![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
With e-publishing getting so easy (unless you are trying to format poetry, sigh), there has been a boom in self-published books. I've found that if I apply the same selection methods I do to traditionally published books (premise, recommendations, reviews, read a sample), the quality is surprisingly similar.
For example, my single favorite romance novel of last year was Courtney Milan's Unraveled
. (Click on author tag to see my review.) For a different type of example, click my "awesomely bad books" and "implausible plots" tag-- most of those books were traditionally published and edited by professional editors.
Since self-published authors don't get any publicity beyond what they can drum up themselves, I'm sure there are many self-pubbed books and authors which are completely off my radar. Please recommend self-published books or short stories to me. (I'm not including reprints of books which were originally traditionally published.)
I am already aware of Courtney Milan, Andrea Host, Sarah Diemer, Zetta Elliott, Neesha Meminger, and Judith Tarr's Living in Threes
. If you want to rec them in comments for the benefit of other readers, go ahead, but please try to additionally rec something else which I may not know about.
For example, my single favorite romance novel of last year was Courtney Milan's Unraveled
. (Click on author tag to see my review.) For a different type of example, click my "awesomely bad books" and "implausible plots" tag-- most of those books were traditionally published and edited by professional editors. Since self-published authors don't get any publicity beyond what they can drum up themselves, I'm sure there are many self-pubbed books and authors which are completely off my radar. Please recommend self-published books or short stories to me. (I'm not including reprints of books which were originally traditionally published.)
I am already aware of Courtney Milan, Andrea Host, Sarah Diemer, Zetta Elliott, Neesha Meminger, and Judith Tarr's Living in Threes
. If you want to rec them in comments for the benefit of other readers, go ahead, but please try to additionally rec something else which I may not know about.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
I've only read her duology (Books of Requite) and not the standalone (Firebrand).
Books of Requite is basically set in a fantasy-esque world in which there is some tech remaining from the people who landed on the planet long ago. It has a ton of political intrigue, gender queer characters, a really interesting marriage structure, romance, a LOT of women being awesome, and a very practical engineer main character who would much rather spend time with her machines than with people.
It is super fun with tons of worldbuilding and a lot of really really interesting ideas. Most of my problems with it lie in the fact that I feel Wells could have used a few extra hundred pages to expand on the world.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
I know! I have so many questions!
Also, I think it could have used one more editorial pass, but really, it was all quite entertaining, with wonderful tropes like blasters and swordfights, and virtual reality, and wacky flying organic machines, and clothing porn.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Ooooh COOL.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
http://www.amazon.com/The-Importance-Be
It made me cry. In a good way.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
http://ankaretwells.wordpress.com/a
I loved them, and I think they're pretty true to their reviews / blurbs, so - if that's a flavour that appeals to you, dive in!
From:
no subject
From:
no subject