Okay, since we're talking about this on multiple threads, I wanted to ask you all for another take on self-published books. Generally, I'm not interested in self-published books, have little faith in the quality, and have never desired to join that party... however good the music sounds from down the hall.
HOWEVER, those were my opinions based on admittedly little research.
So... I decided to learn more. I've "looked inside" about three dozen self-published books. Usually, I get about a page in before I begin scanning rather than reading. One book had three pages of exposition where nothing happened except a guy flipping through a book. Another had a completely implausible event right on the first page. Another had the word "wizard" mentioned something like three dozen times and every character was nameless and I guess I was meant to remember the multitude of wizards by hair color alone... Another had a pretentious writing style that was cute in the opening paragraphs but wore me down quickly. Another had misspellings/ typos/ grammar problems about every fifteen words. Another seemed unable to differentiate between "I did" and "he did"... None of these were anything I'd want to commit to for the course of a novel. THIS was my real hesitancy to join the ranks of self-published authors-- people who alone deemed their books "good enough", without what I consider to be the skills necessary to really be "there".
I understand that sounds bitchy of me, and I can only apologize. For ME... that wouldn't be good enough. Those are silly mistakes that take only a few days to correct. I'd have gone the extra mile. Okay, now on to my reason for writing this post. I then happened upon (by random clicking) this: Amazon.com: Rainbow's End - Wizard eBook: Corrie Mitchell: Kindle Store
I hope that works. Anyways, I opened it just as I did the others, and instead of being assaulted by rookie mistakes and straining my eyes by rolling, I was really impressed with the flow and especially short, sweet descriptions that painted wonderful images. Okay, I was a little thrown off by the jumping scenes, but I forgave and forgot and I was pulled into the story.
My point? I'd be proud to stand next to this person and have my book compared to it. It's well-written (though not without minor punctuation flaws), balanced narrative, and just plain quirky and interesting. My question is... WHY DOES THIS BOOK HAVE 4 STARS, JUST LIKE ALL THOSE I MENTIONED ABOVE??? I'm actually offended that this book is rated exactly the same as those others were. I'm verging on livid as I compare the way I felt reading those other introductions. Fatigued, disinterested, conned--in some cases. Then, this delightful little book pops up and I give it a read (though it's material I wouldn't ordinarily enjoy, a sort of chosen one story with a dark lord), and I'm smiling and feel tugged into a story I'd ordinarily reject on theme alone. How in the world of everything that is fair and good, could anyone compare this to that pile of rubbish I just sifted through and call them ALL 4-star books? Yes, offended is the right word.
So... while I'm glad I searched until finding something I'd be proud to self-publish, I'm totally disenchanted with the rating system. All these books had between 11 and 23 reviews, all were 4-stars... only one was worth the time it took to open.
HOWEVER, those were my opinions based on admittedly little research.
So... I decided to learn more. I've "looked inside" about three dozen self-published books. Usually, I get about a page in before I begin scanning rather than reading. One book had three pages of exposition where nothing happened except a guy flipping through a book. Another had a completely implausible event right on the first page. Another had the word "wizard" mentioned something like three dozen times and every character was nameless and I guess I was meant to remember the multitude of wizards by hair color alone... Another had a pretentious writing style that was cute in the opening paragraphs but wore me down quickly. Another had misspellings/ typos/ grammar problems about every fifteen words. Another seemed unable to differentiate between "I did" and "he did"... None of these were anything I'd want to commit to for the course of a novel. THIS was my real hesitancy to join the ranks of self-published authors-- people who alone deemed their books "good enough", without what I consider to be the skills necessary to really be "there".
I understand that sounds bitchy of me, and I can only apologize. For ME... that wouldn't be good enough. Those are silly mistakes that take only a few days to correct. I'd have gone the extra mile. Okay, now on to my reason for writing this post. I then happened upon (by random clicking) this: Amazon.com: Rainbow's End - Wizard eBook: Corrie Mitchell: Kindle Store
I hope that works. Anyways, I opened it just as I did the others, and instead of being assaulted by rookie mistakes and straining my eyes by rolling, I was really impressed with the flow and especially short, sweet descriptions that painted wonderful images. Okay, I was a little thrown off by the jumping scenes, but I forgave and forgot and I was pulled into the story.
My point? I'd be proud to stand next to this person and have my book compared to it. It's well-written (though not without minor punctuation flaws), balanced narrative, and just plain quirky and interesting. My question is... WHY DOES THIS BOOK HAVE 4 STARS, JUST LIKE ALL THOSE I MENTIONED ABOVE??? I'm actually offended that this book is rated exactly the same as those others were. I'm verging on livid as I compare the way I felt reading those other introductions. Fatigued, disinterested, conned--in some cases. Then, this delightful little book pops up and I give it a read (though it's material I wouldn't ordinarily enjoy, a sort of chosen one story with a dark lord), and I'm smiling and feel tugged into a story I'd ordinarily reject on theme alone. How in the world of everything that is fair and good, could anyone compare this to that pile of rubbish I just sifted through and call them ALL 4-star books? Yes, offended is the right word.
So... while I'm glad I searched until finding something I'd be proud to self-publish, I'm totally disenchanted with the rating system. All these books had between 11 and 23 reviews, all were 4-stars... only one was worth the time it took to open.