Do you respect or dislike Indies/Self Published Authors?

[RDC8492]

I am curious to see the majority. Some ppl seem to not care who the publisher is as long as the book is good. Others lean toward a self published author and give them a chance. There are some I've seen who will go to great extremes to avoid and intentionally bash a self published author.

Share your honest thoughts on self publishing if you are willing.

 

[regdog]

If the book is well written, edited and formatted, I don't care if ti's self published or publisher published.
It's the quality of what is written not who puts it out there.

 

[Occlith]

Quality of writing and the story are of more importance, unfortunately many self published books are poorly written. Hiring an editor would be a good start for many authors.

 

[RDC8492]

Learned that lesson the hard way. but, pro editing has been completed. I just noticed alot of blogs that seemed to bash self pubs. Considering I hope to do that someday, I was curious if that was the majority opinion.

 

[odmaldi]

See, I'm coming to terms with self-published books, even though I have to admit that I still have some reservations about reading them. My issue with self-published books is that places like Amazon provide an "easiness" for new authors to publish; which allows for some to upload their stuff without double checking for errors, editing them to produce quality books. Don't get me wrong, I like that Amazon and the like provide authors with the opportunity to sell their books-some of which would probably have no other way of doing so-but it would be even better if self-published books were treated with the same level of professionalism in terms of content, editing, layout design, etc.

 

[C.S.Bailey]

As a self-published author, I can tell you that it is a steep and horrid learning curve doing everything yourself. Especially since, like you already mentioned a lot of sites shun self publishing. I paid upwards of $400 dollars for mine to be professionally edited and it's a lot better now. But as a reader, I have read some brilliant self-published books.

 

[RDC8492]

I agree with both odmaldi and C.S.Bailey (can't quote both lol). There have been several well established authors who have dropped their publishers and are now opting for self pub because it gives them more control. They already have made their mark in the literary world so readers don't even notice the change. But for those of us who are still wet behind the ears, it's a huge barrier sometimes. I have heard the words "Sorry, we do not carry/review/blog about etc. self published authors at all." too many times. It seems unjust to me IF the book is equally as good as something by a big publisher.

And C.S., I need your editor, hehe, ours was triple but like you said, it was worth every penny. Now the story can stand for itself and self pub or not, hopefully make it's own name.

Thanks guys, needed some intel and pep talk.. you both delivered!

 

[C.S.Bailey]

I agree with both odmaldi and C.S.Bailey (can't quote both lol). There have been several well established authors who have dropped their publishers and are now opting for self pub because it gives them more control. They already have made their mark in the literary world so readers don't even notice the change. But for those of us who are still wet behind the ears, it's a huge barrier sometimes. I have heard the words "Sorry, we do not carry/review/blog about etc. self published authors at all." too many times. It seems unjust to me IF the book is equally as good as something by a big publisher.

And C.S., I need your editor, hehe, ours was triple but like you said, it was worth every penny. Now the story can stand for itself and self pub or not, hopefully make it's own name.

Thanks guys, needed some intel and pep talk.. you both delivered!

No, problem, glad I could help. It's a cruel world out there. I wish you all the best with your book

 

[Beth Rodgers]

I have self-published my novel, so I am all for self publishing. It is a quicker process in the beginning to get it out into the world, but the marketing aspects of it fall to the author. I enjoy taking the time to spread the word about it and market it to the best of my ability, but I definitely see the benefit of publishing traditionally as well. I always actually wanted to have my writing published in the traditional way, through a publishing house, but the times are changing.

With regard to which I'd read, it does not matter to me. A book is a book, and if it is well-written, edited, and has an interesting storyline, I don't go out of my way to find out who published it.