Navigating the Glut

There's been a lot of lively debate lately on the internet, in blogs, on Twitter, and in SFF Mags about the "glut" of self-published and independently published books available today. Before this sweeping change, the major publishers were the "gatekeepers" to publication. They prevented a lot of "slush" from being published.

The down side? They also refused to publish many good books that were worthy of publication, but which weren't expected to make them a lot of money! Now publication is open to almost anyone. This is probably a good thing, but requires readers to be even more discriminating than they were before.

It is said that many of these first-time authors only had that one book in them and once it's out of their system we should see a slow-down of first-published works. At least that is the current theory making the rounds. I'm not so sure about this.

Going by my own personal experience, when I try a book by an author I've never read before and find it to be seriously lacking, I simply don't attempt to read anything else written by that author. I had such an experience this past year. I bought a book written by an established author---a well-known female writer who shall remain anonymous. Shortly after I began to read, I discovered that her work was, to me, overrated though competent. It wasn't at all to my tastes, which are fairly catholic. I had to stop reading. ( And, boy, was I glad I hadn't paid full price for that book! )

As a result, I certainly wouldn't be tempted any time soon to read another book she'd written. Now I realize that authors don't always strike the right note with every one of their books. Online, you can read a sample of an available book, and if you hate it---well, you realize where I'm going with this. I have heard of a couple readers who actually finished reading a book they absolutely hated, only to throw it across the room when done---or even into the trash can!

Do I want readers tossing either of my published Tartarus books? Heavens, no! I expect readers to be discriminating and intelligent enough to check out Amazon's Look Inside feature or to download a sample onto their Kindle before they buy. ( I've used both these tools and find them invaluable. )

To get people to buy my books, I'm never going to falsely claim that they are "bestsellers" or must-read classics. I prefer to let you judge for yourselves. Trust your own gut-instincts to sort through all the books available out there.

Keep on reading!

MRTighe