This is a re-post of an interesting article on why amateur books and e-books are ruining the literature world for good writers and keen readers alike.
Personally, I have nothing against self-published books, and I have read incredible self-published book. I am, however,totally against bad, unedited, amateur self-published books and e-books.
Read the article by Michael Kozlowski and decide for yourself.
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Self-Published Authors Are Destroying Literature
By
Self-published
authors with their insistent need to spam social media and pump out a copious
amount of horrible ebooks are ruining the modern online bookstore. You can’t
browse Kobo, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon without running into a maelstrom of
poorly written and poorly edited books. All of these bookstores put indie
authors’ books side by side with established authors, who are signed to a
publishing company. Social media is also a breeding ground for people to try and
hustle their books and literally beg for sales.
Bowker Market Research reported last week that self-published ebooks now account for 12% of the entire digital publishing market. In some cases, the number actually rises to a very respectable 20%, but is fairly genre specific to crime, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and humor. 95% of these books are insufferable and are written to capitalize on trends in publishing, with authors trying to emulate successful writers such as E.L. James or Cassandra Claire.
Bowker Market Research reported last week that self-published ebooks now account for 12% of the entire digital publishing market. In some cases, the number actually rises to a very respectable 20%, but is fairly genre specific to crime, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and humor. 95% of these books are insufferable and are written to capitalize on trends in publishing, with authors trying to emulate successful writers such as E.L. James or Cassandra Claire.
At a recent
publishing conference in London, Andrew
Franklin,
founder and managing director of Profile Books, blasted authors who
self-publish. “The overwhelming majority of self-published books are
terrible—unutterable rubbish, they don’t enhance anything in the world.” He
ranted on by saying, “These books come out and are met with a deathly silence,
so the principle experience of self-publishing is one of disappointment. I was
very shocked to learn you can buy Facebook friends and likes on social media.
That is what passes for affirmation in what I think is the deeply corrupt world
of self-publishing.”
I am inclined to
agree with Andrew. Take a look at Amazon, the only quality control it employs is
Kindle Serials and its official publishing imprints. All of their other
self-publishing programs do not have anyone proofreading or editing the books.
These ebooks are then listed side by side with mainstream books. This makes the
process of quality ebook discovery a very time consuming effort. Not to mention
the onslaught of auto-generated books, written by scripts and Public Domain
Books, retitled and put up for sale. GoodReads was basically purchased by
Amazon, because it sought to bring some measure of separating the good books
from the terrible.
Smashwords is one
company that is one of the guiltiest in encouraging writers to try and market
their books on the internet. The company even provides a free ISBN number and
will list your book for sale on Sony, iBooks, Kobo, Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
and many others. It will ACCEPT anything, though most amateur fan-fiction is
better, because at least those authors are trying and fanatically loyal to their
subject matter.
Good e-Reader has
around 3,000 Twitter Followers and over 5,000 Facebook friends. Not a day goes
by that I don’t see people asking for ebook sales. “BUY MY BOOK!” No marketing,
no reason to buy it, JUST BUY IT! The vast majority of indie authors have no
concept on how to legitimately market a book title and just encourage people to
BUY! #ihateebooks
One thing indie
authors have done is devalue the work of legitimate published authors. You know
the type that write for a living, who have an editor and are considered
accomplished, or at least well-read. The average indie title is $0.99 to $2.99,
and the average publisher price is $7.99 – $12.99. Book buyers have been so
conditioned to pay as little as possible that often they will not even consider
a more expensive book.
The vast majority
of self-published authors definitely incur my everlasting ire, but hybrid
authors gain my respect. Often, these folk cut their teeth with major publishers
and now self-publish for a little bit more control. Bella Andre is a fine
example of a self-publisher; she got a major deal and went back to
self-publishing. She has done very well.
I don’t know how
many more paranormal romances or erotica clones I can stomach before I got
completely berserk. Sure self-publishing MAY pay for a few bills, but at the
expense of modern literature.
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I think when an author is in the writing business for the right reason--to entertain the reader--then the integrity of their professional efforts will shine through in their books, however those books are published.
Visit my author's website at: http://www.dragonsbook.com
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