How many self-published books have you bought?

I've purchased both self-published and trade published e-books. I haven't purchased a paperback book in over a year. I snag a lot of freebies, too. I used to get most of my books from the library before I got an iPad.

I've bought a ton of self-published ebooks, and as a reader, I don't care if there's a publisher's name on it or not. I don't actively seek out free reads. If something in one of my favourite stores is on sale and it looks like a good read, then I'll download it, but I don't fill up my Kobo with free books.

All I want is a good story that's been edited and correctly formatted. I've noticed authors who self-published their books pay more attention to formatting than some of the trade publishers.

Never bought an e-book, as I have no reader or plans to get one.
No free books, although I've bought books at a nominal cost from the library sale tables if they look interesting. I get 'free' from the library, a major source of 'books I want to buy'.
I buy 50 - 100 books a years. Chiefly bricks-and-mortar.
I've bought 4 self-published books, ever, that I know of. Two were fiction, I know the authors, knew what they were about, thought I would like them, and I did. Two were non-fiction (my real reading preference). One was well-designed and produced, and thoroughly described and explained a new technique for a craft that I was interested in (with excellent, step-by-step colour illustrations). The other was a piece of junk, that took a simple concept, added no new information, was sloppily put together, and had badly hand-drawn (scrawled, really) pattern pieces that would have to be re-drawn to be useable. If I could have seen a sample, I wouldn't have touched it.

That to my mind, is what a self-published 'review' site needs: mandatory 'Look Inside' feature, and not Amazon's first few pages, that a publisher can game by using the copyright page, and title page as half of their quota.
I don't know if Amazon charges for 'Look Inside', but it should be mandatory with a listing:
A good big chunk of actual text, the table of contents, a sample of any illustrations, and the index/bibliography (if any). A reasonable sample and I don't need to read other people's opinions.
(I read reviews for 'spoilers', actual information on the plot. I assume that the rest is subjective nonsense.)

As far as I know, none. Then again, I buy almost all of my books from brick and mortar bookstores. The majority of the (very few) e-books I purchase tend to be issues of literary magazines I'm interested in submitting work to.

I have bought 50 to 100, in exactly the same way that I buy non-self-published books and from largely the same places.

frimble3 said:

That to my mind, is what a self-published 'review' site needs: mandatory 'Look Inside' feature, and not Amazon's first few pages, that a publisher can game by using the copyright page, and title page as half of their quota.
I don't know if Amazon charges for 'Look Inside', but it should be mandatory with a listing:
A good big chunk of actual text, the table of contents, a sample of any illustrations, and the index/bibliography (if any). A reasonable sample and I don't need to read other people's opinions.
(I read reviews for 'spoilers', actual information on the plot. I assume that the rest is subjective nonsense.)

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Amazon doesn't charge for the see inside feature and a smart self-publisher will lay out the book so as much of the actual story (or content for nonfiction) is up front. Consumers are figuring out they need to read the first chapters to get a feel for the book.

From what i have read, most of you don't buy many self-published books, and that is probably the main problem with self-publishing, that people won't buy your books!

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You're making a rather large assumption that no one is buying self-published books. While it's true that in general most self-published authors won't sell hundreds of thousands of books, I'm pretty darn happy to have sold almost 4,000 e-books in the past eight months.

I almost get the feeling you are attempting to use self-published authors to make money for yourself. I sincerely hope that is not the case. Please do your homework before creating a website and offering/promising things you may not be able to deliver.

We've had quite a few folks sliding in and then quickly exiting with one plan or another under the guise of "helping" self-published authors. I think I speak for many of us when I say we are not "playing" at writing. We work hard to create a book worthy of earning a readers confidence. We may not always succeed, but that is the goal.

lukedc said:

I am only going to spend a few dollars making it, so even if it completely does not work, I won't lose anything besides time, but I will learn more about programming, which is a goal of mine.

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This is an excellent business plan to ensure failure.

I have bought very few self-published books, since most of them aren't available in paperback. I won't pay for a ebook, but I have discovered self-published authors from reading free samples of their work on my Kindle app.

I'd gladly pay $10 for a paperbook over a $2.99 ebook if I know I will love it.

lukedc said:

From what i have read, most of you don't buy many self-published books, and that is probably the main problem with self-publishing, that people won't buy your books!

