Recently, I was asked the question: “Who are some of your favorite self-published authors?” Technically speaking, some people will tell you Mark Twain and Stephen King both self published at least once, but I’m pretty sure those aren’t the answer the person was looking for with this question. They’re wanting to know who my favorite modern self-published authors are, people who few have heard of but are doing great work under the radar — like, ya know, I’d like to be doing quite soon. As a soon-to-be self-published author, you’d think I’d have a good answer for this. But it stumps me.
I’ve read 20 novels since August — I also started several others, but they didn’t hold my interest — and I honestly couldn’t tell you if any of them was self published. That’s the biggest reason I don’t have a good answer to the question. Who are my favorite self-published authors? I don’t really know who’s self published and who’s not. I look at the genre, title, cover, author and summary. If it sounds interesting, I might peek at some reviews. If it checks out, I’ll give it a shot. It never occurs to me to check for a publisher. The only one I know was self published, I only know that because I’m friends with the author. [Read more…] about Are Self-Published Books Any Good?