So, you’ve got a new Kindle, Ipad, or Nook, and you hear that it’s all the rage to support self-published or “indie” authors (it doesn’t hurt that their ebooks are usually cheaper, sometimes a lot cheaper, than those put out by traditional publishers). But without any…ahem, quality control, how can you be sure you’re not wasting your time? After all, didn’t these poor slobs self-publish because they weren’t good enough to get an agent?
Well, maybe. Maybe not.
Lots of writers are choosing to go straight to self-publishing (especially e-publishing) these days, because, if you don’t mind all the DIY stuff and the marketing aspect, the money’s better (70% earnings per book sale instead of 8-25%). Also, some see it as an alternative route to a traditional publishing deal. (As we were discussing last week, quite a number of self-publishers have been picked up by Big 6 publishers after establishing a fan-base and proving they can sell books).
In short, though there are a lot of amateurish self-published works out there, there are also some that are as entertaining as anything you’d see coming out of New York.
But how do you find these promising up-and-comers?
Here are some suggestions:
Sample, sample, sample
One of the perks of e-readers is that you can download samples for ebooks. The first few pages might not tell you if you’ll like how the story develops and is resolved, but they’ll tell you heaps about the quality of the writing (and editing).
If you’re not impressed with what you see, don’t expect the book to get better. Most authors spend a lot of time polishing those opening pages, especially on first novels. Those might very well be the best pages in the book.
Find Bloggers Who Review Indie Books
Book blogging has become tremendously popular, and readers are starting review sites for every genre you can imagine. It used to be hard for indies to get reviewed, but quite a few indie-friendly bloggers have popped up of late (thank you, good bloggers).
If you find a couple of bloggers whose tastes match yours, subscribe to their news feeds and come back often to see what they’re recommending.
I’ll be adding a list of indie-friendly SF/F bloggers soon, but in the meantime you can check this list of over 100 bloggers who review indie books.
Pay Attention to Amazon’s Recommendations and “Customers Who Bought…” Areas
If you’re an Amazon fan, visit the books of some of your favorite authors, and click through the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought…” section (other stores are starting to have these features too). There are a dozen-odd pages you can skim through, each with three books, so chances are there’ll be some indies in the mix.
Books that show up in the “Customers Who Bought…” section have typically sold hundreds or thousands of copies, so you know somebody’s reading them.
If an indie book shows up on your recommendations page on Amazon, it’s likely sold even more copies.
It’s true that just because a book sells a lot of copies doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a hit, but it’s pretty hard to get the ball rolling as an indie, so there’s a good chance that a book that does that well is being enjoyed by quite a few folks.
But, when you’re browsing these sections, how can you be sure you’re looking at indie books?
You can often, but not always, tell indie books by the 99-cent or 2.99/3.99 price. Don’t assume a book sucks because it’s inexpensive. A low price usually means the author is a) trying to build a fan-base by offering his or her first book inexpensively or b) happy with his or her earnings at said price — at 2.99 an independent author is making $2 per book, which is as much, if not more than, her traditionally published counterparts, folks that have to cut the pie a lot more ways.
Another clue is if, on the book page, there’s no publisher listed (though some self-published authors do make up publishing houses for themselves to sound more official).
Choose books with numerous reviews (not all glowing!)
There’s nothing wrong with downloading a sample from a book with no reviews, especially if the book was just published (hey, you never know), but reviews tend to be even more crucial with independent authors. With traditionally published books, you have some guarantees as to editing and story cohesion. With self-published works, you can save yourself time and frustration by going with those that have more favorable reviews than not.
But beware of all glowing reviews (especially if they all came in as the book was released and nobody else has reviewed it in months). It’s typical for early reviews to come from people who are loosely connected to the author (even if the only connection was a quick exchange on Twitter, those folks might feel compelled to write something supportive). It’s an inevitable fact of being published that books that are out there for a while and selling a decent number of copies have bad reviews as well as good ones, not to mention the 3-star “meh” reviews.
Anything else?
