, they whip something together without benefit of a critique partner, beta reader or editor.”
I’ve had similar experiences with self-published books. It so happens that the one that I was referring to in the post mentioned above wasn’t a self-published ebook. It was actually an audio book published by a traditional publisher. Still, it seems like the majority of the self-published books I’ve picked up have either been poorly written, such that I didn’t finish them at all, or they had a good story idea which could have been a lot better with some judicious editing. There have been a few exceptions…a few self-published books that have been good reads, that I enjoyed as they were.
I don’t feel comfortable saying all self-published books are bad. Clearly, not all self-published books are bad. Not all New York published books are good. Not all ebooks published by publishers are good either. What I do feel comfortable saying is that the chance of getting a bad book that is self-published seems to be quite a lot higher than the chances of getting a bad book that is published by a publisher – large or small. I’ve been bitten enough times by bad self-published books that I now pay attention to whether a book is published by a publisher that I recognize or whether it is self-published. A book being self-published doesn’t mean that I won’t buy it…but it means I’ll check it out more thoroughly than I might a book published by a publisher I’m familiar with who has a good track record of publishing books I like.
What about you? How are you faring in this new world where self-publishing in digital form is relatively, quick, easy, and inexpensive? Are you enjoying the greater diversity of books that are available or are you finding yourself increasingly frustrated by books that don’t measure up? Are you finding yourself paying more attention to who published the book – and is that getting more consideration when it comes to what you buy?
I’m finding that for me it is. It isn’t about spending dollars on self-published books. For me it is about time. My pleasure reading time is limited. When I sit down to read I want a book I can sink into. One that doesn’t make me cringe or want to reach for my yellow highlighter. I don’t want to waste a chapter determining that the book started in the wrong place or that the characters are cardboard. When I sit down to read for pleasure I am after entertainment…enjoyment. Seeing another publisher’s name on the book’s description at Amazon helps to assure me that at least someone else thought the piece was good, worth investing some dollars in.
Self-Published Ebooks
Self-Published Ebooks
Self-Published Ebooks
I think the reader sifting through the world of self-publishing is like trying to walk through a mine field. Never know what’s going to pop on your next step. But, I’m learning where to put my foot and I’ve found some pretty good stuff.
I’ve read some very good to excellent self-published books but most are good to mediocre standing above the truly rotten ones. I belong to Paperback Swap and I’m a big fan of historical romances. One of the forums I follow is Historical ebook freebies. One of the members sifts through the daily listings of freebies at Amazon and BN.com and gives us a list of the Historicals that are available. I can use that information to find the genre I want, and then read the summary and the reviews. I check to see the star ranges. I’ve seen some with 20 5-stars and 19 1-star and nothing in between. I read several of each to see what problems the readers had with the book, then I decide if I want to take a chance or not. If there are not reviews or ratings, I probably won’t touch it. I’m not willing to be first.
On the flip side of this loaded coin, I’m reading a paranormal historical romance trilogy by a now well-established author. I believe these books were her very early (although not the first) works and it shows. I read the first book and liked it enough to give it 3.5 stars. I couldn’t finish the second book because the author drove me nuts with the overuse of the word ‘maiden’. I couldn’t keep track of the plot because I was so distracted counting the number of times the word appeared, I threw in the towel at chapter five. I’m trying to get through the third book now and it is a struggle. The author isn’t using maiden overmuch but has replaced it with ‘desire’ or ‘desired’. Good grief, just use ‘want’ already. All this and a rather weak plot with stilted, wooden-like characters in improbable situations, well, I don’t know if I’ll make it through this one either. I’m still wondering how all this got past the Zebra Publishing editors.
All this proves there are some dogs in print that should have stayed in the bottom drawer. Self-published ebooks haven’t cornered the market on bad writing.
OMG! I’m out of my freakin’ mind here. Can you believe it, I’m still reading the crappy book I mentioned in Laurie’s original post about pet peeves in novels? I’m a glutton for punishment. The author hasn’t redeemed herself. Give me 50 lashes with a wed noodle. It’s time to move on…………sigh………thud!
I can relate Karen. It is REALLY hard to put down a book – even a really bad one. I don’t know why this is…but I think it is a great topic for a blog post.
I’ll delve in in a little bit.
I few of my favorite authors have free books on Amazon and have self published books. I thinks it really depends on the author. Self publishing is not the problem it is the people who abuse it. Many of the erotic romance authors are using self publishing these days.
I would agree with you Gabrielle. I have friends who are good authors and who self-publish as well. I think the problem with self-publishing impacts them as much or more than it does anyone else – other than maybe readers who are finding themselves in the position of needing to weed the good from the bad.
I agree that it is the people who publish before they are ready that create the problem of a bunch of pretty bad books out there. I believe the problem is that a lot of times as an author you don’t know where you’ve dropped the ball unless someone shows you. I know when I attended my first critique group many years ago I thought I was pretty hot stuff. I was surprised to learn that there were things I didn’t know and still needed to learn.
I believe when authors send me their manuscripts they are sending me their best work. They’ve gone over it a million times…made it as strong as they can. If it is still not a quality that I can publish (as is the case with about 99% of what I receive) it’s not because they are sloppy or are not attentive to detail. It’s that there are some pieces of writing craft that they haven’t learned yet.
The problem with self publishing is that there is no one to tell you that it isn’t quite up to par. For that reason I’m really glad that self-publishing was not an easy task when I first started out. If it had been I probably would have self-published the first manuscript I wrote and it would probably be hanging around somewhere now embarrassing me.
I’ve read a lot of the free e-books on Amazon. Some are quite good and some I don’t even finish.
I’ve found the same to be true Wilma.
Do you find yourself less inclined to pick up another book after you’ve struggled and not finished one? I do sometimes. I find it just hard to move to the next one sometimes. That’s true even with good books. I usually need a day to process before I’m ready to start another book…especially another book of the same type.
I have not read any of the recent free books floating around. Quite frankly I have not really explored this option.
What concerns me is that there is so much negativity as regards self-published books. It’s a worry, because the quality self-published books are being swallowed up by all the rubbish. I just don’t want to have to sift through it all to find a gem.
I can relate to not wanting to have to sort through all the bad books to find a good one… I feel the same, especially when I am reading for pleasure. Reading through the bad to find the good is what I do for work…but it’s not what I want to do when it comes to my leisure reading.
You sound frustrated by the need to sift and sort through the bad to find the good. I feel similarly…whether it is a published book or a self-published one.
That’s a good point. I brought 10 books home from the library a while back & only ONE was a GREAT read.
I’m sorry you’ve had such a bunch of so-so reads lately. It is FRUSTRATING when that happens isn’t it? It does seem to happen in strings too, at least for me. For a while I’ll have a string of really good books and then I’ll have some I struggle to finish.
I guess having print publishers (and I’m guessing the books not being self-published) didn’t save you from mediocre books.
It’s a bummer you hit such a string of stinkers. May your next trip to the library yield some gems.