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Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

publishersweekly.com

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Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#51

Post by polytely »

mrob wrote: post #12
mrfusion wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One counter example is “Harry Potter and the methods of rationality”. Possibly one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Another example is "Worm", which I learned of from the author's notes for Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/

Yeah, I think Worm really fits the HN crowd. It's a de- and re-construction of the superhero genre, with really creative superpowers. I love the world building in Worm, it's internally consistent which is something that gets hand-waved away in most superhero stories. It starts out as a sort of young-adult superhero story but slowly morphs and escalates to a sci-fi epic.

I really admire the work ethic of the author, he has been delivering high-quality chapters every week since 2011, and you can just read it online for free.

Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#52

Post by Retric »

n4r9 wrote: post #49
Retric wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reputable publications put out less than 1% as many books as are self published, and they still spew a lot of terrible junk. Do you include say Tor etc as reputable? If not that percentage drops further. What self publishing provides is a closer match for your personal interests. That’s only useful if you have unusual tastes, but I have personally given up on published fiction. PS: What recent good reasonably hard sc…

"Children of Time" is fantastic and "Three Body Problem" is good. I haven't read the rest of the Three Body series but it seems popular.

I don’t want to argue about it specificity, but “Three Body Problem” is not particularly hard science fiction.

Bouncing a signal off the sun as a signal booster. Eleven-dimensional supercomputers called sophons which, when viewed in three dimensions, only occupy the volume of a proton. That’s a little out there.

IMO, people calling that Hard Science fiction shows how far from mainstream the idea is.

Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#53

Post by m463 »

Mirioron wrote: post #23
m463 wrote: post #3

I have found kindle books that come from a reputable publisher are MUCH higher quality than self-published books. I just don't think many self-published books have the meaningful rejection, editing and proofreading that a publisher provides. That doesn't mean that there aren't good self published books. And things might change over time, if teams form. I think publishing a book requires a team. Meaningful reviews and…

On the other hand, I like these self-published books, because they can stray from the norm. A lot of published works end up following a similar formula, which is less likely to be the case in self-published works.

This is where meaningful reviews/awards would be required.

There is too much dreck to wade through to find that genre-bending gem.

Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#54

Post by m463 »

dleslie wrote: post #4
m463 wrote: post #3

I have found kindle books that come from a reputable publisher are MUCH higher quality than self-published books. I just don't think many self-published books have the meaningful rejection, editing and proofreading that a publisher provides. That doesn't mean that there aren't good self published books. And things might change over time, if teams form. I think publishing a book requires a team. Meaningful reviews and…

I hope I don't get roasted for this; but I whole-heartedly agree. There's also a sizeable publisher that I find has remarkably poor editorial control, and so I hesitate to read works published by them: Tor. Which is strange; they've always been a source of pulp science fiction and fantasy, but I enjoy such works and have enjoyed Tor works in the distant past. But recently? Notsomuch.

On the other hand, I loved The Murderbot Diaries from Tor.

Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#55

Post by m463 »

ekianjo wrote: post #33
m463 wrote: post #3

I have found kindle books that come from a reputable publisher are MUCH higher quality than self-published books. I just don't think many self-published books have the meaningful rejection, editing and proofreading that a publisher provides. That doesn't mean that there aren't good self published books. And things might change over time, if teams form. I think publishing a book requires a team. Meaningful reviews and…

> I think publishing a book requires a team. No, you just need better tools to do so. Of course, having humans reviewing your book can help increase the quality, but that has nothing to do with having a publisher. > I have found kindle books that come from a reputable publisher are MUCH higher quality You are also biased because there are a LOT of really bad books published by traditional publishers anyway.

I understand what you're saying, but I disagree.

Tools won't find plot holes, they won't find one-dimensional characters, they won't find pacing problems.

Having a publisher means someone cares about their reputation, that there are risks, that resources are devoted to quality.

To be clear, I'm not saying that self-publishing means you will get a terrible book.

