Can self-publishing transcend the lack of a gatekeeper?

[UlyssesE]

Self-publishing, or indie publishing (as it's proponents would rather call it), was long a dirty word in the literary community. Originally called vanity publishing, it was the haven for those with enough money (and ego) to pay a open-minded publishing house to print up a shoddy manuscript, and bypassing the time honored process of being screened by a literary agent, who then gets the work screened by a publishing house, which then runs it through an editor, or editors, eventually ending up with a polished product.

But the times are changing. With the advent of Amazon, more and more people have begun to take the self-publishing route. We have seen amazing success stories like Wool, by Hugh Howey, The Atlantis Gene, by A.G Riddle, and of course The Martian, by Andy Weir. These are considered the cream of the crop, and supposedly the first of many in proponents glorious new gatekeeperless, self-publishing future. But how good are these books on average? If you sampled a somewhat random title, with a good amount of reviews, and online presence, what are the odds you find something as well put together as just sampling from a store's bookshelf?

I took this thought to heart recently, and the results have been surprising.

Sampling online "indie" lists, I came across the novel Übermensch, by Mathew Babaoye. It is a far future, dystopian, hard science fiction book with the premise that the world has been cleansed in the future, and all of society wiped away beyond a handful of technologically omnipotent Masters. It follows the story of Id, a posthuman slave serving Master Gabriel. Obvious names and symbology aside, it was a hell of a lot better than I expected and solid for $2.99. Next on my list is Master of Crows, by Grace Draven. This story concerns bondswoman sent to spy on a sorcery who is possessed by an evil god. A bit more popular, and a nice switch back to fantasy. So far it is also surprising me with it's quality, and a good pickup for $3.99 (great prices for these books in general, btw).

So do you partake of so-called "indie" books? Have any impressed you? Or is this akin to the surge in popularity of easily produced reality tv shows displacing better, original dramatic television content? I'm sure there will be strong opinions about this.

[Methinks]

Übermensch, hm? Bold title, and the synopsis on Amazon is well put together. I'm in the mood for hard science fiction. Will check it out.

For your main point: I'm not a fan. Gatekeepers are an important part of literature. There will be self publishing exceptions, doubtless, but I'm sure they are few and far between. If recommended a self published gem by a trustworthy source I will consider it. Otherwise, there is no way I would waste my time wading out in that sea of dross and mediocrity.

[YesNo]

I don't trust gatekeepers and so I hope self-publishing is successful. It is one of the reasons I like Amazon. They make it possible to self-publish.

What I think a publisher provides is a team to make the product even more marketable than an individual author could. The publisher has access to more market outlets (bookstores and foreign markets through translations and other means to generate profits from derived works) as well as access to more diverse talent (cover designers, artists, layout designers, editors) than an individual author would have and that makes having a publisher valuable.

I don't think a publisher spends much time on gatekeeping to protect the reader. Their gatekeeping has more to do with whether the book they are risking capital on will earn out or not.

[kev67]

Andy Weir wrote The Martian and published it online for free. It did not have a gate keeper, but what he did get was a lot of feedback from geeks, who effectively peer-reviewed the science in his book. Andy Weir said some people started asking to download it in e-reader format, so he put it for sale at 99c. Then people started asking for hard copies, and publishers started to take note.

OTOH, I once bought a book about ground source heat pumps from Amazon, only to discover it was a dissertation for an MSc degree, a very poor one, which cost me £10.

Umberto Eco wrote a story called Foucault's Pendulum, which largely takes place in a publishing house that specializes in vanity publishing.

[tailor STATELY]

( "Weird"... lol )... must be autocorrect {snort}.

I hope to{if procrastinat
ion doesn't paralyze me
yet again/e-publish
some of my shoddy + vain
selected poems by the
end of the year☻ on
Amazon (Hey, I have
Prime%||| I have no
illusions to grandeur}
(Yeah, right!) The popular
and powerful and
intelligentsia get published
through gatekeepers
because that's the way the
game is played. Indie? I
☺ don't know... just #
getting it o u t there
would be an accomplishment
imho; and who knows,
maybe one person amongst
all of readerdom might be
amused or edified over
one simple turn of a phrase:
That would be praise enough for me.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Dreamwoven]

It depends a bit on whether you want your work published by an established publishing House, like Routledge or Ashgate (and within this there is a graduation in prestige), or whether that is irrelevant. There is also an academic hierarchy in journal articles (citations, impact factor, etc.). It also helps if you are a senior academic at a research university, present work at conferences, and so on.

But if you are starting from the ground up indie can be a good way if you have an idea like J.K. Rowling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling) that really catches on.

[WolfLarsen]

Instead of calling it self-publishing you could call it independent writing. Because you're not writing corporate fiction, you don't have some big corporation telling you what to write.

The so-called gatekeepers of the literary community are mostly just interested in fattening their wallets, to the tune of 15%, if they're literary agents. The publishing corporation itself may expect you to give them money for "publicity", which just turns the publishing corporation into a respectable venue of self-publishing.

Corporate fiction is all about the money anyway. I think you're more likely to find something creative & interesting amongst independent authors who go the self-publishing route.

[HCabret]

Instead of calling it self-publishing you could call it independent writing. Because you're not writing corporate fiction, you don't have some big corporation telling you what to write.

The so-called gatekeepers of the literary community are mostly just interested in fattening their wallets, to the tune of 15%, if they're literary agents. The publishing corporation itself may expect you to give them money for "publicity", which just turns the publishing corporation into a respectable venue of self-publishing.

Corporate fiction is all about the money anyway. I think you're more likely to find something creative & interesting amongst independent authors who go the self-publishing route.What's "corporate fiction? Why can't I just call it "self-publishing"? What's wrong with money? Do you have any evidence that self-published fiction is of a higher quality than traditionally published materials?

[HCabret]

Andy Weir wrote The Martian and published it online for free. It did not have a gate keeper, but what he did get was a lot of feedback from geeks, who effectively peer-reviewed the science in his book. Andy Weir said some people started asking to download it in e-reader format, so he put it for sale at 99c. Then people started asking for hard copies, and publishers started to take note.

OTOH, I once bought a book about ground source heat pumps from Amazon, only to discover it was a dissertation for an MSc degree, a very poor one, which cost me £10.

Umberto Eco wrote a story called Foucault's Pendulum, which largely takes place in a publishing house that specializes in vanity publishing.I would say that online serialization does not wholly equal self-publishing. The Martian did eventually become traditionally published after being edited into a complete and whole form.