Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Indie, Self-Published Or Large Publisher?

Honestly, before I found Goodreads, I probably never read an indie or self-published author. It wasn't a conscious choice I made, just that I never found information on them or their books didn't interest me. Besides, back then I was reading a lot of the TSR/Wizards of the Coast stuff, which was a pretty small book publisher anyway.

But, the point is, now my favorite fantasy series ever (probably my favorite series, but I have a hard time ranking books through all genres) was originally self published. In the past year, I've read a lot of books that were published by either an indie or self-published. Some of those books were really, really good and some weren't - just like with large publishers.

I have noticed though, usually the author's writing stays more consistent with self or indie publishing. Is this because they don't have the level of editor feedback? And, is this really a good thing?

Not long ago, I read a self-published book that read like a first novel - only the author had published nearly a dozen others. This tends to not happen with large publishers, and I do feel like self-publishing tends to stunt an authors growth - but I still like how involved most self-published authors are with their readers.

Now, I know it doesn't make a difference for me, but does publisher matter to you? Is there any publisher type - or, indeed, publishing company - that you prefer to read/don't want to read?