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Haha, yeah, this is a pretty big assumption based off of one thread on one forum. If you go to Amazon and look at some of the top 100 bestsellers lists, it's clear that *someone* is buying self-published books (and downloading the many, many free ones).

As for me, the only self-published looks I've bought have been ebooks, mostly on Amazon because I have a Kindle. I don't want to sort through all my Digital Orders and I don't feel like going to fetch my Kindle, but I'm going to assume I've bought about 25 self-pubbed books and dowloaded for free (or won in giveaways) about twice as much. I've probably read half of all of those. Overall, I read more traditionally published books, but I buy more self-pubbed books because I get the former from libraries.

Why I bought them -- a mix of cover, blurb, sample, and reviews. Some of them were bought because I knew the author from a writing forum or something and the book was only 99 cents, so I'd say, 'Why not?' A few books are from the kind of authors that I'll buy anything from (mainly Samantha Young and Susan Bischoff).

I just wanted to answer to talk about myself but I agree with what others have said about your website. . .there's no real reason for self-published authors to join your website unless you have something new. And I especially agree with merrihiatt on what she says about trying to make money off of writers. Not cool if that's the case.

It is true that people out there are buying self-published books, but many don't seem to actually realize it. I've lost count of the number of comments I've come across in reviews where people complain about the editing and wonder how the publisher could ever have released a book in such a poor state! Makes me wonder if the sale of self-published books will drop when the majority of people learn to tell the difference. On the positive side, it may force self-publishers to lift their game which can only be a good thing.

lukedc said:

My sentence that you quoted did sound rude and I am sorry if I have offended you. Re-reading it, it sounds like I am trying to sell something and trying to insult self-published authors, but I did not intend it to sound like that or anything. I am not trying to demean self-publishers or any such thing, I just wanted to get a better understanding of how it works. I could not write a book even if I was paid to do so, and it must have taken a lot of talent and work to write 21 books and sell so many copies!

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Thanks for your response. I am glad to hear your intention and appreciate you taking the time to clarify.

Writing is a labor of love. I'd do it whether I got paid for it or not.

I've bought several self-published books, some winners, some losers. (Just like in the "real" publishing world.) I like to use my Kindle for reading when possible and I prefer to pay $4.99 or less.

That doesn't mean I'm not buying paperback books, though. If you're willing to buy used copies on Amazon, you'll find hundreds of books for less than a buck (plus shipping). My last three or four purchases ran a penny plus shipping but their Kindle equivalents were $9.99 and up.

James D. Macdonald said:

Another book-review blog wouldn't be a bad thing.

But it should review all classes of books, self-published beside (and to the same standards as) commercially published books.

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This. I doubt that there's a reader in the world with a special interest in browsing solely self-published books. Books be books, however they're published. As self-published books are widely available through known and trusted distributors like Amazon and Smashwords, why would anybody need to go anywhere else?

Not a criticism - just wondering whether it's a question you've answered for yourself.

In the end, books is books.

From the reader's point of view there is no good reason to distinguish self- from third-party published in any way except in the case of readers who choose to avoid the former.

I don't believe I've ever even seen a self-published book, much less bought one.

Not a lot...but I have to admit--

I once swore I would NEVER buy a SP book. I swear I'll never do a lot of things. I was SCREAMING the loudest that I would never buy an ebook, and now I buy more than anybody I know.

So...there is truth in the saying NEVER SAY NEVER.

I finished a self-pubbed YA book recently called WHAT A BOY WANTS by NYRAE DAWN. It was excellent. She restored my faith in SP...and I am giving them a go on a case by case basis. I don't buy a lot...but I have bought 4 or 6 this past year.

KTC said:

I swear I'll never do a lot of things. I was SCREAMING the loudest that I would never buy an ebook,

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perhaps you have some issues? this sort of thing seems like it should be a less passionate decision. when screaming comes into the equation...

I don't think I've ever bought a self-published book, but I've bought a number of titles from small indie publishers. I like weird horror, and there are a number of small publishers that really cater to my tastes. I probably wouldn't have even noticed the publisher if I wasn't a writer who was curious about that sort of thing.

I have downloaded some self-published short story collections for free, but none of them have really grabbed me.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I don't believe I've ever even seen a self-published book, much less bought one.

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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

robertbevan said:

perhaps you have some issues? this sort of thing seems like it should be a less passionate decision. when screaming comes into the equation...

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Issues? My good man, I'll have you know I'm downright crazy. Issues! Issues are too tiny to contain the likes of me!