With all this being said about a degree of safety in reviews and Amazon recommendations, I would like to point out that your purchase will mean a lot to an independent author who doesn’t have many reviews or a good sales ranking. If a book sounds good, the sample is promising, and the price is agreeable to you, give it a try!
Also, if you liked the book, you will seriously make the author’s day if you send a quick note to let him or her know it. (Smart authors make this easy on readers by including contact information and/or websites and social media links at the end of the ebook.)
That’s it from me, though I welcome folks to add their own tricks for finding good independent authors.
I like your point about the reviews all being glowing, even though I am an indie author without any poor reviews so far. I guess I need someone to hate my book! 🙂 But it’s true that often the first few are solicited. On Amazon, you can check to see if those reviewers have published any other reviews. This can often indicate that the reviewer is a family member or friend doing the writer a favor. But not necessarily, so you have to go with your gut.
You could also check out the author’s web site, if they have one, and see if there are writing samples there. Lots of authors put a variety of pieces on their site so people can have a taste of their writing style and ability.
I try to get bloggers to review my books for that very reason — I’m new and still relatively unknown (only 2 books and a short story published so far), and I’m not yet raking in the sales, so I want readers and potential readers to know for sure that some unbiased folks reviewed the books and liked them.
Hah, well hopefully the good reviews will keep coming in, Serena! Thanks for the suggestions.
If you’ve already got a self published author that you like, take a look at who they’re following on Twitter. Most authors have a list of other authors they follow and you might find some gems in there.
This is absolutely true, I’ve “lucked out” with several self-pubbed great books that I discovered this way. I’ve found that the few that I didn’t enjoy were not being followed by a lot of my favorite writers.
Great tips from everyone. I’ve met a lot of great authors I enjoy on twitter.
Once again, Lindsay, you have done a masterful job of giving us great tips to help us in our work. (When do you ever find the time to write your books, anyway?)
Write, blog, eat, write, blog, eat… I hear there’s more to life, but it all sounds overrated. 😀
I use the ‘sample’ options on Amazon almost without a doubt. I am a bit of a fickle and picky reader and I must test drive an author before spending money on their work. In almost all cases, this has worked for me.
Definitely! I’m picky, too, so I love that it’s so easy to grab samples of books.
You can also ask your friends for recommendations. If I love an indie book, I can’t wait to tell everyone I know about it. If someone I trust recommends a book to me, I can’t buy it fast enough.
Often with friends I get to talking about other stuff and forget to ask them what they have been reading lately. Remember to ask!
You can also check the Indie Book Blog Database at http://hampton-networks.com/ as they have quite the list of book bloggers who accept indie authors.
I’m just catching up on this discussion. Delighted to find it though as I’ve wondered how to be more efficient in finding ebooks I would enjoy. My problem with the sample pages is that they so often contain many pages of useless (until or unless I’ve bought the book) information and few pages of actual fiction. Amazon may offer more of the meat of the book than my Nook does though…
I have actually made numerous comments to that exact thing. I download book samples on Amazon daily and far too often there are ‘pages’ and pages of copyright, ads for other books, and various other useless junk that ends up wasting sometimes over half the sample. One time the sample literally was about three pages after all the junk. I have been told by numerous authors that this is the publishers doing however, so you shouldn’t blame the authors.
I do enjoy author’s notes, acknowledgments and details on the books, even if they are located in the beginning of the book. They set an image of the author in my mind that can sometimes sway my purchase of the book.
Oh, yeah, that frustrates me, too, Sue and MS. I usually end up passing on the book if there wasn’t much of a sample of the actual story.
I always tell indie authors not to put a bunch of stuff up front (sometimes they feel like they should add reviews and things since the big boys do it), because that sort of thing will irk readers who like to sample!
Goodreads!! I follow all my favorite book bloggers on there and I use those to help me choose.
Thanks for the list. Ratings and reviews make a difference indeed. Clearly, Amazon pays attention when readers are enthusiastic about a book. Amazon have an amazing amount of information on readers. They target you with offers that you often find irresistable! This is gold for authors as it means that Amazon can reach people with your book who would never have heard of it otherwise.