Books by indie authors – those who self publish – often get ignored or thought of as not as good as a ‘regular’ book. I recently came across an indie book disaster that reinforces those opinions.
Self Publishing Responsibilities
A traditionally published book has a team of people working with the author. Many self published authors like me have no such team. That leaves me responsible for writing the best possible book myself.
Writing the book is only the first step. It is an important step, but only the beginning. The other steps include spelling, grammar, editing the book, the cover, the summary, the publicity. The list seems overwhelming.
Writing the Book
A novel needs a plot, relatable characters and setting, pacing, timing. The indie book disaster I came across had none of these. There were attempts, but it never seemed to figure out what the book was really about.
This novel does have research and work behind it. When I think of Stephanie Taylor, the main character in Life’s Rules, she is a real person to me with an extensive history. Much of what I know about her will not show up in the novel, it influences how she acts and behaves in the novel
Every character in the indie book disaster had this extensive history dumped into the novel. Sometimes this was repeated more than once.
That highlights another problem. Repeating the same information or the same words over and over until the reader starts counting them.
Why Read an Indie Book Disaster?
Reading good books is important for an author. Reading not good books is too. These remind me about why I do so many drafts looking for the problems, trying to work them out.
One thing I don’t want to do is publish an indie book disaster.
