Why should you read indie?
The answer’s not what you think.
I’m an indie book fanatic. I run an indie book review website. My newsletter is called Read Indie for crying out loud.
But I wouldn’t dream of reading ONLY indie books.
That’s not what this is about.
It’s about the books. If a book comes out from Penguin Random House (PRH) that looks badass or there’s a new book from George Saunders, I’m not going to pass on it just because it was published by a major press. And I don’t want you to do that either.
We’re in this reading world for the books. That’s it. Sure, you could follow indie presses around, reading only the books they put out, but you’re missing out on something that could change your life if you’re only reading indie.
What I’m vouching for isn’t exclusivity. It’s for variety. For following your interest. For believing in someone you’ve never heard of.
Some uninformed readers might see indie–or the process of self-publishing or publishing with a small press–as a marker against quality. “They didn’t get picked up by an agent, so they must not be very good,” or “They had to publish themselves, so they must have gotten rejected from mainstream publishers.”
But that’s not the case at all. (Okay, maybe sometimes it is.)
Nowadays, authors choose to go the indie route for a variety of reasons. The biggest of which is that they get full creative control. They believe strongly in their in-book decisions and don’t want to be told they have to change it. It’s too risky, too experimental, a publisher might say. But a reader could say, “It’s perfect just the wonky way it is.”
And on top of that, they get a considerably higher royalty rate when they self-publish. It’s a business decision, not a way to skirt quality gatekeeping.
So why should you read indie books?
They can be incredible.
Some books get picked up by major publishers because of their sales quality. Just like Marvel movies bring in the big bucks, these presses might focus on trends, on big-ticket stars, on hitting the three-act structure and hitting it hard. These stories can be amazing, and they can scratch the exact itch you’ve been trying to reach.
Indie books can do that too, but sometimes they’re published not because they can make a big splash in the marketplace but because they’re good enough to wow smaller audiences at Cannes or the Tribeca Film Festival. They tell quiet stories that reverberate. They are sold by lower-budget publishers who believe in quality over sales potential. They don’t need perfect 3-act structures; they want stories that inspire change, that break storytelling rules.
One small press book, Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman, is 1000+ pages but mostly just one long continuous sentence. It was published by an indie (Biblioasis) and was shortlisted for the Booker prize. You might see why a book like that wouldn’t gel with major publishers but fits neatly with a passionate indie press.
Indie books are often cheaper.
Pretending that money doesn’t play a part in all of this would paint an incomplete picture. I don’t think I’m the only one who’s been to a bookstore recently to see a $32 hardcover and think, “I could read three different books for this price.” Or, “I wouldn’t mind ordering dinner for my family tonight instead.” Many major publishers are publishing ebooks at $15 a pop.
But since indie authors are out here getting 70% author royalties instead of an average of 10%, they can price their books much cheaper than those major presses. Especially in the ebook space. It’s common to find ebooks for $3.99 or less as opposed to the $15 ebook PRH just came out with. Print books can be cheaper too.
If you’re read more indie books, you can put money back into your pocket AND into more authors’ pockets.
Your support often means more for indies than it does for majors.
If you can make money writing fiction, you deserve it. I want authors from major presses to have money too. (We can share, can’t we?)
But it’s true: giving your money to Walmart is a lot different than giving it to your local corner store. Actually, in these cases, sometimes your corner store is getting a single $2.48 sale per day, and it’s the week of their grand opening. Your support might not carry these authors monetarily into their next project, but they wrote this thing to be read. And you are giving them a shot.
It’s not just about money of course. You can support authors and presses by writing reviews for them too. If you leave a review for Stephen King’s Carrie, you’ll be one of 17,000. If you leave a review for an indie book, you could be one of ten. And boy do those ten reviews make a difference!
Not only does it give your author a warm fuzzy feeling–since they’re probably checking their Amazon sales page often–but you’re also playing a part in helping your fellow readers decide whether they should buy it or not. As readers, we’re all just out here trying to guess that the time we’re about to give this paper-and-ink product will be time well-spent.
You’re reading books by your neighbors.
Stephen King is a celebrity. If you see him in person, you’re definitely going to get googly-eyed. (Or at least I would.) But when you read indie, you’re not reading a celebrity. You’re reading that random guy over in apartment 3b who always goes out of his way to smile.
Unless you’re going to a heavily trafficked author signing, most of the authors you meet in real-life are indies. And since they’re not celebrities, you mean more to them than you would mean to Stephen King.
If somebody on my block read and liked my book, I’d first be surprised–because I wrote a niche book for authors about getting book reviews–but then I’d be the one asking for an autograph . Who is this hero making my day, my week, my year?
It means a ton for indie authors to hear from fans, enough so that they might even be able to reply back to your fan email. You can usually foster a much deeper connection with indies than you can with mainstream authors.
All I’m asking is…
Put your trust in these people.
Don’t see publishing indie as a knock against their quality. See it as a choice.
Don’t read only indie books. Just read them in conjunction with the ones published by celebrities and superstar authors. Focus on the content. If it’s in your wheelhouse, choose it and let it knock you out of the park.
What percentage of your reading life is spent reading indie books?
About the Author
Joe Walters is the founder of Independent Book Review. After falling in love with reading and writing at Kutztown University, he did the only thing he could think of: quit his teaching job, become a server, and write as much as possible.
When a local job in publishing popped up on a job board, he traded in his PF Chang’s apron for a bookish t-shirt and has been promoting indie press and self-published books ever since. He’s also the author of The Truth About Book Reviews. When he’s not writing or doing editorial or promotion work, he’s playing with his kids or reading indie books by Kindle light.
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