How many self-published books have you bought?

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quicklime

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You've never seen Dan Poynter's Self-publishing Manual? Or the Rosses' book on self-publishing?

Both are self-published.

Interesting omission for a denizen of self-publishing threads.

--Ken


well, THAT didn't come off smug at all.....after all, why would anyone want to, lik,e research self-pubbing or browse an open forum without buying the "correct" books.


I was going to answer the original question "zero" but then I remembered buying (2 copies, in fact) of Atlanta Nights. Whew, guess I can play here. Since I can, here's my take:

I only bought the one book because it was something unique I wanted. I don't have an e-reader, though I suspect I will soon, which shuts out a huge swath of self-pub right there. Of the stuff "out there" already, I would probably buy "I hope they serve beer in Hell" to give it a look, and there are a few folks here I know enough of that I'd be tempted to buy something from them, but that's about it.

Why? Why so few? Because those folks I have come to know a bit, and respect from what I do know. Experience becomes my substitute "gatekeeper" (note how I consider it a beneficial form of triage--at least SOMEONE even liked Dan Brown, for example--as opposed to the dirty word some people make it out to be in one-sided little rants) and I feel a measure of confidence in those people and their abilities I don't find in randomly downloading e-books, and with the morass out there, there's no way I'm going to spend half a day on Amazon or anywhere else browsinf the first five pages of book after book.

So one so far. With an e-reader, probably a few dozen over a couple years...or less. I like getting books where I've heard something about them ("Beer" did get a lot of press and rose above the sea of self-pubs) or where I know the authors (which is why I'd consider one from a known writer here).....but I don't shop for books in the same way as others do, clearly.


As for the OP's business model, since all you've offered so far is "I'm going to do something new" without being able to elaborate on what that is, and "meh, I'll have only put a few dollars into it" I'm strongly inclined to agree with Terie; I can't, for the life of me, see how an inability to communicate your unique advantage coupled with indifference is a recipe for anything even remotely resembling success.
 

rainsmom

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I've bought... a few.

* There's a person I follow on Twitter who writes about the exact subjects I'm rabidly passionate about. I *want* to love her books. I bought one and couldn't get past chapter 3.

* Similar story -- FB friend. I don't think I got past chapter 1 on that one.

* Found an article just today with a list of novels on a subject near and dear to my heart. Most of the books were out of print, but one, which sounded GREAT, was new and self-published. I couldn't get past the "Look Inside" preview. Horrible writing and punctuation in the first two pages.

* Really want the self-pubbed novel by someone who wrote one of my favorite non-fiction books. Can't afford it, because he pubbed in hard cover print.

* Picked up a self-published print book in a local store. Read it, but it was pretty bad, and I wouldn't look at any of her other books.

* BUT! Then I found Debora Geary's novels, and I've bought them all and love them. The first ones were light on conflict, but entertaining enough. She has fixed that in the last series. They are very well-written, and I can't wait for the next one. (This month!!)

* I have more than a few nonfiction self-published books. I find there that the information outweighs the (often, but not always) crappy writing. There are a few that are bloody awesome.

* Editing to add... There's a person I found here who published a couple of memoir type books. They were FANTASTIC, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next one. There's another person I found either through here or Backspace who self-pubbed a novel I bought, and it's okay. I didn't make it through, but it may have just not been my cup of tea.
 

JoyceH

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Luke, I've read through this thread, and it seems pretty clear that you're looking to start a business. And it's a business selling a product you're really not very interested in. Nobody who reads 'one or two books a month' ought to be a book seller!

Find something that actually interests you to sell on the internet. That's my two cents.
 

Day O'

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Hmmm...maybe 50 since I got my Kindle last September. Many of them very good. Some not so much. After getting burned a few times, I always read the sample. Reviews don't always help—though sometimes they do. Not saying they're fake, but just like traditional books my taste doesn't always match what's popular.

I do spend a fair amount of time searching, but I just read a self-published book that made my top ten favorites of all time. I also download a lot of freebies. Probably one of twelve gets fully read. Yet I've found some good stuff there too.

As far as my standards, I hold the same standard for character development, pace, plot, etc...as a traditionally published book, but I'm more forgiving of typos and mistakes to a certain point. One a chapter or so is tolerable when it’s one every other page or more, heavy skimming starts.

I'm a heavy reader who now reads mostly self-published books. And yes, it's about price and convenience. I'm busy. The library takes time--and when I used to go there once a month, I'd end up only reading half of the fifteen books I checked out. And price? I've been burned on traditionally published books too, but at more than ten dollars a pop, the burn seems to hurt more.
So far, the biggest difference is that there’s just more books to wade through.

 

MissyLaRae

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A lot

As a self published author myself I purchase or get for free massive amounts of self published ebooks.

I have read exactly 4 that I thought were good and two of those were great but none have been "outstanding" as of yet.

I purchase a lot of traditionally published books as well but I would say 60-70% of my book purchases are self published.
 
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