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Is there a "good" self-published book?

Motokid

Motokid

New Member
A member stated that self-publishing is a bad idea. That if a work of writting is any good, a "proper" publisher will recognize it and a deal will be made to get the book into print.

I don't think that's exactly true. I'm willing to bet there are plenty of really great stories out there by people who have self-published. There are certainly plenty of bad stories that have been published.

I'd like to know if any of you have found a self-published book worth recommending to people in this forum?
 
I think you are missing his point. His point was not that a self published book cannot be a good book. His point was that it's a bad idea because not that many people will get to see your work and that it's far better to be published by a publishing house because they can market, edit, and mass distribute your book. Without the help of an established publishing house you will get none of this. Your book will ( probably ) contain errors and have a very small audience.
 
regardless

Regardless of whether the member was actually giving that advice, or if the intention was to state what might be advised by many other sources, my point is that in many places self-published work is often looked at as "sub-par".

I don't see that as the case. I hold my ground in stating there is great work undiscovered by "proper" publishers. My guess is that many people in this forum know such books.
 
I've never come across such a book. In fact, my father owns quite a few books made by friends and acquaintances, and they're not very good, both layout- and content-wise.
 
The next classic may well be undiscovered by "proper" publishers and languishing in someone's cupboard after they had it printed and bound by "vanity" publishers but I, personally, don't see the point in selfpublishing - anyone that takes my money to publish my book is nothing more than a lowlife leech; anyone that pays me money to publish my book is okay in my book - but still a leech. :D

Of course there are many famous authors who have self-published at the start of (or during) their writing career. A couple of examples would be:

  • Edgar Rice Burroughs
  • Mark Twain
  • Alexander Dumas
  • James Joyce
  • Rudyard Kipling
  • D.H. Lawrence
  • Edgar Allen Poe
  • George Bernard Shaw
  • Henry David Thoreau
  • Virginia Woolf

Can you cite any examples of great self-published works in the modern day?
 
Stephen King self-published at least one book I believe. I may not be a big fan of his, but there's no denying that the man can write!

Putting King aside for the moment, I do believe that there are some self-published gems out there, but I've yet to find one.
 
Opening three paragraphs from Contact, by Matthew Reilly:

New York City
30 November, 2:01 a.m.

Mike Fraser pressed himself flat against the black wall of the tunnel. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to block out the roar of the subway train flashing by in front of him. The dirt and dust kicked up by the speeding train hit his face like a thousand pin-pricks. It hurt, but he didn't care. He was almost there.

And then, just as soon as it had come, the train was gone, its thunderous rumble slowly fading into the blackness of the tunnel. Fraser opened his eyes. Against the black backdrop of the wall, the whites of his eyes were all that could be seen. He peeled himself away from the wall and brushed off the dirt that had clung to his clothes. Black clothes.

It was two o'clock in the morning, and while the rest of New York slept, Mike Fraser was going about his work. Silently and swiftly, he made his way up the subway tunnel until he found what he was looking for.
Click to expand...

Okay this is, er, a little cliched. The whites of his eyes? Maybe it's relevant to the story later on but what does his clothes being black have to do with anything else in this paragraph? It was two o'clock in the morning? Really? The fact that the date and time are given at the start of the prologue makes that an unnecessary statement. It's also a little bit he did this, he did that and after initially feeling a bit of pain he just shrugs it off without us knowing why or how.

I must admit, I thought the premise was interesting enough but, on reading that, I'm no longer interested. People buy this stuff? :D
 
I kinda liked it - I do think that the blackness of the clothes implies something which is made clear lateron (his profession?).

Cheers
 
:p IMO Temple is the best book Reilly has written, though Ice Station is fairly good. Contest isn't as good as those two, but it was his first book :)
 
Stewart said:
Can you cite any examples of great self-published works in the modern day?
Click to expand...
Who, What defines 'great' Stew hun! The media? A nobel prize? Ever lifted a top twenty on Amazon and thought it sucked? Well, then.
A writer - perhaps not yet 'great' by your standards? - that comes to mind is Deborah Lawrenson. Self-published 'The Art of Falling' through Stamp, in conjunction with Matador, frustrated by the politics in conventional publishing. It sold so well that Random House snatched it up and it's being re-released by Arrow in July 2005. Let's not ask about her advance. Such is her success that original copies of 'The Art of Falling' were on auction at £100 a copy last I heard. Tell me you've done better with your publications, and not a word from me on this again.
 
