The Rise of the Self-Publisher

Last night I went on Amazon searching for new authors to read and what I found was a little disheartening. After about thirty minutes of wading, through samples of stories that might have been better served being rewritten or edited, I gave up. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this experience.

Please don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of very good writers coming out, and for the most part, my experiences have been good, I just think that there should be some sort of quality filter that one must go through to post to some of these self-publishing sites. The urge to publish and read can sometimes hurt the quality of the product that is flooding the market.

Trust me, I’m not throwing stones at anyone I’m sure I’m guilty of this as well. I understand the unstoppable urge to put something before it is ready. I think it taints the industry and makes it harder for those who are serious about writing to be taken seriously.

I believe self-publishing one’s own work is a good thing; it allows some very talented writers to be read that might not have had the opportunity otherwise. Self-publishing gives the writer more control and is virtually free to do which are good things. The flip side of that is a lack of quality control, which means almost anyone with a computer can write and publish their own work, rather it is good or bad and this of course floods the market making it harder to find talented writers to read. Yesterday, as I searched I read a lot of samples that looked like first drafts.

I honestly think that there should be a threshold that needs to be met. I’m talking about a review board not there to reject works but to enhance and offer support. Most of the samples weren’t bad they just seemed rushed. Let me reiterate, I think self-publishing is a fantastic opportunity for writers, but I do think that there should be a minimum threshold that should be met before anything goes to the market.