It's just that self-publishing is inclusive, published books are exclusive, and that changes the statistics. It's hard to locate a good book in a sea of self-published books where there are no quality bars.

Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#56

Post by n4r9 »

Retric wrote: post #52
n4r9 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Children of Time" is fantastic and "Three Body Problem" is good. I haven't read the rest of the Three Body series but it seems popular.

I don’t want to argue about it specificity, but “Three Body Problem” is not particularly hard science fiction. Bouncing a signal off the sun as a signal booster. Eleven-dimensional supercomputers called sophons which, when viewed in three dimensions, only occupy the volume of a proton. That’s a little out there. IMO, people calling that Hard Science fiction shows how far from mainstream the idea is.

I agree, although you did say "reasonably" hard and it is popularly categorised as hard sci fi. The stuff about using entangled gigantic photons to manipulate signals to Earth was definitely absurd, but the discussion of the actual three body problem was more reasonable.

I dunno. I've never been a huge buff for the harder side of sci fi and Clarke novels seem to leave me cold, so maybe not the best judge of this.

Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#58

Post by seventhtiger »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #42
m463 wrote: post #3

I have found kindle books that come from a reputable publisher are MUCH higher quality than self-published books. I just don't think many self-published books have the meaningful rejection, editing and proofreading that a publisher provides. That doesn't mean that there aren't good self published books. And things might change over time, if teams form. I think publishing a book requires a team. Meaningful reviews and…

Because reputable publishers noticed that people were still buying the self-published ebooks in spite of the lack of solid copyediting or quality typesetting, reputable publishers, too, are starting to cut back on such things. I am a translator who occasionally translates literature for some big-name publishers, and I find that the onus is sort of on me now to ensure a high-quality final product, because the publishe…

Quality control is a common good in retail markets. In a healthy market, consumers don't care about top quality from medium quality. They might even go for low quality if it's marketed well. Only the "pro" consumers or hobbyists care about these differences.

So there is profit to be made in price and quality race to the bottom. When the quality drops across the board those uncaring customers just leave the market. This has caused crises in other industries before. They don't care until they're gone, with the passionate hobbyist canaries leaving early.

Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#59

Post by [deleted] »

n4r9 wrote: post #56
Retric wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t want to argue about it specificity, but “Three Body Problem” is not particularly hard science fiction. Bouncing a signal off the sun as a signal booster. Eleven-dimensional supercomputers called sophons which, when viewed in three dimensions, only occupy the volume of a proton. That’s a little out there. IMO, people calling that Hard Science fiction shows how far from mainstream the idea is.

I agree, although you did say "reasonably" hard and it is popularly categorised as hard sci fi. The stuff about using entangled gigantic photons to manipulate signals to Earth was definitely absurd, but the discussion of the actual three body problem was more reasonable. I dunno. I've never been a huge buff for the harder side of sci fi and Clarke novels seem to leave me cold, so maybe not the best judge of this.

[deleted]

Re: Number of Self-Published Titles Jumped 40% in 2018

#60

Post by vfc1 »

patio11 wrote: post #43
vfc1 wrote: post #38

No wonder with Amazon taking 70% of the sales price if the e-book goes even one cent above $9.99. If the e-book is sold below that it's "only" 30% - those are absolutely exploitative conditions! I'm glad that more books are being self-published, I don't trust publishers. I don't know how many times I was aproached on Linkedin and invited to write a book on a topic, just because I've listed it on my profile. If that's…

One of the wonderful things about the Internet: if you don't want to pay Amazon 30% there is a universe of people out there you can sell to for 3~5% or so through your own web presence. You just have to go get them.

The thing is, Amazon in its privileged monopoly position in practice forces you to choose between publishing exclusively on Amazon or self-publishing, at least for new authors.

This is because unless you agree to exclusivity, you will be denied access to essential marketing tools like free promotions (via the KDP program), which are essential for building initial social proof and give the book at chance to take off in rankings.

Unless you have a pre-existent audience that you can point to your Amazon non-exclusive book, there is zero chance that it will take off.

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