How about "The Christmas Box" by Richard Paul Evans? It was originally self-published as a gift for his daughter and then thousands of copies were printed at his local copyshop until it was finally picked up by Simon & Schuster. Another one is "Going for It" by Karen Quinones, who sold over 30,000 copies from her private website. She just recently sold the sequel and a second book to Warner at auction for $100K.

They do exist, but they are the exceptions, rather than the rule. It's very difficult, marketing-wise, to get the word out on self-pubbed. It can be done, but it does cost money.
 
MR got Contact self published with a 1000 copies, each of which sold out very quickly and he landed himself a major publishing deal in about ten countries. Now he's a rich man!

Contest was written when he was about 18, and yes it is a little cliched, his later work is a lot better. FYI, Matthew Reilly is an up-and-coming Australian author who I used to champion on this site whenever possible, because his writing style is very in-your-face, very rapid and very exhilarating. Oh, just dont expect much realism, they were written to read like movie scripts in a way, the hero always gets out of any situation :D

Enough of that anyway, I think the answer is *Yes* :D

Phil
 
Trafficking in Old Books by Anthony Marshall

It's definitely aimed at a niche audience, so I think self publishing worked really well for him. And he's had his second book published by a 'real' publishing company as a result.
 
Thought I would bring this thread back to life with a sentence fragment.

Think of how many horrible, traditionally published books are out there. We've all read bad books by well-known publishers.

There are many forms of "self-published' books. There are gems, rocks, and a few geodes (sp?) waiting to be split open. So, yes, there are wonderful self-published books out there in the world, but there are also self-published pieces of crap.

It matters how much effort/love the self-published author has put into his/her work that deems it good or godawful. If a so-so writer self-publishes a first draft, yeah, it's going to suck balls.

I spent four years writing/editing/rewriting/revising/re-editing Palindrome Hannah. And then, when I thought it was perfect (it wasn't by far), I sent a copy to a buddy of mine (editor of The Zero Game, by Brad Meltzer), and he copyedited the fucker, making its pages bleed with red ink. Then I sent it to some pre-readers, who found further mistakes. And then I put it in a drawer for six months or so, read it again, fixed a couple things, changed some of the story around, etc. Finally I sent it to a proofreader buddy of mine, and he found about forty other things needing work. Eventually I was satisfied with my work enough to have it self-published.
 
Hey all! I just self-published my book because traditional publishing is near impossible to do. There are alot of politics involved and often the author has to "know somebody". I believe that the only downfall thus far in my experience with POD has been promotion. It's a challenge to get folks to know the book is out there.

I believe that if the book is a great read, it should become successful, but I guess I'll soon see. Everybody has different tastes: you know what they say about opinions! Frankly though, I've seen TONS of books in the store that are just plain awful. I chose to go with POD because it was easier and it was fast: patience is not one of my better traits.

Stewart, it's uplifting to read the list you supplied of authors who HAVE self-published before. Thanks for doing that because it is encouraging. :)
 
I think the point is missed when you start giving examples of people who did self-publish but were then picked up by majors, either in the past or now (who knows what the future holds for Sirmyk!) - the area we should be concentrating on are those who stay in the self-publishing rut. Among such self-publishers - eg Sean Wright, Garry Charles; see link in my sig for more on those two chancers - there's a belief by them that the only reason their books don't get picked up by majors is that they're too 'edgy' or 'out there' or 'uncategorisable.' Then when you read them - and I confirm this is most firmly the case for the two I have mentioned - it turns out their books are easily categorisable, as complete shit, and that's why they weren't 'properly' published.

Of course there is rubbish published by proper publishing houses - in fact most of what they put out is rubbish. But where is the good stuff in long-term self-publishing? We are all familiar on the Book Forum with those charmers who not only self-publish but self-publicise, here, under assumed names. Has anyone ever thought any of those books are good? And these are the self-publishers with more determination than most.

As for Matthew Reilly - ah yes, that great artist, who names his favourite book of all time (after regretfully whittling down Nabokov, Fitzgerald, Chekhov and Chaucer) as Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. And I don't think you can call Stephen King self-published on the basis of one book - The Plant, you mean? - although as for "there's no denying the man can write" - I deny it, I deny it! See the Stephen King thread...
 
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