Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

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wilderness
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Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by wilderness » December 18th, 2011, 4:59 pm

Hi all,

With all the recent successes in self-publishing, I'm still having trouble finding a great way to find out about self-pubbed books. I recently bought a Nook, and I have bought some of my author friends' self-pubbed novels. I want to branch out and try reading more. But I have no idea where to start. If you read self-pubbed/indie books, how do you find out about them? How do you know the quality is high, that it was well edited, and that the author put a lot of work into the novel before pushing upload? Word of mouth, blogs, Amazon best-seller lists, goodreads reviews etc -- what do you put the most stock in?

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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by Margo » December 19th, 2011, 11:17 am

Book bloggers.
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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by Sommer Leigh » December 19th, 2011, 12:03 pm

I'm going to agree with Margo - I listen to book bloggers who have similar opinions to mine. Now, not a lot are taking on self-pubbed books yet, but some are. So seek those out.
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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by MattLarkin » December 19th, 2011, 2:17 pm

Sommer Leigh wrote:I'm going to agree with Margo - I listen to book bloggers who have similar opinions to mine. Now, not a lot are taking on self-pubbed books yet, but some are. So seek those out.
Care to share a few favorites, Sommer?


If something seems interesting on Amazon, you can download a free sample. Invest a few minutes to see if the writer grabs you, rather than pay for something sight unseen. And I do usually check out the average rating on Amazon and Goodreads before spending money on an author, self-pubbed or trad-pubbed.
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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by Doug Pardee » December 19th, 2011, 4:42 pm

MattLarkin wrote:you can download a free sample. Invest a few minutes to see if the writer grabs you
This.

For fiction, I read only e-books. I do a lot of screening based on genre, cover (sorry, folks, but I do consider a poor cover a disqualification because it indicates a lazy writer), "back cover" blurb, reader comments, etc., but the big decision is based on looking at the sample. The sample needs to be reasonably substantial (not just a page or two). It's the only true indicator of the quality of the writing.

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Mira
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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by Mira » December 19th, 2011, 5:38 pm

I think it's a good question how to find indie writers. In addition to the above, another way woudl be to go to a site promoting self-publishing. The comments sections will be full of them.

You can go to Absolute Write and look for the appropriate sections. You could also go to one of the Self-Publishing Kings sites, like Joe Konrath or Barry Eisner (spelling?). You could look around the threads here, we have a bunch of them. Alot of indie writers are banding together right now and talking up a storm about the new world they are entering. You wouldn't have to search around the blogosphere too hard to find them.

Once you get names, you can check the ratings like folks spoke about before.

You could also browse Amazon for books that are being offered for a dollar. These are likely self-publishers.

If you find some you like, you should come back and let us know about them! :D

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wilderness
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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by wilderness » December 20th, 2011, 1:37 pm

Thanks for the advice all! Definitely a good idea to check the writing samples I think. I'm not in the habit of doing that (I usually just go with the description and reviews) but it's probably a good idea for any book you're considering buying.

Are there are any blogs in particular you'd recommend?

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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by Mike Dickson » January 6th, 2012, 2:41 pm

I've read all of Amanda Hocking. I'm not much of a vampire fan but she lives close to me so I thought it was cool. I also read J.A. Konrath.

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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by saraflower » January 31st, 2012, 12:08 pm

I have read a few books by indie authors and I actually enjoy them more than many traditionally published ones. Definitely follow book bloggers on twitter and sites like Word Press. There are a lot of avid book reviewers out there. Check out Brian James Freeman - he writes darker stuff and Lauren Waters is an amazing indie writer - she writes historical fantasy. I am sure you have also heard of David Gaughran.

As for blogs, there are some really good ones like Unputdownable Books or Krazy Book Lady. There are many others. I have found out about so many bloggers by networking through Twitter. :)

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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by aspiring_x » March 18th, 2012, 10:07 am

i recently read OPEN MINDS by Susan Kaye Quinn and it was VERY good!

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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by writersink » March 31st, 2012, 7:01 am

I don't yet have anything to read them on, so I can't help with this. I'd probably just check these forums. There are loads of people who visit this site with self-pubbed books. The whole fad hasn't yet caught on where I'm from (England, if you're curious. *waves*)

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Re: Do you read indie/self-pubbed books?

Post by GaoYuQing » May 15th, 2012, 9:39 am

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to books. I utterly refuse to get a e-reader, on principle alone and for other, practicle reasons it's irrelevant to mention. I therefore have never read a self-published book in that format. I have read a couple physical books that were self published that I found in used book sales, but honestly, they only proved to me the screening value of agents, editors and publishers. Many times I feel that if the agent/publisher has rejected a book, there might be a legitimate reason and turning around and going off all huffy saying you'll do it yourself just means you're turning your back on a valuable asset.

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